The other day I was discussing my Internet Marketing class at UBC with a colleague.  As I rambled on about Forrester’s Technographics Ladder and Altimeter’s Socialgraphics Engagement Pyramid, suggesting they are incomplete models that could be improved, it dawned on me to use this blog to explore my argument.

At the time, I’m pretty sure I didn’t get my point across to my friend.  I guessed that by the uncomfortable silence.  But this was a wise friend, and her feedback was as follows; “you’re on the right track but you should take a step back and establish a thesis and create a plan.”  I’m usually pretty stubborn and I tend to do things my way, but truth is, this was pretty sound advice.

So here goes…

The Ladder and the Pyramid are simplistic models that demonstrate engagement in social media however; they are flawed for three reasons.  First, they inaccurately suggest there is a hierarchy of engagement online.  Second, they establish a static conceptual view to an ever-evolving culture.  And finally, both models fail to incorporate the critical factor of ‘influence’ to be useful for marketers.

In my next post, I’m going to explain the flaws in more detail and why I think a better model would address these flaws.  In a subsequent post, I’m going to introduce my own model.

And I can’t wait to name it.