5 reasons why 'Social Media Marketing' is the new fascism

1. Nationalism: For SMM, projecting brands is far more important than engaging people.
2. Authoritarianism: The goal of SMM is to impose outdated marketing concepts and structures upon an unmarketing world. It chooses to ignore a profound truth: People are running away from traditional marketing-centric media (such as TV, radio and print) largely because they want to get away from marketing.
3. Social interventionism: SMM is a vector for spreading the Cult of ROI. It emphasizes productivity over creativity. It seeks passivity and stamps out activity among employees on the frontlines. It firmly adheres to the dogma of: "You cannot manage what you cannot measure."
4. Indoctrination: SMM preaches "One message, one voice," and discounts the value of authentic discourse.
5. Empire: SMM wants to bring all company communication under a "hub and spoke" system that answers to *shock* the Ministry of Social Strategy (or "minisocstrat" in newspeak). Unfortunately for the champions of SMM, social media are by nature chaotic and decentralized.

For these reasons, Social Media Marketing is doomed to serve as a frequent and chronic catalyst for Outrage 2.0 among customers, prospects, and employees -- not to mention the general online public. It is, in short, self-defeating and damn dangerous.

• (For an example of SMM "strategy" running amok, read Jeremiah Owyang's Dec. 13 post: The Social Media ROI Pyramid.)