The Digital Corner

As a fan of Facebook, I’ll admit I was slow to share my social network time with Twitter. Twitter felt more like Facebook status updates without the person’s profile….. Actually, that’s what it is. Its a series of one way communication. Last year, Facebook was interested in buying Twitter and it may end up being the best decision they made. Every technology company goes through the cycle of either building the new hot technology or buying their way into the market. In the online space audience always wins and Facebook has 175 million registered users and Twitter has 6 million. Now Facebook has released Facebook Stream and this could mean the end to Twitter. Maybe this is an opportunity for MySpace to buy Twitter and look cool again.

I recently attended a conference ( Authentic Communication 2008 ) in New York with the intentions of understanding how businesses are managing social media campaigns. There were a ton of POVs from PR groups and media managers and I walked away realizing that it’s still too early to create a standard metric for managing social media effectiveness. What we can do is really understand the social network user and build on that idea. 

I’ve provided a few guidelines that could help you set the right expectations for your campaigns. Below are my 5 rules to understanding your social media customers.

1. Facebook and MySpace are for social gatherings. I am looking to connect with people not products. Appeal to my desires and behaviors not my demographic profile.

2. Creativity wins. If you want me to talk about your product, entertain me with your ad. 

3. Don’t make me think. I like applications, but don’t hide your intentions, show me your ad.

4. Create a group around your product. If my friends like it I may like it. My friends give you instant credibility.

5.  Respect my privacy. Don’t ask me for information, read my wall http://www.facebook.com/lexicon

Good luck with your next Social Media campaign!

As most of my friends have to come to realize, I am in love with Facebook. I know earlier I wrote that it would be a phase like most social networks, but what can I say, I love it. What Facebook is bringing to light is the emergence of applications as an advertising mechanism. The interactive component combined with the pure social and viral aspect of the applications make this the most targeted, interactive advertising tool on the market (maybe). One of the best apps I have seen is Flixster. It has a stickiness that feeds into the core of social networking. It’s a simple program that ask you questions on a set list of movies and compares your answers to your friends or anyone you invite. As a user, I love seeing the comparisons between my friends.  As an advertiser, I see viral marketing and behavior targeting at its best. Applications are still in their infant stage, but will be big players in the next couple of years. I expect utilizing to see more content owners to start utilizing applications as an advertising platform by 2009.

In the early 90’s it was very clear that AOL sat at the top of the Internet world. A world full of dial up connections and bad websites. There were many players in the dial up game (Juno, Earthlink, NetZero, and MSN), but AOL stood above the rest. They capitalized on the new market by providing an integrated online experience through its portal. AOL provided the means to get online and helped organized your experience with their portal.

That portal was essentially a platform and that along with great branding (I miss the free CDs) separated AOL from the bunch and stood dominate for a long time. AOL became the place to advertise if you wanted to reach a high quality audience with your online marketing efforts. I still remember buying AOL keywords. Times have really changed, but have they?

Facebook’s story is the new version of AOL. They created a platform that keeps the user in the experience with limited ability to customize. The buzz around companies building applications for Facebook is either a sign that this model will work or these companies fear they will miss the boat on the opportunity.

Over the last 6 months, we’ve seen MySpace, the most popular social network in the US, decline in popularity and we are starting to realize that people have profiles on multiple social networks and loyalty is not a high characteristic of this audience. Facebook will continue to have astonishing growth for the next few years, but like all history tells us, it will come to an end. Enjoy the ride!