A week or so ago, my Social Media friend, attorney Brian Cuban, posted a link on his Facebook wall, leading to a Facebook story on FoxNews.com where a journalist prognosticated about the Social Networking site, saying it will disappear in less than a decade.
The author shared that:
“Facebook’s success will be short lived, according to one Wall Street analyst, predicting the site will ‘disappear’ in under a decade.”
and that…..
“despite all the hype and user growth, [Facebook] is still a one-and-done company that will fade away — like AOL and Yahoo before it.”
Several of us had a good time commenting on Brian’s wall about that, and pretty much came to the conclusion that sure, it might happen, or it might not, and that just about anyone can guess what the future will bring when it comes to Social Media because, what we all know is that, inevitably, it will change. Someone mentioned Nostradamus, to which I (sarcastically, sorry) replied, “Nostraobvious!”
Seriously, the author made some very good points. We were just having a little fun in the Prediction & Sarcasm Department.
What we all need to remember is that Social Media are relatively new tools in the world of Communication and Marketing. Just yesterday, I found my first blog post on another platform that I had forgotten about, and it was dated 2007. Who knows…I might run in to another one out there somewhere…maybe even dating back to, dare I say it, 2005!
My point is that even though 2007 sounds like a long time ago, and WOW, I’ve been blogging for 5 years, that is nothing compared to how long businesses have been marketing, and when we look at how long businesses have been marketing, we realize that Social Media are brand new tools, and still in their infancy.
They will definitely change.
They will grow.
Some will stay.
Some will go.
Wait, I’m beginning to sound like Dr. Seuss here….
Bottom line: Change is the norm. Flexibility is a requirement.
As marketers, communicators, businesspeople, professionals, educators, CEOs, or whatever your title might be today, you must learn what you can whenever you can when it comes to marketing your business, even if it means change, and force your mind to be as flexible as possible when it comes to integrating these tools in to your marketing efforts.
This is no time to sit back and watch because we think it’s all going to change tomorrow. That has never been, and never will be, a valid excuse for not marketing our businesses.
(Image released under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)
