discobeta

I have admittedly taken some time off from Google Reader, twitter and blogging in the past few weeks. Due to the holidays and a need to unplug, I stepped away from the laptop a bit to travel and enjoy meeting up with friends in the non-digital world. However, in my brief moments and futile efforts to catch up, a few conversations caught my attention.

• From TechCrunch: I’m Sorry Robert, But It’s Time For A Friendfeed Intervention
• Robert Scoble's response: Did I Harm My Blog by Friendfeeding this year?
• And a post from Amber Naslund: Are we sharing solutions or soundbites? (via George Smith)

The final post ignited the light bulb on what I was already thinking about the first two: Who cares how much Scoble used Friendfeed? The answer is a lot of people -- the ones already immersed in digital media. Just look at the huge number of comments on the first two posts and the discussions on FriendFeed here.

This was a clearly a hot topic, but it wasn't necessarily an inclusive conversation for people and potential clients still unfamiliar with the space. Are these debates going to convince businesses to do something as simple as starting a blog or joining twitter when they are already facing challenges in doing so? Are graduate-level questions about social media usage really going to help businesses that are only at social media 101?  Not really -- what they really want are examples of solutions in social media.

There is absolutely value in conversations about FriendFeed's reach, and I'm a big fan of Robert Scoble. But social media is just as much about technology and influencers as it is about audience and finding the appropriate niche to have that conversation in. What companies need to hear are social media solutions that achieved specific business goals with a specific audience, not soundbites about a social media platform.

The FriendFeed/Scoble debate is a soundbite. Dell attributing $1 million in revenue to twitter is a solution.  And it is important to recognize the difference.