Greg Swan

Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

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The latest in “teens ditching Facebook” research

In Marketing Tips, Social Media on April 11, 2013 at 9:55 am

You would think the track record of social network migration (i.e. users emigrating from Compuserve to AOL, AOL to Friendster, Friendster to MySpace, more recently MySpace to Facebook) would have established a trend of cyclical change which we marketers would anticipate and embrace. But for some reason it seems like our clients and peers are always surprised when online behavior changes, new destinations gain traction, and popular networks lose daily active users.

A new survey by Piper Jaffray offers the latest news bite that will have our industry and clients asking us questions about social marketing programs on current and emerging socnets.

Via Buzzfeed:

Facebook is the “most important” social media site for about 10% fewer teenagers than it was a year ago. The teens surveyed are less interested in Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Flickr and Tumblr, too. Of the major sites included in the survey, only Pinterest has grown. (Instagram was not included in the survey in Spring of 2012). This suggests something bigger than a shift away from Facebook; it hints at what could be the beginning of an across-the-board teen rejection of traditional social networking as a whole. But where are young people going? The survey includes some notable write-ins, which are presented almost as a footnote.

But they might explain what’s going on:
piper graphic

The sites that are either ascendant, holding steady or holding relatively strong are feed-heavy and profile-light; the sites that seem to be hit hardest are those that have a more traditional, MySpace-y structures, centered around a detailed profile. (Tumblr is the odd exception here.)

The biggest “write-in” services aren’t really social networks in the way Facebook is a social network. Snapchat and Kik are messaging services. While they might be able to draw teens’ attention away from Facebook, they have little funcional overlap.

This data measures sentiment, not usage stats. If this data is solid, though, we should see it reflected in an teen exodus from traditional social networks.

While I strongly believe Vine and disposable media socnets like Snapchat, Kik and Poke satisfy important emerging consumer behaviors, we shouldn’t discount the effectiveness of mass socnets like Facebook and Twitter – just as we don’t discount the effective of mass media channels like television and newspapers to meet specific client needs. Particularly with Facebook’s new targeting offerings, we can now laser target client messages like never before.

In summary, depending on your brand’s measurable objectives, you should recommend and utilize the most appropriate channel to best meet their audiences.

What works today may not work next year, and I personally think that’s AWESOME.

Research:
“Taking Stock with Teens” study (pdf)

Bonus links:
The New Yorker: Delete This When You’re Done
Are disposable media platforms like Snapchat and Poke the future of social media?

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The Hidden Biases in Big Data

In Quotables, Social Media on April 3, 2013 at 10:18 pm

“…with every big data set, we need to ask which people are excluded. Which places are less visible? What happens if you live in the shadow of big data sets?”

“…technologies are always differentially adopted, and “any divide in accessing digital technology is not a one-time event but a constantly moving target as new devices, software and cultural practices emerge…”

“In the near term, data scientists should take a page from social scientists, who have a long history of asking where the data they’re working with comes from, what methods were used to gather and analyze it, and what cognitive biases they might bring to its interpretation (for more, see “Raw Data is an Oxymoron“). Longer term, we must ask how we can bring together big data approaches with small data studies — computational social science with traditional qualitative methods…”

“We get a much richer sense of the world when we ask people the why and the how not just the “how many”…

-The Hidden Biases in Big Data, Harvard Business Review

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Greg Swan in Star Tribune talking memes

In In the News, Social Media on January 24, 2013 at 12:59 pm

greg swan star tribune

I was quoted about memes — “an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.” — in the Star Tribune this week: Funky photo fads flourish thanks to social media:

Today’s memes are a manifestation of the remix culture that’s permeating art, advertising and media right now,” said Weber Shandwick’s Greg Swan. “Many discount the impact on pop culture that [they] have, but I challenge you to find someone who doesn’t know the chorus of Rebecca Black’s “Friday.’ ”

Read the whole entire here. And in case you’re not familiar with Friday, sing along here!

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3 emerging trends that keep me jazzed for 2013

In Armchair Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Unplug on January 8, 2013 at 4:06 pm

2013 trends predictions1. Drone Journalism explodes, meets resistance

Bridging the gap between the CIA’s plane-sized drones and those helicopters you see at shopping mall kiosks, quadroroters and other camera-mounted remote-control aircraft have reached a price point where they are quite affordable, which I happen to think is very exciting. Drone journalism got a foothold in recent years with both traditional and citizen media coverage of Russian riots and the Occupy movement.

