odds/ends things/thoughts

Foursquare has more than half a million users, 1+ million venues and 15+ million checkins, and is still growing rapidly. According to Experian Hitwise, Facebook acounts for 33% of the upstream to Foursquare, followed by Google and Twitter a with 22% and 8%, respectively, with these top three websites accounting for nearly two-thirds of all traffic. Net net, Foursquare is growing in size and popularity, and is being adopted by already socially-networked users. 

This weekend, a friend posted the message above to Twitter using Foursquare. Checkins almost go unnoticed because of how many we're starting to see on Twitter and Facebook. This one, however, stuck out. But it wasn't the technology platform or the behavior or the push message or the hashtag. Rather, it was his friends attending dinner...You can see he was out with @technokitten, @annagud, @cait_tierney, @olicca and Rob. Not @Rob. Just Rob. He's the odd man out. 

This could suggest that he wasn't known well enough to know his Twitter handle or that he's not a Twitter user. Either way, it shows that our digital identity is beginning to define who we are offline (or at least it's becoming a symbol or identification). It's how we're known to friends (real and digital) and strangers alike. Non-users of pervasive technology platforms will quickly find that they're the odd man out. The person who can't be counted or included.

An example from my life: A few years ago, I stopped using Facebook (I've never been a heavy users). This upset a few of my friends...and not because they were sad I wasn't posting photos or status updates. It was because they couldn't include me in invites to events. So, if they wanted to have a BBQ on a Saturday, they could invite nearly everyone via an event invite on Facebook, except me. For me, they'd have to send an email or text message. Not a huge deal, but you get the point. My non-usage created work for my friends. 

Over time, and as social platforms gain more and more users, I wonder if non-participation will have adverse effects on relationships...

Almost 13% of viewers tuning in to the Olympic opening ceremonies were also surfing the web, according to Nielsen. The website of choice was Facebook, with an estimated 41% of simultaneous users spending time on the site. Nielsen also found that 14% of Super Bowl viewers spent time online during the game, at an average of 29 minutes per user. Simultaneous use of TV and PC, particularly on social sites, demonstrates the need for multiplatform thinking and strategies for brands. Multiplatform behavior coupled with the growing amount of time spent on social networking sites signals that social media cannot remain at the bottom of the marketing food chain. We cannot simply “extend” the big idea into social media as we once did with digital. It has to be considered much further up stream in the planning process to insure its rightful place in the marketing mix. Pepsi has done an amazing job of this with the Pepsi Refresh Project. Social media is inextricably linked and central to the core idea. 

I stumbled on to a fascinating study by Kentaro Toyama, a researcher in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley and the assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India. The paper called Integrating Social Development and Financial Sustainability: The Challenges of Rural Computer Kiosks in Kerala, examines the social and political challenges related to the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) kiosk projects for rural development in India. The project has two goals: social development through increased access to computers for rural people and financial viability through entrepreneurship. The findings are quite interesting and illustrate the tension between social development and financial sustainability.

“The tension exists because entrepreneurs who emphasize the social development goals of the project, such as e-literacy, may not be financially successful and may continue to expect government subsidies. The more business-oriented entrepreneurs address the commercial goals of the project by targeting those customers that will help them generate a profit. Specifically, since the people in need of development services are often distinct from the people who can help a kiosk financially, entrepreneurs face branding challenges to attract both groups of people. On the one hand, they must recover their costs, which requires selling to wealthier clients who expect a state-of-the-art facility with high-end services. On the other hand, kiosk operators are also being asked to serve the poor, who expect the state to provide free or subsidized development services.”

Somewhere in the middle was a group of “balance-driven” entrepreneurs, who tried to combine the two goals of social development and financial sustainability. They provided subsidies to the poorest users and also tried to maximize their profits from higher-class users. This group saw the initiative as a partnership with the government, expecting them to provide some assistance, but more reliant on their own skills to attract business.

A final point illustrates the branding tensions that exist with such efforts. There were more problems when try trying to serve both populations – the ones in need and the ones who can make it profitable. The imagery associated with state-led development programs (those helping poor people with free, low quality services) proved to be detrimental to the profitability.

I love reading about things like this that seem so far removed from my daily reading routine of digital and media blogs, etc. It reminds me that there are learnings and lessons everywhere. 

There’s a well-known Buddhist story of blind men and an elephant. A group of blind men (some say men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. One blind man feels the tusk and believes elephants to be hard and tough. Another feels the flexible ear, concluding that elephants are agile and graceful. Another feels the legs and concludes the elephant is strong and powerful. Each individual perspective is valid, but no one person understand the whole animal.

When the men compare notes on what they felt, they’re in complete disagreement. The story is meant to illustrate that understanding and reality depends upon one’s own perspective and context.

Like most Buddhist teachings, this story has application in all aspects of life, and can even be applied to marketing. Brands are complex beasts, with attributes not unlike the elephant – some soft, some strong, some flexible. We do our best to communicate them, but at the end of the day, we’re subject to audience perspective. Consumers each have their own varying perspective and it’s constantly changing and evolving. It’s why context is so so important.

This parable got me thinking about transmedia storytelling, where a story spans multiple media in a coordinated way. Consumers are exposed to varying touchpoints, each tasked with delivering specific parts of the overall message. Individually, they each give a sense of the story, but together they have real power.

If the blind men had been exposed (individually) to each of the elephant’s “touchpoints,” perhaps they’d understand the whole.

Acquiring fans, friends and followers is formulaic these days. And it’s not as complicated as you think. PAID MEDIA.

Brands spend boatloads of money on ATL/BTL media every day. They spend it to get eyeballs on a new message, to create awareness of a new product or to drive traffic into stores. Why should social media be any different.

Sure, if you are the most genuine, conversational, open, community-driven, dynamic and personable brand, perhaps you don’t need to buy media. You simply open your digital mouth and people pay attention and invite friends to hear what you have to say.

But you could be all (or none) of these things and people still wouldn’t know you have a Facebook page. Paid media let’s people know. This could include a TV ad tagged with a Facebook URL. This could be something innovative like Gap’s “Born To Fit” campaign where the URL (www.borntofit.com) redirected to Gap’s Facebook page. But it could also be a paid media buy on Facebook (you know, those sponsored ads on the right hand side).

Many brands are taking advantage of Facebook’s paid media and they’re putting up huge numbers. There are a whole host of new ways to buy fans. Yes, I said it. Buy them. And once you’ve hit a critical mass, that’s when the “viral” growth will come.

Just saying.

This is a photo from Alife, a sneaker shop in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The store is known not only for it's wildly eclectic collection of Nike's, but also for it's unique and luxurious presentation. It's certainly easier to whip out the credit card when you've had such a unique and well done experience.

Sent from my iPhone