We Must Do Away With "Social Media"

We've got to kill the term social media as a way of describing what we do.  

You suffer from serious lack of situational awareness if you haven't noticed the eye-rolling at the mere mention of the phrase.

How dare you Ian??

Really?  Watch the videos and visit the websites.  I'm not making this up.  This is happening.  It's funny, right?  Hopefully it makes you a bit uncomfortable [it did for me]. 

I know I'm not the first to raise this concern.  And I sense the drumbeat getting stronger.  

I realize it's been widely socialized, and thus won't go away overnight.  But I'm encouraged that some other really annoying terms that were once popular are rarely used these days [e.g. "dandy" and "slacks"].

Rather than crowd-sourcing a new catch-all and beating it into the ground, I propose we develop our own lexicons ... our own way of describing the discipline.  And that might involve a more nuanced approach than a convenient phrase like social media.

Hi, I'm Ian Sohn.  I'm a communications specialist, counseling brands on how digital conversations in online communities drive business results.

Not quite there, but better.

Comments

[Jim Mitchem]

No, we can't: No, we can't: http://tinyurl.com/yfggqdd

[Allie]

Kick ass elevator speech, Ian

[Jeana Lawrence]

Just wondering what you would suggest to replace it?

[Ian]

@Jeana: I don't know. I really don't. But maybe the answer is that it doesn't need to be replaced. Maybe it's become so pervasive that it's just "media". But not sure.

@Allie: Thanks (assuming you're not taking the piss out of me).

@Jim: Love your post. You are a pragmatic man.

[Shani Sammons]

Social media is turning into just media...thats it. Its just a digital way of marketing. -Shani @ShaniSammons

[faris]

replacement term:

the radical decentralisation of the economics of cultural production and distribution.

;)

http://farisyakob.typepad.com/blog/2009/04/be-nice-or-leave-slight-refrain.html

[Ian]

Faris: That roles right off the tongue. ;)

Soon enough it'll be turned into some incredibly annoying acronym (though I suspect you'll need a few more vowels).

Thanks for the comment.

[giles rhys jones]

haha. same for mobile

http://interactivemarketingtrends.blogspot.com/2009/03/mobile-marketings-biggest-problem.html

[Jeana Lawrence]

I think it's another form of interactive media.

[DaGood]

I agree that the term Social Media is unhelpful and leads people to the wrong approaches.

FB, Twitter etc can certainly help to reach overall (comms) goals; so they are useful tools, not new forms of media in the sense most understand the term.