Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favourite authors, has shared his thoughts on Social Media.
The short interview is definitely worth a read. Overall Gladwell suggests that social media has been a positive for the internet and society in general, though he does have a watchout:
The problem is, we’re still in the experimental phase. The thing about Facebook is, it’s insanely new. This world of the Internet, if we know anything from its brief history, it likes nothing more than to build someone up only to topple them. Who has an AOL account these days? Not that long ago, AOL was the single most powerful player on the Internet. Who has a MySpace account these days? MySpace sold for billions of dollars not that long ago. I’m very reluctant to crown Facebook king of the future. They certainly are flavour of the month. This is not a world that respects loyalties and longevity.
Bear this in mind when planning your social media customer experience – customers move from platform to platform, and you should adjust your messaging and activity accordingly.
The article is on The Globe and Mail, but I found it through the consistently good PSFK
