Good things come in small packages

With the news that the General Assembly of Maryland is banning Facebook and Myspace connections, we have an interesting issue before us regarding social media.  Is "big" a good thing or do good things really come in small packages?


Some people think Facebook, growing at millions of people every month, is a good place to build your community, but when you have a widespread network, hacker bozos like messing with you.  The reason Mac's are generally immune to computer viruses is that there are not enough people using them for malware hackers to cause the mayhem they like to do.  Facebook and Myspace present the kind of playground the web-vandals like to ransack.

But so far, the smaller, more focused players in social media, like Linkedin and Plaxo have been fairly immune to malware.  So what I am wondering is, have we gone past the time of importance for mass media?  Are we, as Seth Godin sees it, becoming a planet of tribes again?   I'm no longer sure social media is a replacement for traditional media,, but a means to reconnect on a more personal level, so applying massive scale to an approach may not be the best.

I'm going to be looking in this more.

Comments

  1. www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlzmGLyB9EQswpBVae-YdWLNOid15PY7pUFebruary 6, 2009 at 5:29 AM

    Hi Lou,

    I would hardly say LinkedIn and Plaxo are small, but I guess compared to FaceBook everything is.

    Certainly they are not focused.

    LinkedIn "focuses" on business contacts regardless of industry or background. So, this narrows it down by excluding everyone that doesn't want a job.

    Plaxo actively attempts to mix both social and professional contacts - so potentially everyone on the planet.

    These approaches work great for VCs and have been financially successful by appealing to the "middle of the bell curve".

    However, I would take your thought further and categorically state that these are not effective networks for companies to engage and promote if they do not already have a large brand. ie. Unless you're a consumer facing company that wants to hit the middle of the bell curve, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, even Ning are not for you.

    Small to medium sized companies will always get lost in the noise. (And by "small to medium", I mean anyone outside of the Fortune 500...100?)

    But you're definitely on the right track. Focus is essential for promotion and engagement to be more effective.

    A company needs the other companies within a community to *leverage*, not conceal and obstuct. There needs to be cohesion and resonance within a community of communities.

    You want an orchestra, not shattering glass.

    At Xuropa, we're building an orchestra and we're open for auditions: www.xuropa.com.

    James

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