The idea behind social media is relationships, and these come interacting with people. That is great on a small scale, like 10 or 20 or maybe even 25 friends or acquaintances. But, no one needs or can communicate with more than about 40 or 50 “friends,” “followers,” or whatever they are called on some other social media experiment.

Once you get above these numbers it simply becomes a broadcasting tool. You are broadcasting whatever you have to say out to a larger group of people. But, let’s not pretend it is meaningful communication.

So, calling it what it is – a broadcasting tool – be careful what you ask for. Because the logical question becomes – do you have enough to say to keep hundreds or thousands of people listening? Few do.

The fact of the matter is that 99.9% of the people out there do not have lives interesting enough to justify telling people about it for any real length of time. Even the most ardent social media “stars” run out of interesting things to say?

If everyone spent every day with me, you’d get bored too. It is inevitable. It is far more interesting to keep you in the dark as to what is going on in my life, and allow your imagination to fill in the blanks.

So, if you figure that Lebron will likely team up with Wade, who is already in Miami, and knows Miami well. It seems like a god fit for Lebron would be Miami. Otherwise, both Lebron and Wade have to relocate to a new city and this affects their entire life.

My bet is that Lebron and Wade will land in Miami.

Being a long-time Apple user and enthusiast (I have been using them since 1988), I always wanted to camp out for the release of an Apple product. In talking to my teenage kids over the weekend, they naturally said I was crazy. I told them that I was really only interested in camping out if I could pull off being first or second in line. Waiting in the 60th spot held no attraction for me. My sons and daughter expressed how naive they thought I was, and said it would never happen. I took the challenge on Sunday, and told them that I thought I could pull it off. They laughed, both at my arrogance and my enthusiasm for Apple products.

The local mall in Charlotte, where the Apple store is located would not allow any lining up or camping out for the launch of iPhone 4, until 5 am yesterday (the day of the phone’s launch). Many people in other cities began lining up the night before. But here, it was not allowed. The mall allowed the line to form at 5 am, the mall opened at 6 am, and the Apple store opened at 7 am. That was the plan I was told by the mall’s management office on Wednesday.

So, on Thursday morning we got up at about 4:10 am and went to the mall. We arrived at about 4:45 am. As we got close the mall, we saw people sleeping and waiting in their cars at gas stations and other businesses near the mall. When we entered the parking garage of the mall, we found about a half dozen police and security guards and at least 50 or 60 people wandering and driving around chaotically in the large garage (the entrance where the line was to form was located inside an underground garage). The police and security guards were telling everyone to leave until 5 am. As we left we found a group of 70 – 100 people standing outside the mall in a large crowd waiting. Some said they had been there since as early as 5 pm the night before (12 hours earlier).

As it became 5 am, everyone entered the parking garage and began to line up. With the large crowd behind me, I went to the entrance where the line would form. To my own amazement, I found myself at the front of the line. To be specific – First in line. Somehow, since I knew exactly where the line would form (through a conversation with the security guard, 5 minutes earlier), I ended up there first (without running, as the police and security guards were trying to keep order). The line quickly formed behind me, as the other people, police and security guards yelled – “single file, single file.” I guess I owe it to the people right behind me, who must have just assumed I was the beginning of the line. In reality, any of about 3 or 4 people could have easily been the start. But, it turned out to be me. I called my son and daughter on their cell phone who were waiting in our van (I had decided it was best to have them wait in the van until the line had fully formed and settled down). I informed them that I was first in line and suggested they come to the front of the line and join me. I think they were beside themselves.

Within 30 – 45 minutes the line was close to 1,000 people long. We were interviewed for TV news, newspapers and did a brief live interview on the radio. At 6 am, we were escorted into the closed mall to the Apple store, where we waited another hour for the Apple store to open. As usual the Apple store employees were awesome.

After taking numerous photos for the media, the store opened at 7 am, and at about 7:10 we left the Apple store with the first iPhone 4 purchased in Charlotte. As we walked out of the mall and into the parking garage the line ran the full length of the garage, 4 or 5 people wide, out of the building and around the mall. I later heard that the Apple store sold out of iPhone 4s by 12 noon. We went home and slept.

Last summer, Apple dropped the standard MacBook and made, for all practical purposes, MacBook Pro the name for all of its laptops. At the time, this seemed innocent enough. However, in retrospect it was a hint of things to come.

Now that the iPad is out, Apple’s plans seem a little more clear. They are pursuing two distinct lines of products: One for consumers and one for professionals. The iPad and iPhone are for consumers who don’t need a full suite of applications for producing content. They are primarily focussed on the consumption of content, and just need the computer to work. However, for those who want to create content, there are still the Macs. They offer all the pwer needed for just about anything you are wanting to do.

So, if you want to create things, you really want a Mac. If you primarily want to consume content, then you can have a device that is specifically streamlined to perform that task very well, in the iPad or iPhone.

The new Apple tablet will not be called iSlate or iTablet. In fact, it won’t be named anything that includes the words tablet, slate, or other general descriptive terms. The closes I see them coming to something descriptive is iPad or iCanvas, which both have their share of branding issues as well. Why not use iSlate or iTablet or even MacTablet? It is actually quite simple.With this new computer Apple is wanting to create a new category. A completely new device that does things in a way you have never seen before. This is a normal approach for the company from Cupertino.

