Mmm. . .Sexy

Ok. . .now I'll be the first to admit that I'm a huuuge fan of sexy. Sexy clothes, sexy cars, sexy ideas. If it's sexy, there's a good chance that my radar will pick it up, I'll check it out and give it some love. Good or bad, for better or for worse, sexy gets our attention, time and time again. The only problem though, is that often (and not neccessarily always), sexy is temporary, fleeting and surface. On many occasions sexy is the draw, with no main feature.

For the last eight years, social media, on a sexy scale from 1 to 10, has been a 12. Books have been written, gurus have staked their claim, and magazines have declared how it will change the way we live.

Now digital media is affecting how communication is beginning to be shaped here, early in the 21st century, but let's not get carried away.

Technology is great, but just because you're sexy today, doesn't mean you'll be sexy tomorrow. Being a media darling means nothing. What needs to be understood is: sustainability. Today's "products" of technology cannot exist in a vacuum.  There needs to be an understanding of how they relate to business and culture and how they impact, feed off, and converge with one another.  The web 2.0 echo chamber/hype machine is so loud about you needing to get on the train (before you get left) that being savvy, knowing what actually drives business, and understanding what real value is, gets lost somewhere in the shuffle. What can happen is that after it's all said and done, what you're left with is, a bunch of sexy tech fluff.  

A few examples:

Friendster - not successful (financially) until it was purchased by a South East Asian company, seven years after it was founded and used in conjunction with an e-commerce platform. The social part didn't generate revenue. The e-commerce platform probably will.

Myspace - Last year, in June, the Rupert Murdoch owned outfit slashed 30% percent of its workforce.  Additionally, traffic has been constantly declining and revenue (as of November 9, 2009) was down by 26 percent .

YouTube - Purchased by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion dollars, has yet to get much bang for all those bucks. As stated by Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, "YouTube has ended up being a management, operational and legal overhead and a drag.”

Twitter - Now last year in June I wrote about how Twitter was definitely being hyped above and beyond what it really was. I could have been wrong (it happens on occasion), but just a couple of months ago RJ metrics did their own twitter data analyis. A few conclusions:

• A large percentage of Twitter accounts are inactive, with about 25% of accounts having no followers and about 40% of accounts having never sent a single Tweet.
• About 80% of all Twitter users have tweeted fewer than ten times.
• Only about 17% of registered Twitter accounts sent a Tweet in December 2009, an all-time-low.

Now online social networks aren't going anywhere. They will continue to impact us and affect the market landscape, but it's time that the wheat get separated from the chaff. Spending time and resources on sexy is cool, no problem. Just keep in mind, if you've got an Aston Martin DB9, but with no gas. . .well that's an easy equation:

Sexy + Empty = Going Nowhere

Comments

[Omar Henderson]

...solutions kept under wraps. Business trade secret.

[Rasul Sha'ir]

One way to look at it Omar. Thanks for the comment my friend.

[Anike]

Well said! Short sentences can be sexy.

[Rasul Sha'ir]

Hey Anike. Big luv for reading and commenting. It's deeply appreciated.

[Sue Wickes]

Very thought provoking. Interested to know what your view is on Facebook.

[Rasul Sha'ir]

Sue,

Thanks for stopping by the blog and commenting. I Sincerely appreciate it. As for my view(s) on Facebook. . .I have an opinion or two. Where should I start? ;-)

[Andy Hill]

Technology platforms appear to be short-term with future developmental potential to spawn similar yet different internet applications. My interest is how to get ahead of the curve and turn a profit before the typical downside riases its unsexy head.

[Rasul Sha'ir]

Andy, I think you hit the nail on the head. From where I sit technology platforms are of immense value (I love 'em!). We just need to make sure we truly understand what they represent and know how to truly utilize the value that they bring to the table.