No chance for Facebook & Co.

The world is trimmed to efficiency. What doesn't fit into an Excel spreadsheet isn't. In the fields of communication, advertising and journalism, the power of Google, Facebook and Twitter seems overwhelming.

Is the "digital" really already more than a tool? Are digital communication channels really more important than a face-to-face conversation? Does the Facebook page count more than interpersonal interaction for a successful business deal?

"Paper adds value," our print shop naturally writes in its in-house message, and it goes on to say: He who writes, stays, as the saying goes - and rightly so. Paper, it seems, sets limits to arbitrariness.

If you have something printed on paper, you take it in your hand again, you proofread it. Unlike on the Internet, where you can put something in and take it out again. Paper enhances a message and makes it something tangible.

We need Xing, Twitter and Facebook, but it is not our "flagship" channel. We are currently working on a web portal with Responsive Design and integrated blog.

We make intensive use of all available electronic tools. And we believe in Marshall McLuhan, who said: "The medium is the message. (The original title of his book, after Understanding Media, however, was - due to an error of the printer: The Medium is the Massage - an Inventory of Effects. It has been handed down that McLuhan said at that time about this "mistake": "What is set on paper remains.)

For the E-3 editorial team, having its own paper channel for information and educational work in and with the SAP community has yet another advantage: In an age where almost anything seems possible, control over the open communication platform is a sustainable quality criterion.

We don't want to join in with the hysterical outcry of Facebook's "physicality" officials and, on the other hand, the ignoring of numerous hate calls and slander.

As reported by Spiegel Online in November, the Hamburg public prosecutor's office is investigating Facebook for spreading hate comments. It is a matter of aiding and abetting incitement of the people. Which company can now afford to use Facebook as an image and advertising platform and be proud of the lead contacts it has gained?

Facebook is well on its way to becoming a no-go in democratic and social discourse. He who writes, stays, as the saying goes, and rightly so. Paper, it seems, largely sets limits to this arbitrariness.