Ms. Adverthinker

I recently sat down with Roby Brock of Talk Business to talk about social media companies as the next big thing in tech stocks. Watch the interview here:

Tech companies are staying private longer and building up evidence of actually being able to generate revenue. Now that social media outlets have been established and are continuing interactions with large databases of users, they are starting to enter the public ownership realm.  What makes companies such as Groupon, Zynga and Facebook valuable is the list aggregated information they have on individual populations of people and sectors.

“For the most part, today’s social media companies are generating (or at least forecasting) real accounting earnings.   And nearly all of the popular offerings are based on businesses that actually have customers (instead of just a concept). But it is quite amazing to see the flood of capital competing for ownership of social media companies, and the implied company valuations.”

The response to LinkedIn has set the stage for other social-media IPOs, including Facebook, which is being rumored to go public in 2012.

Last year was one of significant growth for Foursquare: 3400% growth in 2010, according to the site.  Foursquare has released an infographic with some interesting facts.  Thinking about Foursquare from a branding and business-building perspective, these are a few of my favorite data points shared by Foursquare:

Knowing when a consumer is more or less likely to check-in and share their location with friends and followers can give a business the opportunity to offer special deals during slower time periods to try to drive traffic.

This graphic tells me when to stay home!

Clever.  Consumers love clever.  Brands should think about the unique qualities of their brands and leverage the data to make the consumer smile in appreciation.  Then, check-in because they want to be part of the inner circle offered by the brand.

The year 2010 proved that location sharing was relevant to the social consumer.  Foursquare has by far dominated that scene.  Some of the questions in 2011 will be:

• Can Foursquare maintain its dominance or will Facebook’s massive user base switch to using Facebook Places?  There is something appealing about the game aspect of Foursquare that encourages participation more than Facebook Places; but being able to tag friends with you gives Facebook an edge.
• Will brands figure out how to really use location sharing in ways that benefit consumers and get them talking?  Big brands like Starbucks have used it and small yet savvy independents have used it.  But what about those mid-size challenger brands that are trying to stand out?
• Will we see the apps for location sharing get more robust?  Some allow photos, some don’t; some allow tagging friends, others don’t.  What about multiple photo uploads to one check-in?  Or user rankings or reviews for each location?  How about options to leave feedback for the business versus posting it publicly to the check-in?  Will we see video sharing options built in?  Might we see some personal analytics tools for “defining” the user type?  How about varied privacy settings a la Facebook so that family can see all posts, certain friends can see limited posts, others can see more, etc.?

Because I had some work to catch up on last night, I chose to stay home and watch the Golden Globes alone.  But I didn’t feel alone at all.  With my computer in my lap, the Twitter app running and Facebook in my browser window, it felt like I was at a watch party among friends.  I laughed at some posts, rolled my eyes at others and commented on many.  Is the fact that technology can replace the feeling of camaraderie that comes with personal, face-to-face interactions good for our society or bad?  Probably neither and both.

This topic is explored in a new book, Alone Together.  I haven’t read the book yet, but have put it on my list to read soon.  The book was recently reviewed over at The Daily Beast:

“The advantage to all that gadgetry, of course, is connectedness: email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible we’re more lonely than ever, too? That’s what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, a fascinating portrait of our changing relationship with technology. The result of nearly 15 years of study (and interviews with hundreds of subjects), Turkle details the ways technology has redefined our perceptions of intimacy and solitude—and warns of the perils of embracing such pseudo-techno relationships in place of lasting emotional connections.”

The “alone” versus “together” situation works in reverse as well: when we are face-to-face among a group of people, many of us isolate ourselves by bowing our heads to the mobile devices actively lighting up in our hands.  If you don’t believe me, next time you go out to dinner, do a quick scan around the restaurant and check out what people are doing at each table.

The impact of technology on social mores is not a new topic of conversation, but as technology and social channels continue to improve and become even more integrated into our lives, the conversation will grow.  But will anything change?  Will we pull back on the use of technology and social media now that it is ingrained in our behaviors?

