According to Iconoculture, “while more than 400 million consumers are active online social network users, a growing subset are getting off the social media carousel. Many consumers are quitting online soc nets over concerns they worsen their offline lives.” It was bound to happen. Iconoculture continues, “Consumers aren’t ditching digital friendship in droves, but they are getting back to the root of BeehivingSM — good ‘ol fashioned face-to-face interaction.”
Social media is not going anywhere, but the need to be constantly connected is starting to change. You can actually spend about half the time and still stay connected. “As online social networks proliferate to the point of bewilderment, consumers are pushing back and reclaiming some of their personal lives from the Web’s entanglements.”
Just like anything new and wonderful we tend to overdo it in the beginning. After a few mornings when you don’t get out of your pajamas until noon you start to ask yourself if it’s really worth it. As a small business it’s important to use social media, yet never forget that the customer standing in front of you is the most important interaction. Do you know your customers name?
In the nursery trades we may see more people than other types of business who want to wean off of too much social media. After all the garden is a place to reconnect with nature, and hanging out inside all day socializing takes you away from that.
I gave up Facebook for Lent. The crops at Farmville may be withering, but I’m getting more planting done in the real world!
Comment by fred hoffman — March 10, 2010 @ 8:44 am
I think it’s only a matter of time before folks realize how much is lost by being ’super connected’. Are our relationships strengthened by this new communication, or do we ‘browse’ this content for only those small things that interest us? Can we know anyone truly ‘well’ with such small snippets to base relationship on?
A recent gathering of garden centre owners here in Ontario expressed interest in social media, but HUGE reservations regarding its use as a marketing or business enhancement tool. One owner commented that it’s nice to connect, but where is the proof that it pays (for OUR sector) over the long term? Another wisely commented that it’s far more important to make the experience in the garden centre memorable, and let your guests then use these media THEMSELVES to spread the word. This might be a more reasoned method for social media use.
Comment by Perry Grobe — March 10, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
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