Social Media

One of the projects that I'm working on during my day job is to create a social media strategy for my employer, Sapient.

During the research for the strategy (more later on about what our strategy will become) the first step was a catalog of the social media and networking sites on the net. With no trouble at all, we were able to find and catalog approximately 250 sites across a number of different categories. And this was excluding those that focused on teens or adult content. And I'm sure that this list is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the entire social media ecosystem that actual exists.

Now, don't get me wrong, but I had an idea that this whole social networking thing was big. I check both my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles a bunch of times each day. Even the Divine Miss J, who isn't the most web-enabled, has been using Facebook quite a bit lately and has gotten back in touch with a slew of her childhood through college friends.

But to me, the question is whether this is going to be the actual future of the Internet, or maybe it's already become the current state of affairs. Most major sites (from travel to eCommerce to News sites) have already added a social aspect, allowing everything from product reviews to forums to actual news reporting. I'm sure this isn't news to anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past couple of years, but it does make one wonder what the future is going to be. It's all become about the conversation. The conversation we are having with each other, and the conversation a brand is having with its consumer. An interview with Google's Joe Kraus about this topic can be found here.

So, to paraphrase James Carvill, "It's the conversation, stupid."