There’s a line in the remake of Battlestar Galatica that goes “All this has happened before and all this shall happen again”.
The reason it’s popped into my head is that I’ve been reflecting recently on the seemingly circular transition of online communities into social media and back again. When we started Tempero in 2003, after 4 years of forum and text-to-screen management within Granada Media/ITV, social networks were still years away, Facebook was a term only used by models, and engagement was something you did on one knee.
To us, the power of community was obvious: folks chatted on your site, became loyal and hopefully bought stuff. Senior management saw it differently, seeing a geeky collective talking nonsense on their dime. Seven years on, return on investment is still a little flaky at times but with the nerdy persona behind it, community has evolved into social media and marketing managers everywhere are scrobbling (sic) for fans, likes, comments and tweets.
Social media management is what we do, but I sometimes feel that doesn’t convey that the fact that community is at the heart of it all. With that in mind it’s been heartening that many recent meetings with global brand names have had community as the focus and not the phrase ‘social media’. This I hope, is a trend that will continue, with people coming together for contact, content and cause – my preferred definition for social media and community.
It does bring up the question though, what is the difference between social media and community? You could answer it based on platform, purpose, or a more evolved anthropological basis – any of which could be correct. More importantly, does it matter? Right now I’d say no. The community/social media industry is growing nicely so perhaps I should stop reflecting and enjoy the ride.
If you fancy adding your thoughts, concerns, betting tips, to my ruminations, comment away :-)
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