In my research for interesting and useful statistics I came across this video originally posted by Buzzshift, I liked it so much I had to share it with all of you. Pay close attention to the facts, particularly the rates at which traditional media grew versus social media. It makes us feel proud at Re that we’re part of this media revolution.

 In other news we’d like to extend our appreciation to AllTop for incorporating us into their AllTop Social Media category. If you’re looking for the latest and greatest news in social media blogging, technology, or really anything you can wrap your mind around. AllTop’s got it.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist  @ The Re Agency

Change in social communication is part of our global history, it may be one of the few things we all have in common to this day. We love to talk, to divulge information, to chatter, to relate, to disagree, and to debate. In every advanced civilization, there is always a marked and defined form of social interaction. In Greece there was the public square created by the Senate, in Egypt there was the papyrus posted by the Pharaoh, in Ancient China there were smoke signals created for the purpose of war; study era to era and you’ll see the effect that ONE solitary variable can have on an entire culture. So it brings me to my next point: what causes social interaction to shift? What is that variable? You’ll only need one guess. Well, eventually everything becomes obsolete because it’s replaced by something that works better, faster, and more efficiently.The way we communicate changes because technology moves forward and as what we create moves forward, so must we.

In the Atomic Age (1950-60’s) when Television was brought into the world as the lovechild of marketing and advertising, at first it was met with disbelief,  questioning professionals wanting to get rid of it, fearing it was the end of Advertising’s golden age; they yearned for the comfort and reliability of the good old print medium. Nothing fancy, just candid illustrations detailing the modern miracles of that time. Which happened to be Snake OilSnake Oil reviews. However, whilst skeptics fidgeted their fingers and remained stagnant in their ways, some very innovative individuals decided to take a bit of chance. Little did the skeptics know that Advertising would experience it’s real golden age because of television.

Shows with names like “Krafts Television Theater” and “Man against Crime sponsored by Camel Cigarettes” (Yes, that was the title) started to pop up at every hour of the day, brands associated themselves with entertaining and informative content to connect viewers to their product through this medium. the phenomenon grew, soon every family in America owned a television set, and chose their brand loyalties according to the content perceived.  Agencies and independents were forced to take part in the mass media frenzy, while those few that had pioneered the movement and started long before, were already very much ahead of the game… In 1964, Marshall McLuhan published “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’ . Dr. McLuhan essentially proved with years of arduous research that mass media could literally move the masses, sway them, mold them, and most importantly reach them in their homes in their chairs and pull them into the world of your choosing. His focus was upon the effects of technology on popular culture and social communities he referred to as “the Global village”( Sounds familiar?). Indeed, the global village was a direct result of his infamous aphorism “the medium is the message“.  What Mr.McLuhan meant was that every message made through a popular medium essentially becomes embedded into that medium thus making a “symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.” The power behind this, is quite possibly the most significant correlation between society and it’s technology. Which we’ve all benefited from for many years. However the era of the Television ad is coming to an end, it has lived a great life, and while it’s 1.0 way of getting your message across taught us many things about society and the way it digests information; we should all start saying goodbye. The reason for this as many of you have noticed, is that once this research came around, we exploited the resources to the point where you can’t go anywhere, not even a public restroom without being sold something. We’ve become cynical, we don’t trust advertisers, and we sure don’t trust companies. As Bob Dylan once said “the times they are a-changing..”

So what now, what do we do? Do we blow another several million on an TV ad knowing that half of America has a a DVR system and simply fast forward through your Million Dollar investment, do we really want to go out like that? What about Print? How far will that full page ad get you, when the same content can be found online, for free? Technology has beat us out once again but it’s different now. It’s not just about mass communications. It’s transformed into something deeper, something more real, tangible. It’s now about mass interaction. Not just relaying the message and depending upon a 50 person focus group, but rather relaying the message and receiving a response, instantly. Faster than the radio waves, faster than the satellite, faster than any of us could have been prepared for. The internet and its many interactive platforms are redesigning our entire strategy of approach.

Disbelief in Social media, in the effects that this essentially personalized form of mass media can be effective are comparable to disbelief in years of study on the human mind. If you doubt the abilities of social media, it’s much like doubting the abilities of word of mouth, and direct to consumer advertising. It doesn’t work because of the quantity of upfront engagement, it works because of the quality of the engagement. From Jakarta to Jackson, the digital global village is trying to speak to us, he’s sitting in his chair waiting to be pulled, waiting to be responded to. Are you there? Is your brand there? Your company? Your small business? Your corporation? Your organization? Your agency?

Yesterday my colleague wrote an excellent piece on common sense, and the way that major corporations and ad agencies tend to ignore that little voice in their head that thinks logically and makes connections in a structured and sensible way. Well look around you, it’s the 21st century, and we’re once again at a crossroads of the significance of mass media; except you can choose to micro-target the mass audiences you wish to reach. Wake up man, it’s here. Don’t ignore ‘the Global village” because you’re afraid to leave your comfort zone. Look into the past and accept that those who have been successful and have endured the test of time have not been afraid to innovate, to test the water, and essentially dive in head first.

Don’t ignore “the Global village”, no, no, on the contrary embrace it, embed your message, and don’t wait for the report to be published ladies and gentlemen, help write it.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The Re Agency