Chris asked on a Twitter when social media would cross over into the mainstream.  I think this will not happen until there is either a compelling business case or a compelling social case. From my own work, I think the social case will come first.  I am working with two not-for-profits who want to use social media to creat community among their constituents. The first, The Wellness Community,represents cancer survivors who are interested in maintaining their health and supporting each other.  Social media can help them form virtual communities among cancer survivors who are in treatment and don’t feel well enough to leave their homes, or among people who live too far from the community to participate in its face-to-face activities. The Executive Director of the local chapter of this nonprofit has actually asked for social media tools, although she doesn’t call them social media tools.

Another group, St Luke’s Health Initiatives  is a foundation that acts as a way of magnifying and convening community efforts to solve large health care problems in Arizona — the lack of adequate community mental health care, for example, or the lack of access to medical care for large segments of the population. St. Luke’s supports many communities now that come together around these huge issues, and is working toward deploying social media tools to enhance its other activities.

These efforts are the ones I think will make social media cross the chasm.  As much fun as it is to watch Ponzi trying to teach Geeks to cook , this use of social media makes it out to be a toy, rather than a real builder of community. Its uses at Virginia Tech this week, as well as the ones I described above (still in their infancy) are the real movers for the media.