Well, according to all I’ve been reading and listening to, Social Networking has hit critical mass. Enough people have joined these online communities, that they’ve become relevant to the general public, not just the younger generation. In a recent Marketing Matters Live podcast, blogging and social network expert Dana Vanden Heuvel spoke about just that. Generation X is reaching their 40’s now. The baby boomers are logging on. Even the seniors are searching out topic-specific info online, such as info on health issues. His feeling is that, while the younger set still dominate social networks, you can no longer rule out the rest of us.
In fact, an article in InfoWorld opened with a story about a guy at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas losing his credit card because the restaurant gave his card to someone else. They had the other man’s card and gave that name to the unlucky customer who’s card they’d just given away. Instead of calling the police or American Express, he went back to his room and using his LinkedIn network, he tracked down the guy, sent him an email and left a message at his office and got his card back that evening. These aren’t kids we’re talking about, but business people on a business trip. (I myself am approaching 50 at breakneck speed and have my own LinkedIn network I check and use regularly. Look me up at www.linkedin.com/in/mikemcclure and say hi.) The article went on to talk about the need for social networks to continue to offer more to keep relevant to their members or risk losing them.
The most interesting article was one in the Wall Street Journal talking about some new uses for social networks. Many companies are mining their databases to put together special, by invitation only, private social networks of their customers. This process opens up an ongoing dialogue and is greatly speeding up research and development. It’s an interesting evolution of the phenomenon. And we’re working on developing similar uses for our clients. Things just keep getting more interesting every day, folks. Log on and enjoy the ride!
Mike McClure, ECD
