Is Social Media A Fad?

November 29, 2009 By 29 Comments

When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing or technology circles, many believe that social media is just a fad.  They think about the numerous news stories about pedophiles on MySpace; don’t understand why you should tell people that you had pizza for dinner on Twitter; and think that Facebook is only for high school and college students.  In order to turn these groups of people into believers, they need stats and case studies.

Well, fortunately for them, there are tons of great case studies such as JetBlue, Comcast, Dell, and Southwest (Chris Brogan keeps a bunch more on his Delicious page).  There are dozens of stats over on sites such as Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, TechCrunch, and a number of other blogs.  For even more stats, enough to make your head pop, check out my Delicious page.  But, unless you keep up on this rapidly growing industry, it can be hard to keep up with the ever-changing stats.

Instead of reading post after post with charts, graphs, and comparisons, I’d highly recommend you check out this video on the social media revolution.  It provides a visual that’s more powerful and easier to grasp than charts and graphs.  I don’t know about you, but spreadsheets, while necessary, tend to put me to sleep.  I tend to retain more via watching videos.  So, I hope this video is helpful to you as well.

YouTube Preview Image

So, what’s your take?  How do you change the minds of those who think social media is just a fad?

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  • http://twitter.com/justinlevy justinlevy

    Is social media a fad? A great video to check out to help answer that question http://bit.ly/74PzHt

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/furkanacarel furkanacarel

    Fwd: Is Social Media A Fad? – http://justinrlevy.com/2009/11/29/is-social-media-a-fad/ (http://ff.im/caZlQ üzerinden) http://ff.im/cb32H

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/Position1Media Position1Media

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy http://bit.ly/7BHCq7

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/WalesSMjobs WalesSMjobs

    Is Social Media A Fad? http://tinyurl.com/yhhntod #socialmedia #news

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/joltsocialmedia joltsocialmedia

    Is Social Media A Fad? http://bit.ly/4CFQwo
    #socialmedia

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/Alltop_Social Alltop_Social

    Is Social Media A Fad? http://bit.ly/8Z8roc Social-Media.alltop

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/sfsmjobshoot sfsmjobshoot

    Is Social Media A Fad? http://bit.ly/4EF4A2 #news #socialmedia

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/socialmediajs socialmediajs

    Is Social Media A Fad? http://bit.ly/8xQGE1 #news #socialmedia

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/jmctigue jmctigue

    Great post by Justin Levy – Is Social Media a Fad? http://bit.ly/5d7lmk

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/ppenguin ppenguin

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing.. http://bit.ly/8tmgGu

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/RockyPointRick RockyPointRick

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy http://tinyurl.com/yc7sqhy

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/vividsocial vividsocial

    Is Social Media A Fad? http://bit.ly/7KqHo6
    #socialmedia

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/PaulRCastillo PaulRCastillo

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing.. http://bit.ly/5LtkGl

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/koach84 koach84

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing.. http://bit.ly/4CFQwo

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/tzabaoth tzabaoth

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy http://bit.ly/7IGuGV

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/tifajhonson tifajhonson

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing or … http://bit.ly/4CFQwo

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/flegflegger flegflegger

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing or … http://bit.ly/4CFQwo

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/kelvin8048 kelvin8048

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy http://ow.ly/GT0a

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/Emma_Wattson Emma_Wattson

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing.. http://bit.ly/79W00y

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/sheridansmithf sheridansmithf

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing.. http://tinyurl.com/y8f26sx

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/Arvil_Lavigne Arvil_Lavigne

    Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy: When speaking with people that are outside of the social media, marketing.. http://bit.ly/8q45g8

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/PeterRees PeterRees

    Watching: “Is Social Media A Fad? | Justin Levy” ( http://bit.ly/7hvHZ7 )

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • Lesley

    I couldn't agree more about this. Social media isn’t going away – it grows at such a rapid rate that, like you said, stats can’t even keep up with it. By the time I’ve finished writing, the stats have changed.
    Stats can be interesting, but not when they are in flow chart form. That video really opened my eyes to how much we really are buying into social media.
    I feel like I'm already saying to kids now, “when I was your age…”. The rapid pace of social media is mind-boggling and I feel there aren't a lot of ways to change a person's mind besides getting them on there, and show them how to use it to suit their interests.
    The day my mother learned to text, I was in shock. She never left her phone on (what's the point?) let alone trying to figure out how to use the t9 text option.
    The point is that not everyone is going to like everything, but everyone will enjoy something.

