I say yes. Social is by definition personal connections, providing timely, relevant, and personal information to a highly targeted audience on a regular basis. That’s tough to scale, because it requires people who are culturally aware and engaged to craft and deliver the message. I’m OK with that – I think it should take that, and don’t believe it should be reduced to a bunch of automons cranking out scripts. But businesses have to get past the gauntlet of software “solutions”, consulting “solutions”, and other supposedly quick, cheap, easy, and effective ways to be in social. I believe it can be more effective than traditional marketing channels, but quick, cheap, and easy isn’t necessarily the best way to drive effectiveness (and that’s true for most things, not just social media marketing).