How Would You Define “New” or “Social” Media?

by Curt Mercadante

On Feburary 18, 2010, I will be the keynote speaker at the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, delivering a presentation, entitled, “The Press Release is Dead: Using New Communications Tools to Build Your Business, Non-Profit or Campaign.”  As part of the pre-promotion of this event, the Chamber asked me to participate in a brief Q&A that they’re sending to their members.  Over the next week, we’ll share my responses to this Q&A, the first of which is below to the question: “How would you define ‘new’ or ‘social’ media?”

I actually don’t believe in using those terms, because I think there’s no such thing as “social media” — it’s all just media.

In the 1930′s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt utilized the radio to deliver his messages, and people around the country gathered around each week to listen to his “fireside chats.”  Talk about “social media” …

In the 1960′s, the first televised presidential debate occurred between Nixon and Kennedy.  They utilized this “new media” to get their messages to the voters …

When I first started out in corporate public relations, my tool was a phone and a fax machine (and sometimes even the U.S. Postal Service.)

My point is that media is media.  Twitter, Facebook, and email are simply the communications tools we use today.

Every generation has a new set of tools that makes it easier and more effective to communicate.  In past generations, the tools evolved once a decade (or longer).  These days, the tools change and evolve every day.

The big difference with today’s tools (what many call “social media”) is that they have transformed communication from a one-way street to a two-way street.  It’s no longer about just broadcasting and trying to attract “eyeballs” to your brand  — it’s about interacting with your customers and getting them to actually engage and evangelize your brand to their friends, family and networks.