(insert long and tired sigh)
In yet another completely unnecessary opportunity to prove to business professionals and the main stream public that social media is only for kids and startup companies, exists Social Media Week.
Really? I mean really?
I don’t ever remember there being a telephone week, a fax week, or any week dedicated to a communications medium. Aren’t conferences, blogs, webinars, tweets, Facebook posts, and everything else we use every day enough? I mean we couldn’t just tryout a social media day first, we had to go for an entire week? Seems a little ambitious.
Yes there is a fashion week (which I love) but that comparison is ridiculous. Social media is not an industry. Social media isn’t a thing. It’s an idea.
I’m not sure why I’m surprised this exists. I suppose this completely makes sense. Ultimately and ironically the most popular thing on social media platforms is not to communicate with others, but essentially to talk to and about ourselves. So why not have an entire week dedicated to us talking about how important we are.
As “social media marketers” we scream and claw and cry for the rest of the company or for real business and industry to take us seriously. Only a fraction of businesses are using the tools available to them so the opportunities are tremendous. But somehow I don’t think Social Media Week is the wake-up call we so desperately want them to receive.
Social Media Week seems like a Super Sweet 16 party that we make so exclusive we don’t invite anyone to it…but to absorbed to know that no one wanted to go anyway.
Perhaps this rant is nonsense. Perhaps at Social Media Week we will take the opportunity to invite new users and showcase business and profit opportunities to our coworkers. But my guess is that we will instead use the week to talk to each other, talk to ourselves, and talk about how everyone else “just doesn’t get it”.
Eventually though, we’re going to have to grow up. Eventually we’ll need to earn the respect we so desperately want. And if you don’t agree with me, I’ll just block you on Twitter talk about your ignorance over on Google Plus.
Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media. He is an avid blogger and active across the net. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter.
