Somewhat contradictory weekend reading for tech PR folks in last Sunday’s New York Times.
In Sunday Business, Phyllis Korkki’s “The Count” column entitled, “Online Outlets for Creating and Socializing,” highlighted the findings of a Forrester Research report on the explosion of social media, concluding that, “…social media are a phenomenon that is now nearly impossible to ignore.” Pretty much in line with what we’ve been saying here at WaltCast.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
But then I read Virginia Heffernan’s “The Medium” column in the New York Times Magazine entitled, “Facebook Exodus; why some members are moving on,” in which she wrote about the growing “disillusionment with Facebook.” She talked to people who have a range of reasons for leaving Facebook including: the ending last year of Scrabulous (copyright issues), because it undermines the notion of online friendship, its lack of privacy, a general lack of coolness, and just plain boredom.
Unlike Forrester’s quantitative approach, Heffernan’s insights are solely anecdotal. Yet, both make some pretty good points. The Forrester data shows that social networks like Facebook are enjoying 46 percent year-over-year growth, and that nearly half of all online adults belong to one of the big social networks. Heffernan’s lead, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,” points out the generally inevitable flip side of market domination, and goes on to make a pretty convincing case.
So who’s right? Will Facebook grow by half again next year, or will it be the next Netscape in a rapidly evolving social media landscape? You be the judge. Since you will, in fact, be part of the decision.