Check out the novel Super Sad True Love Story for a satirical look at the possibility of completely transparent sharing through technology and utter dependency on technology.  It is funny and sad and scary.  Set in a future where people are obsessed with appearances, their smart phones and credit scores, this book tells the story of two mismatched lovers through their journal entries and online communications.

Quora is a question and answer site that can be described as a mash-up of Yahoo! Answers, Wikipedia and Facebook.  It is like Yahoo! Answers because it users can post questions and anyone can answer.  It is like Wikipedia because users can edit and clarify questions posted by others.  It is like Facebook because users can “vote up” a response, moving it up in the stream.  But it is also different than all of these existing social channels.

It is much more professionally leaning than Yahoo! Answers: the people answering questions are credentialed to answer the questions in some way.  Evan Williams, found of Twitter logs on and answers Twitter questions.  A Facebook designer answered a question about icon design.  According to Mashable, those that tend to be early adopters of social technology are the ones using Quora:”Despite some assertions that Quora has gained a broader audience, it seems to be heavily trafficked by technologists, those in the media industry and social media types.”  However,

“In some ways, Quora has a broad appeal: answering specific questions and questions you didn’t know you had but that interest you. When users go to a search engine like Google, they are looking for specific information. Quora is similar, but, instead of an algorithm, you get answers from people who are knowledgeable about the topic. It’s similar to a social search engine.”

Although people can edit your questions, they can’t edit your answers; they can only post another answer disputing your response, blog comment-style, making it different than Wikipedia.

And, as for Facebook, where you have to find people or brands to follow, with Quora, you can also enter topics to get Q&A related to those topics feeding into your stream.

Although the site launched in 2009, it is just now gaining momentum despite an uphill battle for the users of all of the existing outlets listed above:

“Quora is up against mainstream competition. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t be a great place to get your questions answered; after all, the service has already attracted the likes of top-level CEOs. But it may have trouble winning users from mainstream services like Yahoo Answers, and the newer Facebook Question, as many will not want to join ‘another network.’” (Mashable)

How can businesses use Quora?  To get answers, of course.  I am new to Quora, too.  While I am still trying to figure out its potential value, my initial interest is in consumer research.  We are constantly trying to figure out how to learn more about our consumers, quickly and efficiently.  A tool that reaches those not already following your brand on Facebook and Twitter, but with an interest in the topic you are researching could be a powerful resource:

“Imagine the ability to really ask serious and honest questions of your consumers and community members. Think about the significant back and forth that can take place. Imagine what it’s like when each answer can be voted up by everyone in an equal and public fashion. While all of that has been doable for some time, it’s now taking place in a very public forum (that neither brand nor consumer “owns”). It’s also a place that is not limited to 140 characters or being mixed in with a personal profile page or a Blog that sits within a walled garden.” (Six Pixels of Separation)

It has been a while since a new social tool has caught the attention of bloggers and the technology media, so it is possible they are grasping for anything that might be interesting to discuss.  Or, it might be that Quora will catch on with mainstream users.  Regardless, if you are looking for answers, it is worth checking out and exploring.

UPDATE: Just came across this article that talks about maintaining the quality of the posts as growth continues to a more mainstream audience.

In March 2010, Foursquare had 750,000 members; today, Foursquare has over three million users.  This rapid growth was thought to slow with the introduction of Facebook Places a couple of weeks ago, and instead, it was the day that Foursquare had its largest registration day ever.  (source: Mashable)

While three million is just in a drop in the bucket compared to Facebook’s 500 million users worldwide, it is not something to ignore, either.

The Social Network. This trailer actually makes the movie look interesting. Looking forward to it.

Thanks to Blake’s Think Tank for passing this along.

Here is a cool Facebook infographic shared over at Mashable.

[Source: Online PhD Programs for MashableMashable.com]

This recap is also posted on Talk Business.

