Could the Social Boom bust?
This video, if you haven’t seen it already (and you probably have), makes an incredible case for the sea-change that is social media. Take a look if it’s news to you.
Great video. Can’t deny how much engagement there is.
The concern I have is rooted in my memory of the dot-com boom, when everyone (and I mean everyone — economists, professors, business gurus) claimed that company valuations would forever be changed by focusing on profit potential rather than actual profit. It was universally viewed as a Revolution. Until the model crashed and burned after 3 years or so.
There’s no question that the train has left the station for good when it comes to consumer empowerment. What it’s going to look like, long term, is harder to grapple with. Because whether the social media landscape we’ve come to love today (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) transforms into a true revolution will be determined by whether profit potential can turn into actual profit.
Facebook is not profitable. Neither is Twitter.
There’s no stopping the online conversations consumers are having. But a high % of those conversations are happening via tools that are currently free. Will they always be free? And if not, where will the conversations go? And will we even be willing to pay to have them?
