Well Steve…let it all hang out…what do you think SCIP should do, based on your assessment? Especially w/social networking? I see more activity on LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook, mostly outgoing. But as mentioned in the post, the SCIP On-line is valuable if you really want to follow CI. It captures relevant articles, blogs etc.

A large chunk of print media has been, and will continue to be obliterated by the internet.

The smart ones will find ways to communicate prints advantages to protect existing markets, and will find new markets. They’ll also work like hell to understand ‘new’ media and work with it.

The not so smart ones will cut costs and focus on efficiency.

So what does this have to do with associations?

Social media is to associations what the internet is to printing, as you said.

Some associations will learn to leverage social media to add value to their events and other services.

Others will route their news through Twitter, start a group on Linkedin, and call social media ‘done’. Then they’ll cut costs and focus on efficiency.

Second, my father once told me that associations exist primarily to provide cover for company execs to talk to each other without being accused of anti-trust activity. Anything else they do is sauce for the goose. As an employee of a trade association I’d say there’s a large grain of truth to that assessment, but I would add that doing trade shows is nearly as important as providing cover.

While one can meet some great people online, if you want to meet people in your industry and develop relationships over time I think an association can provide value.

The problem is that many of them simply don’t cater to the membership but instead a small segment of it. Saddled with politics and baggage, they excel at keeping the old guard comfy while doing very little to enable growth amongst the newbies.

I put SCIP in this category. The newbie is considered a student, suitable for attending classes and hiring consultants. The old guard are those who teach the classes and work as consultants. Newbies are not encouraged to make the jump to being old guard. So, to the extent you wish to attend classes and hire consultants, you will enjoy SCIP.

Lastly, I like to say I don’t put Ellen in the old guard category – she’s a delightful & insightful exception to the rule.