This is my first time at the geek Mecca that is South by Southwest (SXSW), held annually in Austin, Texas. Anxious to jump into the experience, I obediently waited outside my hotel at 8:30 AM for the shuttle service to pick me up. The driver was there by 8:45 AM; eight stops and thirty minutes later, we actually arrived at the Austin Convention Center. (Keep in mind that the events of this first day did not actually begin until 2 PM that afternoon.) After securing my badge, bag and swag, I had nothing to do but park myself on the floor near an electrical outlet (convergence and socializing seem to occur around electrical outlets here) and geek-out with the rest of the geeks.

Guys definitely out-number the girls around here and the ages skew under 40 years old, but over 25 (although there are many that fall on either side of that range). If you are using anything but a Mac computer, you stand out as odd. Everyone walks around with his or head down, focusing on the mobile device of choice.

Themes heard on day one were (1) social media is diminishing human interaction and (2) location, location, location. There were over 60 sessions today, occurring in three scheduled time periods, so being one person, I could only attend three of those 60. My panel/event attendance for the day included:

• “Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age”
• “Do Cool Kids Leave When the Suits Arrive?”
• “Time + Social + Location. What’s Next In Mobile Experiences?”

“Program or Be Programmed,” presented by Douglas Rushkoff, was an argument against the passive approach to the digital space that we are taking. He cautioned against the use of long-distance technologies in short-distance situations, the oversimplification of choices we are given on the Internet and translating those into life, and anonymity that the online space allows. Rushkoff highlighted the fact that until five years ago, 80% of communication was non-verbal and now most of our communication is done online, thereby negating non-verbal cues. Perhaps a bit overly intellectual, but nevertheless fear-inducing, this presentation was not what I expected to hear at festival celebrating technology.

“Do Cool Kids Leave When the Suits Arrive?” was conversation about whether the early adopters of social media applications are right to feel ownership of the spaces, and insult when there is an attempt to incorporate aspects more amenable to the general public in an effort monetize the application or service. Basically, it was the “what do I do when my mom/my boss/my kid friends me on Facebook” discussion; “cool kids” and “suits” were simply metaphors for whatever a participant’s particular situation might have been. Because this session was structured as a conversation open to all attendees in the room, the discussion branched several different directions. Most interestingly, however, was that most people walked into the room assuming they were a “cool kid,” but soon realized they were a “suit.” At one point, even Google was likened to a suit, and it used to be the coolest kid around. The simple fact is that we are all in business to make money and to make money, we have to take on a “suit-like” attitude.

Another interesting turn in the conversation was use of the social media space and user maturity in understanding what can be said and what should be shared. There was a sentiment in the room that frequent users are being conditioned to share inappropriately; that his or her privacy filter has disintegrated. The moderator noted that the next iteration of social media will be more about improving human-to-human interfaces rather than human-to-computer interfaces.

“Time + Social + Location. What’s Next In Mobile Experiences?” was, by far, the most engaging session of my day. It was at last year’s SXSW that FourSquare took off, so it is fitting this year that there is a lot of discussion about location-based applications. In fact, there are eight sessions over the five-day festival where location-based applications will be discussed. It was standing room only in this panel-led session and a poll of the attendees revealed that almost everyone in the room had “checked in” with at least one service, and many people had checked in with two or more. Services, or applications, used included FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt and Twitter (which just launched its location-based feature in the last couple of days), among a smattering of others. Location-based applications are services that allow the user to update his or her status (much like Twitter or Facebook), but attach a very specific location to that update, either with a dot on a map, a longitude and latitude reading, or a location defined and named by the users (a restaurant, retail location, ballroom at a convention center, etc.).

The big question about location-based updates: is it creepy and dangerous to announce your exact location to the world? The simple answer: no. The panelists quickly dismissed sites like Please Rob Me as irrelevant to the discussion because, in truth, we have been announcing our locations for years using Twitter and Facebook. By defining the location, we are creating a database for future reference of that location. We are giving those locations more meaning by being able to walk into that location at a later date and know not only who has been there before, but what they did there and what they thought about that location. The social power of location-based applications is in knowing where friends have been, not in where they are right now.

