This is from the introduction to a book about using online social networking (which I made into the acronym, OLSeN) back in 2003. The book never made it past the planning stages and this information is no longer ground-breaking, but it was then.
Paradigm on its head
It is often said of a new technology that it turns a current paradigm on its head. With online social networking media, it actually does, almost literally. Advertising and marketing has always been about the company telling consumers what they should want. Now, the consumers tell the company what they do want. Marketing used to be solely in the hands of the marketing director. Now, the consumer is part of the dialog. This is of great advantage to both sides.
Until recently, advertising and marketing had not changed all that much since the days of the snake oil salesmen, except to utilize new media as it has become available. Newspapers, radio, and television each in their turn provided new advertising opportunities that companies had to start using if they wanted to stay competitive. That the latest addition to this is the Internet, is news to no one. When web sites first became readily available, it was said that the Internet had leveled the playing field for business because any business, no matter how small, could have a web presence. Web sites can be easy and relatively inexpensive to build, and they give your potential customer a way to see who you are, what you do, and why you do it better than anybody else.
Level playing field? Really?
But the Internet didn’t level the playing field. A quick Google search demonstrates this distressingly well. Whatever business you are in, do a Google search of it Within seconds, you will get hundreds of thousand, maybe even millions, of results Where is your web site on that list? If you’re not on the first page, you’re not competing with the big boys, no matter how good your site is. You can even specify a city in your search and still come up with more results than anyone is going to look through. If you’re not somewhere in the first three pages, no one is ever going to find you, because by then, the average customer has already been presented with 30 or more different choices and they’re not going to look any further. After one page, they’ve already seen 10–15 options, and that’s enough for many people. So, it’s not enough to have a web site. People have to be able to find it.
Social networking sites truly have leveled the playing field. By working sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others, you can increase your visibility online so much that even Google finds you quickly. Then you’re competing with the big boys.
But being fluent with one of the above mentioned media – or even in all of them – will not shoot you from Internet obscurity to instant visibility. It is using them together in the right way that makes the magic happen.
Personal use, support groups
From a personal point of view – that is, not business – online social networking media can play a very different role. It makes it possible to find just about anyone you’re looking for, and keep up with all your friends’ lives. But perhaps more important, it allows you to find peer groups. Say you collect bottle caps and you don’t know anyone else who does. You can probably find a bottle cap collecting group online. Or start one of your own, and you will be surprised how many other collectors you’ll find. If you are looking at a major purchase – a refrigerator, say – don’t look at the refrigerator’s company site; that’s biased. Put out the word on line that you want to know who has this unit and what they think of it.
It is also an excellent place to find support groups. Anything you are going through, there is someone somewhere who is going through the same thing. Or has already gone through it. You can find each other online and help each other.