OWWWyang & Social Media Questions

I'm not a fan of Jeremiah Owyang because his writing style is quite pompous... and since I don't know him then his writing style gets translated to his character (If you're a cool dude, sorry man). However, I pay attention to his blog RSS feed (I couldn't stand following him on Twitter anymore) because there are some interesting nuggets that pop up once in awhile... like today.

Four Social Media Questions You Must Answer During an Economic Downturn

"Must" answer is exactly what I'm talking about when I say "pompous." No one has to answer anything and I'm not convinced that these 4 questions are the right 4, but that is a post for another day.

1. Is social media usage going to increase or decrease?
   Increase. If for no other reason than that technology gives brands better tools each day to monitor what is being said by consumers about them online which, in turn, gives them a low-cost opportunity to carry a 1-to-1 conversation.
2. Will brands and marketers increase spending and will the economic downturn force efficiencies or vetting of unproven business models?
   I combined his second and fourth questions because advances in technology can actually help to keep cost down by providing ways for us to optimize our time spent tracking and responding to social media opportunities.
3. Will social media improve comm within a business?
   This is a question that doesn't seem to fit the "must answer" part of his blog entry, but sure... forming groups that bring together certain stakeholders in a business can help, but nothing thus far has approached the effectiveness of what you can accomplish in one hour of face-to-face meetings.

I don't think I have too many social media / influence marketing folks reading my blog, but if you have an opinion, I'd love to hear from you.