Anti-social media...

Social media. It's the big buzzword on every marketers lips these days.

Every marketer, every ad-agency, brand manager, CMO, you name it.. are all striving to capitalize on this media channel. Which is understandable. And not annoying at all....

Not yet anyway. But chances are that it will. And soon

As soon as we ad-people get the hang of it, by mastering the art, by writing the first "Social media for dummies", or "Social Media = ROI", or by creating business cards / positions with "Social Media Director" as a title, holding seminars and starting niched social media digital agencies... is when we will have spurned the term "Anti-Social Media"

I hate to play Nostradamus, but much as target audiences these days are becoming more and more intolerant towards TV & radio advertising, and are consequently choosing to watch and listen on demand, the same will be true of social media.

Data traffic towards social media sites will drastically decrease as users around the world will disactivate notification settings and limit usage in general in order to avoid commercial messages.

YouTube users, tiresome of ad placement and ad influence in content, will soon find other ways to source video over the internet.

Peer to peer instant messaging will soon boom (again) as users try to find a way back to the inimate, undisturbed realms of sharing details of their lives to only the chosen few, and off the radar of the marketing community.

The scenario described above is of course hypothetical, however it is not completely impossible.

Unless, of course, we marketeers do our part in giving the consumers what they came for- relevant content that gives them the power of choice, that keeps them entertained, perhaps even serving as a catalyst for their digital social experience.

There's nothing wrong with finding ways for consumers to engage with a brand in a new way, but we have to make sure that we are as non-invasive and pro-interactive as possible. A difficult balance to achieve, but in the end it's "their" (the consumers) choice, not ours....