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Niklas Myhr, Ph.D.

The Social Media Professor | Digital Marketing Strategies

Stick Shift Social Media

February 9, 2013 by Niklas Myhr

It is increasingly rare these days to encounter a car with a manual transmission and many young drivers barely know what it is, let alone are able to drive them. Some of the advantages of driving with a stick shift, such as the increased attentiveness and the sense of being one with the car, and are forgotten or ignored as the convenience factor of automatic transmissions wins more and more people over. There are those who still resist, though, those who swear by the superiority of manual stick shifting.

One twist to this dilemma was introduced last week when I met a parent here in Orange County who said that their kid’s first car will get a manual transmission. Why? Well, then they would at least know that their kid would be so overwhelmed by getting the gear into the right gear, which means that they wouldn’t be sending text messages!

Anyway, over in the sports car segment, customers want a stick shift to allow for more control of the vehicle. Obviously, a Lamborghini driver is not going to settle for an automatic, right? Or? Like I often mention to my students, nothing is obvious in business, especially not ever since Taco Bell launched in Mexico. And, lo and behold, Lamborghini indeed did shock the world in 2011 when they announced that they were dropping manual transmission. One reason for this move was that most orders were already for automatic transmissions! Another that drivers are not as good as advanced automatic transmissions in determining when to shift gear. Little did I know.

Sometimes I wonder if social media is undergoing, or is about to undergo, a similar transformation away from manual to automatic. Could it be that soon there will be people who barely know how to work inside the respective networks at the same time as they are becoming masters of tools that manage multiple social media accounts? If so, will something be lost in the process? Or, is it like the Lamborghini example above, a customer, even an enthusiastic one, is not as good at shifting gears as an automatic gearbox. That is, are the tools getting smarter than us and learning not just how to post content on social media networks, but also when the best time for posting comes around.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: #blogg100

About Niklas Myhr

Niklas Myhr, PhD, CSP, The Social Media Professor, is an international TEDx and keynote speaker serving as an advisor to HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. Dr. Myhr is a CSP® (Certified Speaking Professional™) and a Certified Virtual Presenter offering keynote presentations, talks, workshops, and executive education programs at conferences, businesses, public sector organizations, and universities. Dr. Myhr has spoken in Europe, in the United States, and in Asia, and his expertise on social media and digital marketing has been featured in BBC, The Washington Post, ABC, CBS, and NBC. Dr. Myhr is Google’s #1-ranked “Social Media Professor," and he teaches at Chapman University in California. Niklas Myhr holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Virginia, and an MS from Linköping University in Sweden.

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Niklas Myhr, PhD, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional)

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Niklas Myhr

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Niklas Myhr, Ph.D.

Please email me at niklas [at] thesocialmediaprofessor.com if you have any questions!

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