Tag Archives: social networking

How Emerging Technologies Can Change The World Around Me

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Danielle| Leave a comment

For fiduciary reasons, I tend to focus on pre-shopping online, but just as a pastime I do watch other areas of technological development and work these into my dreams of a better, more open world. Then I started thinking: what if the future was now?

I live in Wortley Village in London Ontario Canada – for those who have been there, it is a small community within a city. There is a little “downtown” with basically any type of store you might need (in miniature) and there is a definitely a bond between those living there as can be seen when they mobilize for some cause. Several years ago the grocery store almost closed – residents of Wortley Village rallied together and John’s Valu-Mart is still there. Wortley Village residents tend to have a disposable income, and while there are rental properties majority of the homes in this neighbourhood are single family homes with a few three-story walk-ups here and there.

One big way and one small way that emerging media and tech will change my neighbourhood:

Development & Construction – My ‘hood is very quaint, the houses very old with a lot of great character. This is what makes it such a desirable neighourhood within the city. So when someone wants to make a change, add something, it is of course going to be cause for a great deal of alarm. Imagine the possibilities, where situations such as this arose, if augmented reality to negotiate and resolve differences of opinion on proposed buildings in communities and the future of said structures. Using dynamic overlays (not limited to 3d), created by distributed groups of users, linked to location/place/time, and syndicated to people who wish to engage with the experience by viewing and co-creating elements for their own goals and benefits.

Dog people – There are lots of dogs in Wortley Village, pet owners more than often very devoted and it is not uncommon for many relationships in my ‘hood to be based on the commonality of dog ownership. Imagine if dog owners used a location based social networking mobile app for dog owners – we are walking here, we are at this park, and instant doggie play date. What if this same neighbourhood network could be used to mobilize to find a lost dog… if the shout out is sent soon enough after losing, the geotagging could help in finding our beloved Wortley pups.

Wortley Village 2.0?

This is not a suggestion for Wortley Village community leaders to rush out and spend tons of money on Wortley social networking infrastructure – but these are just some very real, very plausible examples of how emerging technology and media can and will change our lives. The digital revolution is not one made up of marketers, it is made up of real people using real technologies to solve real problems.

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Finding The Value In Google Buzz

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Danielle| 1 Comment

When Google Wave came out I did not post anything because I really had nothing to say – like everyone I was excited to get my invite, but after signing up and feeling like I was part of a super exclusive club. Like most everyone else, I was disappointed at how few people there were on Google Wave and did not like the interface – it was pointless and really nothing very innovative. It was like a forum about anything that you could not browse. I just did not get it.

But now they have unleashed upon the world Google Buzz – integrated with Gmail and available via mobile, it allows for threaded discussions with no word or character limit, following other users and linking to other accounts such as Twitter.

Already, Google Buzz has been the source of some criticism. From the discussions on Google Buzz about Google Buzz these appear to be the main criticisms of the platform:

  • There were major privacy concerns at the beginning – anyone could follow anyone to view anything, which were alleged to cause some real life problems.
  • Do we need another way to dialog with people online or is this just another way for web geeks to talk to other web geeks?
  • Not everyone uses Gmail so adoption rates will be slow – is Google Buzz compelling enough to get yet another email address?
  • The threads get too long and there is character limit – you have to read through hundreds of sometimes long comments just to make sure you are not repeating something.

Google Buzz did not get the usual long testing and beta phase – it was tested internally by Google employees and individuals brought in to test at the Google offices. Likely Google wanted to move quickly to make up for the anti-climax that was Google Wave, but some say they were not ready.

Despite this, according to Google as of a few days ago they have already had 9 million posts and comments. I would wonder if that figure includes the tweets from Twitter integration, not to mention the other platforms that can be added to Buzz. Twitter is getting more than 25 million tweets daily last I heard, so 9 million in about a week is nominal if tweets are included. It figures that there will be a lot of traffic at the outset as well, as early adopters will spend a great deal of time testing out the new platform.

The big questions are: do we need another way to communicate online and does Google Buzz serve a purpose that other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook cannot. Pete Cashmore put it really way in his post for CNN.com: where Twitter is the town square and Facebook is the local bar, Google Buzz is the campus.

Built for inquiry, learning and collaboration, if Google refines the ability to form private groups this could become a valuable tool for small companies and academic circles – I can see how Google Buzz could mean easy dialog on problems to find solutions with a few more additions the offering. While Google might want it to be so much more than that, which I can tell from their video, nonetheless there is a need that is met with Google Buzz that cannot be found on Twitter or Facebook, or even in email.

