Testing the waters … the next Facebook

July 16th, 2007

So going with the assumption you have caught the fever and you use social media. One thing to think about is how much to invest in a certain platform.

What do I mean by this?
Simple. There is always going to be a new Facebook. Everyday a new social network is born that may or may not be worth your time. You need to try to keep on top of things. If you were a very early adopter of social media you may have had an account on Friendster. That ship has sailed, ” It’s so five minutes ago”. You need to think ahead and say hey where are the people going. There is a bit of a herd mentality with web users in the sense they tend to all congregate in the same place. Which is actually a good thing because that is where you can focus your efforts. But to say that YouTube is the best ever video website would probably be false. There are hundreds of other websites that do exactly what they do, some possibly even better. Their success can be summed up with the saying “The right place at the right time.” They currently have the critical mass and that helps sustain them. However such as Friendster they may someday be dethroned.

All I’m suggesting here is that you have to keep up with things on the web. As we all know interests on the web change like the wind. And just to say that you are on Facebook today doesn’t mean that you are covered tomorrow.

*Note* I love Facebook (my profile, add me) and hope it never leaves.

So the question I ask is; Do you use social media? Where do you see it in your marketing mix? What do you think will be the next big thing?

- Matt Herzberger -July Blogger

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