Micro-Liking - Facebook's Ownership of Like...

It's been a while since I've posted. Watching the social media landscape unfold can be quite distracting. It’s been dizzying to read about the innovations and failures from our thought leaders in the space. I’m alarmed by a few developments that have taken place over the past months online in general but some of them actually fascinate me.

The landscape’s plot lines are shockingly similar to those of a good soap opera. Around the time of my last post, people were just starting to forget about Facebook’s beacon debacle. As I dust off the keyboard again, it’s remarkable to see how the same technology was re-shuffled, sweetened and made-up to look like well… like “like”.

Facebook’s ownership of “like”, is a massive shift in the world of communications as a whole. Facebook has taken liking something to a different level. In many cases it has diluted its meaning to a commodity.

Our likes and dislikes make up our character. Friends, family and others identify us by our musical taste, our culinary preferences, our reading lists and our sense of humour. Our likes and dislikes make us unique and speak of our ethical and moral fibre. Before Facebook, we have not experienced this mass call to express our likes so frequently and across so many levels. We have become micro-likers and Facebook is the single most driving factor of this shift in like-itude (I am fully aware of my made up vocabulary – I “like” it).

Liking something on Facebook does the following:

• Generates publicity for the liker – any activity on Facebook draws attention through the wall posts
• Satisfies egos - the exhibitionist in all of us that want to say “align me with this joke, piece of art, brilliant thought, brand or philosophy"
• Commits the Liker to a string of conversation that may or may not interest
• Gives props to the author, poster, contributor or friend

So liking something out loud has become a value proposition of sorts. But here’s my question... If I like Obama’s inaugural speech, do I like it as much as Nutella’s Facebook page? Does bringing a smile to my face warrant the “like” action EVERY time? Due to its one-dimensional meaning on Facebook, are we changing the fundamental meaning of like?

From an online media perspective, there's obvious value in targeting against "like portfolios" but will this go back to a view thru/click thru argument at some point, where we scratch our heads at the holes in effectiveness of targeting this way? Just because someone doesn't click “like” x or y does that mean they are not valuable targets?

We throw so much faith into the user’s “actions”. It would probably be a good idea to understand what motivates them before we base assumptions, large budgets and product innovations on them.

It reminds me yet again, of one of my favourite lines in The Incredibles…

Doritos Social Media Case Study - Positive "Brand Hi-Jacking"

Continuing with my notes on last week's IAB Canada’s MIXX Canada Conference which attracted 550 online media marketers here in Toronto, I was so impressed by the magic of a brand "hi-jacking" case study that was presented that I had to share it here.

Fernando Barbella, Interactive Creative Director from BBDO Argentina gave a great presentation on a social media case study for the PepsiCo. brand Doritos. His presentation showed how the brand’s message resonated so completely with its target that it created its own movement.

The Strategy

After 2 years in the Argentinean market, Doritos had built “street cred” with young people - the brand had already been accepted. By 2008, BBDO developed a strategy that would stimulate interactivity and “advocate a truth and a necessity for the target audience”. According to Barbella’s team research, at that young millennial age, men and women are preoccupied with love, and relationships. Doritos’ research revealed a couple of key barriers to individuals connecting with one another:

– At the pubs and discos only techno/electronic music is played (it’s too loud and couples dance separately.
– Flirting and approaching somebody has become a bit difficult at a house party. Shyness and fear of ridicule play an important role.

So, in light of these challenges, Doritos took on the defense of the target audience with a proposal for solving the dilemma. The crusade was entitled “Bring Slow Dancing Back”.

The campaign launched with 5 TV ads. All of them focused on specific benefits of slow dancing. All of them were funny.

Following is a taste of one of the commercials:



Once the crusade was out via TV, they began to expand to other media: billboards, radio, guerrilla and actions at discos, etc. Consistent with the TV ads, each piece told of one benefit of slow dancing.

The Goal

The purpose of the campaign was to gather signatures at quevuelvanloslentos.com (bring back slow dancing) which is now directed to a MySpace page. The petition effort was to lobby the discos in these markets and show the legitimacy of the cause.

The “Hi-Jacking” and Result

Three weeks after the campaign launched, a movement started on the Internet. Two friends decided to throw a party (mob) to celebrate the return of slow dancing.

This is where we would start to classify the project as a “Brand Hi-Jacking”. The idea had been seeded and the target nurtured and grew it to something much larger.

The idea was simply to get gather around the biggest disco ball in Buenos Aires (the Planetarium) to slow dance. Consumers themselves were in charge of the organization and music. News of the event spread through e-mail, Facebook, Hi5, MySpace, Sonico, Twitter, Muxtape, Mixaloo, blogs, messenger, SMS, etc.

