Modern communication ‘breakthroughs’ that fizzled

Remember when AOL dominated the Web? Or when MySpace was the social network? Or when Facebook was the best way for brands to “have conversations” with younger audiences? (Ask a millennial what they like most about Facebook.)

Fancy-pants marketing experts have been gracing us with their forecasting for years, ever so proud to predict how this or that gizmo will “change marketing forever.” Few of these predictions stand the test of time, largely because the fundamentals of the relationship between buyer and seller are rather impervious to the dynamism of technology and evolving media consumption habits.

Remember these, once the sweethearts of marketers and media, and how they were supposed to change “everything”?

Foursquare

When’s the last time you checked in somewhere? When’s the last time a brand effectively influenced that action or elicited a meaningful reaction from you that “changed marketing forever”?

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