How familiar is your business with the 2009 Word of the Year: Unfriend?
Announced last month, the Oxford University Press’s 2009 Word of the Year is UNFRIEND (as in, “She hit on my boyfriend at the company Christmas party, so I had to UNFRIEND her on Facebook).
Lots of news and blog postings about this choice — pro and con. Over the years, the WOTY has been used as a sort of social or technical barometer to inject forecasts into what our nation is doing, where it is going, and what our language says about this cultural journey. What the 2009 WOTY says is that social media is here to stay. Like it or hate it, you cannot ignore it.
I remember a decade or so ago hearing rap music first infiltrating popular radio and t.v. advertising and thinking, “Oh no, this sh*t isn’t going away anytime soon.” Well, the WOTY says the same thing about Facebook, Twitter, and the plethora of other social media applications we are all bombarded with on a daily basis. Like them or not, they are not going away.
Companies must realize this and harness the marketing potential now, before they are sorely behind the curve. Like those businesses we have all encountered that don’t have website, or workable ones. In this century, that’s like not having a phone number or a mailing address. If we can’t find you on the Web, do you even have relevancy? And if you’re not using Facebook or Twitter to showcase your business strengths, how can I friend you? Or even unfriend you? At least give me the option!
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