On the one hand echoes never tell you anything new.
On the other, they reinforce a fundamental.
The wisdom comes in knowing the difference between the two (in the cacophony of social media discourse).
Category: opinion
Google Has Gone All In | The Big Gamble
Will it pay off… or not?
From the clever fingers / brain of Marco Ament:
It’s easy not to “be evil” when you’re ahead. But when you’re backed into a corner and your usual strategies aren’t working, it’s easy to get frustrated, scared, and angry, and throw previously held morals and standards out the window.
Google’s foray into social networking was late.
They knew this. The reversal of some of their key policies, touted as differentiators (such as now welcomes young people, when it said it wouldn’t and now it allows pseudonyms, sort of, when it said it wouldn’t), smacks as a little desperate along with the ‘Google+-button-creep’ into all of their other product lines.
So why are they going all in?
Maybe, it’s not to create hoards of long term users (especially when you take into consideration how users only spend 3 minutes on the site last January, compared to half of the same time for Pinterest users or 7.5 hours for Facebook maniacs) but more the fact that it simply increases their ability to productise your ongoing use of their other platforms:
Google scrambled to build Google+ because it watched Facebook and saw users were willing to volunteer biographical data to their social network, and that data is crucial to serving accurate ads users want to click.
From the insightful Google doesn’t care if you ever come back post—which is why you’ve already cleaned out your Google data… haven’t you…
Being such a big Google fan and user, this is a fascinating scenario to watch play out.
Especially if you extend the metaphor a little further with the knowledge that you might get lucky, but in the end, the house always wins.
What do you think, will their gamble pay off?
My name is DK. And I approve this message.
Nothing Is New | Pinterest Is A Remix / Redux / Mashup etc
The world does cartwheels for new.
The problem is it’s hardly ever that.
Most “newness” is just an element of it’s overall offering.
Just like Pinterest—the latest social media wonderkid (although it’s been going for nearly 4 years).
The idea is not original.
It’s a visual Delicious, a more ordered Tumblr / Ffffound / We Heart It / ImgFave, a girly Reddit / StumbleUpon… the UI/X is cleaner, more intuitive and due to this the user numbers has really ramped.
The fact is we’ve all been scrapbooking for years.
Now we just aggregate digitally.
Faster.
Tidier.
With more people.
Over wider topics.
New is rarely something monumental but rather a quiet shift and addition. A gentle increase to the discourse. And by adding in multiples of time and people, it appears more than it is.
This is replicated in the (misplaced) discussion about social media and how it’s constantly changing and morphing, when it should be about the fundamental skills not the platforms themselves. Seeing it as not a mountain to climb but a wave to catch totally shifts the thinking and approach.
Be careful of the smoke and loud voices because it’s what’s behind the curtain that counts.
Focus on what’s best not what’s new.
A redux.
A mashup.
Nothing is new.
This is not a negative post about Pinterest. It’s a great site. Am playing around with it myself. Just wanted to move the conversation along.
UPDATE: although now I’m reconsidering being on there, you also should.
The Freemium Model In Action | Steens Manuka Honey
Tasters. Teasers. Tempters.
Steens Manuka Honey is the best tasting honey on the planet. Not only is it rich in medicinal properties (you can put this stuff on your wounds and it will aid recovery) but as a brand they also understand how to entice a customer.
Above is a little strip of card with a sealed packet of the delicious nectar on the reverse. Snap the strip in half and enjoy a sweet sample.
This for me is the correct definition and real-life use of the freemium model—leveraging the quality of the product through a sharable short-form handout.
This has parallels with social media, as every tweet, blog post, video vignette etc is a taster to the larger brand offer. A cheeky flavour to excite those to want more.
Done well, with grace and quality, it’s a simple and sure-fire way to build up a customer / consumer base who advocate you further by distributing your free little contributions.
Develop and dispense tasters.
Simple.
Big thanks to Dom who first gave me the honey strips and a jar to get my hooked. Further thanks to Sheryl for being a wonderful soul through our contact on Steens Facebook Page and for sending me more tasters—my colleagues are going to enjoy these and I’m sure will be converted into customers as well.
Infographics | The New Social Media Snack / Crack
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=infographics
Lick the screens and spread the linklove for infographics—they are like blue smarties for your eyes and brain.