Brand publishing found its niche with drone-operated cameras with groups like the Copter Kids producing footage for brands. The military and law enforcement use drones for both surveillance and bad-guy engagement. And everyday citizens are mounting GoPros and DSLRs to flying toys to produce content from the serious to the surreal.

But who owns the airspace around your home, business or workplace? It’s not currently regulated, but I predict it soon will be. Just recently, a drone was spotted near the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis, and it sparked some questions about who was operating it and why.

There is innate fear and assumptions that flying surveillance aircraft are bad, even when they’re not. My guess is we’re not far from laws prohibiting amateur RC devices from certain airspaces (e.g., civilian drone photographing the Lincoln Memorial from the air will be distinguished from a civilian photographing the same building from the ground), and soon probably enforcement technology to block and disrupt RC signals.

Sure, people will weaponize or use drones for illicit surveillance (think paparazzi 3.0), but just like a phone could be used to prank call someone, I happen to think we shouldn’t limit technology due to potential negative uses.

2. Auto telematics to the next level

Emerging in-car technology — including self-driving and assisted-driving cars, improved GPS and navigation, and voice recognition — is so exciting for the average American who drives 13, 476 miles a year. Case in point: my new car doesn’t have a CD player, but it does have a suite of apps you can access through its touchscreen that leverage my phone’s data plan (Pandora, Stitcher, GPS).

This is only the beginning of your car becoming better connected. It’s only a matter of time before our cars can friend each other, form relationships and let you know if your wife has left work yet just by her car’s location. To-date, automotive manufacturers have been inhibiting innovation and growth of car apps by their reliance on proprietary hardware and software that rarely get upgrades.

I’ve owned three cars with “smart” technology that sync calls and audio through the stereo, but this is the first that features apps you operate through the vehicle’s touchscreen and that are powered by my phone itself. This means the apps can be updated without worrying about vehicle firmware or fumbly USB-based drivers. It also means the app developers can focus on the major smart phone operating systems rather than the automobile platforms.

It’s a very smart and most encouraging development.

3. New tools revoke our ticket to “Success Theater”

Could 2013 be the year social fluffiness and permanency are challenged? Although there are those people who share too much and/or inappropriate content on social media, for the most part we humans are comfortable translating our censorship and self-aggrandizing skills from the real world to our social channels. Our profile pictures and cover images reflect our ideal state.

Our shared photos are perfectly cropped and filtered. Our bios are concise yet witty. Part of the appeal of an online persona is the ability to shape what we share with others — and what we don’t. We all now Stepford Wives? With the exception of the odd political post, a quick audit of my social channels show my friends, fans and followers are all in love with their jobs, significant others and perfect kids.

Everyone is traveling to exotic locations and/or eating the most wonderful-looking food. They are all master photographers and chefs, super parents and community organization leaders. Oh, and everyone is SO FUNNY. I mean, just really funny. And thanks to tools like Timehop, these beautiful, clever, exotic status updates, photos, checkins and shares can be relieved easy and often.

Forever.

Here’s what I’m loving about the new Facebook Poke app:

  1. It’s timely. You can’t store a picture, perfectly crop it, filter it and send it #latergram. You have to send what you have now.
  2. It’s now and only now. You set a time limit for your content – at no more than 10 seconds. Then it’s gone. I mean, forever gone.
    (note: if you screenshot, the other user is notified and the screenshot is kind of messy with all of the FB Poke menus. It’s not worth it and discouraged)

I’ve sent people content through Facebook Poke I would never share on Facebook, Twitter and certainly not LinkedIn. Uncombed hair and unshaven face pictures. Food that didn’t look appetizing that I was eating anyway. Video of my kids not wearing pants at 2 p.m. screaming at me. You know – the life stuff you wouldn’t share on social media but that you might share with a friend (if it was lightweight enough and you knew it couldn’t be saved).

Sure, these are the reasons teenagers like these apps for sexting, but once again, maybe they have the right idea and wrong application. More on success theater here.

What are you excited about in 2013?


The web is being rebuilt around people, not content

In Social Media, Technology on November 5, 2012 at 3:18 pm

“There is overwhelming evidence that the web is being rebuilt around people. This is not a small change, it’s a fundamental re-architecture. We’re moving away from a web that connects documents together to a web that connects people together…Businesses that place people, rather than content or technology, at the center of their business model are thriving and in some cases outperforming incumbents.”

-Paul Adams, Global Head of Brand Design at Facebook

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Creating meaningless digital churn

In Social Media on October 19, 2012 at 12:05 pm

This is what Paul Adams would call “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” and what I call “creating meaningless digital churn.”


Normal people paying to promote ham sandwich-eating posts on Facebook? Yep.

