Trends and Getting the ‘Truth’ from Social Media

Trends matter in audience profiling. Even a social or politically-based trend impacts messaging on a micro-level. Some trends are more directly applicable to audience profiling than others depending upon what audience you are trying to reach. Social trending is particularly important because it sets the tone and context of how direct and specific messages are processed even if content seems irrelevant to the larger picture. For example, you can extrapolate from the Iran election/Twitter event into what this means for who uses Twitter and how that impacts brand advocates. The political use of Twitter raises questions about how governments try to control messaging. This can be heavy-handed like Iran or subtle, like the continual media coverage and message control of the Obama administration, who have taken media use to new heights. The point here is not whether you (or I) agree with the politics. It is recognizing that the Obama team’s pervasive media presence and media strategies effectively control messaging at levels unseen previously. I believe that this shifts the views of the veracity toward “amateur” sources and, ultimately, undermines government communications. Not in the near term, but as public awareness of the process grows.

Unfortunately, the mass media is no longer doing its job. Gone are days of journalists asking hard questions. Fearful of losing viewers, they are ready to suck up to just about anybody. We used to count on them for keeping politicians, businesses, and their fellow journalists honest. I don’t have the same confidence any more. While journalists and traditional news organizations lament the entree of amateur and citizen journalists, at least with blogs and Twitters from around the world, we have the ability to triangulate information from among multiple sources and agendas. From a “power to the people” perspective, this is a good thing. It does, however, change how seriously businesses need to view social media channels.