The result confirmed that the crusade launched by Doritos was something that people wanted; it was latent in the target audience. On Thursday, March 13, 4000+ people got together to slow dance at the Planetarium, and did so for an hour.

Here are the results:

Social Media Generated:

• 33 Facebook Groups
• 20,000 members
• 240 blogs
• 200,000 views on YouTube
• Top TV and radio channels attended the event and reported on prime time news, which generated news coverage in the major national newspapers the day after the event.

$600,000 US in media impact from the “Hi-Jacking”.

Actual Goal Achieved:

• 180,000 signatures on queveulvanloslentos.com
  
• 40 discos changed their song lists to include slow dances

Respecting the client's wishes, I've removed the actual sales lift numbers from this post. Suffice to say, the numbers were quite positive across all categories. There were surprising results in increased awareness top of mind positioning.

This crusade was clearly a success. The 2009 crusade is “Make it to the second date”...(by following Doritos advice).

As a testament to the power of subtlety in brand marketing, here’s my favourite line out of the presentation:

“Doritos could have done an advertising campaign to sell their product. Instead, they are wasting money to help me. That´s cool.” Rulo (25), Buenos Aires

It was truly a pleasure to discuss this with Fernando after the event. There are some fascinating things going on in South America, particularly in the Social Media space. I’ll be looking out for similar results generated by Fernando and the innovative team at BBDO Argentina.

Girl Disrupted...Local Pick Opportunity

I’m all for the Local Picks application on Facebook. I thought it fit in 2007 and I still think it fits today.

However, being a bit of a media snob, I did feel a little let down by a recent notification in my profile. Local Picks had a great opportunity to gain some interaction and I think they blew it.

It’s important in any media initiative to show consistency in messaging and give audiences what you’ve promised in your call to action.

So clicking on the notification to see the new restaurant in my area should bring me to the new listing no?


What a great opportunity to ask me if I’ve been there and liked it. Heck, I might have been motivated to rate it as well.

Instead, I was sent to a generic landing page that has done two things:

1. Disrupted my Facebook user experience as I wasn't really looking for a place to go (I was interested in seeing what new place in my area was listed).
2. Not delivered on it's media message.
   

Users are fickle and competing applications are anything but scarce (especially in the local search category). This was a great example of an opportunity to stand out from the crowd AND get user interaction that was not fully realized.

Maybe the next notification will be more fulfilling for both the user and the directory.

Just a follow up note... Here's the message on my profile telling all my friends what I've (allegedly) been up to :

Re-Thinking the Ban on Social Networking at Work...

About a year ago I blogged about the rising ban of social networking within the workforce. In April a PM Online report showed that two-thirds of people in the UK believe social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace should be banned in the workplace and varying estimates of actual work place bans range anywhere between 70-80% today.

So naturally I was interested in an article from Techworld this morning in which Tom Jowitt writes about a new research study that strongly suggests that companies re-consider the ban on social networking in the workplace.

According to the new report by UK think tank Demos, which was commissioned by the mobile operator Orange, websites such as Facebook, MySpace and even Skype within the enterprise may have benefits that outweigh the security risks and time consumption that have been feared.

The study found that collaborative tools have become essential in the workplace as they allow employees to stay in touch and in some cases in developing working relationships.

"People find these technologies useful to stay in touch," said Bradwell. "The lines between social and working relationships are blurring, and so the companies that are banning them, are missing a trick. Trying to ban these tools is like trying to ban gossip."

The author of the study, Peter Bradwell makes a great point about how social networks are an extremely valuable tool to stay in touch with past workers and alumni, relationships that are often undermined as these people "don't disappear" and can often be "tapped for organizational perspective and knowledge".

The report cites that around 65% of UK households had access to the internet in 2008, an increase of 1.2 million households (8 per cent) since 2007. Digital inclusion strategies have become focused more broadly on how technology can help tackle complex social problems, rather than simply on spreading access to the internet.

The report delves deeply into the value of relationships that can be developed through these tools and gives compelling support that shows how the time spent "socializing" may be well worth the connections and intellectual property gained.

