iThnk.com – Business Insight About: Social Media, Co-creation and Free/Style

Over the past 2 years I’ve been on a mission to try and soak up a whole load of info about how the world is changing and how the social web, free and co-creation fit into the future of business. The books below have not only given me a great understanding of both modern business and the social web they’ve also provided me with countless conversations pieces. I strongly recommend these books to anyone who’s looking to get into this space.

1. The World Is Flat

Reading this book changed the way I look at the world, it was the starting point for my interest in the web. Thomas L. Friedman’s most acclaimed book so far, it provides a great foundational understanding of the forces that are changing the world, opening up trade and breaking down barriers. It details the economic rationale behind outsourcing, open source and the beginnings of the free economy. If you’ve read this a great follow up read is Thomas L. Friedman’s most recent book, Hot Flat And Crowded.

2. Communities Dominate Brands

Well and truly before it’s time (published in 2004), communities dominate brands examines various internet statistics, analyses  trends and then puts forward logical business recommendations. It was one of the first books to examine the business implications of flash-mobs and to highlight the potential that lies in real-time mobile communications. Author Tomi Ahonen is also a very open and conversational Tweep – well worth a follow.

3. The Longtail

Chris Anderson’s outrageously successful first book, its not really about the social web but is an absolute ‘must read’ if you’re looking to do any sort of business through the almighty interweb. Not many ‘firsts’ are as successful as this book, it applies economic theory to the changes that the web is bringing for businesses all over the world and it make sense of the forces that are propelling the explosion of niche cultures. The tag line captures the essence of the book beautifully: “Why the future of business is selling less of more”.

4. Groundswell

In my experience this is currently the most comprehensive breakdown of why and how social media is impacting the business world. Charline Lee and Josh Bernoff from Forester research have taken stock of a massive amount of examples, conducted vast amounts of research and compiled it in a digestible little package which is accompanied by a regularly updated blog.

5. Tribes

In typical Seth Godin style this is more inspirational than instructional. This book is a nice short read and it’s empowering message will stick to your ribs like deep fried triple cheese burger garnished with lard. Seth starts off by describing a number of examples where groups of people who are led by someone who understands the power of the “Tribe” can achieve truly wonderful things, he then challenges you to be that leader.

6. What Would Google Do

Self proclaimed Google fanboy Jeff Jarvis describes how the world’s most loved search engine is merely a measuring stick for a whole undercurrent of change. This insightful piece of work details the forces that are changing the world and in particular the media industry. Jarvis also highlights the potential for growth that still exists if new models can be found. Being a journalism professor his insight on this is fascinating.

7. The Wisdom of Crowds

Again another stunning tag-line that seems to encompass the books entire argument: “Why the many are smarter than the few”. On the surface the notion that the masses can and often do make superior decisions than the elite who are trained and trusted with decision making power is a deceptively simple idea. But when you consider how our entire society is structured it clearly has profound implications. This book is not the passionate action inspiring read that Godin’s book is, instead James Surowiecki put forward a well throughout rational argument that will challenge the way you think about decision making on both an individual, organisational and societal level.

8 . Six Pixels of Seperation

While the lessons from this book are much the same as those from Groundswell, it has been put together in a much more personal and down-to-earth way….so if you’re looking for an entry level overview of social media to give to your old school nay-saying boss this would be the one I’d choose. It also has some great promo vids.

9. Free $0.00 A new price for a radical future

In The Longtail Chris Anderson was infinitely more descriptive then he is in FREE. In this his second  book he persuasively uses sound economic justification to explain/predict why $0.00 is the price of the future (at least in the digital space). The beauty of this book is that it’s supported by Wired Magazine’s Repository on $0.00 and that he practices what he preaches by giving the audiobook away.Download the Free audiobook here.

Next on my hit list…

I’ve heard that these two books are great – Jaffe’s book for it’s marketing models and Ben Young’s book for it’s readability and hi impact. Is there anything else I should add to my hit list?

We at iThnk could quite correctly be  blamed for being social-media cheerleaders (we do love this stuff), but at times things happen that mean you just can’t ignore the fact that social media has a dark side.

Recently the socialweb has been the focal point for a whole load of dark and dispicable things, but most noticeably the desecration of the Facebook memorial page for the 8yr old murder victim Trinity Leigh Bates.

Mourners set up at least two Facebook pages in tribute but reports say that moderators were forced to remove offensive and pornographic material. In the aftermath of this there has been such disgust that the Queensland premier Anna Bligh called for action from Facebook, and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would consider creating a new online ombudsman because some activity on the web was “frankly frightening”. As a result Facebook will publically apologise.

So here comes the point of this post… 

Obviously the sickos that do this sorta thing are the ones to blame but…who is responsible for putting and end to these sort of despicable actions?

What do uThnk? is it Facebook? Is it the police? Is big brother really the answer? Can Facebook actually stop this from happening? What would you do if you were Facebook?

