Social Media | uber.la

Aug 06 2010

The Rising Cost of Online Social Media Influence & The Value of a "Social Influencer"

Category: social media,tech opinion — jmacofearth @ 6:36 pm

So much for everything social being free. Yes you can create your Facebook page, your Facebook Fan page and even a nice twitter background that reflects your business, but the buck doesn't stop there, it begins there. Businesses hoping for the cheap way into social media and online influence, should take a look at Dell's success. Much has been made of the Dell Factory Outlet and Twitter huge successes, and consequently there are a lot of businesses with twitter accounts who have no idea about how to tweet.

In this age of user-generated content and blogs the sphere of influence is much more complex. The successful plan takes a look at the entire online content generation process and identifies where their participation can be profitable. At the end of the day we are all looking to reduce the costs of entering this social system and increasing sales and profits.

So by all means get out there and get involved. Even the smallest trickle of interest at the bottom of this chart can result in payoffs further up the food chain. And the next time a marketing talks about creating a viral campaign for you, fire them.

Addressing the complex matrix above is hard work. That's where "social media strategists" come into play. Dell did not become a social media force overnight. The calculated growth of their online response team has proven it's ROI many times over. That's why Dell is now being lauded for their social success. Get out there, but go with a guide who has done it before. Going it alone is risky, and could actually backfire. But even a disastrous Facebook campaign or vacant online "community" site can be resurrected.

Your goals should involve social influence. You can buy content, you can buy placement for advertising, but you'd be better off hiring real writers and letting them do what they do best. Get on the Cluetrain and communicate. Open the kimono and let your "social influencers" work their magic. And one of them might be able to pull a viral rabbit out of their hat, but it takes time and effort. And mostly the magic happens as a result of the hard work. The viral nature of content is magic, you can't bottle it, count on it. But you can aspire towards it.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/social_influencer

Tags: blogger influence, blogging, building a social media plan, cluetrain manifesto, cost of social media, hire real writers, how to get into social media, influencing bloggers, influencing online content, online content, online influence, online word-of-mouth, open the kimono, social influencer, social media, social media strategist, the cluetrain, user-generated content, viral campaing, womma, word of mouth marketing, word-of-mouth, writing, yes your English degree is worth something

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Mar 16 2010

Twitter Keynote Trends Badly, It Wasn't All Umair Haque's Fault #sxsw #twitter

Category: community building,lifestreaming,social media,speed the web,tech opinion,tech reviews — jmacofearth @ 1:32 pm

Even if you are CEO of Twitter you need to inspire! And @ev blows it. All by himself, Evan Williams could've made a difference, but he followed a clueless Haaaavard guide. Oops!

Umair Haque's Harvard Business Review Bio and links to posts. I can't wait to see his next post. I think this might have been where he was coming from during the "interview" 21st Century Strategy in Four Words, Tuesday December 15, 2009. The words seem to echo much of what was said, "minimize evil, maximize good." Is THAT what @ev kept referring to in his dazed platitudes?

And it wasn't just me that picked up on the lack of spirit in the Twitter Keynote by Evan Williams. While the main ballroom was full and the overflow room was also full, the lack of inspiration, or anything beyond a soft-ball interviewer and an executive having a chat, started clearing the room at about 3o minutes in. It became a parody of an interview. I wonder if @ev was afraid to take Q and A for fear of being hammered on Fail Whale plans, or "revenue model" questions that the inept interviewer even said he wasn't going to ask. UH! Why not?

I can tell you @anywhere is not going to bring Twitter out of the huge-loss mode. @ev jokes about how Twitter is a company "without a revenue model," but it's not funny. And when the Fail Whale blows repeatedly throughout the SXSW conference, I believe many of us would welcome a new platform that could suck in our Twitter Friends and Follows and give us a stable platform.

Well, it ain't BUZZ, but I'm saying that Twitter.com's days are numbered. Have they got a killer iPad strategy in the wings for two weeks when Apple opens the tablet flood gates?

PCWorld covered the unKEYNOTE like this: "During and after the speech, Twitter was jammed with tweets about how boring the whole thing was. Like this one: / LaurieManny: Audience walks out on Twitter CEOKeynote…line to get out of room… / A line to get out of the room! Before the speech, a long, long, long line waited to get in to see whatwas bar far the highest-profile session of the conference. —PCWorld: SXSW-Twitter Announcement a Real Yawner

AdWeek's coverage: SXSW: Twitter's Ad Platform That Isn't

HuffPo uses @anywhere to blast @ev and pseudo interviewer: Umair Haque's Moderation At SXSW 2010 Keynote Criticized By Interview Attendees

And while I'm certain I don't understand even a 10th of the goodness that is going to be the @anywhere platform, the ability to post from a 3rd party website like Huffington Post is OKAY, but I prefer Friendfeed and Delicious and StumbleOn, and guess what. They're free.

