It is increasingly rare these days to encounter a car with a manual transmission and many young drivers barely know what it is, let alone are able to drive them. Some of the advantages of driving with a stick shift, such as the increased attentiveness and the sense of being one with the car, and are forgotten or ignored as the convenience factor of automatic transmissions wins more and more people over. There are those who still resist, though, those who swear by the superiority of manual stick shifting.
One twist to this dilemma was introduced last week when I met a parent here in Orange County who said that their kid's first car will get a manual transmission. Why? Well, then they would at least know that their kid would be so overwhelmed by getting the gear into the right gear, which means that they wouldn't be sending text messages!
Anyway, over in the sports car segment, customers want a stick shift to allow for more control of the vehicle. Obviously, a Lamborghini driver is not going to settle for an automatic, right? Or? Like I often mention to my students, nothing is obvious in business, especially not ever since Taco Bell launched in Mexico. And, lo and behold, Lamborghini indeed did shock the world in 2011 when they announced that they were dropping manual transmission. One reason for this move was that most orders were already for automatic transmissions! Another that drivers are not as good as advanced automatic transmissions in determining when to shift gear. Little did I know.
Sometimes I wonder if social media is undergoing, or is about to undergo, a similar transformation away from manual to automatic. Could it be that soon there will be people who barely know how to work inside the respective networks at the same time as they are becoming masters of tools that manage multiple social media accounts? If so, will something be lost in the process? Or, is it like the Lamborghini example above, a customer, even an enthusiastic one, is not as good at shifting gears as an automatic gearbox. That is, are the tools getting smarter than us and learning not just how to post content on social media networks, but also when the best time for posting comes around.
Great post! I see more and more users of social media using automatic
transmissions to share post and comments that are either not on point or
completely unrelated to the topic of the moment. They’re not listening to the
engine and are shifting way too early or sometimes, not at all. Most seem to be
driving to fast down the wrong road to nowhere.
I still believe that to truly engage others and build
relationships, there is no substitute for using a good old fashion “stick shift” manual
posting. Listening to the social media engine of your particular platform and
then pushing the pedals and manually shifting gears with purpose is the best
way to negotiate the social media journey. Just like Lamborghini discontinuing
their manual transmission, I’m sure technology will change allowing people to
use shortcuts to build relationships but we know what happens in the long term
when that happens- the relationships are usually superficial and one direction.
Thanks Mitch, listening to the engine and having the right timing is key. At the same time, I think automation to some extent such as a computer calculating when the best time to send a post is not always bad as a “tired driver” may not use a manual transmission well either 🙂
Professor Myhr, I like the analogy between stick shift and automatic social media users today. I have been an automatic driver for the majority of my social media use, and I am barely becoming a manual driver. I believe the mainstream social media user no longer has a need for a manual social media experience and this shift in use only raises the bar for everyone. Yes, the Lamborghini has begun using paddle-shifters (a semi-automatic system), but F1 Racing has also made this shift -and I still consider those drivers professional.
The shift from a truly stick social media experience to semi-automatic does not negate the experience level of the user -it can only help the professional become more efficient. The true social media professional can now post at the best-time, use different metrics to know what audiences to capture best, and just become more efficient doing so. It’s not to say the F1 driver doesn’t know how to shift, but he can now shift faster and more efficiently.
James, I think you have a valid point in that proficient “drivers” of social media can become even more proficient in posting their updates on multiple platforms if they are aided by technology either for routine busywork or for the calculations of optimal timing, etc. I think that the perils of automation is that the content disseminated through automation risk coming across as being too spammy, and/or too repetitive while largely ignoring the important listening side of the equation. Not saying that it has got to turn out that way, only that it is a risk, and I recognize that there are tools aiding users to listen better as well such as when I was alerted elsewhere about you commenting on this post 🙂