Web 2.0 - Servant of Chaos

Why Twitter Hasn’t Cracked the Teen Market

Blogging, Community, Digital Strategy, Social Media, Web 2.0

I started this post back in February 2008 and left it for a while. I was never quite able to finish it — and it didn’t seem overly important. But in light of the recent problems with Twitter and the emergence of the shiny new Plurk, I thought I would resurrect this post and look again at the future, potential and challenges for services such as Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku and Pownce.

I remember how Twitter sped into my consciousness. It was like a freight train with a big Web 2.0 emblazoned on the locomotive. Hanging out the windows of the carriages were the smiling avatars of my marketing and social media friends. All were smiling and waving, beckoning me to climb aboard. It seemed like a no-brainer … and, in fact, it was. There was very little thought process involved — I climbed aboard because all my friends were already there.

As I explored Twitter, I started seeing my friends discussions. I realised that there were conversations going on that I wanted to be part of, that I at least wanted to LISTEN to. So I would begin to “follow” others. That meant that Twitter would notify them of my intention to eavesdrop or contribute to their discussions, and in effect this served as a virtual introduction. My pre-existing connection to others had opened the door for me.

This made me rethink my approach to Facebook and to LinkedIn. As you can probably see, up the top of my website is a badge that links to my LinkedIn profile. If you click it and want to add me to your network I don’t generally decline (in fact, I don’t think that I have ever). I am a little more selective about Facebook where I do feel that I need to know a little about you before “friending” you. But why? What was this all about … and how did it relate to Twitter?

Gradually I realised that the folks on Twitter were a whole lot less guarded about their discussions than they may be about their profiles on Facebook. And the same applied to me. That meant that it was completely acceptable to “follow” a stranger on Twitter — and in the process it opened up my personal social graph to a flood of chaos and random encounters. It felt a little dangerous … but at the heart of it was the clear understanding of my role as a creator of content. Twitter was providing the space and as a dutiful “one percenter”, I was filling it with the best content that I could muster in 140 characters. So were my one percenter colleagues. We had an unspoken contract with Twitter — and it was symbiotic — we soon needed each other, desperately.

Digging around in Twitter, however, it was clear that the user base was mature — or should I say “adult”. This seemed counter-intuitive to me, because I expected Twitter to be a walk up natural service for teens — and Andy Beal seemed to think the same in this interesting post. But for my money, the reason that teens have not been attracted to Twitter is fundamental. Surprisingly it is not about the COMMUNITY … it’s about the INTENTION.

Twitter has been able to build a community around its technology. It started with a tech friendly audience at SXSW and grew from there. It was successful at positioning itself as an APPLICATION. That meant that we were overtly aware of Twitter as a piece of enabling technology — we knew and understood that this would entail ups, downs, failures and disappointments. We were viewing Twitter as a technology — we were co-creating the Twitter community. As David Cushman says, “It is built for communities of purpose to form in a networked conversation-driven way, not for an audience to consume what they are creating”.

But such a position is anathema to a teenage audience. For them, the very act of connecting is, in itself, a creation of value. The resulting relationships and the experience that they engender is of intrinsic importance to a generation world-wise and weary of “markets”, “brands” and the emptiness of promises. There is little surprise then, that Twitter holds no appeal.

Plurk, however, is different from its core. The Plurk team view their mission as a service. They want to go “Beyond FUBU” — beyond the for us, by us mantra that permeates many start-ups. Now, whether this is true or not, it certainly appeals to Generation Y. And it seems to be something that is also tweaking the ears of an expectant Twitter community. After the recent outage furore and poor communication all round, perhaps the adults in the Twitter community are waking up to a new level of expectation and maturity — technology as service. And this may be the very reason that Plurk (or its successor) wins out long term. It is not about the technology or even the utility. It’s about the service and the experience — something the kids got long ago.

The Socially Enabled Network

Community, Digital Strategy, Social Media, Web 2.0

As part of the review of the Cluetrain Manifesto ten years on, Deb Schultz gave a talk at the SAP-sponsored There’s a New Conversation series (celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Cluetrain Manifesto). In a neat twist, she claims that we are living in an age where it not the medium that is the message, but that the medium is the relationship. That is (as I would say) in the Age of Conversation, it is increasingly NOT about the technology but the results of engaging with and using those technologies in a socially-enabled network.

Now, this doesn’t seem, on the surface, to be a shattering insight. After all, you are either reading this online or via RSS … but step back from a moment. Literally. Get up from behind your computer screen and look at the person nearest you. Look across the room. Think about how you are connected to them online. What MORE do you know about them from the way that you connect. What have you seen or read? How has this given you a deeper sense of this person. Do you trust them more or less?