An additional twist to the location-based applications is that they award participants points for their check-ins. Frequent updating of status becomes a game, with users attempting to out-score people they have never met and reap the reward of badges and mayorship of locations where they check-in.

Day one of five is complete. I am excited to see what I learn during day two. Stay tuned.

The Interactive portion of the SXSW festival starts tomorrow and I am headed to Austin to partake in the activities.  I will be on Twitter @reeves501 and @stoneward, will be posting here at Ms. Adverthinker and on the Stone Ward Facebook fan page.  I might pop up a few other places, too, but I will direct you to those links when they happen.

For now, I am still in the Little Rock airport, where my flight is delayed.  I am hoping to make it to Austin in time to pick up my badge and registration materials tonight, and get a fresh start in the morning.  It will be a busy five days if I am going to try to stick to a semblance of this schedule.

There was a Super Bowl gathering at my abode, and in between cooking, conversation and conviviality around the Saints, we Googled, blogged and surfed the social networks.  Because we work in the business, our web use centered around the Super Bowl advertising.  And while most commercials were disappointing, there were some stood out from the overdone guy humor that was abundant this year.  I am not going to get into my opinion of what advertising was good, bad or ugly – you can find more than enough commentary about that here, here and here.  I want to talk about is the morphing of the event into an online social experience.

Watching the Super Bowl has always been a social event: friends gather, eat, drink, boo and cheer. The advent of social media made our parties grow exponentially over the last couple of years as we interacted with those we knew online in addition to those watching the game with us in person. Last year, 12% of Super Bowl viewers were online during the game, according to Mashable. But this year, rather than having to search out the pertinent discussions on Twitter and Facebook separately, communities have developed around areas of interest, be it sports, food or advertising.  Hashtags are now used more consistently, making search for relevant commentary outside those communities easier, too.  With these community hubs and hashtag prevalence, our online interactions have gone from just the people we know (and the people they know) to introductions to people, content and views we might never have stumbled upon before.  And just when we thought we couldn’t be more connected to the world.

I didn’t want the Super Bowl fun to end last night. In years past, I have only watched the Super Bowl for the commercials, and even then become bored by the second half. Last night was different, it was bigger and it felt like my world expanded just a little bit more.  And that is always a good thing for the curious being that is me.

For fun, here is my favorite commercial of the night.  Although, as it turns out, it has been around for a few months, last night was my first viewing.

Small businesses are finally starting to figure out how to make social media work them.  Take Sprinkles, for example.  They were recently highlighted in this LA Times article for their smart use of Facebook:

“Each day on the website, Sprinkles announces a secret word, such as ‘ganache,’ or ‘bunny,’ or ‘tropical,’ or ‘love,’ and the first 25 or 50 people to show up at any of its five stores and whisper that word get a free cupcake.

“‘On Facebook, we can ask our customers what’s the next location they want,’ Nelson said. ‘What do they think of our next flavor? It’s an amazing way to communicate with our fans.’”

This is exactly how small businesses (or even businesses in general) should be using the social media channels: (1) not just pushing information out to their fans or followers, but providing them with a benefit for “friending” or following them, (2) engaging them in dialogue and asking for their opinions, and (3) giving them a reason to come back to your page again and again (or keeping them from “hiding” your brand’s updates from their news feeds.

Social media channels allow small businesses, that can’t afford a website or advertising to drive customers to a website, the opportunity to set up their own space in an existing community.  Increasingly, consumers are searching out their favorite brands on Facebook and businesses that are not there are missing the chance to connect with people (and all their friends).

One local small businesses that is using social media well is The House (on Facebook with just over 1300 fans) and @TheHouseBar (on Twitter with 136 followers).  The House uses these channels to update fans/followers on changes to the menu/hours, scheduled events and when they reopened after some remodeling invited just its Facebook fans to check it out the day before the official reopening.  I don’t think that The House even has an official website: on its Facebook page, the Twitter page is listed as its web address and on its Twitter page, the Facebook page is listed as its web address.

