THE CREAMY FILLING SOCIAL MEDIA MIDDLE
I’m going out on a limb to say this: Social Media is the next bubble!
This may surprise some of you because a bubble IMOP will be good; especially right now because it will increase demand, which can stimulate the economy and get us out of this depression recession.
A bubble can be anything that is perceived as value and as the next logical trend in making money. It can be abstract like the internet or something concrete like real estate. But each time a bubble appears, it looks totally different than the previous bubble so most of us will not recognize the fact that a bubble exist. The good thing about a bubble is that if you get involved in the early stages; you can ride the growth like a surfer gliding on a monster wave of dollars. The only bad thing about a bubble is that if you get involved in the later stage; you can get wiped-out like a surfer crashing in a monster wave of salt water.
The main reason why most of us will not recognize SM as the next bubble is because right now we are fundamentally distracted. Yes, we have become distracted by a generational, political, cultural and a technological transformation; all taking place at the same time and in a bad economy to boot.
I am going to use a simple Oreo cookie to demonstrate that a SM bubble does exist so that you will be convinced that now is the best time to get involve if you want to ride the monster wave.
Take a look at the Oreo cookie! It consists of two cookies on each side connected by a creamy filling in the middle.
From a generational perspective one side of the cookie will represent the old school way of thinking. The baby boomersare a good example of this group. They have strong traditional values, control most of the wealth and have the core traditional skills in delivering a product or a service. However, they view technology as just noise; not a replacement for the face-to-face, relationship building business tactics they treasure.
The cookie on the opposite side represents the younger generation; they came of age during the technology boom. They are driven by instant gratification and are essentially users of technology; they have limited interest in learning traditional methodologies of delivering a product or a service. Who can blame them when there are apps and plug & play tools available as a means of efficiency and time saving.
The middle group is the Creamy Filling. The creamy filling consists of individuals that have hands-on skills in traditional methodologies; but they are not waiting around for the good times to return, they have embraced technology as a viable tool in delivering a product or a service. Though they are few in numbers, their mission is to connect the cookies on both sides to come together as one so everyone can reap the benefits.
Which group do you represent-the cookie or the creamy filling?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Here is a recent epiphany that inspired this post: Some time ago back in 1986, I took a co-worker out to lunch to celebrate his 50th birthday. During the meal we had a brief conversation-which went like this:
ME: Based on your experience, what would you say was the biggest difference between ages 50 and let’s say age 25?
HIM: That’s a good one, haven’t thought about that. But now that I think about it-there is not a lot of difference as you might think. The biggest difference that I notice is that now I spend more time looking in the rearview mirror.
ME: What do you mean, are you saying that there are more bad drivers on the roads now that before?
HIM: What I’m saying is that when you are in your 50’s-you realize that there are less people ahead than you and a hell of a lot more people behind you!
ME: So what does that mean to you?
HIM: Hell, if you don’t out-number them-you wont beat them. And if you cant beat them-you might as well join them. Thanks for the lunch man-you ready to go, let’s roll!
