Social Cache.
A Nemo blog. Dealing with uncommon cents.

Palenists photo by ahockley

On Thursday June 4th here at Nemo we hosted a discussion in partnership with Group Y, with the tongue-in-cheek title Who Killed Social Media. [Audio stream of the event is here.]

The panel comprised of myself, Dave Allen (@DaveAtFight : Fight – [Update] Co-Founder, Fight LLC : James Todd (@jwtodd : twine.com) – Software Engineer at Radar Networks, for Twine, Matt Savarino (@Ridertech : ridertech.com) – Lead Information Architect at K2 Sports and creator of Ridertech, Lee Crane (@leecrane : leecrane.com) – an action sports online veteran along with Tony ‘Frosty’ Welch, Web, Community and Social Media Strategy Personal Systems Group at HP, Community Manager for theNextBench.com (@frostola : frostyland.com). The panel was moderated by Marshall Kirkpatrick, VP at ReadWriteWeb (@marshallk : readwriteweb)

We had a very lively discussion based around my belief that the term ‘Social Media’ is best left for marketers to use as they mistakenly consider social media a sales ‘channel.’ I prefer to think about the ‘Social Web’ starting with the premise that anyone who opens up a browser is participating in it. It is no longer about platforms such as Facebook or MySpace, it is not about confusing Twitter as a social network, it is about how Reputation Management is now critical and necessary and also how you handle your brand’s ‘Experiential Awareness’ as I call it. Google is moving into the social web space – as Frosty notes in a follow up post after the event: “You may ask yourself why Google has decided to add more weight to the social web. The answer in my opinion is that they realize that when a viral event is happening, people aren’t using Google to find out about it. Instead they turn to the searches on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube.”

A glaring example of what people are saying can be found by looking into the eMusic fiasco. I believe that the firestorm of criticism that eMusic came under from its subscriber base could have been avoided entirely if the company had simply taken out an insurance policy in the form of a Community Manager. Think about that next time you try to persuade reluctant executives that Community Manager is a real job, and if they still baulk tell them its not a salary but a business expense – online community insurance! eMusic failed at Reputation Management on the Social Web. I sensed that the audience in the room resonated with the idea of insurance – especially post the Dominos pizza melt down.

The most contentious point of the night, one that caused audible groans in the audience, came from Frosty – “SEO or SEM, in my opinion, will be dead as you know it within 6 months.” It was a powerful statement that he backed up later in a post – “I didn’t make this statement for a wow or shock factor, but because it’s something I believe. Also I don’t believe its a new revelation. If you keep up with Steve Rubel (@steverubel : Micro Persuasion), Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang : Web Strategy) and others, you can see where the social web is heading, and what impact it is going to have. Especially on search.”

Clearly Frosty has opened the bottle and the genie can’t be put back in. Read all of his thoughts on the subject here.

More links:
Semantics Killed Social Media
Social media kills SEO
Transcript of the Panel

Search the thread on Twitter: #whokilledsm

GROUP Y PARTNERS WITH NEMO ON ACTION SPORTS ONLINE MARKETING AND THE SOCIAL WEB EVENT
“Who Killed Social Media?”—A Panel Discussion On Social Media Vs. The Social Web

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Carlsbad, CA. – May 19th, 2009 – Portland, Oregon-based integrated marketing agency Nemo today announced their partnership with group Y of Carlsbad, California, to host a panel discussion in Portland on the evening of June 4th, 2009. The discussion will focus on incorporating and effectively implementing social web strategies in the marketing mix.

The June 4th panel marks the first nationally-produced event for group Y. Co-Founder and CEO at group Y, Elizabeth Randall commented, “We are very much looking forward to holding our first national group Y event at Nemo HQ. They are a perfect partner for group Y—not only as a result of our long-standing relationship with them, but because they truly understand the action sports and youth markets, and are constantly pushing the boundaries of creative marketing and online strategies. Nemo’s headquarters will be the ideal gathering place to tackle the ins and outs of social media as well as do some group Y style-socializing.”

Nemo’s Founder and GM, Trevor Graves added, “We’re excited to have the action sports industry at Nemo to learn about the Social Web. Our friends at group Y have helped set up an expert panel to explain what all the fuss is about. Using the Social Web to communicate one-on-one with our customers can help achieve the holy grail of brand loyalty.”

Included on the panel are Tony Welch, Web, Community and Social Media strategist from Hewlett Packard; action sports industry veteran Lee Crane, James Todd of Twine, Lead Information Architect at K2 Sports and creator of Ridertech, Matt Savarino, and Nemo’s own Dave Allen, founder of the music site Pampelmoose.com, Director of Insights and Digital Media and Community Director at Nemo and founding member of the band Gang of Four. The moderator Marshall Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Content Development, and lead writer for ReadWriteWeb, will navigate the panelists through the world of the Social Web as it is today, and where it will lead in the near future.

To register for the event, please click here.

About group Y
group Y is the original collective of professionals focused on Action Sports, Youth Marketing and Entertainment. Based in Southern California with a growing national reach, group Y boasts an active membership of the best and brightest these industries have to offer. Sharing insights from key decision makers at key brands, past speakers have included experts from companies such as Quiksilver, Burton, Oakley, MySpace, and ESPN. Through our events, outreach and on-line presence, group Y takes the work out of strategic networking and strengthens our entire industry in the process. Please visit us at www.groupYnetwork.com

About Nemo
Nemo means Nobody. Highly collaborative, integrated marketing that is media agnostic. The biggest ideas, the best context, and the deepest impact are all we’re concerned about as we build visionary brands. We use (or invent) whatever media and tools will resonate within a culture. “Does it change the game?” is our collective mission as we evolve interactive design, social networks, PR, environmental design, print design, photography, entertainment and original content.
For more information on Nemo click here.

For more information please contact:
Becky Singh
Communications
503-734-5094
becky@nemohq.com