Social Media and Interactive Communication
Social media emphasizes one area of interactive communication: free-flowing conversations, whether in person or through the use of Twitter. In his article (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/dear-espn-youre-doing-it-wrong), Chris Brogan makes the point that limiting Twitter to “business only” social media communication has the adverse effect of limiting such free-flowing conversations on multiple topics of interest. This creates commercial advertising spin devoid of personal nuance that obscures identity. Twitter was designed specifically for “impulse” communicating in the same way shopping malls encourage “impulse buying”. Twitter is a virtual shopping mall for impulse communication. No preplanning is necessary. When social media begins to mix with business media, the balance between the two realms of business and sociability is lost.

How Social Media Works Most Effectively
Few measures of promotion are as effective as “word of mouth”. Social media accentuates this excellently. Using social media as a correlated form of “word of mouth” is as effective as it is efficient. It brings about a simple method with which to make announcements without the perfunctory scripting or formality expected of business media. It would be a serious error in judgment to attempt to commercialize, formally or otherwise, social media in exact the same volume of visibility as expected from online marketing strategies. Social media is most effective when it is unfettered and free from preconceived notions of monotonous regimentation.

A Little of This, A Dash of That
Like any good recipe handed down from one generation to the next, social media is based upon the premise of “a little of this”, “a dash of that” in order to retain its popularity. The ability to fire off lightening-quick communiqués in an unadulterated format keeps social media from growing stagnant. Without creating boundaries within which it exists, the freedom to present a higher level of interactive communication retains the initial intent of programs like Twitter. Placing encumbrances upon social media will only prove to be inhibiting to the free and natural social media environment. In the early days of online social media, chat rooms spawned a new generation of social activity that grew to the current versions of “instant messages”, with Twitter being the most significant development.

Social Media Good/Social Media Bad
Social media “good” adds value that enhances interests, develops new ideas and helps to provide a fresh new approach to understanding in a medium that could be termed “universal”. When social media is crisp, interesting and enlightening, its future has long-term insurance for success.

Social media “bad” occurs when there is a disconnect between social interaction and free-form communication that become stifled or repetitious. This can happen very easily when Tweets slip into myriads of commercials, pop-ups and other ads glut the medium.

Reinventing Business Strategies
It’s important to maintain business strategies that keep up with the modes of social media. The fit between business and social media should be seamless and unobtrusive. Business often overlaps into social arenas in order to further exposure and promote business. The same holds true for social media. With the ever-changing use of social media, this was inevitable. As an example: When a political figure tweets certain business-related issues, the ripple effect is widespread social awareness. However, the benefit to social media is the ability to connect tweets in a way that begins to formulate a pattern.