Beware the Shiny, New Object in Social Media

Lately, while attending workshops and meetings, people have been walking up to me and asking about the latest new thing in social media that they’ve heard about.

Maybe you’ve had these conversations yourself.

Someone walks up to talk, starts talking in general terms, and then Bam!

They drop the name of a new social media tool sounding like they’ve known about it forever (Which given the recent birth of these tools isn’t all that long.) and then ask what do I think.

My next favorite question is, “When do I think this new tool will dethrone LinkedIn (or Facebook or Twitter)?”

My answer to all these queries is the same!

Beware the shiny, new object in social media!

(Those of us past a certain age will remember the days when new spreadsheets were seemingly coming out every week and someone in the office would always recommend junking our then current investment in whatever we were using for this new thing.  We survivors often refer to this as the Religious War Phase of Personal Computers.)

Why do I say to be beware of the shiny new object in social media?

My reason is that the barriers to entry for a new tool are so high today.

LinkedIn has over 364 million people signed up as of this writing.  

Facebook recently passed having over 1 billion unique visitors on a daily basis.  

Twitter has over 316 million monthly active users users.    

Can any new social media tool reach these numbers anytime soon?

Highly unlikely!

Admittedly, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter each have their own specific role in your social media program.

Taken together, they are very powerful especially if you have your own blog and email list included in your social media program.

Yes, new tools can be very helpful.

The recent introduction of Blab, a video chat tool for meetings, has proven very beneficial.    

Meerkat and Periscope dominate the live video streaming space in Twitter and are duking it out for supremacy.    

Just remember that even Google is struggling with its supposed giant killer, Google+.    

The famed bank robber, Willie Sutton, was once asked why he robbed banks.

His reply?

“Because that’s where the money is.”

The same is true with the Big Three of social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Stick with them for your social media programs because that’s where the eyeballs are.

Small and mid-sized businesses need to be especially careful with new social media tools because of their limited time and money available for social media.

When evaluating a new social media tool, ask yourself the following three (3) questions:

1. Does the tool fill a gap that you either currently have or were unaware of?
2. Does the tool add value?  (A value that you can quantify!)
3. How many others have adopted it?

Answer all three questions in the affirmative and you may have a winner!

Tread carefully!