How are you using Google Buzz, if at all, and do you think Google Buzz has any enduring qualities? If so, how do you see the value of Google Buzz?

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Is Your Carbonated Beverage Social Enough?

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Danielle| 1 Comment

Social media is not new to the big brands of carbonated beverages – Pepsi and Coca-Cola have both been participating on social networking and media sites for quite a while. In matching announcements recently, both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have declared that they are going to spend less on traditional media and advertising outlets, instead opting to spend the big bucks on social media campaigns. It turns out, however, that they have been trying to connect with consumers for a while and we either were not listening or did not liked what we heard.

The Pepsi [Social Media] Challenge

Pepsi has not had luck thus far using social media to expand their brand reach online in both Canadian and American spheres. The Pepsi AMP iPhone App was a distasteful mess, leaving many people wondering: What were they thinking?! The application “Before You Score” was created as a tool to help men get women, not very classy and not as funny as was intended. In Canada, an initiative to get fans to use a Pepsi-approved cheer at the hockey events was another near miss that has left them enough negative response to dismiss any positive results that might have been achieved.

Now, Pepsi is opting to drop their usual Super Bowl commercial campaign in favour of the Pepsi Refresh Project, a $20 million dollar campaign that is pretty much the Pepsi version of Google’s Project 10^100. Muy original. The campaign was launched yesterday, but apparently already there have been problems with submission forms and buzz on Facebook about problems with the idea submission website. And while they say they want to refresh the world, what they really mean is that the ideas must benefit a community or neighbourhood in the United States.

Don’t Go To Them, Coca-Cola Will Come To You

And, mirroring the announcement from Pepsi, Coca-Cola will be turning their attention to social networks by turning focus from their campaign sites to their social networking and media presences online. The Coca-Cola Facebook page is wildly popular already (over 4 million fans), likely due to the fact that the fan page was not created by the Coca-Cola company at all. It was created and maintained by two fans of the soda, and when Facebook instituted rules about branded names only being used by the brands that owned them, Coca-Cola teamed up with the two guys who built the page, a bold and savvy move as they are truly allowing the fans to take ownership of the brand here. Their main strategy will be to put an end to the multitude of campaign websites and to divert these to social channels online. Coca-Cola’s interactive marketing manager Prinz Pinakatt explains that they “would like to place [their] activities and brands where people are, rather than dragging them to our platform.”

Let The Soda Pop Social Media War Begin

Sometimes social media succeeds because of luck, sometimes because of a solid strategy that is well thought out and researched. Either way it seems to me that the Soda Kings have a long way to go. While Pepsi will likely generate some positive online buzz, not to mention offline buzz as the grants are distributed and put into action, I don’t think it is wise to drop something as important as their Super Bowl commercial. I would like to see a Super Bowl commercial that is made from a great number of user-generated videos in a huge contest – it would make a stunning collage of American culture. They could save on the cost of paying Britney Spears this way. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, are forgetting that social media users are fickle and could just as easily change their mind about Facebook in 2011. While too many campaign sites are unnecessary, it would be wise to invest their time (personal, human time) in connecting with consumers on their own websites as well as Facebook.

Do you think that Coca-Cola and Pepsi need to work on building a community online, or do you think, like me, that they just need to figure out way to get their offline community going online? Which one do you prefer: Coca-Cola or Pepsi? Would you connect with Pepsi if you only drank Coca-Cola?

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Twitter in Canada

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Danielle| 2 Comments

Canadians are participating on Twitter. In 2007 a According to Twitter stats in 2008 Canadians accounted for 7% of traffic. Checking Alexa.com today reveals their figure of 2.5% – Alexa ratings however are known to be flawed, but we do know that Twitter usage in Canada is not near close to that of our American brethren despite similar technologies and technological interest. And a Sysomos study released in June 2009 indicates that Twitter usage by country indicates 5.69% of Twitter accounts belong to Canadians. This data was compiled by indexing 11.5 million Twitter accounts and recording country of origin.

twitter-canada

The question begs however – how many of these accounts are actively being used…?

Mobile Provider & “The Green Monster”

Twitter adoption in Canada has been largely stunted by mobile provider reluctance to allow users to participate at a reasonable cost – and while there is the possibility of communications via Twitter on the web, believe it or not real life experiences are much more inspiring. Data plans in Canada are not within the price range of the average mobile user, and SMS can get very expensive as well. Bell higher ups have stated that a Twitter update is not the same as personal message – it’s just not the same thing. I don’t see the difference – the networks have grown but if you offer an unlimited plan it appears that you cannot distinguish between what it is used for. Hmm… doesn’t this sound familiar (p2p throttling).