What we are seeing is not the technology itself, but the surfacing of our once private networks. This means that we have a whole lot more "play" in the workplace but also a deeper understanding of our colleagues and teams.

And yet, despite all of this connection — despite the various etiquettes and common courtesies expected in the various communities to which we belong — we are still at the very early stages of understanding the real impact of all this. After all, we spend much more time TRIALLING new applications, coercing our friends to sign-up or blogging about it all to gain any real insight into HOW this is transforming the way that we live or work. Sure there will be pockets of insight, but as the services like Twitter or Pownce or Jaiku or even Plurk begin to mainstream there is a potential to radically TRANSFORM our brands, businesses and our workplaces. It is only when we see the mass adoption of some of these technologies will we begin to see real and lasting change.

And when we do, I suggest it will be far more playful than anyone expects. Or as Leigh Himel says, we will eventually "realize we are only beginning to understand how any of these technologies are impacting our lives on a daily basis". Then we can get over ourselves … and start having fun again.

That is the socially enabled network — and it is the future of your brand.

Seeing the Wonder in Technology

Web 2.0

Every day I work with people all over the world. There are conference calls, instant message discussions, blog posts to read and write, emails and even video meetups … all enabled or mediated by technology. So, for me, this is everyday. I am sure this is the case for many people …

YET, I still get a small thrill when I consider this in action. I am still amazed that it is possible to reach across the globe and see, hear and engage with others. As a case in point, first thing this morning, I power up my PC, check mail and Twitter. I notice that David Armano is streaming a talk with Gary Vaynerchuck through the CriticalMass always in beta site. And as I sip coffee and begin to wake up, I pause for a moment and look at the faces of people on the other side of the planet. I listen in to both the live audience and the back-channel chat that accompanies the ustream pictures. Someone calls for questions — here’s one — "where is his wristband".

The question is asked and the camera pans away from the audience and over the Gary. In seconds, someone offstage throws a wristband to the table. Without blinking, Gary launches into his reasoning behind using wristbands or super-low-cost promotional items over t-shirts. He explains that the promotional item is, in his context, a social object … providing his community with an emblem that reinforces a sense of belonging while also signalling to others your allegiance (ok that was my interpretation).

And as I watched and listened, I was amazed. One person watching asked a question … and on the other side of the world, an impact was made. It was small, but it was real. Think about it, this is anything BUT mundane. This is the everyday world that our kids will inherit. It is a world that today’s school students will build their careers in. I just hope they see the wonder in all this.

Death of Education and the Dawn of Learning

Web 2.0

I have always been interested in knowledge. As a young child barely able to read, I would paw my way through social studies and history workbooks for children much older. The stories fascinated me and the tests tickled my competitive nature. Throughout school I had the benefit of nurturing, energetic teachers more committed to the idea of "teaching" than the strictures of curricula — which ensured that my curiosity was stoked like a small fire, not beaten into submissive ash. At least until my final year 😉

When I had the opportunity to teach at university level, I jumped at the chance. I loved the challenge and the opportunity — lecturing and tutoring in postmodern studies as well as Australian performance for a year or so. And then even through my business and marketing career that followed, the opportunity to teach or share knowledge was often available — I spent a couple of years combining technology, marketing and innovation setting up IBM’s first "knowledge factory" outside of the USA and then moved into "innovation management" and then onto marketing for Fujitsu. That meant teaching my teams — but also, always, learning myself.

One of the things that I learned was that marketing = learning and vice versa. For the type of learning that impacts a person’s behaviour you need to understand human nature. You need to understand "change" and you need to understand motivation. And now, in this Age of Conversation, where learning is no longer confined to a single location and it is again, like in my childhood, based around interest-driven participation (John Seely Brown), there is even greater pressure on teachers (both of children and adults) to stay abreast of new and emerging technologies.

There are some truly astounding breakthroughs happening in the education world. Kids with their grasp of technology and willingness to experiment are o’erleaping their teachers (and their parents). Technology companies are building ever more powerful tools that enable virtual classrooms, online collaboration and eLearning; Communities are coming together to develop cheap or open source alternatives and "social media" applications are finding themselves co-opted into the service of Education 2.0 initiatives. It is learning by doing. And if this signals the death of education, then it also indicates the dawn of learning.

Note to Twitter – It’s Not About Technology

Web 2.0

The People I Follow On Twitter
Originally uploaded by CC Chapman

Ever since Twitter launched there have been rumblings around its stability. The service has exploded over the last year or so and seems to be hitting a new round of growth with tentative coverage of Twitter now reaching the mainstream. All this is great for Twitter. But success is a double edged sword — with greater reliance and focus comes higher expectations.

Over the last few days the rumblings have grown louder. Various technical problems saw the service up and down like a yoyo. Frustration within the Twitter community seemed to mount exponentially with every moment of downtime. And while we all understand technical problems, there was a missing ingredient — communication. During these ongoing problems there was nary an update.