  • Lesley

    I couldn't agree more about this. Social media isn’t going away – it grows at such a rapid rate that, like you said, stats can’t even keep up with it. By the time I’ve finished writing, the stats have changed.
    Stats can be interesting, but not when they are in flow chart form. That video really opened my eyes to how much we really are buying into social media.
    I feel like I'm already saying to kids now, “when I was your age…”. The rapid pace of social media is mind-boggling and I feel there aren't a lot of ways to change a person's mind besides getting them on there, and show them how to use it to suit their interests.
    The day my mother learned to text, I was in shock. She never left her phone on (what's the point?) let alone trying to figure out how to use the t9 text option.
    The point is that not everyone is going to like everything, but everyone will enjoy something.

  • http://primecutsblog.com justinlevy

    Thanks for stopping by Lesley! It is definitely interesting to seeing
    history taking place in front of your eyes and at such a rapid pace. Just
    in 12 months it can feel like years or decades have gone by. Enjoy the
    ride! :)

  • jlynnjosephson

    Excellent post…thanks! My company (a shopping center developer) has just started to use social media tools as a way to connect with our shoppers. By the time a “task force” was formed to create an action plan and the ad agency brought in to design the supporting collateral, many (including myself) were concerned that the “fad” would be over and we'd have missed the boat. The video was very enlightening for me…clearly social media isn't going anywhere. The tools for implementation might evolve as it moves forward but the concept has forever shifted the way we communicate…fully evidenced by the fact that I shared this post with my colleagues on our Facebook group page rather than an email distribution list!

  • David Siteman Garland

    Justin,

    This is a fantastic post.

    Bottom line is the tools are probably going to change over time, but the principles of social business is here to stay.

    Even here in conservative St. Louis (trust me it doesn't get anymore conservative), companies are doing more than just raising a curious eyebrow to social media (including big corporations, some of my clients, etc.)

    In my opinion, people overly complicate the benefits of social media.

    Many of these are intertwined, but here are some of the benefits to companies big and small:

    1. Customer Service/Caring
    2. PR
    3. Marketing (not direct sales but can lead to direct sales)
    4. Business Partnerships
    5. Research/Crowd Sourcing/Developing New Products (This or This)
    6. Humanizing A Business
    7. Reputation Management
    8. Recruiting
    9. Reaching A New Demographic
    10. Building A Database
    11. Relationship Building/Networking
    12. Spying…I mean researching Competitors :)

    The measurement of course is different depending on the goals. The bottom line is the benefits can't be ignored.

  • David Siteman Garland

    Justin,

    This is a fantastic post.

    Bottom line is the tools are probably going to change over time, but the principles of social business is here to stay.

    Even here in conservative St. Louis (trust me it doesn't get anymore conservative), companies are doing more than just raising a curious eyebrow to social media (including big corporations, some of my clients, etc.)

    In my opinion, people overly complicate the benefits of social media.

    Many of these are intertwined, but here are some of the benefits to companies big and small:

    1. Customer Service/Caring
    2. PR
    3. Marketing (not direct sales but can lead to direct sales)
    4. Business Partnerships
    5. Research/Crowd Sourcing/Developing New Products (This or This)
    6. Humanizing A Business
    7. Reputation Management
    8. Recruiting
    9. Reaching A New Demographic
    10. Building A Database
    11. Relationship Building/Networking
    12. Spying…I mean researching Competitors :)

    The measurement of course is different depending on the goals. The bottom line is the benefits can't be ignored.

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