While reviewing applications to the Ruder Finn Executive Training program recently, my colleague mentioned that we’re in a place in PR where perhaps we shouldn’t consider applicants without Twitter accounts. They are, afterall, applying to work at a pretigious, global NY PR firm heavily focused on social media.
The idea sparked a good old-fashioned watercooler debate yesterday on whether or not certain digital trends are here to stay. One colleague claimed to know enough about Twitter without being on it. That might indeed be enough. As we saw from a Harvard Business School study last week, 90% of tweets come from just 10% of users, and average lifetime number of tweets per user on Twitter is 1. The vast majority of Twitter users, it would seem, are “just looking.”
Maybe “just looking” at social media is enough to cut it in today’s PR world.
We can all survive without the latest tech, sure (he said writing a digital trends blog post on his BlabkBerry on the subway). In many cases, we’re probably better without it – Hulu even advertises that it rots your brain.
But, much like my grandmother who is opposed to getting an answering machine because it’s too newfangled, my colleague might do just fine, thank you very much, but will be missing out on a whole world of possibilities. She’ll be missing out on the virtual watercooler conversations taking place at Ruder Finn on Twitter, missing access to journalists who prefer 140-character pitches, and being behind on what’s going on with Shaq.
Another colleague was considering leaving Facebook, failing to see the point of it all. Her argument was that Facebook replaced prevailing technology that came before it, and something else will be along soon to replace it as well.
Without a doubt, there will be something to replace Facebook, and the question today is, “will I someday look back and wonder how I survived without Facebook?”
Is Facebook like the cellphone – a tool that has become so pervasive in our culture that some people don’t communicate any other way? Is Facebook like email – a tool that many people can’t imagine their work lives without?
Does your business live and breathe social media, or can you do without?
