Saturday 17 September 2011

What drives social media?

As one of only three people left in the online industry who doesn’t claim to be a social media guru, I thought I’d take a stab at making some incisive and sweeping generalisations on the topic off the top of my head.

When professional content-creators set up a publication they have a clear idea of who their target audience is and what they’re trying to achieve. Or at least they ought to. So what are the basic drivers behind the shed-load of social media content being generated all around us?

I reckon there are half a dozen different basic motivations.

1. Business Mode. Social media is increasingly a tool of business – and this mode is all about hustle: selling stuff or selling yourself. The latter sees individuals commenting on their industry to establish their credentials among peers.

2. Self-Promotion Mode. Some people on social networks seem most concerned about letting the world know how wunderbar they (or their family) are. Concentrating on their achievements and glossing over personal difficulties, frankly I tire of hearing about their latest holiday in the Seychelles and how Little Jimmy got a double-first from Oxford. Such vanity publishers are reticent about also letting their network know how Little Jimmy’s brother got suspended from school for attempting to set fire to his class-mate’s hair.

3. Dear Diary Mode. Arguably where blogging started out – with musings about life, the universe and everything. The impersonal nature of a computer keyboard allows some to let their emotions out in a way they would find difficult face-to-face with the very friends who might read their stuff online.

4. Functional Mode. My personal favourite. This is all about extending one’s ability to keep in touch with real-life networks. This could be anything from using Facebook to organise a get-together in the pub to giving selective updates about what’s happening to you. Such publishing shys away from overt self-publicity, marking significant events in the progress through life – holidays, jobs (lost and found), births/deaths, marriages…that kind of thing. Good and bad included. Some people get carried away though and seem to think it’s important the rest us know they’ve just had a haircut. A deluge of pointless information is not going to help the planet or deepen relationships.

5. Reviewer Mode. From slagging off tv programmes to politicians in live presidential debates to a hoover you bought that broke after a week, people are using social media to express their opinions and ‘to be heard’. With increasingly sophisiticated social media aggregation services such comment does count - in a way that similar banter in the pub with friends doesn’t travel beyond the next pint.

6. Citizen-reporter Mode. If you find yourself in the midst of a newsworthy event with a mobile phone, the urge may grab you to report on what’s happening and publish it to the outside world. The Arab Spring is an obvious case in point. It is difficult to imagine major breaking news events in future without this dimension of social media.

7. The God Knows Mode. I suspect a good many people are tweeting and updating Facebook pages because – well – everyone else seems to be doing it.

Naturally there is a good deal of crossover and people may operate in more than one mode at once. But maybe I've missed other motivations?