Social Media Response

So, a while back I posted on social media's interactions with the pragmatists. Unfortunately I had to repost to get the comments feature to work. In the meantime my friend Austin posted his comment to my thoughts on his blog. I wanted to keep this conversation going here on my blog, hence this post:

Austin,

What I’m hearing is that innovation will keep growing, which we all know to be true, so pragmatists just need to suck it up and get with the program. That is also true, although it doesn’t respond to my initial point.

Pragmatists are by nature risk averse. They can’t afford the risk because it will hurt them, their career, or their company. Because of this they will not pick up a product unless they are confident it will fit their needs. They also won’t use a tool unless they are certain it will make them money. (I put a bit at the end about uncertainty) Currently, that concern is not yet resolved. This is what is required as a whole product.

It turns out that pragmatists are also the majority of the money in the world, working in the biggest companies, making the biggest decisions (hence the need for certainty).

I understand that innovation will keep going. It’s an engine that clearly will never stop, especially in the realm of social media. But I also know there is another force keeping acceptance low. My point was that social media has not reached the point yet where large companies and pragmatists in general are willing to take the risk to spend their resources on it yet. They won’t be able to make that move until they see something they are confident in, i.e. a whole product.

My point is that social media has not, as a whole, reached the point yet where they can guarantee a solution-even though some features may have (i.e. facebook for social applications, etc.) Once they can guarantee a solution to a problem we face that has commercial value, then, and only then, will the bulk of the decision makers in the business world get on board with it. Currently the only thing social media can guarantee is that you can get attention through it. We also know that sometimes that attention can be monetized, but as anyone in the social media world knows, you can’t bet on a viral video. In the same way we have no way of guaranteeing that a company will get a paycheck if they use social media. No one has consistently proven it, although I am certain they will in the very near future.

I am not saying any specific tool has to be proven. We know that Twitter works; we even know mostly how it works, and that it has potential. We know how Facebook can be used to drive awareness and can even house some businesses. We know that Youtube has been a successful tool to building revenue. Each of those tools a pragmatist is likely to pick up for its specific purpose. But where is the path to success? We have a ton of empirical data, but few models, proofs, or methods, and the data we do have is somewhat inconclusive. Clearly nothing has been proven yet. We clearly aren’t using social media to its full potential.

Let me get one thing clear. It isn’t that I won’t use social media. I’m not holding out, and I certainly will apply it to uses as I see fit, but we have not gotten to the point where we can use it as a guaranteed money maker...yet.

Once it is proven out, once we have a process that we can rely on for success, then the bulk of the market will follow. I love what you said about Apple, it is right on point. The reason Apple does so well is because it gives out whole products—exactly what a pragmatist requires. Their reward seems to be in the form of the bulk of the market share going to them, the proven, stable, market leader. Do not read this as that their products don’t have problems, just that they were able to offer a fully proven and accepted product.

Now, I anticipate a reaction about the need for certainty. I read what you said about companies failing if they are not able to adapt. This is totally true. Being able to act in the face of uncertainty is a mark of many great leaders.

For pragmatists, uncertainty needs to be faced with as much clarity as possible though. It’s all about weighing risks. Risk takers generally fall into the visionary category in the model described, whereas being risk averse is a quality of these pragmatists. This does not mean they don’t take risks, they just weigh them differently. They tend to be much more thorough or deliberate when weighing options and then tend to make sure their decision is as clearly illuminated as possible before finally making a decision. Yes, it is true that they will lean away from a risk when it is present, but taking risks is clearly a part of life.

Neither group is wrong for acting the way they do; it’s just a different approach. According to the way things work out in this tornado model, the visionaries will always have a bit more technology, but the pragmatists won’t let themselves be left behind. It’s all part of weighing the risks. Pragmatists are willing to be a bit behind if it means they can let the visionaries and techies work all the kinks out, decide which product is best though votes in the form of dollars, and through this tell the pragmatists who the most stable contender (i.e. the market leader) is.

Your line about not being able to comment on my blog is right on point. I did nothing more than give my blog a name and then post, yet the comments link was not there. It turns out I didn't need to change anything. All I had to do is repost, and the comments link is now available.