SociaLight Media Blog

Twitter Update

On Friday, the People Search funtion of Twitter was removed, and I can’t imagine why.  It was one of Twitter’s core tools, how else are you supposed to find people? Now, the only ways to find new people are to go through everyone who your friends are following or to do a regular search and scroll through to find the actual person’s Twitter account.

Not really sure why they would purchase Summize to enhance their in-tweet search functionality earlier this year, only to eliminate a possibly more important function of actually connecting with other people. It is a social network for pete’s sake.

And there you have it. Up until now, the most effective use of Twitter for business has been as a customer service quality control (hats tipped to Comcast, Zappos, etc.).  Here is a great example of a (huge) company listening to Twitterers’ tweets - Johnson & Johnson - about a new ad campaign and shutting it down in a matter of 48 hours.

Johnson & Johnson was attempting to build a Motrin campaign around a shared experience among women: childbearing and raising, and the pain it brings.  Apparently, J&J played the angle that women treat their young as fashion accessories, and that having a baby slung across their shoulder makes them look like an “official mom.” What’s interesting is that, without a doubt, J&J did some serious consumer research to arrive at these conclusions about women’s motives; why, then, did it encounter such swift and harsh recoil from that very market segment? Perhaps because there are things that may be true, but for which people don’t want to be glorified for.  I’m not saying that all, or even most, women feel that their children give them some clout in whatever community they belong to, but some must, or J&J wouldn’t have built an entire ad campaign around it.

What’s great about social media, and in this case Twitter, is that all of these people who felt attacked, called out, or insulted, were able to speak out, globally, and J&J listened.  Mommy Twitterers with thousands of followers were outraged and outspoken about the Motrin ads, and some even went cross-social-media and published YouTube videos (this one is called Motrin Ad Makes Moms Mad - 21k views)

This is so great; genuine conversation between Brand and Consumer. This was what my first ever post was about. Two-way communication. The ad industry is no longer about push, push, push. Consumers can talk internationally, instantaneously and companies are actually listening and acting.  Is it weird that this story makes me feel warm and fuzzy?

There are virtually no ways to misuse Twitter for personal use. Anyone who doesn’t like how you’re using it can just stop “following” you - so ignore them.  However, there are a whole slew of ways to misuse Twitter for businesses, both small and large.  Setting up a Twitter account for your business and then never tweeting is one. So is only tweeting about your brand and products.

Social media is about creating conversation with your consumers; consumers won’t follow your tweets if they are simply advertisments. One of the great tips that I’ve read from Chris Brogan (a social media superstar) is to ignore the famous Twitter prompt “What are you doing?” and instead answer “What has your attention?”  This promotes the sharing of relevant information among a community of brands, customers, users, etc. and can establish your company (or you, personally) as an authority in a field. Share articles, news, funny and interesting happenings that are related to your business - people will listen! Start “following” people that are hubs (people with lots of followers) to get your messages out to the largest array of people.

Comment on others’ tweets by using the @username function, use 1-to-1 messaging feature, share “Tiny URLs” with news about your industry, initiate polls and get opinions, and use the Twitter Search to keep tabs on people’s tweets about your industry and your company.  These are some of the fundamental ways to use Twitter correctly, and when I meet with clients to discuss the art of microblogging and Twitter, they always hit the ground running!  How do you Twitter? Tell us at blog.socialightmedia.com

I have to say, I was a little surprised by this article from BusinessWeek, Has Facebook’s Value Taken a Hit?

It talks about how “dozens” (according to this guy) of Facebook employees, including Zuckerberg himself and departing vice-president Matt Cohler, have been selling off some of their common shares - and their prices haven’t been implying the $15 billion price-tag originally set by Microsoft’s 2007 purchase of 1.6% of the company. More like $5 billion. The article also mentions that once Facebook employees got wind of Zuckerberg and Cohler’s stock partings, there was some general dissension. Zuckerberg then sent out a company statement saying that the would allow employees to sell stock as a “onetime program to enable employees to realize some liquidity.” Read into that as much as you want.

So not good news from the Facebook front, however what really surprised me were some of the comments below the article. Here’s one:

May Aug 14, 2008 12:40 PM GMT “Not surprised Facebook is falling flat on its face! The ads don’t make sense. I haven’t clicked a single one, despite spending countless hours on facebook. Any mention of charging users a fee causes an uproar and many would abandon their page for somewhere free like myspace. How exactly do they expect to make any money? Who in their right mind would buy these shares right now?”

