Enough of the R-word!

Today I awoke to find a veritable call to arms in my inbox:

Social Media Revolution is one of those hard-hitting, stat-stuffed summary videttes — albeit an exceptionally well-produced one — that I never quite know how to respond to.

As someone who spends a lot of time ‘doing social media’ I know I should be thrilled. I should feel excited and even a little bit proud that something I know and love is growing in popularity and being, in a sense, legitimised — evolving from a flicker in the zeitgeist to an actual thing to measure and monetise — but instead I just feel a little… let down.As someone who spends a lot of time ‘doing social media’ I know I should be thrilled. I should feel excited and even a little bit proud that something I know and love is growing in popularity and being, in a sense, legitimised — evolving from a flicker in the zeitgeist to an actual thing to measure and monetise — but instead I just feel a little… let down.

Why? It’s all about expectation.

When something new and good starts happening, there is, naturally, a sense of excitement amongst participants.

And when that something is as sticky and inclusive and malleable as — O, how I hate the term — social media, the excitement is contagious, and it grows as the party grows. In fact, this video makes a great parallel between ‘social media practitioners’ and party planners. I concur wholeheartedly.

But if we continue with the metaphor, I think this video is not unlike the moment when someone starts talking about the party. Loudly. To the people at the bar (who are having fun and don’t need to be told just how much fun they are having, per capita), and to the people down the street in the Old Man Pub (who will demand a commercial reason to attend and, when they finally do, will lurk awkwardly on the sidelines and refuse to dance). And suddenly everyone’s at the party for different reasons — it’s no longer about something fun and freeform, but about an expectation of measurable value.

So, for me, not only does this video steal a little magic from the moment by lassoing just about everything in a stat, thereby creating benchmarks for expectations, it also commits the cardinal sin of overhyping. And once you overhype, just about anything that follows is doomed to disappoint.

To be clear, I’m not being exclusive — I want everyone at the party. Neither am I being ignorant — I know how our economy works and I know my, and my industry’s, role in it. In fact, I think the video is really well done (if perhaps a little heavy on the shock and awe factor). And finally, I’m not faulting the people behind this video —  theirs is simply another voice in an already persistent chorus.

I just think it’s a mistake to term a phase of the evolution of media and communication as a revolution.

I think this sets us up for disappointment, because everything that comes next will be an anticlimax. If people persist in speaking face to face, sending emails, and writing letters — as, let’s be honest, they WILL — will the social media revolution have failed?

Well, yes, if you’re going to insist on labelling it a revolution.

But as a chapter in the evolution of communication that is making our world richer, brighter and more connected by the day… no. And that’s why I think we need to limit the hype. So please… enough of this talk about a revolution!

Credit where due: the video is by the folks at Socialnomics and was published on 30 June 2009. Both the blog and the book are worth checking out.