THOUGHT (aka Centric's Blog)

If social media is a home, then social media interaction is like meeting in a bar.

Social media is a place where people get together to talk to their friends. It’s a place to find new friends. It’s a place to share stories—in the form of words, photos, and video—and discover new friends.

So, let me repeat that: social media interaction is like meeting in a bar.

A bar is not a store. People do not go to a bar to shop. They aren’t there to look for a new pair of shoes, a flat-panel TV, or even to find the best price on a bottle of Macallan. Nor are they there to find the sports scores or to learn how to re-roof their house.

And this is what separates social media from commerce sites like Amazon and Ebay, and from functional sites like Yahoo and Google.

Thinking of social media interaction as meeting in a bar can help shape an effective social media program. Think of your presence as the bar, and create a great place where people can relax with friends and discover new ones, and you’ll reap great rewards.

Treat it like a program designed to sell stuff, and don’t be surprised when everyone gets together and throws you out of the bar.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am and is filed under Ruminations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.