Heck, I’m buying some when they go public! Facebook IS the social network powerhouse! MySpace is dead; there’s too much spam. MySpace counts “active” members as someone who has logged in once in the past YEAR! I log into my Facebook account probably between 5 and ten times a DAY. It seems like people aren’t using MySpace anymore/nearly as often as they used to or it’s just a spam haven now. Or both.

This one actually made me laugh:

Midwest Aug 14, 2008 2:09 AM GMT “Potential advertising revenue is the only possible reason for Facebook’s $15 billion valuation. What other reason could there be? There’s no monthly user fee or membership charge so the only reason for the hype is ad $. But guess what? Nobody looks at the ads and the click through rate is laughable. Advertisers might as well take their money and throw it on a fire. At least they can use the heat to grill some dogs on. Advertising on the web is a joke but it remains viable only because it’s so cheap. Hey advertisers, save your money and buy some print, radio or tv spots. Get some real results for your spend.“

Yes, Facebook is having some problems with monetizing their technology and user-base, however to simply say that advertisers should pack it up, quit online advertising, “take their money and throw it on a fire”?? Talk about absurd! Yes, banner ads aren’t the solution. We KNOW that. They never have been! I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve clicked a banner ad - the only times were are for a store that was already on my to-do list. Good job, Facebook, for correctly targeting my interests and providing me with a reminder. However, this minuscule traffic isn’t going to cut it - I agree. The money is in the built in advertising, I think. Here’s a great article from Tech Crunch (back in 2007) called MySpace v. Facebook “It’s Not a Decision, It’s an IQ Test.” The money is in the widgets & applications, like Where I’ve Been, and social ads, where “advertisers provide the text, and Facebook pairs it with a relevant social action that your friend has taken. Social Ads mean advertisements become more interesting and more tailored to you and your friends” (from Facebook). This is relevant stuff in my newsfeed that I’m bound to take notice of, at least I think so. What do you think?

I LOVE this video (click the play button to watch). This is a perfect summation of how the advertising industry (and many B2C companies) have worked for the past half-century, and how some are still working today: One-way Communication. I love how suave, smooth-talking Advertising is using all of these canned phrases (which you can picture him using on his other “girlfriend” consumers) like “Hey now! Lookin’ good!” - while not even looking at her - rather than having authentic conversation on Consumer’s terms. And how he responds to her complaint that they never really talk anymore with a barrage of survey-style questions about his one-way advertising methods. “You can talk on our website, can’t you?” Yeah, if I want to say “Order this product.”

Simple call-to-action communication is becoming rapidly obsolete. Consumers want to become involved; they want genuine dialogue; they want to have authentic communication with someone and not feel as though their being advertised to, demographed, and targeted. And they get this kind of conversation from other consumers. Real and raw. Recommendations on Amazon, reviews on Yelp, lists on Netflix, finding out through Facebook what their friends just purchased. Conversation between real people, online.

Now that isn’t to say that they don’t want to hear from the business - far from it. But they want to be approached on their terms, and by a real person with a response just for them. Twitter is a social platform that allows for microblogging, which in itself is a relatively nascent concept (what is microblogging?). People, like you and I, write snippets about what we’re doing, whether it’s having a bowl of soup to arguing with Comcast on the phone.

(Aside: here’s a great article about Twitter from USA Today if you’re still hesitant or skeptical about microblogging)

Now, we can see why Comcast would want to know that we are currently unhappy because we’ve been on hold for 35 minutes, and by responding to this Tweet, they can deliver a level of customer service that we, the consumer, aren’t expecting. Because we have, unfortunately, come to accept the many atrocities of customer service we experience, things like waiting on the phone with the cable company are now expected. So when we Tweet about it, and a representative from Comcast responds us directly with a Tweet of their own, the customer’s expectations are exceeded, and customer satisfaction may or may not occur. It’s a heck of a lot better than having to sit on the phone, listening to elevator music, fuming, and feeling as though Comcast doesn’t care about our business.

Customer service. Genuine dialogue. Things that seem obvious but have been muddled by slick advertising for too long. Welcome to Web 2.0. What do you think?