I have had access to Google plus now for a few days. First thoughts are that the interface is amazing. By amazing I mean its probably the best UI I have ever seen.
Now on to the obligatory Facebook Vs. Google..
#1 Social Media is not a war as much as we might want controversy and antagonism its not. A competition ok but not a war, Google doesn’t want google to be shut down because they are going to separate divisions if that happens. Facebook actually needs Google for the same reason they are not allowed to operate a monopoly.
#2 Facebook will be fine, as a user of Google+ my use of Facebook has not changed at all…Twitter on the other hand… well that is a different sections
#3 The next my[__] conversations are all a little premature. However Facebook needs to innovate (by innovate I don’t mean add Google video chat) and I am sure they will.
Businesses and G+
When you sign up for Google there is an express agreement that profiles are for people. (Looks at Mashable Ford and The National Association of Realtors) You cannot run a business profile Google will shut you down. Community managers should be jumping at the chance to get on, figuring out what resonates and which strategy they should be considering (this is very early). One thing we know Google has Post Rank and the Businesses data will be built using that tool.
Tumblr users…
Popular tumblr memes can be found on G+ you guys will really enjoy it. I dont think G+ will pose much of a threat to tumblr as a network, you guys are just too passionate.
In Conclusion:
Social media has undergone a fragmentation in recent years G+ is going to continue the trend. The Geo market has already demonstrated that Social Media has become more like the TV market than the winner take all My[__] vs Friendster vs. Facebook days of 2006.
That is my Google Plus post.. here is a random photo of a duck.
If you have ever seen the movie “The Social Network” there is a line that Mark Zuckerburg says. When his partner is pressing to add ads on the service Mark responds with “We dont know what it can be, we dont know what it will be”. That my friends is exactly where Google + is. Google+ is the newest addition to the social sphere. Which normally wouldnt be news because new small networks popup and leave all the time.. but this time its different.
Why?
One word Google!
This is Google’s 5th attempt at creating a social network. Orkrut, Buzz, Wave, and Groups were all pretty much flops. The forums are still used and somewhat awesome. What makes this different… Well we don’t know yet… its hard to say what this network means and we wont know for a while. If does mean a new ux across most google services as well as a new ux for most Google apps. One piece of news they are creating a pages area for businesses but since I dont have an invite yet (and even if I did they dont mean much as google is pretty much only letting in people at random even with invites) I have no idea. Quite frankly I will be more than happy to try it out in 2 months from now if it is still there. I loved Google buzz and Google wave but everyone else hated it so they didnt add a lot of value. I cant go through another heartbreak so for me Google + = let it ride for a while see what it does.
Facebook makes everyone (or almost anyone) feel awesome on their birthday. Yesterday I got almost 100 birthday wishes from people I haven’t talked to in a while. I know some people might not feel amazing about that but I did. Brands should consider taking advantage of this once a year or every few years. If your fan base has grown dormant running ads requesting engagement is smart. Increasing interaction= new fans+ larger top news feed post reach.
Linkedin is not facebook or Twitter. However they are one of the first major players to jump on the wings of a total IPO. I am not sure it is a buy even at $32 or $35. This could go one of two ways be a brilliant investment or its pets.com of social media. Linkedin is a huge network but Im still not sold on it for a three reasons.
1. Lack of network commitment- The useage of members and the commitment to the network is somewhat low.
2. Limited touch points and usage- Linkedin needs to continue to work on its goal of being “the solution” for professionals on the web. Honestly after the IPO they should probably buy Quora and use it as “The resource”
3.Shrinking Demographic target- The site is designed perfectly for boomers. The biggest problem with this is that boomers are going to retire soon enough and not need the network at all.
This week Facebook had google got into a little, possibly major, fight. Apparently Facebook hired a PR firm to go after Google’s “Privacy issues” and got caught red handed. This creates an awkward situation for users, investors, and advertisers. The issue is starting to make the Silicon Valley feel more like a grade school playground than a functioning business environment.
Hopefully these companies don’t go with the tit for tat game, the game where everyone looses. It seems another simple playground lesson would work better… just be nice
In the Social Media world this is one of the best branding tips on the market. If you are nice taking care of major issues becomes less complicated. The nay sayers will always be around particularly if a brand is well known. However if the brand is willing to be nice they will generally win.
As the Graph above shows Twitter was the primary driver of conversations around the Osama Bin Laden’s Death. Twitter is much “louder” than Facebook because of network properties. On Facebook one user posting about Bin Laden may get as many as 2 to 3 posts maximum without annoying followers. On Twitter this number could be in the hundreds. Anytime a user “@mentions” someone on Twitter that tweet is hidden from other users unless they follow both the person tweeting and the person the tweet is directed towards.
Often it is said that a Facebook share is worth more than a Tweet but that only applies in when comparing 1 post to 1 post. If you consider the fact that a user can share 10 or 15 times on twitter per facebook share it becomes clear that they are equal, or slightly favoring tweets. Each network is distinct.
