Social media naysayers
There is a growing segment of society taking a moral stand against the new world of social media. They choose to boycott all forms of social networking and make life difficult by not having a facebook page or twitter identity. They expect to be actual friends and swap email addresses or, god forbid, phone numbers, in order to stay in touch. If you’re ever face to face with one such renegade they will have you feeling silly reasonably quickly. They’ll say, “when did we all turn into idiots desperate to share every boring detail of our predictable thoughts and lives?” or “how many hours a day do you waste talking online?” You’ll admit for a moment that it’s true and blush a little, thinking about your last inane status update. But as soon as they’ve gone you’ll be back on, plugged into the matrix.
The risk
Despite the fact that these naysayers are in the minority, they are yet a powerful and important group and the business or branding that steps up to represent them will be in a special position. They will become the branding for the counter culture – young rebels who want to resist the mainstream. Sprite stepped up years ago to become the branding for hip hop on MTV and it was a hugely successful partnership. They became the branding of that voice in society. In one way it is a dangerous move, since it isolates the business and their products from the mainstream.
The reward
The advantage is that it captures the niche market of the minority. Advertising and marketing that actively articulates the anti facebook movement, actively ridicules the new world obsession with social media and takes the mickey out of the self obsessed, egocentric evolution of technology, can potentially seriously capitalise. They will win the hearts and minds of a growing number of social media naysayers, and the potentially hilarious advertising copy is limitless. Cartoon the me, me, me!!! culture of social media and then just let it rip. We social media lovers can handle it.
