In the late 1920s, legendary film producer Irving Thalberg told executives in the movie industry, “Novelty is always welcome. But talking pictures are just a fad;” proving that not only justice, but sometimes even genius, is blind.

There are a lot of people in our business with blinders on who think social networking – things like Facebook, Twitter and blogging- are clever and fun but merely “fads.” That kind of thinking, like Thalberg’s, is not just “in the box,” it’s more like Russian matryoshkas, the nesting dolls. It’s WAAAAY inside the box, surrounded by layer upon layer of conventional thinking.

Instant global communication is not the future. It’s the NOW. The debate about the Internet’s viability as an advertising resource is over, whether everyone knows it or not. It’s not a fad. Consider Angie’s List. Founded in Columbus, OH in 1995, Angie Hicks did a lot of door to door leg work collecting testimonials from friends, neighbors and the average folks of Columbus. Today, the Angie’s List website features customer comments for service providers -from handymen, roofers and contractors to doctors, dentists, hospitals, and insurance providers- across the country. The List does sell conventional ads, to companies who rank a B rating or better, but it’s the word of mouth from real people that keep the subscribers signing up and clicking back. Other sites -Kudzu, Servicemaster, Consumers’ CHECKBOOK- have followed suit. New reviews and comments are appearing not daily or hourly, but by the minute. These days, friends and neighbors can be next door, across town, across the continent or on the other side of the planet.

Then there’s Twitter. It seemed like a goofy idea at first. Users can upload descriptions of what they are doing at the moment but must limit their commentaries to 140 characters. The format forces those posting to think, edit and be laconic. It’s a good way to get the average blogger to get away from rambling on; a decent exercise in writing and getting to the point. Granted, there’s a lot of frivolous, mindless content – “Just had breakfast -pigs in a blanket- and let the dog out. Now I have to go to work. My foot hurts.” – but savvy users have figured out how to use their “tweets” as tools. Movie stars and musicians use Twitter to stay in touch with their fans on a personal level (while hawking their wares.) Politicians can tweet their constituents about the important issues at hand (“I can see Russia from my front porch!”) and in June of 2009, Twitter was cited as being THE source for pertinent information coming out of Iran during their somewhat dizzying presidential election. Last April, astronaut Michael Massimino -whose Twitter username is Astro_Mike- documented the details of his last weeks of training for the fifth servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. In the 1960s the astronauts drank Tang…now they tweet. In 2008, Twitter saw growth of 752% and went from a monthly unique visitor count of 500,000 to nearly 4.5 million. They continue to grow. People love to talk; and they like to listen, as well.

When it comes to the source for ANY information, the place to start is Google. You know how it works: The search engine lets you type in keywords and brings up a list of sites dealing with the subject at hand. Visiting a new city and want to know where to eat? Use Google.
Interested in a new product you saw advertised on TV? Google it. Want to know if Brad and Angelina are doing OK? Google it, nosy.
A cyber universe of information is literally at your fingertips. The site also features maps, email service, NASA photos, electronic books and magazines, translation dictionaries, and so on.

There are potential customers out there with blogs, using MySpace, YouTube and Twitter; Facebook just topped 350 million users worldwide. People on-line want to talk in real time. There’s limitless opportunity to become a participant in conversations on all of these services and many more, rather than just remaining a pitchman. We’re talking about reinventing marketing from being merely a message “pushing” mechanism to something that lets the customer become actively involved. This isn’t to imply conventional advertising is of less value than it has been in the past. We can plant the seed of an idea using established methods and then use instant, digital, global word of mouth to be the “fertilizer.”

People love to talk (and listen). And social networking is not a fad. It’s a fact.