Wired tones it down a bit with tepid: Twitter CEO Launches @anywhere to Tepid Audience Reaction

Photos: Jim Merithew, Wired.com

This was in the room that was standing room only. Hey, is that a seat there, next to that woman… DANG! Problem was the crowds were streaming out about 30 minutes into the lackluster chat.

Business Insider: Here's What Twitter's CEO Was Trying To Tell You About @Anywhere When Umair Haque Wrecked His SXSW Keynote

TechCrunch: Uh Oh. Not Another “Don’t Be Evil” Company

So regardless if Umair Haque was hand-picked by Twitter to softball Evan Williams and not ask the hard "revenue" questions, at some point the casual CEO should've figured things were going badly, like maybe when the crowds were mobbing the exits. It wasn't because they were trying to get out and blog about the ho-hum platform he had just revealed. It was because the metaphors and soliloquies coming out of Evan Williams mouth were the same kind of nonsense you her at presentations where the leader is completely out of their element. I wonder if pharma had anything to do with @ev taking the digression of the interview with little to no resistance.

So there was plenty blame to go around, but more importantly the two people in charge of the tone and pacing and content of the discussion just sailed along. The last thing you do with a restless crowd is ignore them, or try to continue without making any adjustments.

He spoke of open windows as opposed to open doors. He talked a lot about "without a revenue model" even if Mr. Haque wouldn't ask the question. But the oddest thing about the whole presentation was how little Haque seemed to be getting about what @ev was saying. While he was very vocal with his "uh hun, yes, okay's" his follow up questions often were about Haque himself. He kept referring to his 5 points. And he would use them to loft another non-sequitur into the lap of Mr. Williams to little or no effect.

I kept thinking we were getting @ev the bored white executive, now so big he can't even take TWEETS for questions. Wouldn't that have made more sense? You've got a room full of evangelists and questioners. Ask them, let them ask. Rather, Mr. Haque skipped along on his own agenda and his own story about his experience at a gas station or hotel or something else, check the notes. He was not even in the room with us.

So as things began to go badly in a presentation you stop and take a breath. You pause and decide which way to go next. But Mr. Williams and blind-executioner Mr Haque stumbled, bumbled and continued into some sort of trance. People were actually getting mad in the overflow room, where I was. "This is bullshit." was murmered more than once, and probably tweeted.

So as the "platform" of the future continued to show #fail and the fail whale itself continued to blow his spermy spume, Evan Williams waxed poetic and Umair Haque told his own stories and followed his incoherent 5-point strategy. I'm still not sure if UH was talking about a "strategy" to get the most out of the Evan Williams interview, or something from his new book about his 5-points of light.

What I did know, was it sucked. Big time! And the crowd was literally streaming out of the overflow room. Perhaps is was not as bad in the room where the zoned speakers were. But the cracking and closing of the door in the overflow room was deafening. And then I left too.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/twitter-fails

All the Uber.la SXSW 2010 posts in one place:

Dream All Day: #SXSW Last Day and Raining – Is This the End? Now Attending #bedcamp

Category: community building,connections,lifestreaming,social media — jmacofearth @ 8:21 am

As the outro for SXSW Interactive let's have a bit of the Posies "Dream All Day." [Blip.fm http://bit.ly/dreamallday] It's been raining since about 10:00 last night and the temperatures we've been enjoying all week have dropped into the more typical March messiness. Hey, we need the rain. But I bet if I was in a downtown hotel I'd be hung over and looking out at the weather and roll over for a few more zzzz, rather than bust a hump to get to the 9:30 sessions this morning.

[twitter fail whale appearance: #4 on the day]

The SXSW 2010 Web Awards as captured by Wired.com

What cha think? Here are Lee Odden's tips on how to blog and tweet a conference.

[pic: Rainy day in Austin...makes #SXSW a slog... http://twitpic.com/18xvzm ]

As it is I am at home having the same thoughts, but not hung over. I was writing when the rain came last night. Already tucked away with superior wireless and very little web traffic. The kids were running around playing Avatar and filming movies. [Presenting the SXSW debut of The Curse of the Magic Mustache. on YouTube.]

Update 10:50 CST: I'm still at home. I have a presentation to give at 5PM. The weather sucks. I must find a panel worthy of slogging through. Or just sit here and unConference, or virtually attend via #hashtag. This monitor is HUGE. And I am sitting on a Pilates ball, so I'm pretty comfy. Scanning the directory now.