Here is a great summary by Jowitt on the recommendations that Bradwell makes to integrate social networking within enterprise and reap its advantages:

1. Do not separate 'social' networking from 'professional' networking. Attempts to control employees' use of social networking software in the office may end up damaging the organisation in the long run by depleting its 'network capital'.
2. There should be value placed on networks with people outside the firm. Too often, it is only senior staff who are encouraged to build relationships with people outside the organisation. The power of horizontal networks across organisational boundaries is clear, and growing.
3. Keep in touch with employees that have left the organisation. The temptation during a difficult economic climate is to hunker down; but this risks cutting off flows of network capital. Companies should consider how to keep former employees in the network.
4. Do not police networks but consider how they operate and what could be improved. This should be a first step towards collective conversations about the 'rules of the game' when it comes to operating within networks.

Just as the advertising side of social networking is stunted by companies' fear of "letting go", it may take a while for organizations to open their minds to employees networking in all directions. Struggling for control in an open source world is becoming somewhat of a freakish denial of progression.

BuyYourFriendaDrink.com & The Local Watering Holes

One of the popular early Facebook mini applications is BoozeMail. The application allows users to send friends virtual drinks (or even a round of drinks) on Facebook. Currently the application has 213,215 monthly active users sending each other mojitos, sangrias or any other drink from the menu. If only they were real...


The idea of sending people drinks online is one that has been fantasized about since the early days of online media. While we were busy toting around closed circuit Palm Pilots, we often daydreamed about the doors wireless mobility would unlock for PDAs “If only there was a way to send people stuff (like drinks) while they were on the go”... Sigh

One dream scenario was to be able to send a friend a drink at a location they are either at or close to. Through GPS technology, the dream has become more realistic than ever. The only missing link is the network of bars that would participate in delivering on the goods. Today, I thought it would be fun to dig a bit into what has been done in this area.

I talked to Barbara Liss, the VP of Marketing for BuyYourFriendaDrink.com. The company launched out of New Jersey and Texas but has virtual offices in Chicago, San Francisco and New York. BuyYourFriendaDrink lets consumers send drinks to each other online and is starting to pull together a decent sized network of bars that can fulfill sent drinks from across the country.

The company has a couple of business models. Among them are:

Consumer to Consumer – Literally, buy your friend a drink online, they redeem the drink at a participating bar. The site also lets you send rounds of drinks to friends that are at events you are unable to attend (provided of course that the bar is part of the network)

Beer, Wine and Spirit Companies – Branded drink cards are integrated with most bar & restaurant POS systems for fulfillment. The cards act as real accounts and can be used as loyalty programs (bonus birthday drink etc.). The cards also provides the beer, wine or spirit brand with interesting data about the user (location, frequency, tab sizes etc.).

Below is an example of Hornitos' Buy Your Amigo an Hornitos initiative using the BuyYorFriendaDrink backbone:


When I asked Barbara about the barriers to getting the network to where they want it to be, she explained that the barriers are really more about having the resources to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of establishments that could participate nationally (feet on the street - sound familiar?).

Once the bar owners are contacted, the sale is quite easy. The benefits to participation are quite simple:

• Drive customers to the establishment through sent drinks as well as local promotional events during off hours (wine or drink tasting events)
• Increase average tab sizes – (where there is a drink, there may also be food)

BuyYourFriendaDrink will be launching its own Facebook application within the next few weeks. The application will be similar to BoozeMail only now there will be actual drinks involved. I wonder if an acquisition was ever on the table here. I have to believe that an application with 213,215 active monthly users has some value when you're working this hard to cover the country.

I think that the company is doing some interesting work in the local landscape. Rallying hundreds of bar owners is not an easy task. It’s also a critical ingredient to the success of this or any other local promotional-type network.

We’re so close to the GPS enabled send a drink dream. Taking a good look at all the effort that goes into building national networks involving local businesses provides a sobering view of how long big concepts take to penetrate the local market.

The service is only available in the US but Liss is clearly interested in entering the Canadian market once the US network is nailed down. Until then, us Canadians will have to keep it real and actually go out for drinks…

Snail Mail is the New Hip Mail...Hippopost

I have a real soft spot for the intersection of online and offline media and at MIXX Toronto this week, a cool Canadian start-up, Hippopost, presented a business model that put the on/offline junction to riveting use.

Hippopost is an online social media tool that allows users to upload favourite photos and create postcards that are then sent via snail mail to friends and family. The service addresses the consumer demand for user generated content and then extends it to the offline world while creating multiple brand exposures and interactions along the way. Brendan Kenalty, Vice President, Business Development at Hippopost Inc. illustrated the addictive novelty of offline media in the form of personalized postcards as a retro, hip form of communication powered through the online channel.

One of the original plays here is in the user selection of the creative that will be displayed on the card. This creates a form of opt-in that insures the ad will be sent to a somewhat targeted consumer. The potential for international brands to participate in this arena are great as they are able to get into a "likely to share" situation within the social media landscape. If my friend is somewhat athletic, I'll be sure to pick Puma or any other suitable advertising that fits her style and taste.

