Those status updates make your ass look great
As days roll by, the Holy Trinity of social media continue to try on each others’ underwear, and honestly, from an experience perspective, this is a huge mistake.
I know that the brands I shop and utilize are often based on the uniqueness of my experience in each venue. For example, I am a huge fan of cheeseburgers- all kinds of cheeseburgers. McDonalds is simply different than BurgerKing, who is different from Hut’s versus Mighty Fine here in Austin. If we decide to eat cheeseburgers, we often pick which type of burger we’ll eat based on the experience we’re looking for- fast versus sit down, versus sitting down out doors, versus casual beer drinking and a burger.
What that has to do with the holy trinity is that we’re watching a metamorphosis of FaceBook and even LinkedIn to move more towards a Twitter-like experience and I’m really not sure why. To me, it signals many things, one of which resembles that of an identity crisis.
I utilize FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Twitter for very unique reasons, and I wonder if the young giants in social media get that? Do they understand that moving against the way their users experience them is harmful to their long term success? In fact, I’ve virtually stopped using two of the three for exactly these reasons.
Let’s be twinkies
Are the new media giants out of their own ideas? Have we reached the plateau in social innovation? That’s what the trinity wearing each others’ underwear signals to me. When you’re changing so much (privacy) to look like someone else even against the better wisdom of your patrons, I suspect the idea of dumping one audience for someone else’s is a bad idea.
McStarbucks, where your name doesn’t matter
A prime offline example of this is Starbucks versus McDonalds. If that one doesn’t confuse you, then please, enjoy that BigMac, I’ll just sit here and sip my latte and read, because the cause is as lost on you as it is on Starbucks who has completely eroded everything that made it wonderful in an effort to resist McDonalds.
Who am I, Why am I here?
Over funded, over hyped, and inexperienced, I sense trouble on the horizon for one or all of the big three, and my question is, which one most resembles GM?
