Why should people in the T&L sector be interested in social media? Isn't it something that kids do to pass the time? What possible use is it for us? Surely our present IT systems are doing the job for us quite well enough?
The same thing was said about the telephone when it was invented and offered to business in the late 19th Century. The business leaders of London argued aginst the telephone for two very sound reasons. Firstly that it would use up all the copper inthe world and there would be a resource crisis; and secondly that it would put the 30,000 telegram boys out of work - there were obviously enough of them to carry all the messages of the day, and they did the job quite well, don't you know.
There was also an outcry against the inroduction of biro pens in schools over pen and ink in the 1940s, and no doubt there was an outcry over the use of pen and ink over the good old slate and chalk method of writing 100 years ealrier than that.
History is full of innovation and new ideas that in the beginning were rejected, trivialised and passed over. History is also replete with ideas that changed the world and the way we do business. The trick is to be in the lead and make sense of the new technologies before your competitors. It turns you from a price taker to a price maker.
Social media is as yet an untested commercial proposition. It is only just over 1200 days since Facebook became popular. Twitter is less than 500 days old. Applications of such novel technologies will emerge quickly. Moore's Law also suggests that unless you are evaluating such technologies RIGHT NOW you will be overtaken by yet another round of new ideas within 500 days. The proposition that business is in a race with no finIshing line is never more true than in this arena of innovation and new ICT technologies.
More than this, business is lagging behind government in their take up of social media. For example, the NSW Minister for Youth Graham West undertook an online engagement project in early 2009 to engage young people in decisiosn about government expenditure on youth programmes on the Central Coast and Far North Coast. Over 8,200 young people joined the programme, and 2,026 "voted" over 9 weeks. Government is now spending funds in accordance with the suggestions of the youth community in these areas. The cost of this project was less than $10 per participant.
Reflect on this when you are next thinking about retaining a market research company, or an advertising group. Think about the implications for staying in touch with your customers and clients. Ask yourself what you will do when you employees are all on social media talking about their careers, their work and your future. Where will you be?