Back to Basics:What Is Social

Media?Scott Peterson

Co-Founder

What is social media, really? Let’s provide some context.To truly understand it, we

need to go back… way back… to

When a man who wanted to buy some corn…

Met a farmer who wanted to sell some corn.

They talked about it and agreed.…an ancient exampleof a market as a conversation.

Now let’s jump forward in time

to 1510 A.D…

When a gentleman who wanted to buy some jewelry…

Visited the local jeweler.

They talked about it. Made a deal. Again, it was a conversation-based market.

Now let’s speed forward to 1950, when my dear mother was unhappy with her detergent.

Not much she could do.Couldn’t visit the manufacturer. Markets had changed.

Mass communications& markets = top

down

Take it or leave it!

Then in 1999 came theCluetrain Manifesto, declaring personal computertechnology and the Internetwere bringing back markets as conversations.

The power relationship between companies and consumers is changing

back to something it had traditionally been in

human society.

Community

Learning

Social Media

Conversation

Engagement

Sharing

•51% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after “liking” on Facebook 

•56% of consumers are likely to recommend a brand to a friend after becoming a fan

(*Hubspot Oct 2011)

Pew Internet, State of Social Media 2011

• 81% of people in the financial sector see Twitter as the most important social network for their organization.

– Ciscero, January 2012