Okay, you tell me. Nap… Cat… #bedcamp OR #rain #parking #sxsw

So the geeks are leaving and the freaks are arriving today. When the music part of SXSW cranks up the whole city turns into a zoo. The bands, roadies and fans heading towards Austin at the moment are massive and rowdy and ready to party. The concept of not partying must seem pretty alien. While the sessions at the convention center are all about business and connecting and promoting, the music portion of the SXSW festival is a PARTY. Like 5 days of Austin City Limits Festival, only bigger. Not a club will be unrocked, not a dark alley will be unpissed upon. That's just the way it is. Austin's been hosting the festival for over 20 years at this point, and it stays the same, even as it gets bigger.

A rumor that 4square is stuffing the "check-in" ballots. Any one have DATA to support that? My TwitterVenn says NOT!

DOH! Of course this data is global, or Twitter-wide. Soo…. How can I filter checkins by location?

Here's a Google Trends map for the #sxsw. Of course the day nor the tweeting is not done for this year yet, so I left that trend line off.

Summing up my AH HA moments thus far:

Drawing is powerful.
Resources: http://bit.ly/google-viz (#viznotes hashtag on google images) and http://bit.ly/google-viznotes (visual notetaking on google images)

Geo-Location and Event Sites are Bunk are Great.
Examples: Foursquare (king of the geo-lo "check-in apps); Gowalla (local darlings and upstart trying to steal some 4sq mojo); my.sxsw.com (the brilliant people behind SXSW are trying to do it all, Ooops, it requires a log-in); Plancast (newish "what are your plans" site that has gotten some traction at SXSW); and my favorite Sitby.us (simple and based on the idea of what event you are AT and where you are SITTING in the room so you can find each other).

Even if you are CEO of Twitter you need to inspire @ev blows it.
And it wasn't just me that picked up on the lack of spirit in the Twitter Keynote by Evan Williams. While the main ballroom was full and the overflow room was also full, the lack of inspiration, or anything beyond a soft-ball interviewer and an executive having a chat, started clearing the room at about 3o minutes in. It became a parody of an interview. I wonder if @ev was afraid to take Q and A for fear of being hammered on Fail Whale plans, or "revenue model" questions that the inept interviewer even said he wasn't going to ask. UH! Why not? I can tell you @anywhere is not going to bring Twitter out of the huge-loss mode. @ev jokes about how Twitter is a company "without a revenue model," but it's not funny. And when the Fail Whale blows repeatedly throughout the SXSW conference, I believe many of us would welcome a new platform that could suck in our Twitter Friends and Follows and give us a stable platform. Well, it ain't BUZZ, but I'm saying that Twitter.com's days are numbered. Have they got a killer iPad strategy in the wings for two weeks when Apple opens the tablet flood gates? (continues on new @ev twitter keynote post)

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/sxsw-ends

All the Uber.la SXSW 2010 posts in one place:

The view from an iPhone. A walk-through SXSW 2010. By Travis Smith – Fully Operational This is BRILLIANT.

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Mar 15 2010

Geo-This Geo-That: Gowalla Wins ATX Social Media Darlings Award at #SXSW; Exclamations of "So What!"

Category: community building,connections,lifestreaming,social media,tech opinion,tech reviews — jmacofearth @ 8:16 pm

One thing you really ought to know about these days is Twitter. Now, it's not because Twitter is good for you, or makes you smarter or can accelerate your business growth. And it's not that Twitter is new or revolutionary. But you "ought" to know about Twitter because everyone's doing it, and you'd better start doing it at some point or be left behind. Or… On second thought, perhaps it's really okay if you don't know about Twitter at all. Don't care about it? Fine.

So now that we've established that Twitter is optional, here's something you ought to know about Twitter.

Twitter is about REAL TIME with REAL PEOPLE. So let's get GEO.

The New York Times has a piece on SXSW today: South by Southwest’s Location-Based Allure and another one: Telling Friends Where You Are (or Not)

And last night the local paper AAS gave their 2nd annual Texas Social Media Award to local geo-darling Gowalla. Even though Foursquare appears to be kicking Gowalla to the curb according to the GEOWARS page setup by SXSWTWITS. No matter.

So what's wrong with geo-locating apps? Nothing. In theory, our GPS-aware phones can do miraculous things. The phone knows where we are at all times. And unfortunately for my iPhone-weary friends, that GPS locating takes a significant amount of battery life. But, aside from that, the geo in geo-location apps is not really a big issue.

What IS a big issue is how the geo-location apps are set up as default to self-promote their services everytime one of their followers "checks in." And here's a sample of the *joy* you can have when your friends begin using gowalla or 4sq.

