So-called Predictions About Social Media

I’ve been engaged in social media for a while now and I do my best to read as much relevant material as possible on the topic – limiting myself, for the most part, to input from well-established companies and individuals for fear if being inundated with “noise.”

But even limiting my exposure, I find that some of the social media professionals I follow are putting out a spate of information. And I’ve found myself wondering if I need to trim back: there just seems to be too many thoughts swirling around out there – all vying for my time and attention (and all trying to do as much as possible to increase their SEO and backlink results?)

As a case in point, I found the usual number of posts based on Social Media Trends and Predictions for 2011 — which should be some good reading, right? (At least it used to be.) But this year, on the whole, the predictions tended to be so generic as to be of little value.

Here’s a small sampling:

• More companies will invest in social media in 2011
• Agencies will continue to hone their social media skills
• Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will remain the dominant social media platforms

Really? Is this all we have? Are we getting this kind of information because social media experts are just trying to be “seen” as often as possible – without really trying to break new ground, or provide any real insight? (Is it even possible to keep pouring out relevant new information on a day-by-day basis?)

Would love to know your thoughts.