Almost a year ago in the middle of the press craze I raised a red flag about the mini gold rush on Second Life. With the Social Media becoming the subject of public and business fascination more red flags were raised and the post of Caroline McCarthy in CNET News titled "Marketing: Social media's hidden bubble" is worth reading. We see again the exponential rise in "Social Media Consultants" and "Social Media Gurus / Experts"; for those with some memory the situation looks familiar (remember the first Internet bubble). I would argue that most of these experts never took even the trouble to ask themselves what Social Media is and what it can actually mean for Marketing*. To many of them Social Media begins and stops somewhere between Facebook, Digg and Twitter. I do not need to add much to Caroline's post only that I hope some of those rushing to jump on the Social Media bandwagon will think better how to do that. It also seems to confirm my doubts about Twitter, the most recent darling of the Social Media aficionados.
* For those interested in my views on Social Media Marketing a working paper is available
