Phew. As I sit down to write this, I am one tired lady. We’re busier than we have been in quite some time. My brain is back to trying to finish up projects in my sleep. When I come home from work, pretty much the last thing I want to do is sit down at a computer and type some more. In fact, these days, sitting outside to read, exercising, doing anything that doesn’t involve sitting at a desk is where I wanna be when I’m not in the office. Maybe you’re feeling that way too. Things are looking up. Things are getting busier. You know, those things that don’t have anything to do with Facebook or blogging or Twitter. Those things that kept you busy before social media exploded right along with our economy (one in a good way, one in a bad way).
This has been on my mind since a friend of mine noted that Twitter seems to be getting more and more quiet these days. Someone said, “Maybe more people are working. Maybe people have less time to tweet.” That resonated with me. As people are getting jobs that keep them busy, or as business begins to pick up, they also have less time to spend Facebooking and blogging and tweeting. They’re doing their work. I’m doing mine. Twitter doesn’t make the cut.
What could this mean for all of these social media platforms? Am I saying that “social media is gonna die?” Nah. I hate those kinds of posts and anyway, social media as a marketing tool won’t be going away anytime soon. But I do think “social media the fad” will be fading away as time goes on. Time spent on platforms like Twitter and Facebook will be more targeted, more carefully planned. There will be fewer chats, perhaps. Maybe even less online drama. People will be busy. Drama almost always takes a back seat where busy-ness is involved.
Maybe blogs that teach you how to do social media will begin to evaporate in favor of companies using that knowledge to do their own industry-specific blogs. Maybe the age of the social media consultant will fade back to the future, to a time when marketing consultants just bring newer tools to the table.
People may not have a lot of time or desire to sit at a computer or at their iPad and read post after post about how to tweet. They might just say, “Come visit me and give me the basics. Offline. Face-to-face.”
Maybe we are gearing up for a counter-revolution. They always happen, you know. The revolters become revolting and are revolted against. It’s a tale as old as time. Maybe people will want to use all they have learned about how to nurture customer relationships and take that knowledge back to the golf course and the nice dinner. Twitter and Google Plus may begin to seem more and more impersonal. Distant. Virtual.
These are all wild guesses on my part, of course, but I find it likely that I am not the only person who is noticing their online time dissipating. I am making sure I peek in when I can. I am maintaining my friendships. But from blogging to Twitter to the whole shebang, I am less, dare I say it, engaged.
What about you? What are you seeing out there?
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