Posts Tagged ‘facebook’
You Have No Idea What You’re Talking About
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under advertising, marketing, measurement, web 2.0
Not necessarily you, but alot of people out there who are responsible for making decisions based around incorrect or misused information. “Well we just got our new RSS feed live so we are on the forefront of the the online game.” “Our online advertising needs are being met by our facebook page because (insert 3 random and conflicting facts about facebook here).” We just placed a large buy with the local paper’s website, so we are all set for now.”
All three of these are actual comments I’ve heard from advertising prospects in the past week. Of course we get turned down, we’re not perfect, but it is frustratingly amusing when I hear these responses. “No, we don’t need your services because we have this other program that isn’t measurable and entirely different from your program. But what is it you do again?” The beauty of the internet is that it is measurable, fixable, flexible, adaptable, etc. But just because you can measure 37 different variables on your latest campaign doesn’t mean you’ll get the data you want.
I’m digressing from my point. I sometimes feel like half of the people out there using new technologies are like 16 year olds with out their license cruising around in a Lamborghini - they don’t know what they hell they’re talking about. Sure your RSS feed is nice to have, and I’m happy to hear that you have a blog for your business, and I’m impressed that you have taken the time to build a facebook page. But your facebook page has 2 fans, and the last time your wrote on your blog was December - what is a new feed going to do for your business?
My point is, just because you have something fancy, doesn’t mean you’re using it right. Technology is not a money tree, you have to use it wisely and there isn’t just one way to do that.
Connecting Outside of Your Social Network
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, login, social media, web 2.0
Over the past week several of the major players online have announced the opening of their social networks. MySpace’s “Data Availability,” Facebook Connect, and Google’s Friend Connect. While I am slightly skeptical about the immediate implications of these new applications, the long term ramifications are huge. I have been searching for a way to prevent users from creating a new login, a new identity, and the overall hassle of creating another account with in our community. And here I am today with several options before me.
Of course, in typical media war (in this case social media) fashion, everyone is quick to announce their latest and greatest new development, with out actually releasing it.
“We expect that Facebook Connect will be available publicly within the next several weeks.” - Facebook Official Release;
“With Google Friend Connect (see http://www.google.com/friendconnect following this evening’s Campfire One),” - Official Google Release;
these both come a few days after MySpace’s annoucement regarding their new data availability program. The reason for the haste, is fairly obvious, but it is absurd nonetheless. I digress…
The huge potential impact of these new programs brings a solution to many developers’ and publishers’ dilemmas: “how do we reach social users with out disrupting them out of their routines?” Well here it is, now we can allow users to log in using their original passwords, allow them to quickly, easily, and natively bring their friends with them and truly build on the idea of an open social network and create true connectability across websites.
I am extremely excited about this and will have at least one if not all three of these new technologies up and running as soon as they become available and I have a chance to figure them out.
Ahh, the cure for my login addictions (well, maybe not..)
Login Addiction
Posted by Jamie Hutson | Filed under Life, advertising, login, revenue models, sharing applications, social media
Do you have log in addiction? I’m pretty sure that everyone I know has log in addiction, and the growing influence of social media online is only compounding our problems. Do you find yourself refreshing gmail to see if you have any new emails? Logging into facebook to check the updates? Refreshing your homepage to check for any updates on your RSS? I do, and so do you.
Seemingly every day I come across something new to sign up for, log in to, and then gage my response from. Do any of these applications actually add value to my life? - That is the question on many people’s mind these days, but does it really matter? As all of these new sharing programs emerge and millions of people are logging in every day, what is the world coming to?
My question is how will all of this ever be monetized? There is no way to charge for it, because users will immediately reject that and move to a similar and equally useful/less service that is free. Do we fill the application with advertising? If so, how do we measure the value and effectiveness of these ads? Will marketers really want to pay to reach these tiny niche markets that have suddenly become giant flat, almost muddy, fields?
As I sit here writing this I have 5 other tabs open on my screen, all of them require a log in, a sign up, an email, a profile, something to connect me to all of the anonymous users out there pleasantly sucked in by their ceaseless need to log in. But what is the value of this to me? To you? Facebook has billions of pageviews a month, yet they are losing money. Sure the potential value of those views is huge, but how will they make it happen. What will be done to address these revenue models?
Five websites I’m on. Simultaneously. Two of them have advertising on them. Three of them do not. Why do these websites exist, and how are they going to make money.
If you build it they will come… well if they come, how will you get them to stay long enough to make money? The answer is simple - login addiction. We love connecting ourselves so much, in this increasingly disconnected world, that we will try anything that is fresh, cool and can keep us in touch with the people we care about.
Facebook, Gmail, MySpace, Blogs, Forums, Chat Rooms, Twitter, YouTube, on and on and on, until we stop liking each other. Oh, by the way, don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed…
