Tag Archives: social media Blog

Twitter IPO: Why Social Is the New Low-Fat

Everyone in the tech world wants to come up with the ‘secret sauce,’ the ‘killer app,’ the one ingredient that makes their product or service irresistible and essential. With Twitter’s successful IPO, it’s time to recognize that that ingredient is social media.

The situation was somewhat like several years ago when fat-free foods were the rage. Reducing fat in our diets was believed to be a key factor for health and longevity, and this is probably true. Food producers quickly began touting their low-fat products and low-fat versions of products that were previously ‘full fat,’ including ‘low-fat’ donuts, ice cream, and pizza. It wasn’t long before almost every edible product available had a ‘low-fat’ label on it. And if that were all that was necessary to ensure good health, it would have been a great thing.

With social media, we’re seeing the explosion of something online that’s been arising since its beginning — the power of mass interactivity. Because communication on the Internet is two-way, brands can target ads, gather data, follow users from site to site, and create profiles of their online activity, all towards getting their advertising messages in front of them. But what’s different today is that interactivity is bypassing the brands altogether. Consumers are now talking to each other via social media about brands, products, services, and prices before making buying decisions.

People on social channels are ‘curating’ (gathering things of interest to post online) and ‘recommending’ (sharing things they like with others online). These two activities are what make social so important. Depending on whose statistics you read, 80-95% of consumers prefer a recommendation from someone they know over a search engine result or an advertisement when considering a purchase. In fact, the very sense of what a ‘brand’ is is changing. It’s no longer what you say about yourself that matters but what others say about you.

So, what does this have to do with low-fat? Soon, most websites will need to incorporate social tools for their users. Providing ‘share’ links to social media websites won’t be enough. Social tools will have to allow customers to connect within a site.

Imagine users curating items into a ‘set’ and then sharing their sets with others to solicit opinions and comments. Or tagging, naming, and saving sets, which others can search for, add to their accounts, and edit. Social tools like this could be implemented for everything from clothing and household items, like on Polyvore, to color palettes and swatches like on Adobe Kuler to news, movie, and TV content. Consumers would learn from and be inspired by other consumers and eventually begin to expect these tools, just like they began looking for low-fat foods.

Businesses should consider more involvement with social media and explore how they can use it dynamically. The Twitter IPO, if nothing else, will open the door for investment in sites that offer ‘social commerce’ solutions to attract customers. We’re way past the learning curve, with close to two billion people already using social media. And consumers will only continue to tune out advertising. The only caveat is that you won’t be able to sell potato chips that reduce a portion from 300 calories to 280 and call it ‘low-fat.’ You’ll need to provide quality tools that give customers the ability to learn from others, enlighten others, and obtain recommendations that lead to sales. Consumers are ready for this kind of experience. And unlike ‘low-fat,’ social commerce may be a prescription for business health and longevity that actually delivers.

LinkedIn Endorsements: Frictionless = Meaningless

LinkedIn seemed to have hit on a great idea: let members endorse other members for their specific abilities with a single click. The problem is, it’s so easy to do that endorsements have become meaningless. Every day I get endorsements. Then dutifully, I go and return the favor by endorsing my endorser. The result is a click-fest that distorts what people actually do. Judging by my endorsements, I’m an expert in SEO and web marketing. We offer those things, but our strong suit is design, technology, strategy, and digital media, all of which appear at the bottom of the endorsements list on my profile. And because that list is so prominently displayed, visitors will completely misconstrue my business. Hopefully, they’ll read the summary portion of the page, but does anyone read anymore?

There is a way to make endorsement relevant, however. Make them harder to give. The article below suggests a couple of ways to do this:

Right now, endorsing is way too easy. When you go to a connection’s profile page, there’s usually a list of categories in which they can be endorsed. If you click the “Endorse” button, you endorse that person in every category … remove that all-in-one feature, and you’ll probably get rid of a lot of spurious or unintended endorsements. Second, when you endorse, give the endorser the opportunity to expand on the thought by citing a specific project they both worked on.

LinkedIn’s endorsements point out a more significant problem, however. Today, more companies are creating features that benefit themselves rather than users. A solid endorsement mechanism could provide value if it reflected companies’ and individuals’ true worth. Something like that already exists in recommendations. But they take some effort to write. It’s easier for users just to click an endorsement. Yay! Pop the cork and celebrate our brilliant feature. Everyone’s using it. But if there’s no meaning, you just end up with lots of data signifying nothing. Unless what really matters is LinkedIn’s user engagement numbers. That must be it.

Myspace Puts On a New Face

It may be a little late, but former social media star, Myspace, is back with a new design. A nice video overview of the site is available on Vimeo.

Myspace was viewed as “the future” when News Corp. bought it in 2005. But it quickly fell into obscurity, eclipsed almost immediately by Facebook, which has become the social media venue of choice for all humankind. A complete history of Myspace is available on Wikipedia.

With its new design, it will be interesting to see if Myspace can recapture some of the social media onslaught it helped create. The new look features large photos (which everyone loves), fun page effects, and a side-scrolling interface. However, it’s hard to imagine how any website can head off the FB juggernaut, much less a “new” Myspace. But this is the Internet, where things change quickly, and the unexpected is always possible.

For two contrasting views on the new Myspace we have TechCrunch presenting the thumbs-down, and Engadget, the thumbs up.

Any product or service can go from fad to wildly popular, find its peak, and then fade if it stops innovating or something better replaces it. Comebacks are another story. Once something is branded, is it possible to be anything else? Perhaps the people who bought Myspace from News Corp. would be better off renaming it and not bringing back the negative aura.

To a certain extent, Myspace is reminiscent of another superstar that merged with a traditional media company, fizzled, and came back under its own name, but never regained its past glory. That would be AOL, which has been on the fringes ever since, and never really had a chance with its outdated business model. But social media is all the rage now. Everyone’s social savvy and people try new things. Will trying a refreshed Myspace catch on? Or will it be like just putting on an old shirt from the ’90s? Maybe if it had a new name?

Tech Backlash In the Wind?