Social Media - Fact or Fiction

Here at the Knowledge Institute, we are concerned with the hype and continued adoption of Social Media venues as the next greatest marketing tool. The important question to ask from a business perspective is: What is the ROI?

Clearly, one of the main advantages is networking. Today's Social Media platforms pretty much provide opportunities to connect with anyone practically anywhere to share ideas about pretty much anything at any time.

In many respects, Social Media is today's platform for yesterday's main street community or old fashioned neighborhood. Here, everyone knew everyone else, cared about each other, and looked out for each other. You knew that Tom's grandmother was very ill and so you shared the concern and sorrow, and that Sarah just had twin girls and so you shared the excitement and joy. In between, you shared information about various aspects of your lives - what kind of tires to buy for your car, the value of vitamins, where to go on vacation - all of which were personal opinions and viewpoints.

Although the information was opinion and not necessarily fact, you had a pretty good idea who you could depend on because you knew the source face-to-face. With this level of personal contact, it was simpler to assess the value and trustworthiness of the opinion. For example, you know Dana is a stickler for carefully researching information before making a decision. Chris, on the other hand, is apt to wing it when offering her opinion. As a result you are more likely to trust Dana's opinion more than Chris' opinion.

This distinction is important when it comes to Social Media today and its role in business. Without knowing the source of the opinions being shared through Social Media venues it becomes more difficult to validate the accuracy or trustworthiness of the source. For example, what if someone posts information about America's Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) relative to tax incentives for hiring decisions? As a result of reading this, your business makes a hiring decision that turns out to not qualify for the tax credit at the end of the year because of some specific IRS detail that was not fully conveyed.

While there can be endless such examples, the main point is caveat emptor when it comes to accepting information as fact when shared in Social Media venues. "Content in context" continues to be an important qualification to look for when making any business decisions.

Accordingly, do your homework if you read something in a Social Media venue that you want to act upon. If you are the one doing the Social Media posting, provide links to other sources that will further validate your message, reinforce you as a credible source and offer additional helpful information to your target audience.

In addition, look for Social Media platforms like www.BUZGate.org and www.myExpertNet.org that offer pre-validated, non-commercial content on a wide range of business issues, as well as access to a directory of local business mentors that work for government and nonprofit business assistance agencies. Like the old-fashioned neighborhood community, these online networks make it easier for you to get to know who has the business information, advice and resources that you need and that you can trust.

Technology can be a beautiful thing, but your gut instincts and a little bit of pre-validated source data are timeless assets not to be undervalued.