A Guest Post By: Matt Handal

One of the lies you will hear about social media is “social media is here to stay.” if you consider what people are actually talking about when they say “social media,” (as explained in my Definition of Social Media post) the statement is ridiculous. In the world of technology, nothing is truly “here to stay.” On the world wide web, staying power is rare. Your ability to stay around often relies on your ability to turn a profit or your ability to sell your site to a big company who can absorb your losses. This usually hurts the site more than it helps it.

Let’s look at Myspace. Remember Myspace, one of the biggest sites on the web? It used to be the bees knees and mentioned regularly on the nightly news (just like Twitter). What happened? Quite simply, Myspace did not have a sustainable business model. So they simply sold the site (and all its user data) to Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp. Facebook came along, out innovated Myspace, and became much “cooler.” Everybody switched to Facebook. Myspace should have seen this coming, because it did the same exact thing to Friendster. Can you see a pattern?

LinkedIn, on the other hand, has been a profitable business from very early on. This may indicate more staying power. Twitter, which was started by the same guys who started Blogger.com, has a business plan that revolves around making $1 from each of its users. Twitter hasn’t figured out how to do that yet. The rumors of acquisition are already surfacing. Will people always use these platforms? I have no idea.

I’m not saying that social media will be blowing like dust in the wind. What I’m saying is that nobody who is telling you social media is here to stay is qualified to predict the future of the tech sector. In my opinion, if you make a statement that you are not qualified to make, it is a lie. Making statements like this is fine unless you are directing someone to make business decisions. Look in the SMPS marketing handbook’s social media chapter (page 248). It recommends you make a Myspace page for your firm. It was written last year.

As a marketer, producer of the Construction Netcast podcast, contributing editor of SMPS Marketer, co-author of the Marketing Handbook for the Design & Construction Professional, and Twitter.com’s @MattHandal, Matt sure is busy. But never too much to answer your questions at mhan7474@yahoo.com or post at http://www.helpeverybodyeveryday.com/, where you can sign up to receive his weekly articles.