OUTPUT

For too long the printing industry was scared of what the internet was going to do to it. The fear was that people would en masse charge away from traditional print to embrace paperless communications, and to some extent that fear was justified. However, the internet has been misunderstood by much of the printing industry, which tended to overlook its positive contribution. Printers were not alone in perceiving the internet as a technological phenomenon, but in fact the internet is and always has been a social phenomenon.

Apart from its influence on messaging and information delivery, the internet has played a vital role in the spread of ideas as recent events in the Middle East and elsewhere have shown. Social networking sites have developed to leverage the interconnectivity the internet provides, with new ideas to provide different ways for people to interact. However, they rely on an old-fashioned advertising-based business model. Linking digital devices from PCs to iPads using digital networks looks like a no brainer now that the likes of Facebook and Twitter are part of our lexicon. But we are only just beginning to appreciate and understand their influence on how people interact in commercial contexts.

The massive valuations of the likes of Facebook and Twitter belie the fact that their underlying revenues are relatively weak. Their contribution to the revenue streams of users is also still nebulous, and we are still bubbling about randomly with the novelty of Tweedling and Fabbing. Patterns of usage and responses are still vague, so pinpointing the hard facts of their contribution to revenues isn't easy. What we can know, is that most people who use the internet have either heard of social media or are practitioners. For this reason alone, a sign- and display-maker needs to consider implementing social media as part of their business strategy.

How to do this depends on the particulars of the relationship a wide-format printer has with their clients and prospects. The thing about social media is that it assumes that the participants give a toss about what each other is up to, and this varies from business to business. Coming up with enough information that customers will care about can be tricky for businesses: you might think that a new feature to improve workflow efficiency is wildly exciting, but your customers may not.

Probably, the social media that require least commitment and effort to use are the ones that best lend themselves to commercial exploitation. Twitter is a great way of sending out short messages to many people, without the depth of Facebook's embrace. But we are still to early in the learning curve to really put a number on the return investment into social media really makes. 

Click here to read Sophie Matthews-Paul's response to the Question of the Week, How should PSPs use social media? What do you think? Use the comments form below to give your opinion.