April 17th - Loud and (un)Clear
Twitter Litter, YouTube Boobs, and Facebook Crooks. They’re all in the news lately as –inevitably—scoundrels start using social media in predictable ways. Namely, to hoodwink their fellow man. Whether it’s fraudulent Nigerian financial scams, or thoughtless “pranks” by employees, these antics can cost individuals (and corporations) a heck of lot of “RL” (real life) money. So, the standard cautions apply – unless you initiated the conversation, keep your credit card in your wallet; manage your online presence carefully, and keep your passwords a secret!
Along Party Lines In the early years of the telephone, it was common to extend service as cheaply and widely as possible by having just one line servicing multiple customers. While the disadvantages of that are glaringly obvious in this day and age, it’s surprising that people have yet to figure out that FB, Twitter and other social networking sites are actually quite similar. And while there are shorthand ways to signal that a message is intended for particular recipients, that doesn’t stop them from adding to the increasingly shrill background noise. I’m guessing the current free-for-all is going to change substantially as technology matures – not to be a “party” pooper or anything.
The learning curve for electronic communications is still pretty steep for many corporations. I don’t know about you, but after the 83rd time I get an e-mail from JCrew touting a “THREE DAYS ONLY” sale, I get a little annoyed. Same goes for that local bike shop that sends me an e-mail every single day. Companies are still striving to understand what constitutes “compelling content” and are too often assuming that advertising is the same thing as news. It only stands to get worse when social networks become increasingly interconnected and it’s easier and easier for companies to find us, whether we like it or not. Ergo a new job title for the 21st century: Digital Strategist.
Try Before You Buy is a great way to spend scarce dollars wisely in a recession. That’s why I’m such a big fan of George Kao, who not only has a serious message about how to be a smart social networker; in his introductory webinar he also provides a number of practical suggestions right up front, for free! I was impressed enough that, even while the session was still underway, I logged in to make immediate changes to my FB and Twitter profiles. And I thought I was so smart!
