Where next for Social Media in Business?

The other day I was feeling fatigued with the amount of data I was filtering and was thinking there must be more to life? Was it just my age or was I experiencing social media fatigue. I have read recently that people have been leaving some well-known social media sites and then there has been the negative headlines regarding anti-social activities fuelled by social media, so obviously I am not alone.

So I started to think whether people will get fed up with maintaining the levels of contact currently being experienced and conversely if they don’t and networks continue to expand as new content is added, will congestion become a problem?

Perhaps more importantly, where next for business with social networking? Do businesses have similar problems in that Marketing, PR and Sales have been at the forefront creating web sites and communicating messages but where is the rest of the business operation in social media? and what next for those areas active in social media and are they, like individuals, also getting fatigue?

As far as business is concerned are we at an impasse or is there a way forward? Certainly some benefit has been achieved but we are still slowed down with concerns over security and Value.

So where next for social media in business in what is becoming an ‘always-on’ world?

Even with some defectors there are still an awful lot of people using social media to the point that they expect that kind of collaboration when they are involved in business. This is particular true, although not exclusive, of the next generation to enter the workforce, so you could argue the demand for doing business using social media is there.
Mobile is where a lot of progress is and will continue to be made. Several social media tools are likely to be included as default on smart phones and using location will be a key element moving forward as well as ‘augmented reality’ but a lot of this is still only addressing the personal and retail business areas.

Businesses, as well as individuals, need better ways to filter and aggregate the flow of data together with ways of making sense of all the information so it is relevant to requirements and reduces fatigue. This is a key requirement if we are going to regain control of the information flow.

Other areas of the business will increasingly adopt social media as more products and innovations come along. We are already seeing integration with CRM products to listen to customers and competitors but new products should allow it to move down the value chain into supply (purchasing coalitions etc.), product development (ideas/opinions/feedback), service delivery (project collaboration etc.) It’s probably not a revolution but evolution as suppliers build these capabilities into their existing and new product lines.

Companies in particular are looking for easier ways to collaborate within their organisations, their markets and perhaps more importantly their customers. The goal is to create something that achieves this without the security risks that concern the company executives. At the moment that still seems to mean closed communities but some of these are leading the way in creating communities of business partners, manufacturers and allowing two way communication using various social media tools to enhance the experience.

There is some discussion that Google Plus will be a hub for business collaboration and certainly Google would be in a position as is Microsoft with its SharePoint product to deliver such capabilities. They have both been going down this path with previous attempts (Google Wave and Microsoft Groove) so hopefully they will get there soon.

In summary, social media needs to add value to the business process and such value that it can be recognised by the company executive. To do that we need to be able to filter the noise on the line, find ways to collaborate to wider audiences safely and securely and to integrate the new ways of working into the normal day to day products.

It maybe that the term and perception of Social Media is getting in the way and the new innovations should distance themselves from such a label. The social media revolution has now reached a point where it is evolving into the main stream; long live the revolution!

"This post is on behalf of the Enterprise CIO Forum and HP"