Consider the following from the Global PR channel on Twitter…
These differences in numbers are more than just surface level. Twitter and Facebook must get separate strategies. What works with one needs to be adjusted to work for the other. One community manager can effectively run several feeds on facebook, but the same cannot be said for Twitter. Large brands should post between 50 and 100 tweets per day but no more than 2 to 3 posts on Facebook per day. The volume for an event like this should provide a proportional guide for the difference between brand posts on Facebook and Twitter.
Watch this video in its entirety there are 2 themes… Eric Schmidt from time to time has awkward moments and the questioners seem to reveal a cultural split between “humans” and “Technical folks”. Google has on more than one occasion made it apparent that they want to make a dent in social (Wave, Buzz, Orkut, and now “+1″). Google went so far as to recently announce that the success of “+1″ will be a basis for bonuses.
Google has a problem with Social and it looks from the outside like it might be cultural. This makes sense techies at Google haven’t had to think too much about how to make something work for humans. Gmail started with a few simple (technical modifications) to yahoo and hotmail. Google Docs is a cloud carbon copy of Microsoft’s word system. Search only needs to think about where a user searches.
It may very well be that Google’s biggest problem with social is that the divide themselves in groups of “Techies” and “Humans”. That said “+1″ is a carbon copy of Facebook’s “Like” button so my guess is that it will be a success.
Today much to the frustration of many brands Hootsuite went down due to an amazon server issue. Hootsuite is a tool that many businesses use to allow multiple users to man the same twitter feed. Some business accounts have no back-up plan in place, so when the tool goes down… they go down. Every brand should have 3 things in place…
A back up plan: Do you know what to do if the your goes down?
A primary user: If the collaborative space has an interruption or there is an emergency that person should take over
A back up plan for the primary user: We are talking about people and technology neither one of which are stable 100% of the time.
The very bottom of this infographic is interesting… It looks like Tumblr is going to be the fast riser, it serves a need that Facebook and Twitter don’t meet. Brands should start looking closely at it.
Here is a great example of why behaviors are so important when thinking about advertising in the digital and social space.
German based rental company Sixt decided to niche target their audience - The Business Traveler - around a specific activity that they knew most business travelers do at an airport - surf the web via WIFI Port!
LA Kings get innovative on twitter (Charlie Sheen might even say “WINNING” to describe it)… this is a brand-new way for a pro-sports team to let their fans have a stake. This is almost like the team letting random fans give play by play for a few seconds at a time. Very cool! I hope a team in the near future steps up and tracks a hashtag around a live sporting event with the same philosophy, there are some gems.
Linkedin is a potentially confusing network to work with. There are a lot of features and it takes some time to learn. A few weeks ago they started doing some way back guides, these are creative fun and let people know how to use the network. In a very real way Videos like these are going to be hugely important for the network’s long term sustainability.
Linguistics can be a challenge for community managers, each generation and group seems to come up with new acronyms. Learning the niche isn’t that challenging generally finding a new member and watching the questions they ask will solve it.
However what about acronyms like P911 or POS or lmk or IMO or IMHO or ROFL… you know the ones teens come up with about every other day? Users from different niches may have a favorite batch. However how should community managers keep track and investigate the new ones. There is a tool for this that is helpful… Teen chat decoder.
You don’t really have to ask what an acronym means anymore, you can just look it up.
This week Starbucks released an iphone app that allows users to pay with their phones. The concept could one day remove wallets from our pockets altogether…
Oldie but goodie New York has let you pay for your subway for a while via smart phone… Other cities are now testing it out, including LA.
Throughout 2010 and continuing through 2011 there has been a trend… Logo redesign some are woeful others are amazing, but almost all of them made headlines. With attention more graphic in nature then ever before I am wondering if logo redesign is becoming little more than a chance to create a buzz…
Some examples…
(Most feel they basically got Starbucked… enter the circle!)
Pepsi or South Korea… telling the difference is becoming more difficult with each logo redesign…
Speaking of Peps this change happened at around the same time… I can’t totally knock the change, however to me personally it feels a little generic.
Seriously why did they even bother??
We cant forget THE redesign logo disaster from last year… AKA the New Gap logo.
Which one of these do you think it the best… which one is the worst?
Vizio the company best known for pricing the HDTV for the “every man” is coming out with a line of smart phones/ Android powered tablets. The news in and of itself isn’t shocking or even that interesting. It makes sense that the company that produced one of the first “Smart TV’s” is introducing vertical product lines. It is interesting that Google’s Android is another nail in Google TV’s coffin. Android the open/light operating system with its app store is quickly becoming a favorite amongst hardware producers, VIZIO Via is just another in a long line. Meanwhile Google TV is in preverbal exile amongst TV manufactures (only a small group have picked it up) and entertainment producers. With these 2 devices Vizio will be stepping into creating a unified tech experience for TV and phone (something Google TV was supposed to do). The concept of Google TVmade little sense, and didn’t fill a need or solve a problem. VIZIO is actually on the verge of solving that dastardly remote control issue once and for all with these devices, which is a huge plus!
Yet another android phone on the market not news worthy… Never having to find a remote again I think we might have Time’s person of the year!
Now if someone would make a machine to fold and put away the laundry (That provides a unified smartphone experience) I would be set!
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