My homework assignment

On Friday, I asked if you would compare and contrast Brian Solis' "Conversation Prism" and Matt McDonald's "Definitive Explanation of Social Media" graphic.

So I did my own homework assignment and thought about these over the weekend, and here's my take. I tend to think simpler is better, so it seems to me that Matt's actually may be more helpful - especially since there are new social sites cropping up all the time and you could tear your hair out trying to place them all in the prism - which actually misses the point.

Because these graphics are only important if you can use them to show how social media is relevant to your organization.

Take this, for example, from the point of view of the individual. Say, me. I am (obviously) heavily into social media of all kinds. So I create content (e.g. this blog, my own photos, my own videos, my other informal blogs); I share content (e.g. this blog, links to other blog posts within my posts, other websites I come across through bookmarking and sharing, photos, videos, etc.); and I share information about myself, what I get up to, what I like and dislike, what events I am going to, where I am traveling to, etc, through social networks and groups. Obviously there is overlap between all of these. Now imagine your associations' "quintessential" members (you likely have different types) - where do they interact? It is very likely that many (more than you think) are already well versed in some social media, even if they don't know it. They are sharing photos with their families, or have a personal profile on Facebook, or have a professional profile on LinkedIn, for example. Some segments are very heavily into this stuff and more and therefore you might want to "fish where the fish are", so to speak.

Then look at it from the point of view of the association considering entering this space - do you want to create content? Do you want your members to create content on your behalf? Do you want to share that content? Do you want to find information that other people are sharing about your particular industry? Do you want to create a place where your members can interact with each other? With non-members (e.g. to hopefully bring them into the fold)?

There are tons more questions like these, but I think Brian Solis' prism actually illustrates how complicated you can make it all. I'm not saying that's a bad thing - there are circumstances where those nuances are very important, such as for a startup tech company trying to figure out where they fit and how to market themselves beyond just the functionality of their products. For the association industry, however, you can get too bogged down in the details about all these social sites and technologies, and basically end up not seeing the forest for the trees. Matt's illustration brings us back to the forest, the big picture.

What did you think?