Social MEDIA is just that. Media.
I've preached about this for as long as I've spoken about it, taught it, and consulted about it.
Social networks, social marketing, social media marketing – call it what you will, but Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and all the rest are MEDIA.
Advertising support = media. And media can and will be utilized by marketers to position, amplify, engage, generate leads and sell.
Surely, social is a different beast than other mediums. A new set of rules, and new set of challenges.
Granted, for as long as I've been preaching about social being media, money didn't have much to do with it. But it was obvious. It was free. So marketers got involved.
And when that when that happens, money talks.