I found this interesting film the other day which simply and clearly outlines "Social media in plain English" - it is well put together my only cynical thought at the end was what he did not show was how Big Ice Cream Co got their act together and bought Jarrett's ice cream shop and reduced their prices to the point where the local residents could not make it profitably and then sue everyone who tries to make their own new flavours that are too close to their flavours !

Seriously though the more worrying point is that the Big Ice Cream company’s of this world do not always get involved in social media at all and I think this is due in large part to their agencies who are not willing to get involved because they have developed an organisation that does not support the proper activation of social media for brands.

An agency's new role in social media will be to maintain a brand's presence online and extract various benefits that a brand should receive from making a social media commitment. To do this will require redefining the agency's role into a far more consultative process interfacing with more parts of a client's organization over a longer period of time. Tapping into all the ways an effective social media agency can deliver value to marketers will set apart this new breed of agency.

The question is, can the current agencies adapt or will the new breed of agencies currently working effectively in this area take over the vacuum of effective social media campaigns? Evolution or revolution?