Jeff De Cagna responds here to Shel Holtz’s The future of professional associations. Essentially, Shel argues that associations are being left behind by social media – that people are looking elsewhere for professional development and networking opportunities. Jeff’s argument, which I agree with, is that social networking and social media aren’t the problem; status quo thinking and a fundamental lack of innovation are.
I’m currently writing an article for Associations Now that emphasizes this very point and challenges the assertion that “best practices” are worth a shit. As soon as we can recognize that social media and web 2.0 present huge opportunities and not competition, the better off we’ll be.