1. Sponsored conversations

   In advertising, the urge to manipulate is not an easy one to overcome and one that will not die quickly. This is why many have called for the regulation of social media by a government entity. There is an argument against that here but one thing that may happen is that beyond conversations, any kind of activity may end up being sponsored. That is, home produced videos, photos of a product in use, product placements on popular blogs and so on. There is no doubt that many companies will attempt to take this short cut but it is likely they will soon see the risks that are involved. That is, any organization outed for sponsoring such manipulation of trust will lose social credibility and the blogger may suffer as well. In fact, the blogger can suffer more because his credibility can be ‘used up’ by such activity and not easily regenerated. This is all for a ROI that is yet to be calculated. One of the benefits of a trust based relationship id that mistakes can be forgiven given the long term history that has been established between two partners. Short sighted manipulations like sponsored conversations run the risk of driving people to not even attempt such an association.

2. Hysteria/misinformation

   Word of mouth can send good review around very quickly but the converse is also true. It is quite possible that false rumors can spread panic and dangerous behavior. Without the fact checking and redundancies that traditional media commonly provides, this danger is now much more acute.

3. High-velocity brand-damage

   Via misinformation, rumors or actual fault a brand can take a massive hit on the other side of the globe while the staff at headquarters is sleeping. By the time they wake up, they may find themselves fighting an uphill battle just to get the facts straight. There is no doubt that unscrupulous people may try to leverage this.

4. Consumer tyrants

   With control comes lust for more. Even though the distribution may put less power into more hands, there are some who will find untold happiness in providing constant and unending feedback to front facing customer service agents. Failure to acquiesce to their whims may initiate a ‘peoples revolt’ thanks to that single tyrant whos lust for McCarthyesqe power may know no limits.

5. Self appointed police

   If you’ve been in online forums and other social networks, you’ve no doubt run into this kind of person. They seem quite obsessed with spelling, protocol, political correctness and all other manner of transgression. Social media can magnify constructive behavior but it can also empower people who feel the need to control things. Many times, this is an attempt on their part to establish a type of authority that can eventually be monetized. When pushed to an extreme this kind of behavior can leave a social network struggling to define itself while at the mercy of ‘resident experts’ .

6. Content-less and unendingly perpetuated fluff

   Sites that scale too quickly, start with no focus and don’t attract a well defined or thought driving community will quickly degrade into a wasteland of unvisited accounts populated by the odd picture of a new generation Chinese teen flashing a peace sign in front of a photo of the great wall or surrounded by puppies and blue hearts.

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