1. 1) Tarnished trust – too much nefarious attempts to game the system. (Don’t worry though the government is looking into the matter.
2. 2) Too much stupidity, yes my good social sympathizers I realize stupidity exists everywhere and my stupidity may be another’s genius, however when you are presenting Twitter to a company or a group and the Twitter Trend gets into less than appropriate topics for the audience, (watching out for my personal brand here, let’s just call it R-Rated an then some) it diminishes the attractiveness of the medium – I’m just saying.
3. 3) False expectations unrealized. Companies looking to cut costs rather than understand the social culture that jumped on social media in the Fall of 08 spawn a ton of negative press
4. 4) Societal issue of $$ and influence. Isn’t it ironic how social media has picked up the term influencers and is now facing an issue of ethics related to influence peddling. We need to get to a place in our culture where supporting a family, which includes making money, can be done in a perceived ethical manner online. So why are we getting hung up on disclosure? Oh, that’s right item number 1.

This blog’s headline is Four Things That Can Kill Social Media, not Social Media will Die. Social media is at a plateau. We’ll spend some time at this level of usage until companies and consumers sort out issues like trust, reliability, and whether spending time with social media is a good use of their time and business investment.

My take is in the near term those that jumped on for quick profits and low cost marketing may well drift away as the medium assimilates regular users. Those that value the communities in which they participate will out the social hucksters. The purists may need to compromise on the way corporations realign resources to adopt their own brand culture with that of their social communities. By this I mean, paid blogging is not necessarily a sell out, the economy is changing, and the blogging community should allow its own members to pursue a living out condemnation.

If Society Wants Candor, It Must Change

I would hope that society recognizes companies that own up to mistakes, without undue punishment. If society wants a different relationship with companies in a capitalistic economy, then it and the media need to alter their part in this relationship. The “gotcha” style of journalism or a quick to criticize and/or generalize public may have a different reaction to a company’s candid behavior. That’s right, this includes investor communities as well. If new candor and transparency is not reflected in the stock price, then all this happy transparency talk may be for nothing.

Companies that make an attempt to play by the social web’s culture with a more transparent face to the consumer should also be received in a different light. This new relationship then will feed on itself. Candor becomes recognized in its culture and others will follow. This is how the social web can bring about change and become as much a movement as it is a marketplace. This is the promise of social media as a movement and not a marketplace. It strips the 20th century illusion of brand “perfection” and reveals the people behind the curtain which ultimately is who we interact with in any brand relationship.

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