This to me, signals a much greater issue than technology. For a company that builds its business model around COMMUNITY, it is essential that it takes care of that community and its concerns first.

Case in point — Arielgate (follow the link to read the details of Twitter’s refusal to deal with online harrassment). Now, while there are two sides to every story (or three in this instance), clearly there is a line that has been crossed here. And when it comes to community, opinion is going to come down on the side of the person who lives in, plays and contributes to the community.

Dealing with this sort of harrassment is not just about technology nor even about "terms of service". It’s about doing what is right by your community. And for a business that relies on building a community — it’s all about the future of your brand. That is, if you want one.

Update: Brian Solis provides a detailed analysis of the situation and Ariel Waldman also provides an update on Twitter’s latest response.

The Business of Web 2.0 (again)

Web 2.0

Regular readers will remember that I gave this presentation to MBA students at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management last year. It seems relatively popular with the students as Dennis Price keeps asking me back again. One of the themes that I explore is the idea that MARKETING is shifting. While we still have the useful models around B2B (expensive, custom offerings to a niche market) and B2C (high volume, mass market offerings), the new model that I see emerging is a new B2C — brand to community.

To demonstrate this in action, the presentation has actually evolved into a case study around social media, technology and the Age of Conversation (with a little Interesting South thrown in for good measure). But there are plenty of other good case studies which could be extrapolated. Take a look and let me know your feedback — I will make sure to reference you in the next version 😉

This time around (at least in the talk) I feature a whole heap of Flickr photos (all referenced in the deck) and the following bloggers: David Armano, Katie Chatfield, Joseph Jaffe, Jeff Jarvis, Drew McLellan, Ryan Rasmussen, Matt Dickman and Sean Howard.

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Addictomatic Leads to a MyOovooDay Redux

Web 2.0

Increasingly I am picking up good links and pointers via Twitter. One of the many people I am "following" sends a message out and it appears on my screen. Sometimes this is immediate (if I happen to be online and watching as the message comes through), or it can be delayed (for example, I scan my friends timeline for interesting news and observations each morning). But the good thing is, it is completely opt-in — you can choose to "listen in" to the Twitter channel or you can opt out. Furthermore, you can choose to engage in conversation — jumping in to the twitterstream at any moment.

Following a tweet from David Armano, I landed on the Addictomatic site. Of course, I did a vanity search — but to my surprise, I uncovered material that I did not know existed (I thought I kept good track of my digital self). There were tweets about me (I searched for "Gavin Heaton" rather than "servantofchaos"), blog posts and even movie clips. And one of those caught my eye …

As part of the MyOovooDay experience back in February, Drew McLellan and I held web video conferences with a number of people happy to talk about the Age of Conversation. Unbeknownst to me, Paul McEnany recorded part of the session … and here it is. It records some of our discussion about what was then the "upcoming" plan for the Age of Conversation 2008 which is funny in retrospect. In the video you will see (from top row L-R) Luc Debaisieux, Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan, Kris Hoet, Paul McEnany and J Erik Potter.

Your Platform is Not My Friend

Old Media, Web 2.0

I was reading ReadWriteWeb’s post on social networks and filtering and was immediately reminded of the Tangerine Toad’s Your Brand is Not My Friend. RWW’s Corvida is looking at the large amount of "noise" that occurs in social networks and suggests that filters are the necessary next step in the evolution of social networks.

However, one of the things that I most like about social networks is that the WAY that participants actually USE the social platform is what determines its value. Take Twitter for example. If it was down to Twitter, we would still be answering the question "what are you doing". Instead, the Twitter community have moved in a completely different direction, finding connections, conversation and activism a far better use of the 140 character micro-blogging format.

When you add the concept of personal branding to this, you can begin to see the importance of conversation. In this Age of Conversation, we are what we talk about. We are known by what we say and who we say it to. Our reputations rely on the connections we make, the friendships we build and the content we create. The platforms that we use to carry on these engagements are, to an extent, irrelevant — afterall, the almost all aggregate under the all-seeing eye of Google.

So while, yes, filtering would be a nice addition to most social network platforms (especially when you start to link them), the best form of filter is your friend. Not the platform. If you take the time to listen, learn and TRUST, then that personal network will pay back your time and effort many times over.

Think Big with Big Think

Web 2.0

Some weeks ago I happened upon the Big Think site. It is a startup headed up by Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins (former Charlie Rose producers) and its focus is on bringing conversation about ideas — addressing the "meta" or the "physical" aspects of our modern existence. You can listen to and engage with ideas through text and video. There are some great videos already available, including Dan Gilbert on What is Happiness and Gillian Caldwell from Witness. And if you have a big idea of your own … submit it here and join the conversation!