'Dabbling' in social media is so 2009
Posted by dna 13 on Mon, Dec 07, 2009
Anyone who doubts the ubiquity of online social networking need only look to the New Oxford American Dictionary, which chose "unfriend" as its 2009 word of the year.
When the verb describing the act of removing someone as a friend on Facebook earns an official place in a respected dictionary, it's time to validate social media as more than a fad.
Clearly, 2009 was the year of digital dabbling -- from Twitter to Facebook, Flickr to YouTube, FourSquare to Google Wave -- and scores of brand communicators are now ready to move from experimentation to large-scale execution.
There's no shortage of guidance from early social media marketers, as well as not-so-far-fetched parodies of the gurus (adult language) who feigned knowledge where none existed.
Those brave enough to organize their thoughts and publish books on the new paradigm for consumers and business opened themselves up to robust online conversation, accolades and criticism. Thanks to people like Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Chris Anderson, Clay Shirky, Shel Israel, Gary Vaynerchuk, Deirdre Breckenridge, Courtney Barnes and Paul Argenti practicing what they preached, we all learned a tremendous amount this year.
The dna13 team went a step further, polling the published thought leaders as well as brand managers, PR officers, CMOs, analysts, journalists and academics about their social media experiences. The goal: to provide concrete advice from early adopters for those about to take the plunge into a new world where consumers are in charge.
In essence, "Social Media Lessons Learned in 2009" is a crowd-sourced white paper containing tips and video from early SM adopters.
Rest assured, we put it together knowing that it had better be good or we risk you using that brand new New Oxford Dictionary word.
Enjoy!
Photo by CC Chapman: Chris Brogan signing his book, "Trust Agents," at the Inbound Marketing Forum.