The future looks like being less about the medium and more about the content, and as we see increasing aggregation of the messages being put out there we’ll be less concerned about what tools we use to distribute that message.

Just like motor cars, they all get us there in pretty much the same way, but personal motivation to use one type or another is as changeable as the number of people on the planet.

Blogger, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter… next year? I’m not sure that we really need to worry as long as the content is interesting or relevant to somebody.

I think you might have got the wrong end of the stick RE: what the Twitter League is…

I’m not an architect, but have had a ‘couple’ of conversations RE: the league and I believe the Twitter League is currently a measure of the people Su has found rather than people who’ve found the Twitter League. So if Su, the Twitter League, is following you then you’ll be included within the stats

Again, although I’m not an Architect, I follow quite a few on Twitter that are – including Su and the league, and the impression I get is that it is a valuable resource to those that use it: architects, practices, students and individuals so that they can find one another.

As I’m sure you can appreciate, Twitter use in the UK is still in it’s infancy and as such people are experimenting in how it can benefit and assist organisations and the people that work within specific sectors – Architects included.

I’m sure Su and the Twitter League would welcome any suggestions that you may have for future ideas that you feel the League could implement to help others in similar situations…

Best wishes,

Lee
http://www.twitter.com/LeeSmallwood
lee@smallwood.ws

Firstly, anything that gets a lot of traditional media and word of mouth will attract a lot of attention – nothing new there. But unlike products or services provided by companies, social media platforms like Twitter rely heavily on people having a high perception of value – and more importantly understanding the ‘added value’ it can bring. This, I believe, is where a % of the partly problem lies:

People sign up to Twitter, add a few contacts, start learning how to communicate in fewer than 140 characters. People then start adding more ‘friends’ – following advice on blogs in how to increase your followers. They then start seeing their numbers increase dramatically, which gives them a sense of achievement perhaps even fulfilment until they realise that they are now getting spammed with information which doesn’t relate to them or listening to conversations which have no meaning. So they start to unfollow those ‘friends’ and they get back to a stage where they don’t really see the difference between Twitter and say updating their status on Facebook or sending a text message to a friend via a mobile and slowly but surely visit the sites less frequently…

A further problem lies with businesses not understanding where and how social media can fit in with their communication plans or they haven’t even considered that SM tools are a form of B2B or B2C communication – (although I believe these terms are becoming outdated and we’re actually in the age of P2P, peer2peer, and have been for some time)

Another problem falls with many companies and organisations (big and small)insisting they have a social media strategy, by saying, ‘oh yes, some of our employees are personally on facebook/linkedin/twitter – delete as appropriately or inappropriately as you see fit. These companies and organisation are the ones that ban access to these sites during working hours because they social media as a drain on resources rather than a support mechanism.

And if that wasn’t enough the problem also lies with the term ‘Social Media’ itself:
- Social = NOT business
- Media = publishing = expensive

This initially acts like a barrier, stopping people trying out social media. But a large % of these will eventually ‘dip their toe’ in the water only to get distracted and lose focus when using Twitter and other social media platforms. They then suffer a form of cognitive dissonance similar to that of going to fancy restaurant only to be served with a ‘not what I expected meal’ or buying something which has been heavily promoted only to find out it doesn’t meet ‘our’ expectations. When this happens people visit the site less frequently…

But thankfully for some, the social media light bulb is shining brightly and they really ‘get it’. These people are beyond just knowing the basic benefits that integrating social media within their communication strategy can bring. They are listening, evaluating, responding, experimenting, implementing, tweaking and monitoring in so many different ways – autonomously.

Like Craig, I don’t believe we’ve seen the peak yet – see http://bit.ly/2f8lzv we’re just in a rest period! But it will be interesting to follow the trends over the next few months… but it would be really good to sit down with you guys and have a face-2-face