what in the world -?

click to read above.

in trying to answer the question "What is a SMP?"...

...i found myself confronted with how little anyone really knows.

most of my friends had little clue what it means.

the internet didn't really help, giving me more questions than actual answers.

some companies use SMPs as glorified copywriters, merely trying to have a presence on the internet without a clear reason why. like this and that. i mean, why would a company want to use twitter? does a company wake up in the morning and say, i should twit about my messed up third quarter?

sometimes, i get the feeling that companies are just doing it course it's there, and people are using it.i reached for my trusty wikipedia and typed in social media, getting a list of different kinds of social media.

they included "traditional" social media like facebook, twitter, blogs. and web-animals like Twine, meetup.com, deviantart and skype; all very different from each other. with such a huge range of social media, is it any wonder that SMP is not a clearly defined job?

"the past five years, an entire industry of consultants has arisen to help companies navigate the world of social networks, blogs, and wikis. The self-proclaimed experts range from legions of wannabes, many of them refugees from the real estate bust, to industry superstars such as Chris Brogan and Gary Vaynerchuk. They produce best-selling books and dole out advice or lead workshops at companies for thousands of dollars a day. The consultants evangelize the transformative power of social media and often cast themselves as triumphant case studies of successful networking and self-branding.

The problem, according to a growing chorus of critics, is that many would-be guides are leading clients astray. Consultants often use buzz as their dominant currency, and success is defined more often by numbers of Twitter followers, blog mentions, or YouTube hits than by traditional measures, such as return on investment. This approach could sour companies on social media and the rich opportunities it represents. "It's a bit of a Wild West scenario," blogs David Armano, a consultant with the Dachis Group of Austin, Tex. Without naming names, he compares some consultants to 'snake oil salesmen.'"

to see full article, click here

I don't necessarily agree with this but i get the sense that not many people (even the experts) really do know how to fully utilize social media in a professional manner. that's because most of the progress is inspired by ground-up movements, too unpredictable to forecast and shape, since it depends wholly upon plain joe and jane feeling inspired and motivated enough to contribute to the social media and form a community around the project itself.

and in case the hype of a social media revolution gets to you, the rise of the proteriat against big business, think again. As illustrated from the picture below, 5 people in a sample of 100 make 75% of the content on twitter.

get full image here.

so like any kind of media, whether it be televisionland or internet-heaven, the SMP would still have to work hard to get people interested enough to make it matter, and want to contribute to the social aspect of new media.