Stop discombobulating and say it simple, please!
I am sick to death of reading about how complicated the changing world is.
Every day I read a new blog or article about how complex the new media landscape is, and how brands need to discombobulate it before they can consider approaching some sort of engagement with it.
It’s almost like we all need to get our hands on some sort of mythical key to unlock its mysteries.
There was a time when the best advice you could get was to give it a go. The simple point was that social media is about engagement and if you want to understand it, the best way is to be in it. There were some simple rules like “don’t say something you’ll regret”, “don’t treat a blogger like you would the economics editor of the FT” and “don’t ignore your consumers”.
Somehow things have got an awful lot more complicated, and not because the landscape has changed much. Yes, social media has matured and the way we as communicators approach it as a media channel has certainly evolved and become more sophisticated.
But at what price? At the moment the price seems to be sanity. We’ve all gone mightily cerebral in the search for the latest trend, the new insight, the most complex analysis.
And I am now bored, tired and exasperated by it all, probably because I have yet to find a simple, deliberate and clear explanation of the brave new world we live in. One that uses three sentences instead of three pages, an infographic and a special animated video.
“That’s a bit hypocritical,” I hear you cry. “You’re complaining about a lack of clarity you cannot yourself provide.”
I felt this complaint coming on as I was writing, and I have already clipped myself round the ear for writing this blog. But fair enough.
Maybe it’s just too complicated to explain in 20 words. Brands-as-publishers, citizen journalists, connectivism, consumer-generated media, interruption models, earned media, integrated delivery, transmedia platforms – there are so many opportunities now in social media that your mouth waters at the potential and simultaneously you cower behind your sofa at the very thought of where to start.
Yes, I’ll put my money where my mouth is…but not here. In homage to the topic of this blog post, I’ll be Tweeting (@billypartridge) my encapsulation of the opportunities presented by our complex, changing world – and invite you here to do the same (try #mysocialworld so others can find it).
140 characters really tests your mettle when it comes to concision. Go on – give it a go!