My solution: There are lots of Canadian companies (retailers especially) that want to make use of social media but they either find too few Canadians or too few Canadians find them. Why not work out a deal with mobile providers – you receive Tweets from Retailer A you get Twitter credits, get Tweets from retailers A & B get even more mobile credits. Mobile companies make money, retailers market, and consumer gets Twitter with daily updates from the retailers they are following. Everyone is happy! Je rêve en couleur…

Twitter Frustration

While this is not restricted to Canadians alone, many first-time Twitter users feel frustrated when they join Twitter because they do not understand how it works or what it is for. In my discussions with people about Twitter (non-Twitter users or users with non-active accounts) there are some misunderstandings about the real value of participation there. Here are some of the opinions from people in the marketing industry as well as those would use Twitter primarily for personal communication:

  • tweet about mundane daily happenings as they happen
  • tweet ads on regular basis with no dedicated interaction
  • tweeting about TV shows

While these have their time and their place, the real value of Twitter is the real-time communication that is made possible for the organization of communities in spreading knowledge. The valuable local content on Twitter in Canada is not as pronounced. If I tweet about an accident in the city I live in as I drove by, people would hear about it but the news would not spread quickly enough to be of help to more than a handful of people (this is a random guess). While the tech community in London Ontario has long embraced Twitter it seems that the supply of local “early adopters” will have to run out and my mom won’t be using Twitter anytime soon without some real incentive. This local, pertinent content is one of the real powers of Twitter – averting hazards, finding great local sales, hearing about a great rock show – and until mobile providers make this more accessible, Canadians will likely be slow to adopt Twitter as a tool for every day living and communication quickly with friends, families and people within and without their networks. The more people on Twitter in your region, the more valuable it becomes as a tool and this is where our frustration with the mundane will be relieved.

In America, It Trickled Up… In Canada, It Trickles Down

In the United States, Twitter growth was much quicker and it was not until later that offline retailers really took advantage of Twitter. Online only companies have been using it since the beginning. But, in the United States, the companies went to where the people where. In Canada, on the other hand, there is still not a very large user base and the value of Twitter is not as pronounced as in the country to the south. Retailers are encouraging Canadians to join Twitter in exchange for valuable savings – many retailers such as Future Shop, Sears, Sobeys and Safeway, among others, are using contests and other incentives to compel people to join and follow their brands.

Will Twitter Move Forward in Canada?

While I think the Twitter model is bound to change, it could become a very valuable tool for disseminating local content and real-time communication to our larger networks. As well, it could become a very valuable tool for marketers. Many companies will find their niche audiences here – Canadian retailers like Future Shop are poised to speak to the early adopters of Canada – those most apt to buy the new phone, the newest netbook and the latest in gaming technology. Herein lies the power of Twitter and social networking – you can connect with your tribe and your tribe can connect with you. Labelled and mapped into the social graph, these tribes are to identifiable and social media marketers can find their audience in those most apt to be interested in what they have to offer, connecting with their customers and increasing brand engagement.

What do you think the future holds for Twitter in Canada?

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Social Networking : Real Friends Can’t Be Bought

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Danielle| Leave a comment

Paying for web notoriety is nothing new – not so long ago backlinks were the web currency of choice. We know one thing for sure: if it helps draw attention, marketers will find a way to exploit it. So it is not surprising that if you have the budget, you can buy all the online friends your company needs to give the appearance of renown. Besides the fact that the true value of social networks for marketers lies in easing communication between consumers and brands, and that the best return comes from better customer service and increased brand loyalty and reach, it appears that the point has been missed on some even more basic levels.

Patrick Dempsey Can't Buy Me Love

Let us consult our what I learned in kindergarten primer.

  • Quality friends can’t be bought. Real friends will like you for who you are. If they don’t they are not really your friends.
  • Friends won’t stick around if you don’t give back to the relationship. You can’t expect someone to invest in a friendship with you if all you do is say hi once and then maybe ask them some favours.
  • Don’t do all the talking – you need to show an interest in your friends. Listen to what they are saying and remember it.
  • Best friends are hard to come by but when you do you have a friend for life. Not all friends are created equal and best friends should always come first.
  • Your friends have a lot to teach you – each of them have different ideas and experiences to share. Not everything is learned in a didactic environment, much of what you learn in life is from those around you. Appreciate that.

While buying friends might seem like a great investment, the companies that succeed in integrating social networking with their marketing initiatives did not do so by buying friends. They engage consumers, giving them opportunities to share as well as to learn. The key is to remember that authenticity cannot be faked, it requires investment and insight; and real friends cannot be bought, they are won from engaging them through sharing and discovery.

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