Scoble’s 2007 Version
In 2007, Robert Scoble published the “Social Media Starfish” as pictured below (created by Scoble and Darren Barefoot). The premise is that all forms of social media are connected and I couldn’t agree more. Imagine you use Twitter to microblog and broadcast yourself, you use Flickr to post your photography that you share with your online friends and you are an avid blogger. They all are interconnected- some of your blog audience is your Twitter audience and some of your Twitter audience is your Flickr audience and so on and so forth.
Solis’ 2008 Version
While Scoble’s graph was sufficient for the time, social media has grown exponentially not only in options for applications but in actual users, rendering the “Social Media Starfish” lacking. This year, Brian Solis published “The Conversation Prism” that shows how social media has evolved (co-created with JESS3). What’s most intriguing to me is that Solis has captured the science of the social media movement of these applications overlapping, not just connecting.
click here for the enlarged version
Solis notes “conversations are taking place with or without you and this map will help you visualize the potential extent and pervasiveness of the online conversations that can impact and influence your business and brand.”
The takeaway of Solis’ Conversation Prism is that “in the social economy, relationships are the new currency.” We’ve been saying this for a while but Solis sums it up so concisely and eloquently. Kudos to Brian Solis for leading the evolution.
