Whenever I look at Google Adsense, I chuckle. From “Social Advertising” to “Public Marketing”, from “Social Campaigns” to “Consumer Marketing”, more and more terms are being coined by various companies. If you were to visit some of their sites, they do nothing more than blog advertising and offer the opportunity of paid posts.

Funnily, none of them is wrong. What’s they are doing, is indeed a small part of the entire Social Media scope. While at this point, the 1st fact echoes that many are still discussing if there should be a better term than “Social Media” itself. The 2nd fact on the hand, shows us that many pluck the word “media” from the term, thinking that technological works is sufficient. What’s my take? I think they are, but only in a small way.

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I had to quote Mr Tony Pua of Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) as a start, in which he says; “Differences in opinion is however, no excuse for the restriction on freedom of expression”. (This is the full article.) Malaysia has seen a rejuvenation in its political scene through effective bloggers participation in one way or another, but how will it affect changes in the economic sense remains to be seen.

Bloggers being threatened with legal suits are not uncommon. Most of which, have bowed down to these legal threats because the eventual funds required for a legal suit can be costly for one to bear. Bloggers are usually lacking the deep pockets like those of Governments and corporations, before one is proven guilty beyond doubts. Significantly, the threats on bloggers seemed to become a standard template for many.

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Recently, I have been doing a fair bit of budgeting for a corporate bulk purchase of Dell computers. I love Dell actually, the computers that is. It’s also one of the most competitively priced brands compared to many other brands available. The first time I used Dell, was probably more than 10 years ago in school. I preferred Dell packages over DIY setups in office because of the ease of installation, where everything comes together. That surely saves me any more trouble.

Yet, I hate Dell absolutely in terms of - customer service. I am not sure if Dell manages their own customer service hotlines or outsourced it to a call center. What I am sure though, Dell just don’t get it.

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After going through Daryl’s and Ian’s posts, it seemed that all of us behold differing opinions on what Social Media is and what Social Media should accomplish. Asking whether bloggers are influencers is absolutely redundant to me. As I put it across to Ian, I would prefer to question why are we engaging bloggers? The answer is sufficient to tell if bloggers are indeed influencers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be interested in engaging them.

I felt that Daryl’s Case Study 1 to 3 has already provided him the answer to his question. We actually don’t need to go any deeper if bloggers are able to influence the rest. In fact, the influence of bloggers is one of the key advantages on the rising trend of companies adopting Social Media. Some have done it well, some have found themselves rolling into the drain. Eventually, what we want to see in Social Media is not just engaging the immediate community. In truth, it’s the ripples beyond the immediate community. That’s the essence of “sociality”.

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Yesterday, I seemed to have slapped the so-called practitioners because most of which don’t do what they claimed to. The “IN” thing to do in Singapore now is screaming Social Media, and not doing Social Media. Forget about what we have read in so many blogs by local practitioners and “exclusive” bloggers, because Elitism and Social Media is a deadly concoction to brew.

The failure runs deep into the boring traditional concepts and perceptions that we see here. At some point, I begin to narrow down to the conclusion that; most of them don’t even know what they are truly hunting after in the game of Social Media. Simply, they are “doing” Social Media because everyone else is. For those whom have been tracking Social Media in Singapore for a while, it is easy for you to spot what is missing in our scene compared to my ideal model.

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Reading responses to the Social Media in Singapore sometimes make me flip over my chair. Just like how Unique Frequency’s query recently, the doubts of the the Social Media scene here is ever visible. Instead of questioning the market size, hardly any practitioner questioned if we are doing it right. If there is one critical mechanical failure to the entire hype behind Social Media, it starts with the advocates.

It’s easy to pluck out a couple of “credible quotes” here and there, but it is precisely the lack of understanding behind some professionals’ that I am challenging. That’s apart from the fact that Singapore possesses the unique culture of blame-laying on anything else, just not ourselves. In order to see a significant change in Singapore, I guess it’s about time to change the players and influencer. If until now the results have been unsatisfactory, what roles have they played in the Social Media scene then?

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One thing I have always been wondering is, why do business bloggers even bother about putting up disclaimers to distinguish their views from their company’s? As much as we know most do it in a bid to protect the interest of the company they founded or work for, I see it as a big contradiction.

Business bloggers who are employees are definitely finding it tougher to blog about what they feel. Occasionally, it is understandable that their views may differ from what the employer believes in. Any controversy arising out of a single post, may find one’s head on the chopping board. There is also the risk of exposure to mitigate when blogging about work issues.

While this risk is present for employees, how does it present itself for bloggers who are founders of their companies?

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Priced at US$1,600 per attendee, the realistic figure I will be spending is at least double of the seminar entry charges. The email proudly boasted the availability of 70+ speakers through the entire two days, starting from 9am to 9pm. I am truly skeptical about how an organizer can squeeze 70+ speakers in just 24 hours over the entire span of the the weekend.

One of the reasons why I hate attending conferences and seminars is because some organizers tend to end up selling their products/services instead of sharing what the event is meant for. It’s quite a turn-off to pay for an event, attend it hoping to learn something new… but walk away from the event several hundred dollars more broke than one is prior to the event. From a different perspective, yes, you are paying to be pitched at. Whether that make sense or otherwise, I’ll leave it to your own conclusion.

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Media managers today are given such a wide variety of choices, some would settle on a solution half-heartedly. With conventional media and the new media to juggle between the decision making process, it can be quite a tough call to make. A failed pitch or campaign can possibly see long period of planning going down the drain or losing substantial grounds to rival companies.

How can I not offer my sympathies to media managers, still caught in two minds about moving forward with more bold ideas? But then again, moving on with completely new concepts and ideas is a big gamble for most companies. The stakes are even higher if you are servicing clients as a media agency. Coupled with the technology boom, the overloading of new solutions doesn’t always prove itself in the manner the hype is created around them.

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