spreading jam

It’s Social Media Week this week and it’s an opportunity to dive deeper into the alluring world of social media and find out how this fast growing phenomenon is growing and developing in different cities around the world.

In principal it’s a great idea; social, economic and cultural factors all have a part to play in how people interact with social media. Are American’s more enamoured with Facebook than their European cousins? How does a Russian teen use Twitter compared to a youth from Glasgow?

This week focuses on twelve cities as diverse as they come (Beirut, Berlin, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Glasgow, Los Angeles, Milan, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Vancouver) but unfortunately this is where the global feel ends. The schedule of events reads pretty much like any other social media conference but happens to be dotted around the globe.

Personally, I think that the organisers have missed a real opportunity here, after all isn’t one of the main pillars of social media ‘Sharing Content’? Inter-country or even global debate on such topics as “How Clean is Your Rep?” or “Social Media Doesn’t Exist” could really add an additional dimension to the event and mimic the very topic that the week-long, multi-city conference is aiming to talk about.

That being said, anything which helps to bring attention to the validity and commercial importance of the work of Social Media can only be a good thing. Cynics of Social Media too often refer to this emerging area as being merchants of ‘Snake Oil’ or ‘self-proclaimed experts’ without understanding the complex beauty of the middle ground between marketing, customer service and technology.
Regardless of whatever brands, cynics or consumers think about social media, it is too late to go back to the pre-MySpace days. Web 2.0 is here and Social Media Week is a celebration of this – viva la Webolution!