Where is social media headed in 2009? Content Matters caught up with Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting to gain her insights on social media.
For those who don't know her, Laura is a social media guru who has been leading the charge on use of Twitter for microsharing. She can be found @pistachio and also runs the Touchbase Blog and authors her own Pistachio Blog. A mother of two lovely girls, Laura also plays competitive ice hockey.
Content Matters readers will recognize Laura from my earlier posts tracking the progress of her WellWishes project, using microdonations to raise funds for Charity:Water (details below). Laura is dynamic, creative and truly inspirational.
Content Matters: 2009 will certainly have its share of challenges. What do you see for social media in 2009?
Laura Fitton: Social media needs to grow up and get outside of the fishbowl. As practitioners we need to spend more time and energy engaging new hearts and minds and "teaching them to fish" and less time obsessing amongst ourselves over rules and rankings and the finer niceties of "how to do it."
While there certainly are many hucksters coming to the table and selling "social media snakeoil," serious practitioners just shouldn't get caught up in calling them out and decrying their practices. Every trade has professionals achieving at different levels. Make things great for your clients, hold their business value above all else, and don't waste time and energy criticizing others. When people obsess about the plethora of self-declared "experts" I always say "expert is as expert does."
CM: Facebook was all the rage in 2007, while Twitter took center stage in 2008. Do you think Twitter has staying power? If so, what's different about Twitter?
LF: I do. There's a lot that's different, and it's best exemplified by the culture and results coming out of Twitter. It's become the most sensitive news detection system anyone's seen. It's become a tremendously fertile forum of spreading ideas, keeping apprised of events, finding resources and interesting people to connect with. It's mobile. It's publish-subscribe. It's a social network. It can be consumed via hundreds of different interfaces, to truly "use it where you think best." It lets busy executives spread ideas and information on-the-go, from the midst of their demanding schedules, in a way that blogging never could. We see social movements and adhoc groups form every day on Twitter. Its ability to connect people is incredibly powerful, and we're only just sorting out precisely why that is.
Twitter - or the general class of "microsharing" because I believe there will eventually be other Twitter-compatible versions - may go every bit as mainstream as email and search. Of note, it's going mainstream much faster than email did. People love to point to Facebook and say but *that's* mainstream, Twitter is niche. True today, but it won't be true forever. There's a different culture and dynamic on Twitter, and while much simpler it's MUCH more versatile. Information and ideas do not spread on Facebook the way they do on Twitter, that's for sure.
When I conducted a survey to find out "What does Twitter disrupt?" Facebook and email were right up there. But surprisingly, so was "isolation." Twitter changes lives - both personally and professionally. There are millions that LOVE Facebook, yes, but there's an energy and richness of infromation flow to Twitter that doesn't happen there.
CM: In many ways, the most promising use of Twitter this year came in Q4 by combining Twitter with micro-donations to nonprofits. Can you share with us some of the details of your Well Wishes project for Charity:Water?
LF: What an incredible and humbling experience that was. I wanted to see if I could move the needle somewhat substantially by asking very very little from very many people. I asked for $2 each, or $25,000 since I had 12,500 readers at the time. Between the Twitter community and some corporate matching sponsors, my wishes somehow came true. It was truly a "stone soup" project, with many coming together. These are tough times, and we need low-cost ways to pull together as a community and help one another through them.
It was also the first large-scale deployment and use of direct currency right on Twitter. About $20,000 (including the matching funds) was exchanged on Twitter using a new tool called @tipjoy. I only vaguely knew about @tipjoy before the campaign, but for months I had been looking and waiting for someone to become "the PayPal of Twitter." Now they've asked me to be an advisor, because we enjoyed working on the campaign so much.
CM: Much of the corporate success of Twitter has been in the customer service area, with companies like Comcast and Dell monitoring Twitter for customer problems. While "listening" on Twitter has succeeded, brands seeking to broadcast their message on Twitter have largely failed, due to the opt-in nature of the platform. Beyond customer care, where do you see companies succeeding with Twitter going forward?
LF: Not true. Broadcasting USEFUL information totally works on Twitter. You just can't be selfish. You hear a lot about Twitter being personality and conversationally driven, and it is, but it does not have to be. That's not the only way. Look at @delloutlet, which sold over a $million worth of computers by offering something truly useful and valuable to the community -- signficant time-limited discounts.
The true nature of the listening opportunity on Twitter is not well understood either. We show our clients how they can do better, and instant, market and innovation research, we show them ways to run internal and external meetings better, and for their executives to be better leaders. It even percolates down to HR, mentoring, professional development and a full range of core business processes. You have to know the territory. You have to gain Twitter literacy, not just run out there and try to coopt it along the lines of your existing marketing and communications beliefs and objectives.
Which brings up another VERY important point. Social media is NOT merely a marketing or even communications channel. Social media can be (and should) be infused throughout the entire business. I love what Peter Kim has been writing lately about "Social business." The business case for social media is to master the fundamentals and apply them to becoming - to borrow from SAP - a better run business.
CM: While there's a lot of gloom and doom about, there are always bright spots. What are you optimistic about in 2009 (professionally or personally)?
LF: #pinkslipparty, @wellwishes and Twitter in general have showed me a LOT about what individuals can accomplish when we network together in fluid, dynamic (and yes, passionate) ways. I have a ton of hope for the world, and I've personally been through some pretty difficult spots in the past four years. It sounds pollyanna, but it's sincere. Tough times are great times to toughen your resolve and boost your hope. Being frustrated, afraid, bitter or anxious isn't going to materially improve a bad situation. Quite the opposite. Why bother?