I'm at Vespaio (1610 S Congress Ave, W Milton St, Austin) w/ 3 others. http://4sq.com/52WjZs
I'm at Middle Earth (302 – 310 Water St, Cambie, Vancouver). http://4sq.com/9XMGz9
I just unlocked the "Porky" badge on @foursquare! http://4sq.com/aGnj1N
I'm at Morishita Station in Tokyo http://gowal.la/s/4BZg
I'm at Frost Bank Tower in Austin, TX http://gowal.la/s/3K5

So I suppose if you are trying to find the *action* this might be one way of doing it. Or if you are social famous and trying to create a FLASH MOB, these tools might be good. But what they do it create oh so many updates that contain nothing of value to anyone not associate with said tweeters. I mean, can I filter OUT all the 4sq or gowal.la updates completely? (Not yet? Well, someone get to work on that would ya? Jeeze!)

So in geo-locating yourself the idea is you are calling in your peeps to join you. But as events go, or SATURDAY nights for that matter, I would guess the information is not that interesting to people who are over a hundred miles from your geo-ass. It's the equivalent of the earliest days of twitter in 2006 when we were all tweeting things like, "We're going to get coffee after pizza at Angie's. Meet us there!" But it's the same logic. It's a stream of data, or lifestream, that has no REAL in it. Sure, it's WHERE YOU ARE AT, but that's only marginally important to the rest of the world. Unless you think it's more important, let me know. (And I know some of you will, and that's cool, I'm asking for it.)

So if you are looking to geo-locate yourself at SXSW this year, may I suggest my favorite SITBY.US. What's different about this service is it uses Twitter without any additional registrations. It is focused on the event and timing of the events within the event. And it actually helps you find friends you know in real time or want to meet from virtual relationships, and it locates them inside a single narrow slice of time and allows them to not only sign-in to the room, but also show where in the room they are sitting. Thus allowing people to sit together in real time, using a virtual tool in the virtual world. (Oh hell, I forgot to sign out of the Visual Note Taking Panel… just a sec.)

T the little square icon before my name shows you exactly where I am sitting. I did go ahead and check out. And here's what the screen looks like when you "check-in."

So if you are looking for me tomorrow, the last day of SXSW Interactive, don't bother with my Plancast profile or the my.sxsw.com page. Cause I don't use them. The interface and simplicity of Sitby.us has captured my event check-in space. And I am telling you, I don't "check-in" in the Gowalla sense.

To me, Geo-Locating apps are like tellin you what I'm "fixin to do," rather than doin it and lettin you know what I'm doin. And yes I will admit to saying YES and MAYBE on a lot of Facebook events, cause I don't want to deny anything I might go to. Even if I'm not in the same country. But that's Facebook. Whatever!

So somehow Mr. Gowalla himself won the Texas Social Media Awards. And I'm sure he checked-in and checked-out for that event last night. But I hope he kept the "I am at…" tweet to himself.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/go-geo

SXSW 2010 posts from earlier:

Here's the latest TwitterVenn diagram:

Click here to run it yourself with up-to-the-second Twitter data.

Tags: foursquare, geo-hell, geo-location, geo-location fun, geo-location hell, geo-location now, geowars, gowalla, gps-enabled, I am at, interactive, interactive conference, must be more positive, my.sxsw.com, real people, real time, sitby.us, social media, sorry facebook sucks, south by southwest, sxsw, sxsw 2009, sxsw 2010, sxswi, Texas Social Media Awards, where in the geo are you, why your UX sucks, your geo-ass

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uber.la

The Rising Cost of Online Social Media Influence & The Value of a "Social Influencer"

Twitter Keynote Trends Badly, It Wasn't All Umair Haque's Fault #sxsw #twitter

Dream All Day: #SXSW Last Day and Raining – Is This the End? Now Attending #bedcamp

Geo-This Geo-That: Gowalla Wins ATX Social Media Darlings Award at #SXSW; Exclamations of "So What!"

∴ A Collaborative Space: WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Skype, Basecamp (Teaming/Meeting Tools) ∴ Twitter Problem: How do you find enough interesting people to follow? Then how do you keep up with them? ∴ The Agile Mind: Construction, Evolution, Care, and Feeding Instructions for Mental Flexibility

Contact John McElhenney - All content ©2006-2010 - Theme by Tommaso Baldovino - Mod by Rick B | my flavors connector

∴ A Collaborative Space: WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Skype, Basecamp (Teaming/Meeting Tools)
∴ Twitter Problem: How do you find enough interesting people to follow? Then how do you keep up with them?
∴ The Agile Mind: Construction, Evolution, Care, and Feeding Instructions for Mental Flexibility