Social media puts on a tie
The biggest barrier to maximizing the potential of social technology — in sales, PR, marketing or even internal collaboration — is the persistent notion that it is mysterious, complex and utterly impractical.
Millions of people that your organization is trying to reach are still staying away from social networks because they don’t feel like they “get” what they’re for. Your boss doesn’t want you using social networks for work because they look like toys. Maybe you’re even still stumbling a little as you build your social presence, still treating these platforms like mystical alien artifacts that will explode if not handled with the utmost care.
We need a Rosetta Stone to get us all on the same page, establishing once and for all that social media is neither quantum physics, nor voodoo, nor frivolity. For a long time, I thought that something would be a new, more evolved social network — something so intuitive that anyone could look at it for a minute and understand what it was for. But I was wrong. The key isn’t some magical new network. It’s e-mail.
Everyone who uses the Internet understands e-mail — even if they don’t necessarily use it that often. It is the closest thing the Web has to common ground. That is why things like Google Buzz and Microsoft’s new Outlook Social Connector are so important. In a few years, social media won’t be some crazy waste of time that only young people understand — it’ll just be another part of e-mail.
OK, that’s over simplifying it a little bit — there will still be profiles and apps and all sorts of other higher functions. But the building blocks of social media — connections and updates — will become universal. I think that once those elements are in place, they become a gateway drug of sorts. Once you get the benefit of simply connecting with people and sharing information, you start to see the benefit in all those other tools, as well.
The good news for those of use who are already using the technology is that as networks gain participation, they have the potential to become more useful to everyone. You may also see the distinction between networks matter less, even as more niche networks gain popularity — because we’ll be connecting to it all through e-mail. I also think it will bring a change in focus away from understanding tools and on applied business functions — worrying about the marketing part of social-media marketing instead of stressing about the latest tools.
What other changes will e-mail integration bring? Any potential problems on the horizon? Anyone not convinced that e-mail will change the way nonusers look at social networks?
Image credit, AndyL, via iStock
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Tags: e-mail, marketing, outlook, social media
Categories: Editor's Take, Ideas in Action
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Posted by uberVU - social comments on February 18th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by sbosm: Social media puts on a tie: http://ow.ly/18KWF...
Posted by Ted Weismann on February 18th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
As much as the recent surge in Twitter traffic or the stats about how much time people spend on Facebook.com demonstrate the adoption of social networking, I would bet the time people spend in e-mail, especially at work, far exceeds the former and will a long time to come. Most people count on the e-mail messages they get from Twitter about a new follower, or from Facebook in order to keep up with a Wall conversation thread. The integration has been happening for a while now, and what we're seeing a slow merging of the two.
Posted by Terrance Barkan on February 18th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I have installed the LinkedIn / Microsoft social connector application and it is great! It makes it very easy to invite colleagues and professional contacts straight from your email traffic to join you on LinkedIn.
I work a lot with with associations (one of the best examples of true “Social Networks”) and they have had peer to peer networking for decades. However, even these experienced network groups are struggling with how to embrace social media tools. As LinkedIn builds more functionality, I think it is going to be very disruptive for professional and trade associations.
BTW we created a LinkedIn group to share experience and learn how to leverage…LinkedIn groups!
If anyone is interested! : http://www.budurl.com/linkedusers
Posted by Rob Birgfeld on February 18th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
We did a post going over the first iteration of the LinkedIn Outlook tool (http://bit.ly/aHLjl6) — but I've installed the social connector and really have been impressed. It will really be interesting to see what happens when the Facebook, Twitter, etc join the fold. My email is still gospel, so integration does nothing but improve that experience.
Posted by thinklynsen on February 18th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Really good points! I also wonder if social media will be more accepted at the office if it's embedded in Outlook…especially at companies who typically block those sites. If it looks less like a distraction, will it be considered OK? Will companies change their policies, or simply overlook the activity? (Or ban the apps somehow?) It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Posted by andreasaathoff on February 18th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Google Buzz definitely has a long way to go because of how it links everyone in your address book to attachm
Posted by andreasaathoff on February 18th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
For now, I think Google Buzz has a long way to go, in terms of segregating who in your address book gets access to attachments you've sent, blogs you read etc. In FB, I share with the full expectation of connecting to a broad group. In my email, I'd like to maintain more privacy.
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