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The hot word of the last few years has been ‘social media’. At Pixel Mobb, we run into this word all the time. Most clients are not even sure exactly what it means, but they know it’s something necessary for the future.

Wikipedia defines social media as “media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media use web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.”

A Brief History of Social Media

Social Media started (at least on computers) in the late 70’s with the advent of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). The first BBSes were “small servers powered by personal computers attached to a telephone modem, where one person at a time could dial in and get access. BBSes had social discussions on message boards, community-contributed file downloads, and online games.” Since then, it has skyrocketed from the tech savvy to the masses. Now everyone is affected by social media. It’s redefined relationships, communication, parenting, and now even government.

Fad or Fundamental Change?

Wikipedia points out a ‘fad’ is said to “catch on” when the number of people adopting it begins to increase rapidly. The behavior will normally fade quickly once the perception of novelty is gone. So do any of us really believe that in the next few years, people are going to get bored with using facebook, twitter, linkedin, foursquare, youtube, and more? The only way that happens is if something better comes a long to replace it.

This is why social media is not a fad: It is a fundamental change in the way businesses will forever operate.

Many of the major brands are already realizing this. The old style of ‘interruption marketing’ has grown stale. People nowadays value ‘word of mouth’ marketing over everything else. This is because, with social media, word of mouth is everywhere.

Social Media Won the Whitehouse

Here is a great video that really breaks down the cataclysmic change that social media has ignited.

For our ‘content creation haus’, social media has presented vast opportunities to connect with talent, reach new customers, find useful tutorials, and even has affected the creation process itself by presenting unique ways to interact with an audience.

How has social media affected your business? How will it affect your business?

I think those are much more important questions to answer, then wondering when the ‘fad’ is going to end.