Feb 4 2010

The End of Social Media Fiefdoms?

February 4, 2010 – 7:00 am

By Jenn Riggle

Photo courtesy of antaldaniel

Photo courtesy of antaldaniel

Like the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, we’re seeing the barriers between the different social media platforms begin to topple. I guess this isn’t surprising, as we see social media become more and more a part of our every day lives.

The good news is that this makes it easier to maintain your different social media accounts and integrate their information. The bad news is that it’s also easier to maintain your various social media personalities and become a “Social Media Sybil” (okay, I’m really dating myself here).

Probably the example that we’re all most familiar with is TweetDeck, which allows people to simultaneously update their Facebook and Twitter status or view Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace updates from a single dashboard. By the same token, LinkedIn has shown a blending of platforms, recently adding Twitter feeds to its profiles. I always felt that in many ways, LinkedIn was a network of resumes. By adding Twitter feeds, profiles become much more dynamic and you really get a sense of what people are like by seeing what they’re reading (through links) and saying online. By the same token, since finding a job is a lot like dating, online dating services like eHarmony should consider adding Twitter feeds to their profiles as well.

But probably the thing that hammered this idea home for me was that job search sites like Simply Hired released new features that expand its integration with social networks liked LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. This makes it easier for people to connect with recruiters and hiring managers online. It also offers a “Share” feature that allows you to share job listings with friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – as well as through e-mail. This can help you determine if you know anyone who works at that company and enlist their help to get you an interview.

Meanwhile, Facebook is positioning itself to become your online identity through Facebook Connect, which allows you to access multiple Web sites with your Facebook information. More than 60 million people use Facebook Connect to access Web sites every month, many without even knowing it. And you can find it almost anywhere, including thousands of news sites, social media services, and now, even MySpace. Not to be outdone, rumor has it that Twitter is developing a “Twitter Connect” service that will allow you to sign on to other sites with your Twitter information, pull data and then publish it on Twitter.

But it would appear that the real game changer here is Posterous, which allows you to post things online using e-mail. For example you can e-mail a video to Posterous and it can simultaneously post it to your Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, blog site and YouTube accounts.  Mashable recently did a comparison of Tumblr and Posterous and ranked the latter as setting the bar for ease of integration and “rolling out features faster than humanly possible.”

Would love to hear your thoughts about how this convergence is impacting you. But one thing is for certain, this is only the beginning and we’ll continue to see more social media integration as people try to be everywhere at once.

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Feb 2 2010

Rapid Brand Deceleration

February 2, 2010 – 1:02 am

 By Mike Mulvihill

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Ten days. In today’s social media fueled world, a crisis can begin – and even end – in hours, if not minutes. Ten days. That’s how long it took Toyota to announce a fix to the rapid acceleration (faulty gas pedal) problem that prompted a recall of 4.2 million cars worldwide and 2.3 million in the United States, including some of Toyota’s best-selling models, such as the Camry and Corolla. To make matters worse, millions more had been recalled earlier because of floor mats that could catch the gas pedal causing a similar sudden acceleration issue as the current recall.

Ten days. Even 10 years ago, that would be considered an awfully long time to leave Japan’s number one brand name and one of the most powerful brands in the world in limbo.

Jim Lentz president and COO of Toyota USA made the rounds of the morning news shows on Monday to be the face of the company’s mea culpa and announce the fix – a small piece of metal about the size of a postage stamp – then held a press conference later that morning. Toyota released b-roll containing Lentz apologizing, “I know that we have let you down.”

In a related event, AutoBlog UK reports that PSA Peugeot Citroen has recalled nearly 100,000 Peugeot 107s and Citroen C1s built between 2005 and August 2009 at the facility it shares with Toyota in the Czech Republic for the same faulty accelerator problem. The cars were built alongside the Aygo, one of eight Toyota models that make up the Japanese manufacturer’s 1.8m vehicle recall in Europe.

How long does it take to lose $20 billion in market value (a one-week stock price decline of 16 percent), to irrevocably harm a brand that for years has embodied the Japanese auto industry’s hallmark of quality and reliability? Less than 10 days. Far less than the 10 days that have indelibly sullied the once omnipotent Toyota brand.

(For the record, I have owned many cars in my lifetime, including two Toyota’s – a 1999 Avalon that we drove for, oddly enough, 10 years, and a late model RAV4,  not part of the recall, that my college-age daughter currently drives.)

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Feb 1 2010

Five Tips for Aspiring Internet Communicators

February 1, 2010 – 12:06 am

Patagonia: The Road to the Perite Moreno Glacier

This post is for the youth who aspire to become Internet communicators. In an era when fame and follower counts are overemphasized, it seemed apropos to offer what I consider the best assets of an Internet communicator. Guides to attain optimal personal brands and the most amount of Twitter listings represent red herring pursuits as compared to the cultivation of these skills. I would suggest focusing on where it matters most; the development of timeless strengths that transcend media. Here are the five tips:

1) Become a Great Writer: Writing well still represents the most important skill set of a communicator. The two paths to great writing (in my opinion): The ability to creatively convey great ideas and crisp grammatically-correct prose (I know I’m one and not the other!). Whether you prefer Dostoyevsky (ideas) or Turgenev (prose), you need to be a master of one and/or the other online.

Great writing also necessitates storytelling. Without writing excellence it will be hard for people to consider your content worthwhile. Even videos and games require scripts… Master writing and you master the essential cornerstone of communications. In that sense, I value an English or Literature degree as much if not more so than a Communications degree.

2) Subject Matter Expertise: This represents my greatest hope for younger communicators. One must develop substantial experience in a communications area or vertical market segment to truly become a master. The great bloggers and influentials out there not only know how to communicate, but they also possess subject matter expertise. That’s how they rise above the pack. Their experience clearly distinguishes them.

For me, over the past 16 years I’ve cultivated experiences in the technology/telecom vertical market, the nonprofit vertical market and the communications profession. I don’t stray beyond those areas of conversation, because frankly I don’t have substantial experience to draw upon, and could only wage a mediocre conversation at best.

3) Passionate Creativity: While creative skill with words can be intermingled, one still needs a muse. Passion inspires creativity. If you love what you write/talk about then it will ring through like a red shirt in a sea of grey.

When one has passion, brilliant metaphors, unique perspectives and emotion all interweave themselves into communications. You can see this from 140 characters to long form. Passion manifested in creative expression exudes itself attracting interest and conversation.

4) Other-Centric Thinking: Beyond all of the Cluetrain rhetoric about no market for messages, etc., truly great Internet commmunicators serve their stakeholders. One could debate whether this is intentional or an act of natural instinct. Regardless, the great ones know their stakeholders and give them what they want regularly.

5) Develop Consistency: Whether you are simply a conversationalist or a content creator, you must offer a consistent presence. There are plenty of self-proclaimed experts and there are others who demonstrate flashes of brilliance, but they rarely stand the test of time. The great ones deliver regularly and frequently over time.

Leading Internet voices become known for their consistency over the years, and build reputations around it. A word of caution though: Regularity doesn’t equate to brilliance. This skill is listed last for a reason. In the words of Emerson, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”

 
AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Geoff Livingston | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (31)