May 14th, 2009
I don't need a social media relationship with my hard drive
Corporate social media marketing is a current craze. Social media marketing “experts” are hawking their services to corporations.
It’s a mistake. Corporations might have the legal status of an individual, but they they aren’t people.
A while ago, Seagate sent me a friend request on FaceBook and then asked me to be its “fan.” I agreed to both just to see what was going on, and soon saw that this type of corporate marketing wasn’t going to work.
I don’t want a social relationship with my hard drive. It doesn’t work in the social media world.
What if every brand I use day to day wants to jump onto the corporate social media marketing bandwagon? Am I going to check out the Facebook status of my toothpaste? Will I wonder what parties my microprocessor is going to tonight? Hey, my jeans just uploaded some new vacation photos.
I don’t want a social relationship with my products. I bought them, now I just want them to sit there and be quiet, be inanimate and not interact with me. I have enough trouble keeping up with my social relationships with people. I certainly don’t want to do that with products. I don’t want to engage with any product brands.
Corporate social media marketing is oxymoronic, imho.
Tom Foremski reports on the business and culture of Silicon Valley at the intersection of technology and media. He also writes at Silicon Valley Watcher. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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