By now, most of us would agree the Internet is not some fly-by-night drug-crazed hippie fad. Some of us jumped on board early (AOL), others jumped on later. Either way, we'd all have to agree that the impact the Internet has had on most people's daily lives is undeniable. Imagine if we knew then what we know now about the Internet… we'd all be filthy rich. Granted, it would be in the porn industry but hey, rich is rich.
So what's the next big thing out there that most of us will have very little understanding of until it's too late to capitalize on it? Social media is the next big thing. How do I know? Well, way back when the Internet first plugged in I was mesmerized. To learn more, I signed up and attended a three-hour workshop all about the brave new world of the Internet. As I walked out of the seminar I remember thinking, "What in the hell was that guy talking about?"
Last week, I attended yet another three-hour workshop on (you guessed it) the brave new world of social media. I am now convinced it is the next big thing because when I walked out of that seminar I thought, "What in the hell was that guy talking about?"
Going over my extensive notes I've learned that we are now in a new era called the Social Economy. Just so you can keep score at home, we have already completed the era of Social Relationships and are just finishing up the era of Social Functionality. We are now in the beginning of the era of Social Colonization (which to me, sounds like a kegger on Mars). This will be followed by the era of Social Context and then finally in 2011, the era of Social Commerce. This is when we'll all get filthy rich.
Our job until then is to learn all we can about Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc… Sounds like a root canal job to me. I will admit that I was reluctantly pulled into Facebook. An old high school classmate had pictures of our class reunion posted on Facebook. The only way to see them was to sign up for an account. The fact that I was able to spy on my high school son at the same time was merely gravy.
