I agree. The “social media” buzz word will have to change or die out. It’s only a matter of time before every web site on the web has some form of social media. I think the term has served a great purpose but at some point, the term itself limits what it is and what it is capable of.

When I think social media, I think merging human behavior with information and communication technologies. What I find most interesting today about people trying to learn about “social media” or to update their “Facebook” is that they continue to miss the bigger points.

Social media is much more than Facebook or Twitter, though each played an instrumental role in the movement. Social media is a movement, it was and always has been. There are deep cultural changes that have been happening for a long time. I think the blog post linked below does a great job of breaking it down.

When I think about what’s going on today, I think about conversations people may have had over the years that has really opened the doors to a new way of thinking and new opportunities. Someone, somewhere, said why not try it this way? Why not make our systems and conversations more open? And that way happened to be completely foreign to the status quo and culture. A few others were there. One said, “nah how will that work, who will buy it?” But one said, “I can see it, why not!?” And the last person said “you could be on to something, it just makes sense.” And so it began!

Social media is just a launch pad, we need to continue to ask “why not?”

I personally think that over the next few years the buzzwords will die away and we’ll just be back to, The Web and Media and Business again. But I don’t hate the buzzwords, its normal, actually its unavoidable. And while I may not have given you a clear definition, hopefully I’ve given you enough context as to how we got here that you don’t need to rely on buzzwords and their made up definitions. Here’s to the next 10 years.

newcommbiz.com, New Comm Biz, Jan 2010