Social Media, it’ll never take off…

Almost sounds silly now, but it probably wasn’t that long ago that many business owners (and you’ll still find a few!) reckoned that they couldn’t make any money with their business through Social Media, believing it was “for kids” at best. Figures released this week by the technology research firm Gartner would tend to suggest otherwise.

Worldwide revenues from social media (that doesn’t just mean Facebook then!) are on track to hit $10 billion this year. If that sounds like a lot then the next few years will more than likely blow your socks off as the predictions are that this will treble by 2015. Yes folks, it’s going to be here for some time…

This really is just the beginning for an emerging market, despite the large number of users already within this sphere (how many of your friends aren’t on Facebook then!?). Scott Klososky calls these “early adopters” which almost perfectly describes how things are. In the next few years it will almost become common place for individuals and businesses to have some form of online social presence. By 2017 only those “left behind” will be catching up with the rest of the pack.

Whether businesses like it or not, the online game has changed. It’s no longer about presence, it’s about “engagement”. Users don’t want businesses doing the hard sell on them anymore, they want to have a conversation with them, much in the same way as a customer would with a staff member in a real shop (remember those!?).

Many social users are now starting to develop increasingly mature patterns and business owners have to realise that their business models need to adapt accordingly. These sites are willing to give a vast range of data on users interacting with them for free. Much of the work I do day in day out is with this technology and I strongly believe that adult social care service providers, just like businesses of all shapes and sizes, need to adopt this technology.

The system for too many years has been unresponsive and sluggish to the increasingly demanding, complex and rapidly changing needs of the end user. That is why I’m pleased that a contact at Leeds City Council recently confirmed that their new site will be “mobile friendly”. Whilst it’s not a full leap into the 21st Century deep end, it is at least a move in the right direction…

Small, baby steps…

Rm.

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