The search rate for Infographic-related content has been steadily rising over the years (see above) as this wonderful way of visually presenting information and data has really taken hold (see my humble attempt with Ulearn11 | How Twitter Makes An Event Global and Learning@School 2012 | Tracking Twitter Infographic).
I’ve been talking to clients about them probably for about 4/5 years now as an opportunity to present statistical related material in a much more engaging and ultimately shareable way. Think annual/quarterly reports, market/customer research, sector analysis etc
Whether you’re in the education, marketing, shoes etc game, there’s a growing Infographic and Data Visualization library for you.
Their variety is a testament to their versatility, ones like:
- every major Batman costume, ever
- things that happen on internet every sixty seconds
- the evolving history of advertising
- the most popular holiday toys since 1981
- plus there’s also an infographic backlash infographic
—you get the idea… even the Whitehouse is doing it and here’s a blog aggregating the cool ones.
UPS is even using it in their Fast Company ads:
Still not convinced?
Go away…
Still here?
Watch this:
Now get the research/numbers peeps in your organisation to talk to your design team so together they can create some gorgeous infographic offerings. Failing that, take the initiative and impress your boss by doing one yourself—there’s quite a few how-to’s on the web like this, that, and thus (don’t forget to come back and leave a comment sharing what you’ve done).
Have I made you a fan of infographics? What ones have you seen which you want to share? Leave a comment you lovely readers you.
Next Year Baby | 2012
Every year the ‘noise’ which accompanies the closing of another 365 days and the embracing of a new set populates the blogosphere.
Folks review, take stock, gaze back, reach forward, look inwards, hope outwards… we surround ourselves in pledges as aggrandizement.
2012 will be a year I continue to:
- drop ideabombs
- ensure the mind doesn’t follow the walls in my new role (which I continue to work myself out of)
- prioritise my why
The new focus will be to:
- go forth
- reposition and relaunch mediasnackers.com
- forget the rules
- make things as a learning strategy
- craft video vignettes
- reach beyond my grasp
- live simply, and live fully…
…but most importantly: DO MORE!
“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”
Henry Ford
Steve Jobs | Apple Of My Eye
This week, Steve Job died. Since then, the world has seen a deluge of tributes, stories, dedications etc. Here’s my humble offering.
About eight years ago I got my first Mac. A Powerbook G4 laptop. It changed my life.
This was a machine which just worked. It begged for use through its slick design and enabled the user to be creative.
Since then I have bought five other Macs (for myself and others). Several iPods. A couple of iPhones. An iPad. And countless of Mac peripheral products and add ons.
Why? Because their stuff makes sense. It just fits. The best tools for my creative needs.
The whole brand and way of doing things is down to a brilliant, selfish and focussed-on-perfection guy who wanted to put a ding in the universe.
Who enabled and vehemently challenged those he employed to forge new ideas and products for others to interact with the world.
Who knew that if you wasn’t pushing against the flow, it was taking you with it, and backwards into the ordinary.
Thank you Mr Jobs. For making amazing stuff, a kickass company and for giving us all permission to think differently:
From Apple Fanboy #1000014852
Google Plus, Suspension & Real Names | Open Letter To Google
Dear Google, I’m forever explaining my name so didn’t take it personally when on August 20th 2011 you gave me notice that my Google+ account will be suspended due to the breach of the real names policy.
I clicked the ‘challenge this decision’ button and hoped some human would click through to the bio link in my profile and confirm my pedigree (like when Facebook suspended me for the same reason but after a brief email exchange let me carry on my merry way).
A week or so later after no response and with a suspended account I went back in to qualify it further—you can see below how many links were given to back up my identity.:
Over a month has passed and still nothing.
I’m really confused as the rules you’ve laid down state:
“The Names Policy requires that you use the name that you are commonly referred to in real life in your profile.”
So that’s DK, my name which:
- is adopted fully under common law
- has been used to be academically published and awarded under
- I’ve been using for over a decade (even my bank manager calls me it)
Now I’ve resisted the urge to make up a name just to get back in there because that would be rude plus I thought there’s enough evidence illustrating the name I’m most commonly referred by.