Image sourced from Mashable’s wonderful Social Media Crime Blotter Site

This is a guest post that I wrote for Social Media NZ last week – enjoy 

I’m not usually big on talking about best practice or making rules for social media. People who try to place rules and constrictions on things as dynamic as social media are usually proved wrong and made to look rather foolish over time….but when SocialMedia NZ asked me to write this piece I thought it’d be a great chance to mash together some of the best practice that I’ve seen with some of the insight from my research to try and make it useful for others.

• If you suck – stay on the curb - I don’t mean this as an insult…to put it simply if  your marketing sucked and people hated you prior to social media coming along then don’t think it’ll be the easy fix you were after (this vid explains it nicely). Stay off  the band wagon and take the time to get your house in order before jumping head first into the socialweb. – One of the most common comments from my research participants was “oh but it kinda makes sense coz they’re a crap company anyway”.
• It’s all about community – “It’s not a monologue, it’s a dialogue” – @Ophil. Embrace your community encourage them to share with each other and maybe your community will take on a life of its own – the more open the platform you provide the  more co-created your social media efforts will be and the more engaged your community is likely to become.
• Add value – I know that this seems rather ambiguous as there are so many different things that people find valuable. Thinking about what you find valuable and why is always a good place to start. Your value add could be…terrific insight, aggregated info, humor or even just pretty pics – and if all else fails then just try and bring some joy to the people around you.
• Find Your Purple cow – Every single participant in my research seemed to believe that having a distinguishing and obvious “reason for being” was critical to successful online interaction.
• Reference sources - retweets, mentions for twitter – hyperlinks and trackbacks for blogs. Why? Well it’s not about proprietary info and it’s not just about courtesy…it’s about placing yourself within a wider conversation. It gives your viewers/readers the chance to watch what you’re watching and read what you’re reading and then form their own opinions.
• Talk about more than yourself – There are loads of experts who get this so wrong. One who gets it right is Guy Kawasaki – he doesn’t just tweet about AllTop he tweets about all sorts of interesting things, bits of news, funny vids and posts from sites that aren’t related to AllTop in the slightest.
• Try not to patronise– All bloggers are egomaniacs by definition – we think we have something important to say and that the world should listen – what a bunch of jerks we are! My research tells me that the more street-cred you’ve got the more condescending you can afford to be e.g. I often find Seth Godin’s ramblings quite belittling…but then if I take a step back and consider the wicked experience and insight that back up his posts all of a sudden it doesn’t seem quite so bad…so in the end it’s probably just a value judgment about how cool you think you really are.
• Be transparent– easier said than done – if you mess up admit that you messed up and be willing to laugh at yourself. Flickr are pretty dam good at this…if you want proof check out their post tittled “Sometimes We Suck“.
• Don’t be afraid to be human and have a personality – tiz always a struggle to suppress the inner bot but try to have fun…professionalism is great but no body wants to engage with a stiff- if you’re looking for inspiration this is a great collection of funny bloggers.
• Be a real person – This might sound stupid but my research tells me that pseudonyms and fake avatars are a no no if you’re wanting to build cred! “If you’re gunna say something have the balls to sign your name to it, or don’t say it at all” -research participant #6
• Online/Offline cross-over is key! Being able to link your offline world with your online persona is key to building cred and making what you say tangible. This is might be tricky for those who only live in the online world…but my research participants seemed to believe that this was one of the keys to developing your own Purple cow.
• Tweet, post and comment regularly– social media aint no one night stand, to be good at it you need to give it consistent love and attention it deserves. Click here to read about why this can be so important…but remember no one likes a spam artist.
• Write well– once upon a time it was cute to have typos in your blogs posts – it was part of the real-time human interaction…no more is this the case. Sloppy writing leads to disinterested viewer. For my site iThnk we started off pretty sloppy but then I found out about the Typo Eradication Advancement League and we decided to put a proofing process place. – eeeek hopefully there’s no typos in this post.
• Ask for feedback & use it – One of the biggest benefits of social media is the real-time feedback that you can get free of charge – whether you do this in a poll, an add-on service like uservoice or through examining your comments is irrelevant, the point is, that if people care enough to tell you about what they want to see then you should care enough to listen – it could turbo charge your business.
• Experiment with new tools to understand the mediums – One of my research peeps put this better than I ever could…”people don’t understand how easy it is to make their posts dynamic, if they did they wouldn’t just expect it they’d demand it”. – So try to insert polls, vids and other saweeeeeet tools…
• Sexy Matters – Just ask Apple….sex sells – always has and always will, so spending the time to make your social media assets sparkle is never a waste. Anyone who tells you otherwise has probably lost their soul. (looking for inspiration…check these blog designs).
• Say Thank You – reward your community, make them feel special give them preferential treatment and they’re more likely to keep coming back.

The truth is social media is tough to get right. Hell, I just tested myself against these points and only just passed. Some of these insights are easier said than d0ne, while others are newish insights whcih I haven’t had time to put into action (watch this space).

Now I must have missed something along the way so fill me in/tell me I suck and lets start a conversation about how social media could be done better in NZ!

img from http://insidenorthpoint.org/

Don’t uthnk becoming a fan is a big step to take.? Well I do. I struggled to become a fan of anything on Facebook for a long time. I thought “yea I’m into that, but FAN is a big call. I’m hardly fanatical about it.” So I took a seat on the fence and decided to commit to not committing to anything fan related.

