The Amazing Power of Social Media

The executive staff here at Ad Contrarian world headquarters thought we had a pretty good understanding of the remarkable power of social media.

We know it can freshen your breath and create peace on earth, but we had no idea of all the other stuff it can do.

According to a post from several months ago on the blog Microgeist entitled What Does Social Media Make Obsolete? social media is in the process of making pretty much everything obsolete.

Here are just a few things that social media is making obsolete:

• Speaking and listening 
• Celebrity endorsements 
• Centralized power and authority 
• Social manipulation 
• Charlitanism (sic)
• Tradition.

Only trouble with the post? It's utter nonsense. Let's take a look at some these soon-to-be-obsolete things one at a time.

• Speakers and listeners - "The days of a television (and) radio... talking at a potential customer are fading fast." Yeah, right. Just to set the record straight one last time, Americans now watch more TV than ever before. And radio reaches 92 million more people in a week than Google reaches in a month.

• Celebrity endorsements - "The only kind of celebrity endorsements that seem to be working these days are by authorities." Really? That would be news to Adweek. In an article entitled Dancing With The Stars  last week they said...

"...if anything, the use of celeb endorsers seems to be making a comeback....At high-profile advertising events...celebrities and popular music appeared in 40 percent of the commercials."

• Centralized power and authority - Hey, Einstein, tell that to about a billion people in China.

• Social manipulation - "...social networks almost seem to seek out and illuminate the shady areas of discourse." Unfortunately, they didn't do a very good job of seeking out and illuminating this shady baloney.

• Charlitanism (sic) - You mean charlatanism, right? You mean, like social media experts, right? Apparently they're not all obsolete yet.

• Tradition - Cancel Christmas, social media is here

It's comforting to know that clueless zealots with no perspective are still asserting that the latest trendy thing is going to destroy everything in its path.

That's one tradition social media won't make obsolete.

By The Way...
In a piece in the Wall Street Journal today entitled, Entrepreneurs Question Value of Social Media, it is reported that only 22% of small business owners said that their social media marketing efforts were profitable.

Apology: Someone sent me a tip on the "obsolete" story and I lost the email.  Pls re-email me and I'll acknowledge you.