The service has been adapted to a Facebook mini-application and has since attracted 3,000+ installs. When Facebookers interact with the application to send a postcard to a friend, the newsfeed includes an alert about the interaction along with a miniature logo of the postcard sponsor.

Here's how Hippopost works:

1. User uploads a favourite picture
2. Creates a postcard and writes a message
3. Selects from a list of advertisers
4. Previews the postcard with the ad selected added to the back of the card
5. Submit and Hippopost sends the postcard in the mail




Brendan presented an interesting ad impact matrix to the audience. The grid showed the number of touch points and interaction opportunities with the ads and this wrapped the warm and fuzzy Hippopost brand in a seriously sobering effective light.

Here are some fast facts that were shared at the panel:

• The Company launched in May 2008 and has not spent any marketing dollars - all activity has been derived through word of mouth
• 10,000 Hippopost users in North America
• 3,000 Facebook installs (900 active / month)
• Sending 20,000 postcards / month

Among Other Advertisers:

• Yahoo!
• Greenies Pet Foods
• Koodo Mobile

Things to look out for include the novelty nature of the play. It will be interesting to see how the company continues to re-invent its offering to keep the users engaged. The idea has got a lot of potential and I'm sure it's making Canada Post for one, as happy as a ...clam?

Facebook Study Group Administrator - Expelled for Studying?

There was a controversial article on the CBC today about Chris Avenir, an 18 year old computer engineering student at Ryerson. Last fall, Chris became the administrator of a Facebook study group entitled Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry solutions. The group of 146 students was built as a study network where peers could ask one another about homework assignments.

Chris’s professor discovered the group, changed his B to an F and recommended that he be expelled from the university.

Here’s a quote from the article:

"It is not fair to students to perpetuate the myth — and it is a myth — that they can do what they like online and that they're protected because that's only a forum for young people where they can do what they want to do, and that's really not accurate," he said.

"It is our job to protect academic integrity from any threat. And if that threat comes from new online tools, we have a responsibility as academics to understand the risks, to assess those risks and threats, and to educate people about how to avoid misconduct."

Norrie said the university understands the nature of Facebook and its groups.

"This is not a bunch of old academics sitting around a table saying, 'Oh, this scares us.' That's not what's happening," he said.

Norrie said the university wants to make it clear that its academic code of conduct applies to online behaviour of students.

This is a shocking turn of events for Facebook who’s entire success was predicated on the collaboration of students through the social networking platform it provided.

Many students are absolutely appalled by the allegations against Chris.

Here are some random thoughts I have on this issue:

• Study groups have always existed, the size of the groups and the contents of their discussions may not have been as accessible to academic authorities but they have always existed.
• This expulsion would set a precedent that would be damaging not only to Facebook but to the millions of students that have actively set out to network amongst their peers.
• Academic institutions that view Facebook as a tool of misconduct might as well move to ban email, instant messaging, blogging and the use of search engines because these tools have all been used for years by students as valuable study tools.

It baffles me to see students punished when they obviously have such passion for the subjects they are studying. While many students post pictures of beer nights and pot mornings, one would think that a student who is so visibly advocating the course and its content would be commended rather than expelled. This as an influencer of academia that is being singled out and punished.

I'll follow up on the appeal...

Holding on to the Handheld Graph...Mobile Social Networking

Thanks to those that emailed. Peeking through the clouds... (it's hard to stay away from writing)

I’ve been reading a lot of releases about the mobile phase of social networking. Pyramid Research just recently released a study indicating that by 2012, there will be 950 million users accessing social networking sites via their mobile devices.

This data suggests that the mobile operators should prepare for increasing data usage. While I believe that the ability to access social networking sites will undoubtedly create a push in traffic, I’m not sure I see its long-term appeal.

From a Canadian standpoint where data usage is hugely expensive, it occurs to me that the handheld is in itself, a standalone social networking platform. It contains the applications chosen by the user, an intimate address book with contacts that may or may not be suitable to publicize and all the bells and whistles offered up by the social networks today including the ability to send photos, videos, blog posts (most blog platforms allow mobile blogging which is then automatically distributed through RSS and some social networking sites as an option) and instant messaging. Do users need the extra layer of a formalized social network on top of their devices?

At a time when we are seeing users dialing back on their overall usage of the social networks (at least the early adopters are), it’s hard to visualize those adopters downloading the platforms on to their sacred handhelds only to create an always-on switch to their apparent networking fatigue.

