I've noticed a trend among the most popular social networks/communities online that is disconcerting to me; I'm calling it the McDonaldization of social media. Platforms and communities that I have used and participated in because of their different services over the last few years, such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo have moved away from their initial core services and become everything to everyone. What's even stranger about this trend, is that somewhere during this evolution, they morphed into each other, becoming this MyFaceLinkedPlaxo that I can no longer tell apart.
I don't know if this is a case of a Silicon Valley Meetup gone wrong or if one designer had a great year winning business from all the top communities, but everything is looking the same to me anymore, right down to the common denominator of blue and white templates.
Even worse, this blurring of the product/service line confuses me on the products. I no longer know which community does what, best anymore. When you do everything, can you really distinguish yourself as doing any one thing well?
It's almost as if social media has become the beast that we ran from: mass media. We left mass media because they weren't speaking to "me," they were speaking to everyone about everything. Think of The New York Times "All the news that's fit to print," versus our online news moguls like Digg that started as just tech news. Now, McDonalized social media properties are all offering the same fast food social media products, with different marketing campaigns and Madison Avenue taglines assigned.
"Plaxo keeps you in-touch and up-to date!"
"Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you."
"LinkedIn: Relationships Matter"
"MySpace: A place for friends"
Sounds a lot like: "Burger King: Have it Your Way" or "McDonalds: I'm Lovin'It," doesn't it?
I worry that just one year after Time Magazine Named "You" as person of the year, social networks have forgotten about us.
I also worry that we are ignoring history and the valuable lesson of hubris. It's only been a few years since we were misled and misinformed by MSM's Jayson Blair, leading even more people to cynically defect from MSM media and seek truth by reading more news sources online. Yet, here we are just a few years later, watching Mark Zuckerberg similarly trip up in his own hubris, in what seems to me, his abandonment of his Brand's core audience and product because of greed.
Is social media becoming the new "corporate america"? Worse, are we allowing them to become this? Like sheep, will we simply graze, nod and follow? What's the alternative to a social media world that sells out? Where do we go next? Or, are do we have a chance to save social media and not make the mistakes of msm? I'd love to hear other thoughts on this.
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Philly-based marketing professional. An insane music fan. Intolerable knowledge of pop culture. Admitted over-tweeter.
I'm Annie Heckenberger. I like music. I'm an overtweeter. I lead Social Media & PR at Red Tettemer in Philadelphia, PA.Learn more...
3 comments:
PikPR -- I'm a new reader and saw you speak in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Great presentation! Regarding this post, I'm surprised at your - ah - surprise. The McDonaldsization (whew!) of social network services could easily be predicted because the notion of connecting people is by nature a generic commodity, not something that could be patented and owned and therefore become a true differentiator.
In other words, it's almost inevitable that businesses offering similar services and going after similar markets would start to look the same. Each entrant sees what works on the competitors, imitates it, and gradually, they look alike. It's a variation of the bandwagon effect; everyone wants a piece of the same action. I'm old enough to remember when AOL was the king of online services, then other people started to imitate it and it more or less disappeared. Here's another example: Can you tell the difference between one DSL provider and another? That service used to be what set a startup telecom business apart, now everyone offers it and you can't tell the difference between one and another.
It's possible to keep to a core, but it becomes harder and harder over time, especially when Wall Street demands bottom line results and the bean counters demand accountability.
Getting worried about Facebook, et al. "selling out" is pointless. Remember, most of these businesses were started by Havard Business School-types who are trained to "sell out," that is, make money and move on to something else. It's totally expected.
What's next? I predict that there will be several marriages/mergers of these services, with only one or two left standing at the end of the process. Might take a few years, but they will be absorbed into the great economic fabric, borg-like. Resistance is futile.
Just my humble opinion.
BluePete:
You make some great points, RE: Harvard Biz School grads and selling out. The optimist in me hopes that someone out of today's rising stars may mimic the philosphy of Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster who told Wall Street analysts "that Craigslist has little interest in maximizing profit, instead preferring to help users find cars, apartments, jobs and dates."
More important than that (because I *do* believe in capitalism and I don't begrudge anyone from making an honest buck), I don't know that it's smart marketing to make each product indistinguishable from the next.
If the services must all be the same, at least they can be distinct in design, no?
Distinct in design? Yes, that's necessary, and one of the few ways commodity services can distinguish themselves. But it's too often distinctiveness without a difference, to mangle a phrase.
Your example of Craigslist is ironic and fascinating in this context. In terms of design, it has barely changed since its early years. In fact, it's butt-ugly. But I love it, because it consistently delivers what I want and nothing more: information and community connections. It's social media in its purest form.
I think that's one of the great acheivements of Mr. Buckmaster: delivering exactly what online users want without the hype that surrounds some much of the online world. The MySpace generation should study his success.
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