Influx Insights Tag Feed: facebook

facebook applications and brands

Influx Insights — 2008-03-18T13:11:47Z

Can the success of Facebook applications provide any help for brands seeking deeper relationships with consumers?

Shelly Farham has done some interesting research into the applications to determine what works and why.

"In reviewing the dominant types of applications, it is clear that most of the applications are helping users achieve social goals such as improved communication, learning about the self relative to others, finding similar others, improving self-presentation, engaging in social play, and engaging in social exchanges via gifts and media. Despite its shifting demographics, Facebook is still very much a social arena in the private, personal domain, not the professional domain.

There are some clear signposts here for brands if they want to play in this domain and beyond.

Net/Net- How can they provide tools that allow for social exchange, social learning and communication?

Posted by Ed Cotton

facebook fallout?

Influx Insights — 2008-01-22T14:45:15Z

Facebook is the ultimate social network and there's no doubting it. There are 59 million users to date, and it adds two million to its ranks weekly. Its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has been featured on 60 Minutes and is said to be worth $3 billion for founding it.

While there's no questioning its success, there's also no real point to denying that it's just a procrastination tool. Even when we're sitting at home online, we get to pretend we're not. Just check the millions of status reports uploaded by people who are "hanging out with friends" and "spending time with family".

For these and other reasons, there's recent evidence suggesting its downfall and lots of conversation has been going on about it. Some say they are leaving because of the proliferation of applications and advertising. Some have realized that it actually separates rather than connects friends because they are quite simply on it all the time. (The addictive nature of the site is mostly due to the controversial introduction of the News Feed in September 2006.)

Still others have more deeply rooted concerns, like the recent accusations involving political agenda and privacy invasion.

And let's also not forget the millions who chose not to join in the first place. The Wall Street Journal talked to some of them and the consensus is that they're already in touch with friends and don't see the need to talk with those they've de-friended in real life.

Everything has its rise and fall, and the recent activity shows the online world is not exempt from this well-known human truth. But what will happen if a mass Facebook exodus ensues? Will those who delete their account in favor of analog life turn out to be the real socialites?

Or maybe they are on the lookout for a brand-free, non-addictive way to keep in touch with multiple people. After all, the one thing that won't get old is the internet and the desire to connect with others through it. This is perhaps most clearly evidenced by the many who ironically feel the need to announce their departure, somehow and somewhere.

They may no longer be hooked on the News Feed, but they're not exactly ready to give up on the concept altogether.

Posted by katie facada

influx's 8 preoccupations for 2008

Influx Insights — 2007-12-29T20:35:55Z

I am not going to try and match JWT’s list of 80 things, but here are 8 things that I believe will be preoccupying our minds in 08.

1.Slowdown?

The terrible “R” word is everywhere, with Wall Street looking nervously at every seemingly contradictory figure. It’s clear there are massive issues with housing and personal debt doesn’t look so great. The impact on communication spend is obvious and it looks like its time for people to dust off all those famous papers and books about the importance of brands spending during a downturn.

2.Attention Spikes

It’s now clear that agencies are competing on something of a level playing field in the war for attention. They don’t have the luxury of just hoping to be best ad in the pod or best in the break; it’s now about the most viral idea of the moment on any medium. It's now clear that television isn't the only way to do this. This year, Fallon’s Gorilla for Cadbury and Crispin’s Whopper Freakout showed us how.

Interestingly, although the campaigns had similar goals to spike attention, they approached it in very different ways. Fallon went all out for entertainment based on the strategic premise of joy and Crispin integrated the product into the heart of the idea.

Look for more of this type of thinking in 08; more media neutral ideas, more shock, and more entertainment from brands looking for attention.

3.Brands and The Social Network

The role of brands is the big question hanging over Facebook and all its competitors. It’s clear that advertising can and will continue to exist on these platforms in the form of links and banners, but the networks are promising brands an opportunity to be a part of the conversation. Certainly, there will be opportunities for the right brand, if the product is interesting and relevant enough.

There are two viable routes currently open:

a.To build or buy an application that adds tremendous value to the community and is discretely branded
b.To create a brand page that offers content to fans that is unavailable anywhere else on the Internet.

Brands will be trying feverishly to crack the code on both these areas in 08.