When you create a new category, the golden rule of branding is that you do not name your product in a general way that is descriptive of the category itself. Rather, a company needs to use a completely unique name that becomes the brand of its product, and its product alone.

While many will say that you want your product to be thought of as the category. And this is true. We have all heard of Q-Tips. However, to achieve the ultimate in branding – when consumers see your product as the category itself – Sharpie, Q-tip, etc. – you need a unique name. Sharpie could not have accomplished what they have with the name – black permanent marker. That is the category, not the brand.

So, when naming a product, you do not use a general description of the product category as your name. Rather, you use a unique name. Let’s look at some examples from Apple itself. When reinventing the mobile music category, Apple chose iPod. This name is completely unique and has become the leading mobile music device in its category. Macintosh is another good example. It was completely unique in the computer world, and provided great branding potential from the start.

Now, before you email me and point out that the iPhone uses the general descriptive word – phone – its its name, let me address that. Apple was not inventing the category in that case. They were moving into an existing category, and using the name iPhone was worked fine for them. Magic Mouse is another example. Again, they were not creating the mouse, only adding a new product to this existing category. The same could be said for MacBook, and iBook.

With the tablet, however, I believe that Apple is seeking to create a completely new category. If this device is what everyone thinks (hopes) it is, it is a very important part of Steve Jobs’ legacy. We all know Steve is a smart, detail-oriented guy, both when it comes to branding, and his historical role in the computer world. He won’t name it anything that gets lost in the see of tablets or slates, or netbooks. Therefore, they will use a completely unique name.

The Kindle is not a computer. Further, Amazon in a position to compete with the computer companies of the world. Nor should they need to. The kindle actually has some strong attributes that make it unique and would allow it to effectively hold off many would be competitors.

The Amazon Kindle ereader is the leader in a very narrowly-focussed product category. This is the envy, and should be the goal, of any consumer product company. To enter the computer hardware market, which is really what they are trying to do, blurs the identify of the product (not to mention the company as a whole) in the consumer’s mind. Further, it keeps the company from focussing squarely on the market lead they have generated with the ereader.

If the Kindle is the market leader in its category of ereaders, why broaden the focus into another category, unless it can be the leader in that category? With their existing product, Amazon had the opportunity to compete with tablet computers for electronic book-reading consumers, based on their core strengths: providing an economical portable devise for users to read books electronically. The Amazon Kindle is clearly the leader here.

Tablet computers may compete with the ereader market, but, I suspect there will still be a market for an inexpensive ereader. In their segment of the market, Amazon may have been under some threat. But, if they do not believe in their narrow product category, they should abandon the product line all together, rather than embarrass themselves with a poor management strategy that is boomed to failure.

Today’s stock change, or even that of the months surrounding the announcement, could be just a small part of the larger picture. If Apple can succeed in creating a new way to interact with information, and revitalize the struggling print media industry while they are at it, we could witness much larger changes in the company’s stock price.

If you wanted to teach people how to create a successful company model in today’s world, a good place to start might be Chick-fil-A’s slogan, which is - We didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich. No, I am not talking about lunch. This slogan provides a great hidden insight into many of the successful companies over the past 50 years: The delivery of the good, can be the key.

McDonald’s didn’t invent the hamburger, Apple didn’t invent music with the iPod, and Starbucks didn’t invent coffee. Those items were around long before these companies came on the scene. Yet, these businesses took a strangle hold on their respective fields and show no signs of letting go. How?

They focussed on the delivery system. McDonalds “delivers” hamburgers, the Apple iPod “delivers” music, and Starbucks “delivers” coffee. And all of them “deliver” their product or service without you really having to go hunting for it.

As we have become more mobile, more connected, and more “on” all the time, the delivery of goods and services has become as important as the good or service itself; sometimes more so. Companies that can recognize this and build it into their business model from the beginning, will have a tremendous advantage in the years ahead.

Most respectfully, s.g. martin

Perhaps they are asking the wrong questions. They are inquiring as to how much it will cost to have an online presence. They want to know what it can add to the company’s bottom line, and what is the time-frame for implementation and return on their investment in the medium. In other words, they are asking what it can do for them and their company.

But, these are all the wrong questions. We shouldn’t judge them too harshly, however. They were trained to analyze things this way. They have been taught, both in school and the business world, that these are the things that help a company grow and succeed in a competitive business market. Business managers are simply doing what they have been taught to do, whether it appropriately applies to this context or not.

Perhaps, though, this isn’t exactly the same business world they were trained for. Maybe the characteristics of commerce these days resemble something that they might not be as comfortable with – a relationship. And, if that is the case, it might be beneficial for them to ask their spouse what it is that they can do to build a presence in social media.

At its core all social media is about relationships. It might be a relationship between friends or family, or two individuals with similar interest. Or, perhaps the relationship is between a company and its customers. Or, maybe even between the research and development team of an innovative company and the consumers they are hoping to court. Regardless, it all comes down to relationships.

So, what is the #1 thing that businesses can do to get involved in Social Media? Practice one of the most fundamental relationship skills. As we all know, the key to any relationship is communication. And, the key to communication? Listening. There it is. Companies need to stop talking and start listening. This isn’t the media or advertising world that it used to be. It is a two way street, and every good conversation starts with someone listening.

I know I have presented more questions than answers. But, I did so because I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.