Now with several years of social media experience behind us, we should know better than to push out overly simplistic explanations of how it all works.
This infographic charting the Social Media Effect is a perfect example of how many experts frame the problem. If we just add some content, follow it through social content technology, we will end up with massive numbers of consumers? Not exactly.
Success with social media draws much more from great content and strong community building, than from the technology tools. A better chart might use a plumbing metaphor. Social media tools like Digg, Facebook, Twitter, etc are your pipes. How large and strong they are depends on your engagement with members of these networks. The quality of the water is your content. Put dirty water in, nobody wants to drink it, the water does not move, and the pipes get corroded and clogged. Put too much water in, the pipe might blow, destroying the network. Too little water, and there may not be enough pressure to make it through all the pipes. Many of us probably have a ready-made diagram in house, just by looking under the sink.
While some participants experience huge exposure with seemingly little effort, most work very hard at producing strong content, and at feeding the social media networks to gain the strongest viral effect possible.
To tackle the challenge sensibly, get a start by looking at Beth Kanter's "Creating Your Organization's Social Media Strategy Map" presentation.