The next act of this play will inevitably lead to ad-supported content, which will drive the same wedge between the users and the social networks only on a different platform.

I believe there’s place for social networking on the go. Networks like Twitter and Utterz seem to have addressed the need for users to publicize their thoughts and actions as they happen. But the beauty of these platforms is in their simplicity. As these simple platforms plug into existing social graphs, I wonder if the duplicity will catch up and thwart the need to have several platforms accessed from the devices.

As handhelds become more accommodating to richer applications, it seems that users will be “accessing” everything from them (not just social networks). The question is whether the value proposition will be attractive enough to engage meaningful, daily interactions. Will the interactions be worth the ads that will follow?

It could be that SNS sites have determined that to stay alive, they need to be mobile but this does not guarantee increased usage and it certainly does not equal new acquisitions. Asking new users to dump their web based email accounts into a social graph to connect with others is one thing, but asking them to dump their handheld contacts into the social abyss may "pushing it". Time will tell…

Monetization of User Generated Video

I caught up with Kevin Barwin yesterday. Kevin is the Vice President of Business Development at Overlay.tv.

The Ottawa based company is getting ready to launch a technology that I think, will have great impact on enabling individuals and publishers to leverage user generated content and boost affiliate marketing networks.

As suggested by its name, Overlay.tv is a solution that allows users to create hot spots on their videos and photos. The hot spots are visible when users interact with the video or photo content and link back to anything from personal profile pages on Facebook to transactional sites like Amazon, iTunes or Expedia.


The solution is also targeted commercially, allowing larger publishers to hot spot their content and create new revenue streams.

Past attempts to monetize video content fell short in delivering targeted content and in truly integrating with the content. Players like Adap.tv largely use contextual ad serving via tagging as a marker for video content and ads tend to appear at the bottom of the screen. Kevin pointed out that the contextual gaps have led to some disconnects like videos about scuba diving leading to pet foods stores. While Overlay.tv’s technology will ultimately be at the mercy of its users (contextually speaking), it will have far greater potential to put accurately targeted buyers and sellers together.

Overlay.tv will officially launch on February 14 with over 750 affiliates for users to choose from. The company just announced it's completion of a $4.6 million Series A financing round.

Here’s a detailed walk through from a user perspective:

• Avid scuba diver blogs about diving and has hundreds of connections online based on this affinity.
• Scuba diver uploads video from Belize to show off the sea horse spotted in the coral.
• Diver creates an overlay and begins to hotspot items on the video (snorkel, swimsuit, location)
• Diver self selects from a library of affiliates in creating the overlay. Let’s say Expedia for location.
• Viewers scroll over the items and are able to get deeper information or purchase opportunities of the hot spotted items.
• Diver generates revenue from lead to Expedia and shares revenue with Overlay.tv

On the publisher side, Overlay.tv will be white labeling its product and aside from fees generated through customization services, it will be creating revenue sharing opportunities across major media properties.

Thoughts/Challenges/Opportunities

Adoption
Time will tell if consumers will adopt the monetization of their content using this type of solution.

Affiliate Marketing
Its proper execution will have a tremendous impact on boosting affiliate marketing networks through social media.

Saturation/Best Practices
Learning from Facebook’s nutty Vampire scenario, Overlay.tv will have to monitor feedback on user experience and audience reaction. It will definitely need optimizing to insure content is not compromised. Best practices will need to be shared across its network of users.

Offline Lead Generation
Inserting a layer of sophistication for couponing and Voip could give Overlay.tv and other players in this space potential to generate measurable (monetized) leads efficiently offline through video.

Local Search
This could create a whole new aspect to local media and how local retailers might employ the use of video within their local search listings. The flexibility offered by the product creates an opening for businesses that traditionally, may not have found much value in video ads.

Online Video Advertising Stats

• In November 2006 (predating the social networking mania), eMarketer predicted that by 2010, the online video advertising expenditure would become a $3 billion industry.
• Here's a great piece from Mark Hopkins at Mashable covering a Burst Media study on the subject of consumers and their interaction with online video.

In closing... Happy Valentine's Day Amazon!!!

How Social Networks Compete with Search...Mitsubishi Case Study

Based on the premise that search marketing is so popular because users are highly qualified due to their specified searches and the results they are exposed to, it occurs to me that access to the social graph expands this notion effectively with the added benefit of brand exposure.

Last night at Facebook Camp, there was a compelling Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution case study delivered by Andrew Cherwenka, Vice President of Business Development at Toronto based Trapeze Media.

Campaign Objectives

• Generate brand exposure beyond that of Mitsubishi’s initial attempt through a stand alone micro-site.
  
