Writing in his blog today, marketing guru Seth Godin make a very provoking point about technology and the relative merits of the early and late adopters. He doesn’t mention SMS – but he may as well have…
Bring me stuff that’s dead, please
RSS is dead. Blogs are dead. The web is dead. Good.
Dead means that they are no longer interesting to the drive-by technorati. Dead means that the curiousity factor has been satisfied, that people have gotten the joke. These people rarely do anything of much value, though.
Great music wasn’t created by the first people to grab an electric guitar or a synthesizer. Great snowboarding moves didn’t come from the guy who invented the snowboard… No one thinks Gutenberg was a great author, and some of the best books will be written long after books are truly dead.
Only when an innovation is dead can the real work begin. That’s when people who are seeking leverage get to work, when we can focus on what we’re saying, not how (or where) we’re saying it.
The drive-by technorati are well-informed, curious and always probing. They’re also hiding… hiding from the real work of creating work that matters, connections with impact and art that lasts.
I love to hear about the next big thing, but I’m far more interested in what you’re doing with the old big thing.
Well said Seth – on the money as ever. SMS isn’t new. It’s been around 25 years. But it’s only recently that business SMS is really taking off. Every day at Esendex we see companies doing amazing new things with business SMS to generate sales, reduce operating costs and improve customer service.
What will YOU do with the old big thing today ?
SMS is dead. Good.
