3 Reasons to Hate Social Media
March 31st, 2012
Over on Business2Community, Mai Overton offers up three reasons to be thankful for social media. Feels like a bit of a stretch to me, and I’m not sure how the photo of the homeless man ties in (I swiped it anyway), but it feels like less of a stretch to come up with three reasons to hate social media, to wit:
Social media is a ridiculous time suck: The other day, ZDNet reported that 10.5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook daily. There are 525,600 minutes in a year. That means the equivalent of somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 years–or 286 lifetimes, assuming an average lifespan of 70 years–are wasted on Facebook each day liking things, watching videos, sharing pictures, making snarky comments and on and on and on. Imagine 286 people spending their lifetimes trying to cure cancer. Or doing volunteer work. Or reading great novels. Or anything productive. (Like maybe helping the homeless?) Tomorrow, imagine another 286. The day after that, imagine another 286. And on and on and on.
Social media is hurting businesses: Consider the typical small business that’s trying to make it in the digital world today. They finally get a decent website built, and now they have to figure out how to integrate Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and all the rest into their business strategy. So they buy and read books and attend presentations and call meetings to develop strategies and then test this tactic and that tactic and focus their brainpower on trying to figure out social media when, instead, they ought to be focusing on making better products or providing better customer service.
Social media is boring: I don’t want to see a photo of the creme brulee you made, I don’t care that your dog just peed on the couch and I don’t need hundreds of people reminding me that it’s Monday and that Monday sucks. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s the first day of trout season, I don’t feel like voting in whatever stupid poll or survey you’re trying to suck me into and I don’t need you to broadcast your every move via Foursquare because the degree to which I care that you’re at Trader Joe’s is incalculably infinitesimal. Just stop it.
Takeaway for marketers: I’m not saying social media should go away (I’m as guilty as anyone of having been sucked into the social media vortex). I’m simply saying it needs to be placed (and kept) in perspective.