• Sell cars
  

Target Intelligence

• 28 year old Canadian males
• High demographic composition currently on Flickr, YouTube and Facebook

Solution

• Campaign headline on the Home Page of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution microsite “Watch it on YouTube, Befriend it on Facebook, See it on Flickr" with direct links to YouTube, Facebook and Flickr
  
• Creation of a fan page within Facebook (among other initiatives involving Flickr & YouTube)
  

Results (Facebook Portion)

• Within 3 weeks, the page generated:
• 1,199 fans
• 152 wall posts
• 12,473 video views to the Mitsubishi Lancer microsite
  
• 17,384 page views to the Mitsubishi Lancer microsite
• CPC $0.23

Based on the results (to date) of this campaign, one could argue that the effectiveness of the social graph far surpasses that of a traditional SEM campaign. In one of the most competitive categories (automotive), a $0.23 CPC at this volume and speed is hard to come by on the search engines.

The added layer of value is the engagement this type of execution is able to afford the advertiser.

Someone in the audience asked if the strategy was criticized for creating a “fan” page, which would imply that the campaign is not directed at acquisitions but rather, an existing base of loyal consumers. The response of course was that through accessing the social graph, Mitsubishi was able to pick up some influencers. It only takes one car enthusiast who belongs to several car talk groups to infect the masses he is associated with in that particular niche. So, not only is there reach, but also there is targeted reach, which in turn, creates highly desirable chatter content.

Search delivers targeted audiences, of this we as strategists are certain, but as witnessed in the Mitsubishi case study, the social graph delivers invaluable brand exposure opportunities. Andrew pointed out that the biggest value is in the tremendous amount of impressions delivered on profiles and newsfeeds across Mitsubishi's target market's social graph.

Local search from a decentralized (franchisee or dealer networks) come into play when the franchises and dealers leverage corporate initiatives such as these.

Ok, one last pot shot at search from this perspective.... Through the thick transparency, I can't seem to find any click fraud issues?

Roasting API Stories...At Facebook Camp Toronto

Back from Facebook Camp. The 3rd event, held in Toronto drew 450 attendees consisting of developers, marketers and entrepreneurs.

The Take Away Messages:

Growth - 15,108 approved Facebook apps currently on the site (it was 5,500 in October)
Expansion - Facebook apps are now being promoted outwardly so that they can exist on other sites (Beacon & Widgets)
Licensing - Facebook API is being licensed (Bebo being amongst its first clients) - feedback is already emerging
Clean-up - Working hard to combat application fatigue, Facebook is working towards optimizing the spam factor

Here are some selected highlights from the latest Canadian stats on the network:

• There are 7.5 million active Facebook accounts in Canada:
  
  
• 46% Ontario
• 15% BC
• 13% Alberta
• 12% Quebec
• 8% Maritimes
• 3% Manitoba
• 3% Saskatchewan
  
  
• 18% are under 18
• 44% Male – 56% Female
• Total Page Views per month are 8.3 Billion compared to 50.2 Billion Globally
• 59% of the Canadian users return every day compared to 45% globally

Source: Facebook Social Ads February 2008

The event had some interesting presentations. I’ll share some case studies and more information on the licensing with Bebo over the next couple of days.

Surf & Scrub... ReputationDefender

On a final note about managing reputations this week, I thought I'd explore the personal side of reputation management solutions.

Amidst the news stories of how employers are using social networks as reference and sensitive information checking tools, it's no shocker that services would appear to scrub online content that may negatively affect an individual's chances for employment.

I looked into Menlo Park, CA based ReputationDefender's services today. ReputationDefender was conceived in mid 2006 as a service that offers a monthly subscription based service that scrubs the internet for all content related to an individual. The service is still in beta, but has launched with subscribers receiving monthly reports detailing all references and content pertaining to the individual online so that they are then able to select what areas they would like to have deleted or "destroyed".

Most social networks allow users to submit requests to have items removed from their networks. The process can take some time but it is definitely available. For individuals that have been tagged in photos without permission, there are tools allowing them to disassociate themselves by removing tags.



ReputationDefender's value proposition may be found more in the reporting than in the destruction of negative content. They do not act as legal counsel and will not send cease and desist notes around the web. They simply go through the clean-up process on behalf of the customer.

The business reminds me a lot of the incorrect listings issues faced by the online yellow pages industry. While all the directories allowed businesses to submit correct information, the process was arduous and the results were either unsatisfactory or unacceptable in terms of time to correction. Finally, solution providers like Localeze stepped up, built partnerships with the major directories as "trusted sources", and put subscribing clients in the fast lane for listing corrections.

