In this the final instalment of our social media series our expert panel talks about mobile devices, Warren Buffett’s epic Twitter fail and why tweeting is a legitimate way for professionals to communicate with their clients and beyond.

Heather Angus-Lee, a marketing and content strategist at PROsocialmedia, expert in search engine optimization and social media optimization, and blogger extraordinaire.
Boyd Neil, Senior Vice President at Hill & Knowlton Canada, an international communications consultancy.
April J. Rudin, Founder and President of The Rudin Group and an acclaimed financial services marketing strategist and social/digital media expert.

Do you think of Twitter as a legitimate way for finance professionals to communicate? What impact, if any, do you think Warren Buffet joining Twitter has made on the legitimacy of Twitter as a way to communicate financial ideas within the investment community with over half a million followers and very little activity.

HEATHER ANGUS-LEE: If anything, Warren Buffet has done the social media site a disservice. Charterholders, especially those closer to Mr. Buffet’s age demographic, may have held off on participating in Twitter due to his epic fail. There are actually three Warren Bullet Twitter accounts – and the one that has any content to speak of (a paltry 73 Tweets) is not the one which has half a million followers! If I was Mr. Buffet’s social media advisor I’d get him off Twitter or, better yet, hire someone to help him Tweet. Prime Minister Harper tweets several times a day; you don’t think he’s doing all the typing, do you?

BOYD NEIL: Yes, even though there is little activity there is interest. A person with as much influence as Warren Buffet has to be cautious about what they’re doing, so it will take time evolve. As people become more comfortable with it you’ll see more info from them.

APRIL RUDIN: Twitter can move markets and many influential people are using Twitter. I don’t know who is running Buffet’s account, but with Pimco’s Bill Gross you can see that he’s doing it himself and making an impact.

How have mobile digital devices changed how charterholders do business today?

HAL: Very few people work from only one location and on a single (desktop or laptop) compute anymore. They use mobile apps to hold their notes and shortcut to their most commonly used business tasks, as well as to update their social media profiles while they wait for the dentist or watch their kid’s agonizingly slow soccer game. The old cliché “work smarter, not harder” is a result of mobile technology – no need to fax, or play telephone tag, or wait to get back to the office to answer emails.

BN: More and more people are bringing an iPad to work. Increased social mobility will keep moving faster. People do more searches on mobile devices than on laptops and this changes the way that companies need to design their websites in order to keep up with the times.

AR: The evolution of computers is crazy. Not too long ago a computer filled a room compared to today’s smart phone. Our society is more global and mobile than ever and that’s what we can expect to see – increased communication via mobile devices.

Recently LinkedIn announced opening up usage to teens. How do you think this will impact LinkedIn as the preferred business social networking tool?

HAL: I think it’s smart for LinkedIn to offer post-secondary schools the opportunity to build University Pages in order to attract younger teens to use the business network – and dropping the minimum age to 13 (in Canada and globally, 14 in the U.S.) to encourage these youth to join LinkedIn. From a self-serving LinkedIn perspective, it’s a way for them to build loyalty among the next generation of business professionals. From a user viewpoint, the reality is that more and more high school kids (and their parents) are thinking about near-future careers in these economically uncertain times. It makes sense for a practical social networking site (Facebook not being useful for career paths) to allow these secondary school students to participate in networking for this purpose.

BN: I don’t know yet, time will tell. In principal anything new on LinkedIn that shows how it can help me in my business and how can I be better is a good thing.

AR: I have seen this new use in action and it’s wonderful. As a part of my son’s orientation at college the school has students set up a profile so they can connect with alumnae, fraternities, professors, fellow students and secure internships. Students can promote their own on line businesses. By managing their own profiles, teens can monitor their own social media presence and prepare themselves for life post-graduation.

How do you see social media evolving over the next five years?

HAL: If I knew the next big social media platform, I would get a jump on it and get ready for Freedom 55!… But really, the platform is not nearly as important as the practice of social media – and the practice will soon be seen as an everyday, expected and legitimate form of business communications, just as any other. More and more business people will stop caring about the format of their news and views and ways of networking, and start working social media to their financial advantage. It is a beautiful, near-term future!

BN: The biggest trend is the use of visuals. There is a specific way people like to absorb information — patience will decline for vast, poorly-written material. There will be more and more brand storytelling. Another trend: heads’-up display and Google Glass. People are dismissive but taking a picture as you walk along the street with voice command isn’t far away. People need to remember not to be afraid and to think creatively.

Social platforms are getting closer to each other, for example LinkedIn is highlighting volunteer activities. We’re going to end up with one primary way to engage with each other via one URL – i.e. Pinterest and its graphics, info graphics – as platforms merge together.