The insanely simple reason companies mis-use social media.

I was having a brief ‘between-panels’ discussion at an HR event when something occured to me, a simple revelation that changed how I talk about social media. You see, day in and day out social media as we know it is being mistreated in ways that would get someone fined in your typical episode of Animal Precinct. And I’m conviced that, at the root of it, it’s for one simple reason: the name itself.

The social media discussion online is overflowing with would-be gurus, pundits, wannabes and actual experts repeating one key word around which this whole phenomena revolves: conversation. I mean, really, Google: social media +conversation and you get “Results 1 – 10 of about 11,100,000 for social media +conversation. (0.27 seconds).” As of 30 seconds ago you did at least.

But yet, people continue to use social media channels and ecosystems as shout channels mimicking broadcast media like TV or radio. Just look at all the companies in HR-space who think filling a Twitter account or Facebook wall with nothing but outgoing job listings or endless self-promotional babble is somehow attaining social media mastery. When it’s really more like saying “Hey, DIG ME!!” And really…some people will find it worthwhile (education and informing is part of this process after all) but most will simply consider it spam.

So why is this happening? Why do companies use social media like it was some shiny new bullhorn? The name.

Social media is just a completly inaccurate name for what this space is really about: it focuses on the properties and technology instead of the interaction and content. The name itself promotes the attitude of: ‘here’s a new media environment to play in, how can I use the materials I’ve already developed?’

It would be more approriate to refer to this space as ‘Social Medium’ – a social environment or space. According to Webster’s (excuse me while I put on my trusty, taped-up horn-rimmed glasses) a medium is (definition 3a): “a condition or environment in which something may function or flourish.”

A social medium is a social environment, a natural location for the aforementioned guru/expert/pundit-approved conversations to occur. And it’s the dynamic of the medium that matters, not the technology. It’s the use of the medium in a socially meaningful manner that moved the goal-line, not the specific web properties. It’s the fact that i can influence and be influenced by friends and strangers in a virtually real time conversation in Twitter and the ability to share photos and videos through Facebook so my expanded social circle can chime in with their thoughts and questions. And it’s about the fact that they can see each other and begin to interact with people they might otherwise never have known about in any other way.

But, if someone were to enter a social conversation I am engaged in about yoga and just announce (out of the blue) that they have yoga mats for sale, they’re misusing the space, spamming me and likely to get blocked or just ignored. Meanwhile they’re probably wondering what’s so great about this social media stuff since no one buys their stuff. “Hunh, Twitter doesn’t work!” they think. “It’s just a bunch of BS!” And then they go to the next environment, Facebook, whatever, and do the same thing all over again. It’s a vicious cycle that leads straight to disaster.

Maybe I’m just being a word geek here, but I believe in the power of words to shape and guide perception as well as actions. When entire areas of business have spent ages thinking that ‘media’ means ‘broadcast message channel’ we shouldn’t be surprised when they mis-use the social medium and try plastering it with classified ads and press releases.