While the commercially driven need to manage reputations online is well established, the idea and demand to manage personal reputations has not yet reached its full potential. As late adopters continue to flock towards the social networks, the boom for this sector will emerge and echo for that matter.

I believe this type of service will become just as relevant as anti-virus software. The winners will be those that can provide the sleekest reporting and the fastest results. Early players to the field may benefit from their establishment as trusted sources with the major social networks and their unquestionable influence on the API features made available to procure the services.

A natural extension for this type of service would be to provide copywriting services to create positive content across the web. Once again, I'm drawing parallels with the Localeze model where the business profiles were created and pushed through the platform insuring consistency and SEO friendly rich data.

Let me guess what's next for personal reputation management companies....SEO friendly resume copywriting & management?

Reputatition Defender's Blog has a great NYTimes article about the usage of social networking investigations in the workplace...How to Lose your Job on Your Own Time

More Thoughts on Reviews and Reputations...

I fell down another familiar rabbit hole this week. This time about user generated reviews and the plight of managing their sources. I've got a call this afternoon that might change the perspective I'm about to share but here's the thought as it stands...

It occurs to me that one of the most bustling groups of content generators are activists. As review writers are rarely called upon to disclose their associations or personal interests, it would be hard for say, a golf course operator or an SUV manufacturer to control or accurately source the motivation behind negative reviews written by an environmentalist.

There are currently 500 groups listed under "activists" within Facebook (that's only one applicable search term). A group against animal cruelty has 2,900 members and various global warming groups have well over 2,000 in aggregate.

With all the solutions under development in this space, I have not come across one that can detect personal views on issues relating to religious or ethical belief systems. Although Facebook profiles often disclose semi-accurate user details of this nature, in the main, it will forever be a challenge to determine these influencing factors. Unless of course, the reputation tracking solutions are able to tap into Facebook and other social networks' group level membership details. However, if this becomes a reality, privacy concerns may lead to quick attrition within those groups. Anonymity is a key trait to a true activist.

To date, I believe that reputation management solutions cover fairly one dimensional user statistics like age, sex, social network memberships and some vague activity data. I wonder (out loud) if there are any solutions being developed that have a behavioral component to them?

The promise of reviews are reminding me more and more of one of my favourite movies, "The Gods must Be Crazy". Everyone seems to be exercising their own definitions of their true purpose and potential while ironically, wreaking havoc on community.

Identity Fragmentation and Social Networking

Jason Falls shared some great insight on his post today about the categorization effect of the big social networks. Understanding the varying demographics and psychographics of the networks is critical to understanding the evolution of both sites and the media opportunities available within them.

For fun, let's compare the Facebook and MySpace networks to big box malls. Each one has a good variety of appealing groups (stores) and services (applications) and each one provides a general food court where users can do what they are naturally compelled to do (in this case communicate) with friends and acquaintances (even though they risk running into people they don't want to eat in front of).

Although the larger networks provide groups for anything from cat lovers to Jaguar owners, I believe that passion drives inclusion. Social consumers wear their interests on their sleeves and while the major networks allow them to wear group badges, hobbyists are fundamentally looking for the full outfit, the real deal, a mecca for their passion.

With white labeling solutions like Pringo and Ning creating a new ocean of micro-communities, it seems inevitable that users will start to divest their time and activity from the major social malls like Facebook and MySpace to do some boutique shopping of sorts.

Belonging to groups on the major networks is like users toting around bags from their favourite stores. The appeal is more about status and association rather than true involvement and interaction with like-minded individuals. In my view, the major networks have too many mainstream distractions to provide focused interactivity to specific interest groups.

To make things more complicated, subject enthusiasts can be very competitive. Not only do groups on the mainstream networks have transparent profile building hierarchies ("I own this store, but you may carry my bag"), they also in some cases have a lack of trust. This lack of trust stunts contribution and interactivity. At the end of the day, the appeal of joining the groups boils down to wanting to carry someone else's bag.

One area that acts as a true conduit to interactivity is the blogosphere. While there are certainly the same types of profile building games going on, the volume and quality of content by subject is richer, the communication is less inhibited, and WYSIWYG rings true.

I believe that white labeling holds a lot of promise for the future of social networking. I have concerns however, about the aggregation of the micro-networks as I feel that this might bring us all back to square one where instead of users browsing and communicating with specialty stores, they are tied to SEO and revenue-driven directories guiding them through a climate controlled mall.

