Social Media Maturity Model: The Mutation of Social Media

By Oliver Marks, founder, Oliver Marks & Associates. This chart works well on a number of levels for me, but first some big-picture stuff on the topic of "the social customer." June is CRM's so-called social media issue ...but I have an issue with "social media" itself. What is it exactly? Social media is one of these catch-all phrases that seems to mutate — much as Web 2.0 did over time — and diffuse, and there's a danger in that. My point: The "conversation," like the ones in a crowded bar, depends totally on the quality and active participation of a representative cross-section of engaged people.