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Re: Lack of Knowledge is #1 Barrrier to Social Media

kelly — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:53:37 -0000

Accurate analysis! When ppl are lost, they either dig for info, ask around or they don't bother. I belong to the LAST group! So I am in agreement with you about the barrier as cause.

Re: Lack of Knowledge is #1 Barrrier to Social Media

barryhurd — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:21:09 -0000

Laurent - I agree.

I think the small percentage is unfortunately compromised of many professionals who "don't get it" and are fearful for jobs. This is becoming more of an issue since the end of 2008 when the economy and layoffs started deteriorating. There are more and more communication professionals who are looking at social media like it is a sharp axe hanging above them.

Re: Lack of Knowledge is #1 Barrrier to Social Media

barryhurd — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:17:59 -0000

Wayne... I laughingly can "feel your pain"

I wrote some similar information on this site last year on a plan to introduce social media at one level, but the audience it attracted was education, marketing, and PR.

We are still at a very early stage of social media. Most business owners don't have any idea what social media is; and still place it in the category of "yeah, my kid has one of those profiles..."

Re: Lack of Knowledge is #1 Barrrier to Social Media

laurent — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:47:21 -0000

Social media being a big change for marketers, I'm not surprise to see those reasons in the order they are ;-). 'people' reasons are always the biggest hindrance to any change unless you're a change agent which makes only a small % of the overall worker population. But as you pointed out, what's particular (and dangerous) is that people think they are knowledgeable and they're not. I would agree with that based on my own experience working with the marketers I meet who think because they have a linkedin and facebook account they know social media....though they've never tried to 'engage' with like-minded people in their space.

Re: Lack of Knowledge is #1 Barrrier to Social Media

Wayne Smallman — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:15:24 -0000

It's interesting that this article should pop up in my Twitter stream. I'm just in the midst of writing a major follow-up article to my first ebook: The Beginner's Guide to Social Media:

"There are tons of things being said about social media, but most of it appears to be making the assumption that you know what social media is. For many business people, this really isn't the case.

So I've written The Beginners Guide to Social Media: an introduction to social media from a business perspective, as a total ground-up introduction to social media."

I've been surprised by the number of people from education and media & PR who've downloaded my ebook. Though they are all welcome, I really did expect to appeal more to business people. However, I may have inadvertently become the victim of my own prophecy; that most businesses aren't ready for social media, which segues rather nicely with your article...