In Social Media on October 3, 2012 at 1:12 pm

Earlier today I was telling a client about Facebook’s recent Edgerank algorithm tweaks that further hamper the organic visibility of Brand Page posts in a user’s timeline.

You may have noticed fewer posts from brands on your own timeline (or that the majority of posts you do see from brands are photos or “like-bait” updates that are designed to drive attention rather than communicate messaging). This is all by Facebook’s design to retain users, drive engagement and monetize brands.

Simply put, Facebook is slowly clamping down on marketers’ free ride on the platform, and paid media will continue to emerge as a necessity when building marketing programs on Facebook.

Today, Facebook took that quest for maximum likes, comments and shares to the next level, introducing promoted posts for the average user.

That’s right. If you want to make sure more people see your update about that garage sale, block party or ham sandwich you’re eating, just pony up a few bucks to reach a wider audience.

From Techcrunch:

After you publish a post, a Promote button will let you pay to bump up its rank in the news feed — making it appear both higher in the feed, and to a larger portion of your friends. Unpromoted posts are typically only seen by 12-16% of your friends.

After you Promote a post, it will be marked “Sponsored”, and you can check to see how many more people saw it because you paid. For example, you’d see “So far you post has had 3.8x as many views because you promoted it.”

Promoted posts are already live in about 20 countries, and although detractors are shouting the rich will soon own the newsfeeds, I tend to believe we’ll adjust to in-stream advertising from our friends more readily than from brands vying for our attention.

Here’s the new option in action:

 

 

Would you pay to promote your own status? Maybe I would pay for you to see this post. Or maybe not.

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Drones, Kites and Balloons! Oh My!

In citizen journalism, Social Media, Technology on September 12, 2012 at 4:19 pm

I got pretty amped about drone journalism this time last year, and it’s slowly catching on within grassroots media organizations and those looking for an affordable, accessible way to tell a story from the air (election protests in Russia, Improv Everywhere in NY).

You won’t see CNN or NBC with drones flying above the Presidential inauguration or next high-profile court case — this year. But it’s my bet major news organizations are going to adopt this technology very soon. It’s cheap. It’s nimble. And nevermind those pesky privacy laws, drones get you into spaces journalists typically have to break trespassing laws to view.

Personally, I’m still waiting for the client opportunity where we can buy a camera-mounted hexacopter drone to capture brand content for a client. But, they’re a little pricey… today. We’ll get there.

And that’s why I’m excited for this organization who is creating high resolution maps using low cost, DIY technology like kites, balloons and cheap digital cameras.

Their most impressive effort to-date was mapping the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science’s (PLOTS) maps were the only high resolution images available at the onset of the spill and spread all over the world media because access to airspace was restricted and planes could not capture aerial photos using traditional methods.

Sunlight Foundation just posted a very good video feature on PLOTS. It’s worth watching and reading the entire piece if you have a few minutes. PLOTS website is also a treasure trove of cool technology capturing stellar images.

At the very least, I expect one client event activation in the next 6 months to include kite- or balloon-mounted cameras. That’s a dare!

A prediction

In Social Media on April 19, 2012 at 9:17 am

Shortly there will be an entire industry devoted to memorial/funeral videos and interactive tombstones using photos/updates culled from social profiles. What you tweet really will last forever.

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Punxsutawney Phil celebrates his fourth year on Twitter, does interview with Mashable

In Armchair Marketing, In the News, Social Media on February 7, 2012 at 3:38 pm

I am the voice of Punxsutawney Phil on Twitter. I didn’t plan it this way, but I’m accepting it now.

As I neared the fourth year authoring the Punxsutawney Phil Twitter account (@GroundhogPhil), I cut my losses on attempts to hand the account over to the Groundhog Club and just went for it.

Read previous year’s posts and subsequent coverage here:

For 2012, it is clear the growing interest in animal based Twitter accounts (see @BronxZooCobra and @NYTChicken) amplified the general public’s interest in chatting with a forecasting rodent via 140 characters or less.

Building on three years of prognostication-related tweets, this year’s momentum was strong and resulted in even more big name coverage of Phil’s tweets. Like doing an interview with Mashable in character, for starters.

Again this year, The Huffington Post, The National Post, local media and weather sites again retweeted and/or referred to @GroundhogPhil’s tweets.

And the data was just tremendous. The RT’s were flying!!

In the spirit of good faith, I again offer up the account to the top-hatted groundhog bunch. However, given they’ve ignored this offer and opportunity for four years now, I’ve decided I’m happy to keep it until Phil predicts Twitter is a relevant audience for their event.

Long live @groundhogphil!

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