At last week’s Social Media Club Boston event, we tried out a new format which seems to have been well received. In advance, we solicited (via email and the wiki) input on controversial social media “claims” (controversial or interesting stances on interesting issues) to debate at the session. We then gave each topic 10 minutes. The discussions were lively and, hopefully, engaging and insightful. We never took a final poll to see if anybody was swayed on the topics, and I don’t have all the tallies, but here are the eight claims we settled on:

1. “Social media evangelists don’t pay enough attention to traditional media.”
   
2. “Social media is all about promotion (not relationships or content).”
   
3. “Social media (as a term) is dead.”
   
4. “SEO is unethical because it games the system.”
   
5. “Social media leads to ADD/ADHD and poor work performance.”
   
6. “Link lists and Twitter posts are appropriate for reposting in blogs and feeds are good.”
   
7. “The focus on personal branding has resulted in the cult of personality and egomaniacal tendencies – me too, me first, just plain ME.”
   

Any thoughts on these topics now that you’ve had time to think about them? Share them here, or blog them and tag the post “SMCBoston”. Thanks!