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5 January 2010

2010: The year of the social media haves and have-nots?

Frank Harkin Consultant | Read all Frank's posts

Frank Harkin – Biography

Frank worked as a content strategist and consultant at The Group from 2007 until 2011 when he decided on a new career path as a freelancer.

He was a well regarded and liked member of the team and we wish him well with his new venture.

Frank studied Communications at Dublin City University and has a Masters degree in Latin American Studies from the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London.

Over the last few weeks, we've been reading a lot of predictions for the coming year.

The future may be location-based services, augmented reality or something we never even saw coming but when making predictions it can sometimes be as important to look backwards as forwards.

Which is why two comments among all the forward-looking statements recently caught our eye.

One was a contribution by Seth Godin to a collection of social media trend predictions (in less than 140 characters, of course) from TrendSpotting. Godin predicts that:

"Folks that put the time and energy to build a foundation over the last two years online will be rewarded while the others will whine."

This advice was echoed in a recent blog by Brian Solis on the evolution of social media and business. According to Solis:

"Today, there are businesses that engage in social media and those that do not. Those at least experimenting with the formidable, yet shifting landscape of intelligence and communication are learning how to adapt and connect in a new world of conversation, networking, and influence. Those that have yet to evaluate the opportunities and advantages for socialized marketing, service, sales, and branding will find it increasingly difficult to learn, adapt, and magnetize customers, prospects as well as their influencers."

The suggestion is that, like the tortoise and the hare, companies that have spent time quietly exploring the social media landscape to see what does and doesn't work, developing a strategy along the way, will begin to reap rewards.

While others will be left in their wake.

Does this mean that companies that haven't embraced social media or have only done so recently have missed the opportunity?

Will 2010 be the year not of the Next Big Thing but of the social media haves and have-nots?

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