4.Collaboration

Collaboration will be the word of 08, with more layers of complexity being added to communication plans everyday, collaboration has become an essential component of success. It’s no longer possible for a duo of authors to crack the code on everything. Success will come to those who turn collaboration into an art, seamlessly blending media, creative thinking, digital outside partners and clients into the mix. This is all about culture and the willingness to learn and experiment.

Black Swan thinking is required.

5.The Digital Holy Grail

With content being unleashed and re-distributed across the internet, banners seemingly becoming less effective and all the questions about pre-roll, it’s unclear exactly what options brands have on the web. The build your own big website and expect people to visit theory isn’t necessarily a winner, unless you can do something interesting with it. It’s clear that those brands that are “Attention Spiking” should have a digital component to their efforts and then there’s the whole idea of Brand Utility.

How can a brand build something that helps people out in a way that they aren’t being helped already?

This is the Holy Grail and something that requires an incredible force of thinking.

6.Environmentalism is Dead

It’s clear the issue of the environment is now mainstream, but the big question is what happens next? It’s likely that the biggest problem is going to come from separating the fact from the fiction. The more consumers and industry learn, the more complex the questions become and it’s not always clear what solutions are best or better.

The uncertainty will have a damaging impact on the issue with consumers and brands feeling paralyzed over choices.

The next phase of the environmental movement will revolve around the establishment of standards and practices that gain widespread acceptance.

We’ve already seen some of the impact things like LEED standards for buildings can have and we are starting to see carbon audits developing to a point where they can become standardized. 2008 will be a tricky year for those looking to push green credentials for all the reasons listed above.

The smartest brands will be looking to do two things this coming year:

a. Take real action-do things that are measurable and have an impact
b. Look at the issue as one of social responsibility and not just the environment

7.What the Hell Are We Measuring- ROI?

Media measurement has always been a questionable issue ever since the day it was invented. Methodologies and samples have been picked over and analyzed. This is not going away, but as more layers of media get added to the mix, you start to multiply the complexity. This issue is far from being solved and the conversation keeps changing, often to the benefit of the media owner. Surely, brands spending billions of dollars a year on communication should understand what’s working on a cross media basis? Again, this is an area where new standards and new tools are urgently needed and we are likely to see the emergence of some in 2008.

Interestingly, many of these will be proprietary, as global agencies and clients use their muscle to build their own, instead of waiting for industry bodies and research houses to get up to speed.

8. A Year for Mobile

The success of the iPhone in 07 showed everyone a new vision for the mobile device. Elegant, simple and designed with the user in mind, it gave everyone the chance to see a future where television, video, The Internet and location specific information could be used on a mobile device. 2008 will see Apple build upon this with a 3G version of the phone that offers high-speed access and GPS functionality. The race is now on to develop mobile applications for brands that benefit the user. The issue isn’t too different from the Social Network, privacy and personal space are of critical importance in the mobile environment and brands will abuse that at their peril.

Clearly, there’s massive appeal for location-specific applications that link brands to users and perhaps their social network as well. It’s likely we will see some interesting first moves in this space in 2008 from the fast food chains and the big retail brands. The iTunes, iPhone and Starbucks initiatve in 2007, is a taste of things to come.

Posted by Ed Cotton

facebook is the marketing story of 07

Influx Insights — 2007-12-19T07:55:35Z

Facebook emerged from college dorms late in 2006 and then exploded onto the cultural scene in the US, UK and Canada in 2007.

With close to 60 million members and an audience that's doubling every 6 months, Facebook is the brand phenom of the year.

Consider that over 50% of its audience use the site daily and that over 20% of Canadians have an account.

The brand faces significant challenges in 08, with the core question being how it makes money?

The Beacon debacle hasn't helped and there's got to be more to it than banner ad inventory. The brand is going to need to work closely with agencies and its community to ensure useful media tools are created for brands.

The problem with the Social Graph is that it's still not clear if users want conversation and friendship with brands or if they want brands getting in the way of their conversation. Apple Students, Nike and Victoria's Secret are currently the only three mass brands who can talk of any real success on Facebook.

Clealry, there's going to need to be a considerable level of creative thought applied to the development of relevant brand communication platforms.

Facebook would be wise to call upon the best minds in the creative industries to help them. An all expenses paid three-day creative summit in Cannes or Necker Island could be in order.

If Facebook follows the wishes of its investors looking for a quick return, in 12 months time we might soon be talking about it as if it were Friendster, get it right and we could well be looking at the next Google.

Today, its power and hold over its users is unquestionable, so strong, it's even spawned a thriving t-shirt business.

