Web 2.0 technologies have ushered in a paradigm shift in PR, Marketing & Communications like none weve ever seen. The resulting Social Media has connected people in a way and at a speed never before experienced.
Love it or hate it, you cannot deny the allure and the power of this new communication channel. Marketers are obsessed with the myriad of statistics that predict the demise of television, reading novels or even verbal communication. They highlight how people are flocking in droves to update their statuses on social networks or exclaim OMG to their BFFs via mobile messaging. They boast that even the millions of couch potatoes fixated on the darling of all television ratings: American Idol dont outnumber those Tweeting every week.
But should we be declaring: Beware of False Prophets?
Lets look at Twitter as an example. You cannot deny the popularity of this social network, nor the fervour around its popular online chats and hashtags. Its so popular in fact that new industries have been erected around it. These include social communication tools like Hootsuite & Tweetdeck, follower-management apps like Form-u-Lists and follower-aggregation tools like TweetBig, to name a few.
Yet, none of that fazed me. I realized all this was starting to get out of hand when I noticed a trend towards the idolization of influence scores such as Klout.com or Peerindex.net. These tools provide a numerical rating that is supposed to represent the level of influence you have. It provides this score based on some mystery algorithm that combines the number of Twitterites that follow you, how influential they are, the number of times your messages are retweeted and/or the number of times you are mentioned in Tweets.
Can you say Internet Voodoo?
Even if you were to believe that the algorithms used to determine your influence score is accurate, it begs the question: influence on whom? Or over what? Try analyzing the actual people that the majority of Twitterites have some influence over; influence that would make their followers immediately buy a product, change their allegiance or their beliefs. Youll notice that they are very, very few.
The reality is that Twitter is but a speck in the universe of influence. And too many people are hanging their hats, reputations and businesses on the value of their online influence scores.
Taking it one step further, too many people are relying on social media as a means to build their businesses. While it certainly must be a facet of your marketing plan, few if any will become successful without the inclusion of innovative offline engagement, a good sales pitch, an even better product and a firm handshake
Influence is critical to any business leader, but if the pursuit of that influence is centered on achieving an online rating, you’re following a false prophet. Embrace Social Media. Be proud of your high Klout score. Just remember what it is: one arrow in your quiver. And then remember that very few hunters can take down an elephant with just one arrow.
Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Get involved in the dialogue.
Feed Your Community, Not Your Ego
Sam Fiorella
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