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Recently saw Avatar with my sons. Lots of cool Signourney cussing and crazy-eyed Colonel Quaritch violence.
I couldn’t shake the feeling though that I was watching an object lesson about what could happen to big chunks of the social media world.
Don’t mean to get all Pandora mystical on you but the planet of social media is an amazing place. People run around on trees, doing within reason pretty much whatever they’d like and without interference. Whenever they want to mind-meld with the entire world both past and present, they simply ponytail-jack their way into the system and do the whole Na’vi social-network thing. They can feel the love, exchange communal knowledge, decide where the best burrito can be had, or whether to get a Prius or Volt, all of it. The straight dope from those who know from all over the world. What could be better?
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But then of course the people from the planet of stupid show up. Instead of appropriately listening and learning from these gentle Na’vis, as Sigourney suggests, we bring in Colonel crazy-eyes. This goon and his boss ignore the real power; the connectedness of the populace and the planet, the amazing ability of the people to plug in and share thoughts, knowledge, memories etc.. They instead go for the unobtonium underneath the big tree. Which as far as the stupids are concerned has real ROI. And the pursuit of which will destroy what makes the place magical and valuable in the first place.
I was talking to someone recently from a large financial services company who runs their social marketing practice. He has set up a social monitoring system through which he can hear everything everyone in the world, online, has to say about his company, his competitors, and the whole category in which they compete.
This gives him and every part of his company incredible insight into what the market cares about regarding products, and service and the future. He’s also dipped his toe into having a voice in the space. Built a small but growing community in the social network and blog space where he can publish content to those who care. In spite of this very cool and valuable system of direct and relatively unfiltered communication with customers and prospects, he’s under pressure from his boss, the crazy-eyed Colonel of his company, to deliver ROI. Which in their terms means sales, directly measured. The same way they measure sales through direct or sales through clicks off of a banner.

And so they’re going to strap themselves into those giant metal robot things and start trampling the social planet in order to extract the unobtanium. Now, I’m no ROI snob. We’ve all got to earn a living, but for Eywa’s sake can we please not demo the planet or that big tree thing, and blow this insanely wonderful listening and communication system in order to turn social marketing into the same crappy ROI piece of shite digital advertising has become?
Let’s not be skxawang’s please!
Filed under: Communication Strategy, communication planning, social media, social monitoring | Tagged: Communication Strategy, conspiracy media group, social marketing, social media, social monitoring | Leave a Comment »




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