I am sure there are several other local small businesses using social media in a smart way; please send me any examples and I will post them.

Thank you, @DanaDB, for the LA Times article link.

Check out this video with some impressive social media usage statistics.

Found in The New Yorker.

Frustrated with Facebook a few nights ago, I de-friended some people.  I cleaned house.  I assumed that no one would notice.  And I got caught.  Lesson learned: if you are active in the social media world and you live in a relatively small market, then your absence won’t go unnoticed.  I am now sheepishly re-friending.  Please consider this my apology to all my de-friended friends.  I will not blame you for not accepting me back now.

This experience has me thinking about privacy versus sharing in this age when social media participation has become expected and the societal norm.  Are we sharing too much?  Are we at a point where we expect people to share everything?  Is it weird that I find myself thinking of my daily activities in 140 character updates throughout the day (“Ms. Adverthinker is frustrated by stiff shoes that rub blisters; Band-Aid Blister Block helps though.”  “Ms Adverthinker is disappointed iPhone died, but excited about pretty pink cover avail for new one.  Damn accessories get me every time.”)?  I ask these questions when I find myself uncontrollably sucked into Facebook.

The risk we take in exposing ourselves in the online world is that we actually expose ourselves.  It seems so simple to type a few words and click a few buttons.  But the impact of these small actions can be large.  We are sharing our lives with the world.  The world.  Admittedly, in a market like Arkansas the world might be a little smaller: everyone who is online knows each other, even if they have never met.  We are all friends without actually being friends.  And I feel like I know everything about their lives.

Although I might not want to know everything about their lives, I just can’t help but read, watch and dig a little deeper.  It is human nature to be voyeuristic and social media allows us to feed this desire.   But it is easy to get caught up and overwhelmed by other people’s lives:  What does the cryptic status update mean?  Who is that person in this picture?  Why are they sad?  Why are they happy?  Who are they talking about?  Who are they quoting?  What does it all mean?! So I started thinking that I didn’t need to know everything about all of my friends.

Because I have very little self control and can’t quit Facebook cold turkey, I decided to taper cessation of the habit by cleaning the friend house.  Maybe I overreacted.  Or maybe I didn’t take it far enough; I left the door open by not canceling my account (much like cutting up your credit card when you have the number memorized: it doesn’t stop you from spending).

As an active resident of this new social media world, I should have known better than to think a person can do anything online and have it go unnoticed.

I made the point last night during SWIM that I think the media only started adopting social media at its fervent rate upon the use of social media by the Obama presidential campaign.*  His campaign used social media comprehensively and did it right.  Obama as president hasn’t let the social media advocates down: he proves that social media isn’t just for getting elected with the launch of White House 2.0.

By far, the best part of White House 2.0 is the Official White House Photostream on Flickr.  Social media is “about” a lot of things, but for President Obama it is about conveying his personality and bundling his messages up in that personality under an assumed premise that if we like him as a person, we will like what he has to say as a president, too.  That is what these photos seem to say.  And social media is good for that purpose.  We see him laughing; it seems genuine; we believe everything is going to be okay.  Our photogenic president appears serious when it is appropriate, accessorizes fashionably for events, and exudes confidence (or ego) in his overall presentation. 

In addition to the Flickr stream, on Friday the White House announced an official Facebook page, MySpace page and Twitter account.  There are also video postings by the White House on YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes.  All of this was announced as an effort to be more transparent and to engage the public.  And, they are allowing comments on all of these sites.  What I am not seeing in all of the comments are responses from the White House.  It makes me wonder if they are monitoring all of this feedback and providing a real two-way communication, or if this is simply another way to “push” information under the guise of engagement.  If they are not responding yet, I predict they will be soon: this White House knows how to use technology, the Internet and social media.

* While I recognize that many journalists and some media outlets had already recognized its power, for the rest of the slow-to-change media bunch, Obama’s success with social media was the turning point.  And now they just can’t stop talking about it.