It’s the Pace of Change That’s Disruptive, Not Social Media
The way we receive and distribute information has always changed throughout history. As marketers, why would we expect anything different going forward?
Initially, the predominant flow of information from community to community, and generation to generation, was by ‘word of mouth’. Early written communication consisted of pictures and paintings which told a story to be interpreted by the viewer. As language and society evolved, information started to be recorded in the written word of scribes. The origin of the word history (or ‘his story’) likely stems from each scribe or artist taking some creative license to adapt the subject matter to the times, the views and expectations of their respective patrons, and their own their own beliefs and biases. And then there’s the arrival of the printing press which enabled the age of mass communications, a precursor to today.
Personal communications have also seen radical change. Up until the early 20th century, the predominant, most efficient and effective way to communicate when face to face was not possible was to send a letter. The first telephone poles erected were met with the same doubt as the Orville brothers’ flight plans – now nary a day goes by without one’s mobile acting as a body appendage. The fax machine was something out of a Star Trek episode and email was an internal only communications tool supported with memos and formal business letters.
Social media has enabled the age of mass personal communications - everyone can create, distribute, and receive multimedia content on demand. However, the existence of social media is no more or less disruptive than its forbearers – the printing press, radio, telegraph, telephone, computer, internet, and so on. What is different is the pace of change. In the past four decades, we have seen more change in how we communicate en masse and personally, than we have in the last 500 years.
While change is a constant, three truisms have emerged that marketers need to pay attention to:
• Each time a new communication vehicle takes hold, the middleman or messenger is relegated to a lesser role. From a marketer’s perspective, that means less and less control over the message.
• Old channels don’t burn out, but fade away. As the pace of change in the way we communicate continues to accelerate, the resulting communication channel is increasingly splintered. For marketers, that means social media should be part of the mix, not the whole mix.
• While individual forms, platforms and service providers, may come and go, once a groundswell is created for a new mode of communication, resistance is futile. The question is not whether to adopt, but how if you haven’t already and to keep your eyes, ears, and fingers peeled for the next disruption because I guarantee you it's coming.
Change is the disruption, social media is the effect.
By Jenn Markey, a principal with M3C Group
