Lately it seems as if the market for social media 101 and 102 have hit critical mass, unfortunately I think it’s just beginning to grow. Everyone will get into the business of telling you how to leverage, game, manipulate, and pendulate wants against needs. The more we become a “friending” society the more we need to be reminded that we are still human. Yes, there are ways to help nudge or further expose a desire into a “friending” action but the incessant documentation and rules for social media needs to find a plateau. This isn’t to say that those who are creating materials for those just becoming acquainted with social media are wasting their time or creating useless chatter amongst the internet. It does seem, however, that we are wanting to abandon our humanity for something more enticing. This happened with the advent of email and email newsletter campaigns, still heavily used but often tossed to the side for more social fields, email has been through this and maybe we should learn some lessons.

Social media sites are all the rage right now which means many people are diverting their attention from email newsletters to things like Twitter and Facebook. Spending time on social media is not only a sound business decision but you can see real return from it. That doesn’t mean that we should be ignoring our email newsletters.

For too long people have been chasing email newsletters hoping to see real movement for their sales. Many have now abandoned their newsletters because they feel they can see more action in social media. Too many people confuse endless chatter with actionable/meaningful conversations. I’m not saying to ignore social media but you need to focus on your email newsletter.