social media tools are stressing out just about every client we have. at the same time, marketer after marketer (especially those who feel threatened by economics or their lack of ability to drive any real value) is proposing random social media/marketing techniques… twitter being a big one. it’s refreshing to see another industry pundit take a clear stand with a position that makes perfect sense. if you transfer this thought process from a person to a business, you begin to create an approach that becomes meaningful PR/outbound communication strategy.

for my own part, i believe the world is filled with trees like twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube… you name it. the issue here is that each of them believes they are the one. further, marketers/agencies who figure one or the other out believe they should be used incessantly. the problem is, you start shaking this tree and someone comes along and says, well, if you shake it harder, you’ll get more out of it. so you shake harder. then a crowd of others come around and start shaking it with you… ostensibly to get more value out of it. eventually you’ve shaken all the leaves off of it and you have nothing left but leaves that will blow off in the wind. anyone for an island in secondlife?…

my point is simply this. don’t lose the forest for the trees. create an ecology of smart communication outlets and work them together. treat them like the living, evolving ecology that they are and use them responsibly. treat them like an ecologist would, with an eye for sustainability (to coin another over-abused phrase).

and leave poor guys like seth from trying to answer the question you’re really asking between the lines: how do i have a big idea? he can’t tell you! get inside yourself and find it there. the problem is, that’s a scary thing to do and only the brave live comfortably inside their own minds.

(thanks to john patterson from the Chicago Convergence for sharing. check out the convergence site for more local innovation on topics just like this…)