"Social media can be insignificant for many brands"

This is a great article - http://thedigitalblur.com/2008/06/26/its-not-a-magical-parallel-universe-its-just-the-internet-yes-social-media-too/

Initially seen via Ben Barren's blog (see recommended). This article sums up some great points regarding the Social Media landscape, written by Jason Heller

A great quote I heard recently was "maybe consumers don't want to be friends with your toilet paper brand" when pressed about why EVERYONE wasn't rushing into social media.

Don't get me wrong - I am an advocate of the world of social media and what it entails ... I just think there need to more commercial realities applied to it and a clearer picture of how it can address business issues and tasks. This will allow it to move from where it is now (nice to have) to a need to have.

From the article: "The purpose of all marketing investments is the same. To sell stuff. The only difference between disciplines is where in the influence and decision cycle the investment impacts consumers and how easy or difficult it is to measure the potential impact. No marketing investment is made for fun, whether branding, direct response, relationship marketing, research, PR, social media or otherwise."