On Being Negative In Social Media

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday - he was talking about the commercial potential of Foursquare, and even noted that Mashable thinks FourSquare will be the next Twitter or Facebook.

I guffawed - or snorted, or something, because my wife felt it important enough to give me a bit of a dressing down later. As she pointed out, not everyone has been in the trenches as long as I have, and the wonder of social media, which is so important for the initial success of new software, wasn't going to hit me the same.

There are lots of reasons why she's wrong and right - but this really had nothing to do with Foursquare - it had to do with how I was treating a friend simply because I disagreed. I had let myself become jaded, and that wasn't going to be helpful for anyone.

Part of the problem stems from actually doing this day in and day out. I've been a social media consultant for four years now. Four years of paying the bills and sweating and writing and talking and sharing and the row of identifiable wins is just barely ahead of the losses column. Granted the percentage is getting better as more people join and I get more skilled, but it's difficult to say whether my negative feelings towards new technologies has been based on experience or simple fatigue.

Okay, it's not that difficult - it's the experience. I never bought into the Kool-Aid sales - for me it was always about value, and that means more hires in recruiting, more sales from marketing, and more press from PR. Measuring social media is easy if you have a goal, and you think of sites and software as tools.

But I did miss something important. My ability to help clients with campaigns is based on what other people have contributed. Without the excitement built up by Twitter users, my work would be much less effective. Without the constant presence of target audiences on Facebook, what good would my link and email campaigns be? While I scoff at most of the consultants who just like something new and shiny, that same feeling is what built the industry I now work on.

So go on you crazy Foursquare kids. I'll cheer you on and figure out how to make money on it next year. Just avoid the old Gen X grump in the corner.