I’ve just spent a couple of days attending and presenting at a conference dedicated to media campaigning.

A wide range of speakers and panelists presented on a wide range of subjects from the social media revolution to crisis management in public relations.

A theme that occured time and time again was the subject of ‘traditional’ mainstream media and the impact of the internet and, in particular, social media. It’s an area that is a particular focus for us in our FRESCO business and in our web enterprise sites, Issues.co.nz and Wotzon.com.

It struck me during the discussions how much history repeats itself with every new media development. Early adoptors may imagine that the processes involved in the new medium have never been seen before – rather like teenagers thinking that they are the first to discover sex. Think of the printing press, telephone, radio and television? Each ones early development had people obsessed with the processes rather than the real benefits once people settled down and learnt how to use it intuatively.

But of course, there never has been anything quite like the internet and we young teenagers may just be right to be so excited. Social media promises to enable people as never before and connect them to a world we are just starting to imagine.

Let’s fill our boots?