Sadly, there are only 5,000 of these suckers available.

Posted by Ed Cotton

adding new dimensions to storytelling

Influx Insights — 2007-12-18T04:47:48Z

Alexis Madrigal has written for Influx a few times and should pending favorable conditions be working in the Planning Department of a large San Francisco agency, sadly the ad world’s loss is Wired magazine’s gain.

Alexis writes about science and space for the renowned tech lifestyle pub, but he is also taking the concept of journalism into the 2.0 world.

If you are interested, you can follow Alexis’s research process on his Twitter account, you can see his inspiration sources from his Google reader account and join his Facebook group.

It’s interesting to see that content doesn’t have to be one-dimensional, it can be seen in many forms; pre creation, during creation all in addition to the finished piece.

There’s a lesson here for all media, all storytellers and planners; there’s gold in everything you do.

Posted by Ed Cotton

do your friends really know what you like?

Influx Insights — 2007-12-01T17:12:44Z

The rise of social networks and the promise of monetization is driven by the belief that recommendations hold significant value.

There are numerous studies that show "Word of Mouth" as the leading source of influence on a person's purchase decision. However, WOM has become something of a general term to describe general conversations that people pick up from a wide variety of sources. Social networks like My Space and Facebook are hoping to make money based on the recommendations of "friends" to "friends".

Interestingly, a paper published in 2006 by Andrew Gershoff and Gita Johar at Columbia, suggests that we tend to over-estimate the knowledge and understanding our close friends have about us, when in reality, their recommedations are no better than others who aren't as close.

However, the sharing of ideas and recommendations, even if their recommendations aren't great, the process plays a crucial role in strengthening the bond between friends. We still want to recommend and be recommended things, because that's one of the ways we become closer to others.

Here's the opening paragraph of conclusions from Gershoff and Johar's paper.

However, Facebook, Amazon and MySpace know far more about us than our friends ever will.

Perhaps the "secret sauce" and the "tricky territory" will be for these players to help our friends to know us better and therefore increase the likelehood of succesfull recommendation, leading to a win-win situation.

Toolsets and applications that help friends better understand the taste of their friends could play a significant role in helping to monetize these social networks.

Although this is the role of many of the current applications on Facebook that determine taste and interest, there are too many of them and there's no way to aggregate the information and build interesting friend profiles, perhaps that will come.

Posted by Ed Cotton

planning for good latest news

Influx Insights — 2007-11-27T16:36:21Z

The Planning for Good network (strategists donating brain power to good causes) has just completed its second assignment; this time it was a holiday program for UNICEF.

We are now close to 1,100 members on the Facebook group and have just released our latest brief, this time it's for Live Earth.

Some important links:

The Facebook group

The Live Earth Brief

Details of Local PFG City groups and leaders

Please join PFG, sign-up for a local group and do some good.

Posted by Ed Cotton

brands on facebook-part one

Influx Insights — 2007-11-25T16:53:34Z

In the last week or so everyone has been commenting on Facebook's Beacon and the problems and privacy pitfalls of opening up the "social graph" to brands and other third parties. Some have mentioned they don't think it's a good idea for brands to be people's friends, where others have argued that brands are important social currency, so they naturally fit into social actions and display.

I thought it made sense to explore what brands are up to on Facebook.

This is a two-part post.

Part one is a look at some basic counts and part two will examine some strategies behind the successfull brand efforts.

This is by no means exhaustive, but it's a very quick glance at who is doing what and it's pretty interesting to see the inconsistent approaches. The simple analysis here is just to look at the brands and to do a simple count for the member or fan base for their group or page. This doesn't include consumer generated efforts on behalf of brands, there are lots of those, just the ones that appear to be initated by the brand itself.

You can see clearly that some brands are leveraging the presence, while others have just put their toe in and have yet to take real action. It's surprising to see product brands that are well loved, like iPhone and Halo 3, have so little traction. It's also clear that some brands have a lot of catching up to do- United against Southwest, is just one example. You can also see how brands are using Facebook for campaigns- Reebok's "Run Easy" is a good example.

What distinguishes success from failure here appears to revolve around execution and content; you've got to offer content and offers direct to your Facebook audience and you've also have to give them a reason to belong and take actions, but more of that in Part 2.

