Clay Shirkey addresses precisely this issue in “Here comes everybody” … I have a crap memory for specifics but the point is that there is a vast difference between sharing (being a member of a group is acknowledging a common interest), cooperating, collaborating and collective action. Even stimulating individual action arising out of a shared belief can be a stretch but political campaigns like Obamas show us that, correctly understood and incubated … social media can be a powerful and relevant tool. The trick, I think, is managing the “tragedy of the commons” effect … the insidious and fatal sense that “I don’t need to take action … my lack of effort will not damage the whole, someone else will do it” phenomenon.

@Monique I am so disappointed in you. You’ve just shown us again that you are not prepared to conduct thorough research on your topics.

Have you heard of Blogger Pro? The premium feature version of Blogger that brought the company back from the brink of death long before Google got interested?

Here’s a thought: Get yourself a copy of Founders At Work by Jessica Livingston. I’ve written a brief review about it here( http://tr.im/q3nO )

This book interviews tech startup founders (including Evan Williams)and discusses their experiences on the road to success.

More than anything, I think this book will help anyone put the word “Social Media” in context and give them a better understanding of how it came about that I’m responding to you in a comment, recommending a helpful book that I’m have no financial interest in, thus spreading the word about an author who deserves to get paid for publishing an excellent piece of work

The *value* I derive from Social Media is incalculable.

There are very few people making a full income from selling advertising on their blogs. Some examples of this are: Backpackers.com, 2oceansvibe.com, iMod.co.za and Tertia.org

There are, however, lots of bloggers making a little bit of money from advertising on their blogs (AdGator from Afrigator, and Google’s AdSense are particularly useful in this regard).

That said, there a growing number of people, like myself, who monetize their blogs indirectly by using the blog to support other business. For example, my blog sends through a regular stream of delegates on my courses, and bookings for my talks. This makes blogging a lucrative activity for me, and I consider my blog a valuable asset.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to this – it is appreciated. Let me state off the bat that I’m ecstatic that you’ll be doing a follow up to this. I welcome any effort to try and look at the benefits to social media and I commend you for this. Obviously I’d be more than willing to answer any questions you have so please get in touch when you get a chance.

I think what you’re trying to get to is the free model that hampers most Web 2.0 startups. The concept, in short, is to get global adoption of a product by offering free services, etc. to consumers with little to no effort in trying to turn a valuable service into a serious business.

I don’t disagree with you n this, but I think it’s important to note a startup’s strategy from the get go. It’s seems that most Web 2.0 startups are just trying to attain global penetration and as a result monetisation is of little importance. This doesn’t mean however that it doesn’t exist nor does it mean that social media sites aren’t making serious money.

Look at Flickr. A great photo sharing site with a solid business model in place. The “freemium” model comes to mind here. Always offer the core free but place greater emphasis on value-adds that encourage users to upgrade for a small price.

That all said I am looking forward to chatting about these issues in greater detail.

http://www.from-the-couch.com/post.cfm/title/social-media-is-a-tool#Comments

Justin, she is keen to do a follow up article but I am sure know this because she probably emailed you…

Thank you for the time you spent commenting on my article, I really appreciate the feedback. Just thought it is worth mentioning that my article was written in response to a book I read by Juliette Powell called 33 Million People in the Room and was clearly marked as a book review. The author gives the impression that it is easy to make money out of social media and become a micro-celebrity. I disagree with her. Not much thought seems to be given as to how one makes money out of social media. For example, I had a meeting with someone who develops social networks for businesses, when I asked him what the business case would be for Moneyweb developing its own one he said he had no idea. With regards to Blogger it was not making money when Google bought it.
The other issue I had with 33 Million People is that it seemed to suggest that if you use social media, Reed’s theory would magically apply, which did not happen with Cope, and as you rightly pointed out, you need to do more than just have a presence on social media to make a success of your business or party.
I do agree with you and your commentators that the story of how South Africans are making money from social media needs to be told. I would love to do a follow up article on how Afrigator, The Couch, Marc Ashwell, imod etc, are making money. I am certain that it was not as easy as Powell suggested in her book. Can I get in touch with you next week?
Finally, your assertion that I have no understanding of what social media means is incorrect. I created Moneyweb’s Facebook page and run its twitter feed. I also co-founded MoneywebTax, a niche tax website.

I understand journalism (come from a long line of journalists and worked in the industry myself) and it is irresponsible to write something like this when you clearly have no understanding of what it means. Had Monique been a seasoned social media expert and written this then there would have been valid, counter arguments to the statement that it’s not worth it.

However, as she clearly isn’t, the article is based on ilogical statements that are aimed to just defy the validity of something that has clearly worked for many many people.

So no, we haven’t over-reacted at all. I, like “South African”, would hope that Monique and the team at Moneyweb would now counter this article with one that is based more on fact than speculation.

I read an article online earlier about 55% of Twitters 4.5mil users have never tweeted… it said something along the lines of “barely a peep is heard from most Twitter members..” – that really annoyed me because they are counting “non-existant” people / spammers. Twitter isn’t for the masses, they should stay away.
I blame Oprah for the state of the Twittersphere

We have also posted a response to their post on From the Couch, but now reflecting on all this… I asked myself a question: Have we over reacted?

I need to ask, who is Monique anyway?

This type of article is inevitable and maybe its a sign that our group of bloggers etc. are doing a pretty bad job of gaining mainstream exposure…?

Just a thought.

@Gino – therein lies the problem. By writing an unsubstantiated article like she did, Monique has undermined the influence and power of social media and now every Moneyweb reader who read that probably feels that social media is a load of rubbish. It helps validate an already under-educated audience!

Chris M – exactly. There you have it. A little bit of fact finding would have prevented this from being published.