Mediaboss Marketing

A curious, but predictable thing is happening with social networking. It looks like it may be disappearing, but at the same time social engagement is appearing all around us.

We have Facebook to thank for social networking, and businesses owe them a huge debt of gratitude. Theyve taught a billion people and brands how to interact and engage online in ways never before possible. Companies have started to learn that the tools and techniques of social technology, brought about by Facebook, smartphones and many other related innovations are enabling major changes in human behavior.

These tools have always been about how we connect, communicate, collaborate and shape our communities. And while the lessons of social networking have been valuable, it looks like its students are ready to move on.

A Pew Internet & American Life studyfrom Dec. 2012 on Facebook user engagement levels highlights a stark finding: a stunning 34% of current Facebook users say the time that they spent on the site has decreased over the past year. By comparison, only 13% of current users say that their time on the site has increased. Looking forward, only 3% say they will spend more time on the site in the coming year whereas 27% say they will spend less time.

Social networking has a user engagement problem; however, users dont have a social technology problem.

Despite the Facebook data, over 121 billion minutes of time was spent on all social media in July 2012, according to NM Incite; thats over one million man-years of timein one month. In total, thats 38% more time than the previous year in online social engagement, activities that now consume more time than any other online activity.

We want to use social technologywe just want to do other things with it. We want to get more things done with it.

The electronics company LG wants you to use social technology to connect with your home appliances, the electric grid, service technicians, and potentially the entire supply chain.The LG Smart ThinQ technology embedded in say, a washing machine, allows it to be monitored through a TV or smartphone. With a refrigerator, users can also now see from their smartphone whats inside and when it will expire. While this may seem basic, extend this connectivity deeper into the supply chain and envision a connection through which your local grocery store replenishes supplies automatically through roving grocery trucks. The efficiency gains and opportunities for new levels of social engagement and disruption to the status quo are dramatic.

Toyota and Coca Cola are also embedding social technology into their products and services in recognition of these changes in human behavior and also to change the experience that they offer to their markets. As new man-machine-man interfaces emerge, the context of social interaction rises dramatically. This is pulling peoples time away from social networking with friends and family, and embedding it into the business of day-to-day life and day-to-day business.

Personal social networking was a great first step, but thats what it was. The next generation of social will change how we collaborate and shape our communities by bringing deep context through man-machine-man interactions.

More:
You’ve already stopped Facebooking. Next, you’ll be friending your washing machine