The main reason I didn’t pop my fan cherry was out of fear of adding to the amount of Facebook fannies. We’ve all seen the trail of update Diarrhea - “Jenny became a fan of eating toast”. Wow Jenny your life sux. Or “Barry became a fan of morning sex”. Yuk Barry, we don’t want to know! Etc.

Maybe Fb needs to introduce some more low key pages. “Become somewhat interested in. ….” or “Andy indicated he thought … wasn’t bad”. That would be pretty weak though. Probably best to stick with the status quo this time.

Eventually I got over my Fanphobia and got fanned up to a few Fb pages. I now believe being a fan is a good way to attach whatever it may be to my personality. Usually to provoke a reaction like this: “Oh I see Andy is a fan of the internet. He looks like he would be into that kinda stuff”. But more important to me is the ability becoming a fan has to give those who are doing something ithnk is cool some recognition (or mad props).

I’m not suggesting we all be like Jenny or Barry and fan everything you can, these people give us legit fans a bad name. I’m just saying don’t be afraid to let others know what you’re into – especially if it helps get interesting stuff out there. Or don’t, it’s up to you; but you should definitely become a fan of iThnk on Fb right now!

Have you ever tried to convince someone who has never read a blog, who’s anti Facebook and hates the concept of Twitter that Social Media is one of the most valuable marketing initiatives they could ever engage in?

If you have I hope it went better for you than it did for me. In my experience trying to convince social media naysayers that they should get on the social media band wagon is largely a wasted exercise.

These people seem to able to block out the sound business rationale behind using social media. Common comments are…it’s a fad, it’s just like every new tool that comes along – it won’t change a thing in the long run, it’ll be here today and gone tomorrow…and no matter how much evidence you present these people with they still seem to think that social media lovers are a bunch of starry-eyed daydreamers who aren’t ‘Getting Things Done’.

Perhaps there is some merit to this argument but I feel it’s countered by loads of peeps who are are throwing down seven different kinds of smoke in the ‘real world’ and still pimping it in social media- yet  the naysayers seem to be unwavering in their defiance of social media as a wicked tool for business.

Have you ever encountered this argument? If so how do you deal with it? Do uThink we should embrace the haters or ignore them completely?

This is a guest post that I wrote for iJump – check out there other posts for some great insight into social media.

In 2009 there’s no doubt that social media rocketed into the mainstream, but towards the end of 2009 there were various signals pointing to the fact that social media had now become a massive turn-off!

Firstly, Pete Cashmore wrote an alarming post about the fact that there are 15,740 social media experts on Twitter – yuck.

Around the same time last week Simon Young wrote a post called 7 Predictions for 2010. Prediction No.5 was…”Social media will stop being a newsworthy marketing ploy in its own right, as more businesses get on board and start connecting to their audiences. Businesses will need to find something intrinsically interesting about themselves, rather than just the fact that they’re on Twitter…”.

Then on new years eve Alex Williams from RWW wrote a post that somewhat encapsulated just how much of a turn off social media is becoming.

Almost as to signify the death of social media as a buzz-word his post titled Let’s Move Away From Social Media and Get Down to Business described how “social media” has become ripe pickings for satirical videos (like this one), and a more holistic approach is needed.

What’s causing social media’s loss of sex appeal?

Like many of those late night infomercials it was always too good to be true…”with only 20mins a day using our free tools you too will be able to call yourself a social media expert – and best of all… no accreditation necessary”.

It seems that for the moment, with no measure of credibility it’s very much a case of one bad apple makes the whole barrel go rotten. Unfortunately, with 15740 self proclaimed social media experts there’s bound to be more than one or two peddling social media snake oil.

Adding to this is also the fact the every Tom Dick and Harry has leaped head first into social media…nothing kills sex appeal like mainstream popularity.

While social media may have lost it’s sexy sheen and wow factor, I don’t believe that snake oil salesmen or mainstream popularity will ever truly kill off social media’s inner Fonzie, as there are enough great people doing some truly amazing things with social media to act as a counter balance.

No one wants to be a social-media loser

Losers get no action! Now that every man and his dog has a Twitter account and a Facebook page how is anyone going to get ahead using social media?

Well what made social media so darn interesting for businesses in the first place? Was it the cool funky social tools or was it the fact that some really switched on companies where breaking the mould and actually interacting with people in an engaging way? Me thinks the later.

So it is likely that it will be the same way people have always broken through the clutter, by being outstanding. By finding their own purple cow. For truly great businesses social media may have been a new opportunity but it wasn’t a revolution. The companies who grabbed our hearts and minds before social media came along are the same ones who are using social media to further their focus on customers and who continue to delight us with their innovations. – Just think about what Air NZ have done with the airpointsfairy.

It may be only a matter of time before it’s all just considered marketing again – and just as there always has been, there will be good, bad and downright ugly marketing.

Are you still turned on by social media?