An artist in the 3M tent creates amazing pieces by cutting away sections of 3M packing tape. Amazing.
I was so bitter about Arcade Fire being overlooked (snubbed?) by the Grammys (and, truth be told, life got crazy busy) that I never completely finished my series on Reflektor. I will get back to that last, important word on what was one of the best albums of 2013, but for now I am back at SXSW Interactive in the good company of about 8,000 of my closest friends.
I come to this year’s SXSW Interactive with a specific question: What’s next in social/mobile media? I have a deep sense that Facebook is on the wane, but people are not flocking to its nearest cousin, Google+. Where they appear to be going is to SnapChat and other apps that emphasize privacy and social controls over sharing (Whisper & Secret are the only two out there I know about right now). In my mind, this has devastating consequences for social media marketing. So I’m curious to hear how brands and other social media managers perceive what I see as this major climate shift on online media.
My first SXSW session spoke directly to my concerns. Sam Decker of Mass Relevance and Sean McDonald of Price Waterhouse Cooper facilitated a “mosh pit” on the future of social. Leveraging the expertise in the room (the audience) and the perspective of one of Facebook’s leaders who has been with the company since 2007, a number of interesting directions were proposed for the future of social. The opinion of the experts in the room (those who did not work for Facebook, of course) was that Facebook is, in fact, fading as an organic marketing platform. The only real space left on Facebook is paid placements that are highly targeted to a particular demographic. Google+ will slowly emerge as a major marketing platform, one expert suggested, because Google has made it the hub of its online platform. Since a user’s engagement across Google’s apps happens through Google+ a synergy results between the content a user is interested in (expressed through search) and the user’s existing social network and potential social connections. This collusion of content, search analytics and social make Google+ a powerfully integrated social platform going forward. The experts I heard also believed that Twitter would continue to be a strong platform for social engagement because it provides an immediate, selective platform for reading and sharing content. Nobody made any comment about the future of more private apps, but everyone found it interesting that SnapChat recently turned down a major buyout offer. Their future strategy is worth watching closely as it may influence the next wave of social media.
My second session did not address my question directly, but came at it from a different context. Austin Kleon counseled the SXSW Interactive audience in his keynote address to work diligently in the pursuit of important questions, share not only the product but the process, and collaborate with others who share your passion. Whatever is next in social/mobile media, it will continue to be about sharing content, maybe along the lines of something like Tumblr. Sharing into publicly available spaces designed to feature creativity creates the possibility for appreciation and critique. The conversation that emerges becomes the “scenius,” a word stolen by Kleon with open thanks to Brian Eno, that replaces the old model of the indiviudal genius. This approach to creativity and problem solving marks a new way forward in a more shared economy offering better quality thinking than in the model of the inspired genius. We see much of this “scenius” approach on existing social platforms, but imagine it will be extended.
I ended my first day in a session on social change with Jean Case of the Case Foundation. This session was less about social media, per se, but more about being fearless in the face of monumental social issues that must be addressed. Such fearlessness calls us to tackle the complex issues we face with an eagerness to try new things and a willingness to fail repeatedly. Social/mobile engagement in social change is a critical part of any engagement strategy and, in fact, may be the primary space where being fearless is demonstrated in regard to calling for social change.
My quest toward an answer to this question continues tomorrow, but what are your thoughts on these themes and the future of social media?