One thing I need to add is how much I frickin’ love your range of online services:
- I’ve probably steered tens of thousands of users to you guys through my MediaSnackers work: from CEOs, youth workers, large and small charities, brands, plus all my social media training participants sign up and use Blogger (even UNICEF and Gates Foundation—most of whom had never used it before)
- I wrote a book and run a business using your Docs
- Gmail rocks
- in June I even visited your campus as a guest of one of your employees (who has raised my suspension internally but has had no response) and bought tshirts from your campus shop
- plus, I’ve been utilising Reader as far back as I remember (luckily had a backup of my rss subscriptions and now using it through another account)
I’m a big fan.
So as a last ditch attempt I’m writing this open letter/blog post as there seems to be no humans in your system responding to my queries and qualifications about my name.
Please Google:
if I can’t use my name and you don’t want me to play then tell me why, then show me how to shut down my account and reinstate the use of the other Google services please*
* this would be so sad as would love to explore it further to see what uses my clients and employers could get out of it plus the teachers we work with could benefit from.
Looking forward to hearing from you and thanks in advance for your time.
Yours faithfully
DK
UPDATE 24.11.11: The lack of response after explorations into contacting Google direct plus so many retweets of this story left me no other choice…
“You’ve successfully deleted Google+ and associated social content.”
UPDATE 27.11.11: seems like when you delete your account it actually remains (although very happy to have my Reader access back):
Measuring, Metrics & Automation | Asking the Right Questions
How do you measure social media? What are the effective metrics you focus on? And, how do you automate the whole damn process?
Questions I’m currently wrestling with. They act like a fibonacci spiral, floating outwards, replicating into other questions. I like this.
Whilst most look to social media to provide answers, I search it for better questions.
For example, the number of Twitter followers will tell you how many people clicked the follow button not who they are, if they share your tweets / values, how much traffic you get from them, if they even like you, if you’re adding value to peoples lives etc (need to look at the back-end web stats for this or deeper still with funky little tools like Twtrland and Tweetstats).
Measuring social is a design challenge: what is left out is as important to what you leave in.
My approach is by starting with the end in mind, by exploring ‘what does success look like?’.
This is a one of those questions which never fails to connect a few synapses, and in terms of my role it’s the following (lifted directly from my job description):
- CORE Education is recognised as key player in effective use of social media in business
- CORE’s profile and reputation for understanding of use of effective social media is increased, especially through increased publication and dissemination activity
- Social media activities throughout the organisation are embedded and sustainable throughout CORE
- Improved (wider/deeper) brand awareness enables CORE to reach into existing/emerging market segments (especially into corporate market)
So that’s the result but what now needs to be crafted and applied is a change based approach. A layer of social media monitoring tools / platforms / metrics and some kind of reviewing structure to track impact.
So this is where I am. Opening up this line of questioning and hoping you the reader will offer guidance. Some ideas. Steerage and influence on how you are measuring it for your organisation, what metrics prove success and, how is it repeated.
Also keen to hear from people like Radian6 and Brandwatch or any other companies offering the above (especially for non-profits)…
“If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.”
Jack Dixon
Image credit link
Working Yourself Out Of A Job (And Other Bold Public Statements)
In two years time I will no longer be the Social Media Manager for CORE Education.
It’s not due to a limited budget or a time-specific contract but making a public statement like the one above focusses intent. Creates an end. A cut off point. A window to get things done.
Of course there’s danger in this. The idea that in two years time my approach would have succeeded, all the tasks will be completed and the organisation will be social media superheros, one and all (especially in this fluid space), is a bold forecast.
The reason for this strategy can be summed up in one word: sustainability.
Some of you will be old enough to remember working in places which had ‘typing pools’. A group of (usually) women whose soul task all day was to type unending letters and transcribe recordings of meetings from others.
With the advent of cheaper technology/software, the distribution of these new tools plus the burgeoning rise of professional development in the workplace, meant typing became a skill which quickly dissolved into expectation and one which now isn’t even questioned.
Social media managers are typists. A function which will soon become obsolete as the understanding of tools/platforms, adoption of practises and their execution become commonplace.
Any approach has to have a sustainable core and a comprehension that the measure of success is not how awesome my job is but how awesome I make other peoples jobs (through their elevated appreciation and use of social media).
This is what matters.
And I have two years to do it.
How much time have you given yourself?