Social Media - Servant of Chaos

A Collection of Social Network Statistics

Statistics are loved by marketers. It is as if they provide us with a sense that our art is based in science, that we can somehow use this real time, freshly harvested data to predict future patterns of consumer behaviour and that this, then, is the key to the executive suite.

Certainly, statistics are an important aspect of marketing, but they are not the be-all and end-all. They are merely indicators:

Improving reach indicates we are now able to interrupt even more people with our messages
Greater recall indicates that our repetitive messaging is seeping into the minds of our customers
Strong intention to buy indicates that people are still willing to lie to us because that’s what they think we want to hear

But it is amazing what a little analysis will bring to the data. And this is really what is valuable to marketers – data-based analysis.

Earlier this year, with this in mind, Jeremiah Owyang pulled together a great list of social network related statistics for 2009. Take a look at his full post, and at the corresponding statistics he compiled for 2008.

One of the references Jeremiah makes is to the TechCrunch coverage of ComScore’s social network visitor statistics which showed that Facebook continued to grow.

But only a month later, Cnet publishes this list showing that Twitter had catapulted into third spot behind Facebook and MySpace.

Clearly this is what we mean when we say that it is hard to remain relevant (or to claim “expertise”) when the landscape in which digital strategists, planners, and marketers operate continues to shift. Throw the odd celebrity endorsement into the equation and you are likely to see significant changes in these figures again (think Oprah and Ashton Kutcher) – as shown below.

But the underlying trend here is widespread adoption of social networking platforms. The spikes that we see in usage indicates that our attention and our interest is shifting away from the broadcast media channels and settling into spaces where we can connect with likeminds, converse with those who share our passions and find community and purpose around shared goals and causes. This is why, for brands and businesses, understanding the mechanisms of social judgement will become increasingly important – and why we will continue to need the services of smart folks who can interpret the data, the trends and deliver the types of actionable insight that will help us make business decisions. It’s common sense, really.

Telstra’s Three Aahhs

Social Media

It has been over ten years since the Cluetrain Manifesto was published – and in that time, social media has transformed the way in which people communicate with each other online. Sometimes these online conversations are about life or work or politics – and sometimes they are about brands, the things we buy and how we feel about them. But no matter whether this “social” media is used for business or pleasure, rant or rave, it is clear that we increasingly live our lives in public:

You see, in the same way that social media demonstrates that businesses no longer have control over their BRANDS – it also shows that WE no longer have control over our own representations.

So while WE struggle with what we loosely call “privacy” or “reputation”, corporations face similar challenges – having their identities prodded and poked and played with. The big difference, however, is that publishing tools and a raft of technologies have become easier to use allowing individuals to begin using them en masse. And in using them, we (individuals, consumers, employees) have colonised digital spaces well in advance of most corporations, creating whole languages, new jargon and rules of etiquette that would see the Emily Posts of the corporate world feeling rather faint. To thrive and survive in this social space requires corporations to speak like we do – to converse in tones that remind us of the coffee shop, the pub, the town market. The Cluetrain reminds us:

But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about "listening to customers." They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.

It is against this context that corporations begin their process of rehumanising when it comes to social media. It is why they need not just guidelines, but training, re-education and advice. Today, Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company, released its social media guidelines. It is a first step. And judging by the formalistic language used, there is a long and bumpy road ahead.

In my view, such policies should:

Be written with a non-legal reader in mind
Reflect the culture to which the social media team aspire to
Proactively suggests areas in which employees could use social media (eg write about your area of interest and expertise)
Remind readers of the basics – spell checkers and re-reading articles are a must
Reinforce the common sense approach in a common sense way – “try not to publish anything you wouldn’t want your mum or your kids to read”

On the plus side, Telstra have made the guidelines publicly available. Now, if only they had released them under a Creative Commons license.

Social Media Hits the Fortune 1000

Blogging, Enterprise Social, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

Some time ago a group of Fortune 1000 companies got together to understand, discuss and evaluate the impact of social media on their businesses. The Blog Council, operated by Andy Sernovitz’s Gas Pedal, has 45 big business members – including my own employer, SAP. And although I have no input to the Blog Council, there are clearly benefits for large businesses to collaborate, share best practices and work through the opportunities and challenges that social media presents for large businesses.

In yet another indication that social media is mainstreaming, the Blog Council has announced that Bob Pearson, former VP of Communities and Conversations at Dell, is joining the Blog Council as President. Bob’s work at Dell is often discussed as a model for the kind of transformation that businesses dream of – moving from Dell Hell to Web Darling – indeed, I use this story as a case study whenever I speak about social media. As Bob explains:

Social media represents a disruptive set of technologies and techniques that will transform a company’s business practices, improve conversational capabilities with customers and empower employees to learn and share their knowledge in real time.