Here are the counts:

Abercrombie and Fitch- 235 fans

Adidas- 148 fans

Altoids- 2 fans

Amazon- 18 fans

Apple Students -431,288 fans

BMW- 264 fans

Coca-Cola- 803 fans

Dell Spot- 2,485 members

The Economist- 41 fans

Halo 3- 329 fans

H&M- 25,449 members

i Phone- 476 fans

iPod Touch- 145 fans

Mountain Dew-Dew Uncapped

New York Times- 3,318 fans

Nike-14 fans

Nike- Greatest Team You Have Never Heard Of (US Women's Soccer Team)- 26,345 members

Patagonia- 29 fans

PBS- 827 fans

Pepsi- 58 fans

Pepsi Platinum- 20,144 members

Pizza Hut- 5 fans

Ralph Lauren- 136 fans

Reebok- Run Easy- 13,162 members

Saturn Astra- 212 fans

Sony Playstation 3- 277 fans

Southwest -46,670 members

Target- 16,869 members

Taco Bell -33 fans

Toyota Prius- 48 fans

United Airlines- 13 fans

Victoria's Secret-Pink- 351,622 members

Posted by Ed Cotton

do we want corporations to be our friends?

Influx Insights — 2007-11-08T02:56:07Z

Facebook launches its ad platform and suddenly the giant monetization scheme is revealed.

All the hype was worth it, because it's just the same as every other ad platform invented since the start of the consumer society.

It also looks very much like an interuptive model to me, albeit one with some fine targeting opportunities.

One has to ask a simple question.

Do I really really want to make friends with Coca-Cola?

That appears to be what Facebook is suggesting, so when I searched and found that "person" called Coca-Cola, I discovered the world's most valuable brand only had 15 friends and two of them were journalists. Something tells me this thing is working already.

Taking a more lateral and perhaps unconventional approach, it might have been possible to see a Facebook platform as a way for brands to liberate their nameless employees.

A way for everyone to see and interact with the faces behind the faceless.

Could I be friends with an employee of a brand or corporation?

Possibly.

Sadly, that's not going to be the case and surely, that's a missed opportunity.

Posted by Ed Cotton

how big was the iphone launch?

Influx Insights — 2007-11-06T13:42:33Z

Although it's hard to gauge the real sales numbers for the iPhone, people are talking about 1.2-1.4 million, I thought it would be interestng to look at the "noise" the launch generated and compare it to other cultural events.

The tool I have used is Google Trends which looks at data for search volumes. This isn't the same as column inches or minutes of news time, but it's still an interesting barometer.

It's clear that the iPhone may have generated more "noise" than any other brand in recent years. It's peak is comprable with that of the Superbowl (the most watched event in the US) and nearly double that of the Oscars.

It's pretty remarkable that a single product can create that level of interest and hardly surprising that Time Magazine continued to fuel the noise by naming it Invention of the Year.

Obviously, all this noise is only good if it can be translated into sales.

As an interesting sidenote, I also plotted the trajectory of Facebook, which appears to be slowly creeping up to the iPhone frenzy noise level, no wonder Google is scared.

Posted by Ed Cotton

planning for good completes its first assignment

Influx Insights — 2007-10-16T03:03:54Z

I am delighted the Planning for Good initiative is off to a great start having completed its first assignment and presented its ideas to the client.

The assignment was to develop thinking for the Idea Village in New Orleans, a non-profit set-up to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurs in the city.

This was the first assignment out of the gate when the group was around 200 strong, compared to the 700+ that now inhabit the Facebook group.

The presentation can be seen below.

| View | Upload your own

I intend to follow up with more feedback on what happens to these ideas.

Needless to say the Idea Village liked alot of thinking and are keen to move forward with many of the initiatives that were presented.

If you are interested in helping, there are three things we need.

1. Some technology wizard or a company that can create a virtual workspace for the group.

2. A great brief from a non-profit that would appreciate thinking from 700 strategists.

3. Simply, join the group and participate in the next brief.

Posted by Ed Cotton

the brand invasion of facebook begins now

Influx Insights — 2007-09-09T22:15:58Z

Posted by Ed Cotton

the future of facebook-it's time to get serious

Influx Insights — 2007-09-06T11:50:29Z

Facebook has been described as the Google of its generation. A new internet tool that brings accessible social networking to the masses. On a basic level, it does a fine job, it does all the things you want it to and it's easy to manage.

The problem is that it's perhaps a little too easy. We get attracted by the blinkling lights and add new applications and join groups on a whim. It's wonderful to see those groups grow and cool when new fun applications arrive, it's a little like living in an amusement arcade.

