In their article Users of the world, unite! (Business Horizons Jan-Feb 2010) A. Kaplan and M. Haenlein are providing a classification for the concept of Social Media and giving 10 hints and tips for companies to take advantage of it.
The classification is done by reflecting Social Media towards the characteristics and definitions of User Generated Content and Web2.0. To further define the concept Kaplan and Haenlein are sorting Social Media services by the axis of social presence and self presentation. They eventually come up with six different types of Social Media; collaborative projects, blogs, content communities, social networking sites, virtual game worlds and virtual social worlds.
It is understandable to simplify the reality by such a strict splitting, but in the dynamic field of Social Media it may be a bit misleading. The separate services are all tangled up with each other in many ways. Also it might be difficult for the users to separate their behavior. People are blogging using youtube and sharing the content eventually through FB or Twitter. This kind of multiplatform behavior is already difficult to explain by the six types that Kaplan and Haenlein are suggesting.
It is understandable to simplify the reality by such a strict splitting, but in the dynamic field of Social Media it may be a bit misleading. The separate services are all tangled up with each other in many ways. Also it might be difficult for the users to separate their behavior. People are blogging using youtube and sharing the content eventually through FB or Twitter. This kind of multiplatform behavior is already difficult to explain by the six types that Kaplan and Haenlein are suggesting.
People are using the services all of the time in different and differing ways; in ways that those could not be expected to be used. For example the behavior on Facebook is changing rapidly. People are somewhat fed up with each other's self-disclosure, blocking good-day-friends and using the platform for more meaningful knowledge sharing. This in mind, a static model on the types of Social Media might not be all that accurate in a long run.
Talking about the need to disclosure... Earlier on I wrote about the need for people to express themselves in a creative manner. Reflecting to that, Kaplan’s and Haenlein’s model with the self-presentation / self-disclosure axis is really interesting. It will be exciting to see what will happen for that behavior in the near future. I see the beginning of the Social Media era in the early 2000’s as through Myspace and etc. it came popular for Average Joe to present himself in public. My presumption is that already in the near future the services that are based for high self-presentation with light content will either fade away or find new ways of providing value. As said earlier, people are exhausted sharing all the thoughts that run through their minds. More than that people are tired to read other’s nonsense. Self-disclosure with heavy content, such as topic related blogs and serious creativity will remain, for sure.
Kaplan and Haenlein write about reflecting one’s identity in the Social Media presence. It is interesting to think, how the real-life environment would be if people really were like their Social Media appearance. Most people would be dream-in-laws, extremely fit and beautiful, constantly cooking fine dining meals for spouse and friends. Some would just be drunk and wasted spending their time most likely already at Piritori.
