Is social media becoming passé in the insurance industry? It seems odd to some observers that the perpetually-late-to-the-party insurance industry has already got a handle on things. After all, most insurers have marketing departments on Twitter and, other than my wife, who doesn’t have a Facebook account?

The subject of social media was part of the keynote address here at the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum today. Vivek Kundra, who served briefly as the first and, so far, only Chief Information Officer of the United States (now there’s a title for your résumé) brought up the issue of the “social revolution,” pointing out that other issues such as cloud computing and mobile technology are “subservient” to what is going on in social media.

Kundra cited examples such as the angry responses from customers over Netflix raising its rates and Bank of America charging higher debit fees, and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

He might as well have brought up the Boston Tea Party or—as Celent’s Mike Fitzgerald joked—Martin Luther posting his 95 theses on the door of the German cathedral to let the Pope know he wasn’t fooling around.

The way we communicate changes all the time. Certainly social media as we know it today is a big break from how most of us communicated less than a decade ago, but as with any technological revolution the key to success is how well you adapt to changes.

For me, this goes back to the debate of style vs. substance. Adopting a social media presence, in many ways, is just styling. What you do with your Facebook and Twitter accounts—and blogs—is the substance that we all should seek.

The problem for some, though, is getting that substantive voice heard in a crowded marketplace. Insurers have adopted a social media presence to keep up with the competition as much as to get their message heard.

Competition is always important, particularly in an industry like insurance, but what is said or written is always going to be more important for most of us than how we say it. Using your social media presence wisely will be an important factor as we move forward it this content-heavy world of ours.

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