This morning I posted about how the social networks are challenging IM or SMS. Just wanted to stress an interesting point about this. If you watch conversation posted on comments, logs, walls or so, a lot of the conversation is actually quite personal. It seems as the personal conversation is going fra private to public. Even in the networks offering both a private mail option and a comment wall a lot of the conversation is held in the public sphere. This is really interesting.
IMs are very private and difined by privacy and the lack of disruptive elements. Here we see a tendency toward wanting the conversation to be public as if the content of conversation is being a part of the users creating their identity. If this is really the reason for taking conversation fra IM to social networks then IM haven’t got the weapons to fight back because they service is born and bread in the private sphere.
What will this mean for interacting with the users? Will marketing in the conversation be an option? Or is the public conversation a no go for marketers?
I myself am quite careful with what I publish and what I like to keep to myself and my confidantes. And for all I care, once you put it out there it’s no longer yours to keep.
So feel free to place a Smirnoff ad where tags ‘party, drinks, going out, disco, clubbing’ and so on appear. Just as well as I as a journalist do using blogs, wall posts etc. both for research and for publishing.