A Damning Nation and the $15 Billion "Toddler"

Mark Zuckerberg has been slammed in the blogosphere and other media for his interview on 60 Minutes and after having watched the interview, I can't help but to reflect on how eager reporters are to criticize successful individuals and more specifically, young ones.

He's often referred to as "a baby" or "a kid". Not only are these labels false, they're downright derogatory. 23 year olds vote!

The most obvious burn was for Beacon. His decisions and subsequent actions were positioned as immature in the interview. Kara Swisher of AllThingsDigital went as far as to call him a toddler. Based on Kara Swisher's definition of a cheerio-eating drooler, I could think of a number of past situations that were equally "toddlerish". Take DoubleClick's scandal seven years ago and how about Microsoft's growing list? Both companies fought tooth and nail to maintain their positions. Age didn't play a role - (Shouldn't they have known better with all their experience?) but Mark was criticized for not acting quickly enough to create a Beacon opt-out which he did shortly after the outcry.

Regardless of Facebook's future, Mark Zuckerberg deserves some respect for having accomplished as much as he has by 23. I'm saddened by the cruelty of some of the bashing because to me, it appears that there are many bitter aging under achievers that won't take a deep breath and applaud a savvy businessperson when they see one much less, learn from one.

Being a well-seasoned public speaker with years of CEO experience does not give immunity to error. I'm not a fan or foe of Mark, but I could only imagine the pressure he must be feeling to grow up. Is that fair?

Here's a link to the interview.

Blocked Traffic on Social Networks & The Advantages of Being Anti-Social

IT Security companies are effectively communicating (or marketing) the need for corporations to be concerned about security and loss of productivity due to employees wasting time on social networking sites. As a result, the valuable traffic to these sites may start to diminish during peak media messaging hours (9-5).

Back in September according to this BBC article, a UK law firm, Peninsula, estimated a loss of 233 million hours per month or £130 million a day by employees “wasting time” visiting social networking sites on the internet.

The estimates were based on a survey conducted of 3500 UK companies, suggesting that some employees spend up to two hours a day visiting social networking sites at employers’ expense.

While findings of the survey were alarming, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) told AFP that the total ban to networking sites would be “something of an over-reaction”.

But earlier this month, Barracuda Networks released a survey based on data contributed by several thousand customers. The survey showed that 44% of companies using Barracuda's Web filtering technology block access to MySpace, and 26% are doing the same to Facebook. The analysis showed that while 19% of companies blocked both the sites, half said they block one or the other or both.

In a separate survey of Barracuda 228 IT security workers, results showed that 53% of businesses restrict Web surfing. This number is expected to increase by 23% in 2008 to 65 percent.

The top motivations behind these restrictive measures were:

• Prevent virus or spyware (70%)
• Control employee productivity drain (52%)
• Lessen the load on bandwidth (36%)
• Liability issues (28%)

In August, Sophos, an international provider of IT security and control, released a report that showed 43% of 600 polled workers said their employer blocks Facebook access completely.

According to Sophos, 41% of Facebook users are willing to disclose personal information to complete strangers. And details such as employment history and mobile phone numbers found on Facebook could be used to launch corporate phishing attacks, security experts warn.

Social networks have been making major strides towards becoming directionally focused. Some have partnered with online directories; some have added business advertising opportunities and many have started to cultivate reviews. If this trend continues and corporations continue to block the major social networks from their employees, ironically, the anti-social characteristics of today’s directories and local search engines may be their greatest advantage. Consumers who tend to plan dinners, movies and other after work activities online may be forced to use less social environments.

I’m getting more data on this…

Losing Face...The Parents Show up to the Party

So the switch has been flicked and ads are appearing on Facebook now. In Canada, Air Canada is among the first to use the platform.

I love the 23/6 parody on this that Greg Sterling posted on his blog. While the image is over the top, the first ads on the interface stick out like spam and really dilute the user experience. Placing the ads in the middle of the news feeds forces users to sort through unsolicited information.

With their self-procurement service, the advertisers and their creative will have limited quality control. I did notice however, that they were hiring Account Executives to handle their larger advertising accounts. With time, I hope they manage to balance the type of messaging that appears on the site with the users' expectations.

I would also hope that Facebook will apply some sort of capping on the amount of ads sold. Fortune 500s are notorious for being uncool online. Often it's like the nerdy parents showing up to the party - a buzz killer.

Here's some hope and a prayer that media planners will lead their clients to doing the right thing. Consumers are easier than ever to bore, annoy and ultimately lose.

Be clever, be genuine, and god's sake be brief!

As for the many unfiltered advertisers that may stumble upon this monkey paw, I hope for Facebook's sake that someone will be watching user behaviours closely for any changes in session patterns.