And while this sounds a little jargonistic, there are some serious objectives underlying this announcement. Not only does this signal a rapid maturing of social media in the enterprise space, it also goes beyond the marketing cauldron – with Bob clearly targeting cross-line of business capabilities. It will be fascinating to see how Andy Sernovitz – author of Word of Mouth Marketing and CEO of the Blog Council – will team up to accelerate the adoption of social media in the enterprise. As Andy explains:

Social media is no longer experimental. It is essential for every company. Bob's practical experience will help our members implement effective social media programs.

I look forward to seeing this happen on a global stage – but hope this announcement also provides encouragement for Australian businesses considering a move into the social media pond.

BlogChat Round 2, 3, 4 etc

Blogging, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

A couple of weeks ago, Mack Collier kicked off a long Twitter discussion on the subject of blogging. By tagging his question #blogchat it allowed others to join the discussion, which then took off in other directions – and ended up lasting a couple of hours.

Spurred on by this success, Mack decided to make this a regular occurrence – each Sunday at 8pm CST (US). But this week, it was suggested that we take a different approach – let’s try and make this discussion follow the sun! So after a couple of hours of facilitating, Mack would pass the ball to those of us here in Australia (around our lunch time).

It turned into a fascinating event around the topic “how do you generate comments/conversation on your blog”. The discussion ebbed and flowed, with some great comments/suggestions. But at one stage I decided to run a poll, asking how many people on Twitter also had a blog or other social networking profile. The results were quite surprising:

But then, Kate Tribe started keeping an eye on the statistics (as TwtPoll does not provide access to raw data) as they came in. By sampling the data at various points, Kate observed:

From what I can gather, the results for the total votes, is not each person, but each option selected. I came to this conclusion because from timepoint E to F, is an addition of 4 (the same as if you select every option). So all the poll is really telling you is that there are more people with Facebook than LinkedIn, Blog, or Other. It doesn't mean that only 26% have a blog.

Which, I guess, is why you need to have a really smart researcher design, monitor and evaluate your market research efforts.

You can read the full feed here, but some of the highlights for me included:

@MackCollier @KakieF YES! Make ur blogging PASSIONATE! Readers will pick up on your passion, & that makes ur post more intrstng
@ariherzog: @servantofchaos I use @swhitley's Chat Catcher service to trap Twitter and FriendFeed comments. See http://chatcatcher.com
@hacool: @DionnaSanchez I approve dissenting comments as well, it can lead to interesting discussions
@hacool: @KakieF The more you blog, the more content gets indexed, but in terms of keywords you still need to write with readers in mind
@KakieF: @DionnaSanchez when you write from your heart about what you are passionate about, word placement doesn't need to be strategic
@AuctionDirect: Anchor keywords example in a blog post: Instead of "Auction Direct USA" as a link I use "Used Cars"
@amous: 3 things 2 make sure u have on blog :1. change rss icon (unique), 2.adding twitter field on comments,3.all in 1 seo
@AuctionDirect: Don't put the emphasis on comment linlks – no SEO benfit, they're no follow links(no link juice passed)
@hacool: RT @WillEgan: Also run searches in Twitter for the topic you have just blogged about, (inc. link to post) then talk wit em
@servantofchaos: @vedo Take a look at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/
@janechin: @servantofchaos a danger of blog carnivals is that it becomes a link catalog and does not foster ACTUAL traffic (i.e. new readers
@hacool: @timjahn Recommendation traffic gives you more pre-qualified visitors & helps build SEO, all are tools for getting reader
@dannybrown: @CathyWebSavvyPR That's the problem though. DIGG is a mass-market tool with a minimum market appeal
@mjschindler: Idea to grow your community – feature a weekly "Recommended Blogger" and do a post to highlight them.
@dannybrown: Great tool for bloggers as well is BackType – http://backtype.com – for monitoring what's being said in blogosphere
@dannybrown: @servantofchaos @hacool I've started visiting people's MyAlltop page to get a good idea of new blogs to read

Heidi Cool also bookmarked about 30 blogs from those participating in the conversation which is bound to generate even more conversation in the weeks ahead (once we all start reading each other’s blogs).

BUT most importantly, please remember to join us all next week – that is Sunday in the US and Monday in Australia for what is quickly becoming a fascinating online forum.