However, while all this stuff is happening we seem to be missing the powerful potential of this social network to make a difference and to do something really interesting for all of us.

Today, Time Incorporated announced it was closing its magazine Business 2.0. It was a sad day for subscribers and those of us who were fortunate enough to get free copies of the magazine.

However, for the 2,500+ members of the Facebook group that had formed to try and save the mag, myself included, it was another day on the social network, with all the usual distractions.

Many had probably forgotten they had joined the group in the first place, others had lost interest after a few days.

The problem is that it's easy to click and join and very hard to do something constructive.

It's the big weakness in the Facebook system.

For groups, it's hard to leverage, galvanize, manage and do something great with Facebook.

Facebook is attracting a ton of people and it's doing a great job with the basics, but the real "win" is leveraging the collective wisdom and power of crowds to do something interesting; to buy goods at a discount, to give loans, change the political system, raise environmental standards, reduce poverty and yes, even keep interesting business magazines afloat.

If Facebook can do this, fantastic.However, I have a hunch that a couple of kids in Mumbai are working on something that can do everything Facebook can do but will trump it because it can harness the collective power of the crowd.

Facebook, the clock is a ticking.

Posted by Ed Cotton

influx insights is now on facebook

Influx Insights — 2007-08-20T05:49:06Z

Located here.

If you read Influx, please join the group. It would be good to try and build some kind of community.

Thanks....

Posted by Ed Cotton

facebook as media: great for reaching people in london

Influx Insights — 2007-07-26T04:02:26Z

The latest population data for planet Facebook.

Some strange findings:

Hong Kong's population is bigger than China's

Australia's population is bigger than France, Germany and Italy's combined

London's population is much bigger than New York and Los Angeles combined.

Countries

Kazakhstan 1,859
Bahrain 5,879
Senegal 412
Bolivia 4,900
Italy 21,754
Germany 47,004
France 52,494
China 28.046
Hong kong 43,106
Australia 185,450
Kuwait 10,741
Phillipines 9,476

Cities

London 823,536
Glasgow 19,568
New York 290,599
Los Angeles 156,494

Posted by Ed Cotton

brand voice 2.0- ambitious and humble

Influx Insights — 2007-06-03T01:00:18Z

Ambition and humbleness sound like opposites, but in this new world of brand 2.0, anything is possible.

Last FM just got taken over by CBS and they wrote about it on their blog last week.

Here's the last paragraph of the post that shows, or is designed to show (?), that despite being taken over by a multi billion media corporation, they are still human.

"There is quite a sense of achievement at Last.fm HQ today, we see this is as a huge boost for Last.fm and we are confident that together with CBS we have the wherewithall to change the music industry, and way people interact with music for good. Now we are all going for a slap up vietnamese lunch at the Viet Hoa. We’ll be back in an hour to finish off our facebook app :)"

Most of the comments from users to this post were positive.

from closed to open

Influx Insights — 2007-05-31T00:32:43Z

In the last week, there have been a couple of really interesting developments in the world of media.

- New media entity Facebook, run by a 23 year-old, opened up its API to third party developers.

- Old media giant, CBS purchased Wallstrip, Last FM and opened up its video content to broad internet distribution.

“In launching the CBS Audience Network we solidified our position as the most widely distributed professional content provider on the Web thanks to our great video distribution partners. We now want to empower our audience to be creative and deepen their experience with our content by allowing them to share and embed CBS-provided clips to their blogs, wikis, widgets, community sites and whatever else gets thrown our way. We are delighted to have so many quality partners — established and start ups — helping to bring CBS content to the online community.”

Quincy Smith-CBS Interactive

All these developments are significant, they recognize that the closed systems of old cannot compete in today's marketplace. To survive, you have to open things up and let your content out or let others come in and play.

Look around you, there are dozens of closed systems that are ripe for change, one is mobile communication. One interesting exception will be the iPhone, it's Wi-Fi enabled, users will not be obliged to use AT&T's network to make calls.

This is a trend Influx was been talked about for years and it applies to brands as they start to develop content and become more media like in their behavior. Create stuff, open up that creativity to others and distribute it freely. The idea that people have to come to your site to check out your content, is antiquated. Bud.TV might have been a success if it could have found a way to distribute its content around the internet (something it's now thinking about), instead of demanding that people come and visit.