Consider the Source

I think it's important to consider the source- traditional media, newspapers don't want social media to be successful because they're scared of going out of business.

The reality is that Facebook- and any reputable social media network DOES NOT ask or require a social security number. You don't fill out your physical address nor do you need to fill out anything but your name and email address. Also, there are people canvassing for donations on nearly every corner of every downtown city centre right now - asking people for their names, address, and credit card numbers. That is more of a privacy concern to me then giving an online company superficial information about myself.

Today we are fractured from our network and we use social media to stay connected. It’s really that simple. The information that comes from participation within social networks provides valuable data that gives researches insights they'd otherwise have to spend years and stupid amounts of money to collect.

Privacy does not "vanish" - people are ignorant and give away info that is NOT required or asked of them. Participation is optional and what you disclose is in the hands of the participant.

And to quote from the article:

So far, this type of powerful data mining, which relies on sophisticated statistical correlations, is mostly in the realm of university researchers, not identity thieves and marketers.



I read about the Netflix lawsuit- I've been following it for years. At the end of the day - the movies people choose to watch is not a danger to their physical person. The information that was shared was done so to improve the internal algorithm of the recommendation engine. It breached privacy, but didn't open customers up to identity fraud.

..the customer data released for that first contest, despite being stripped of names and other direct identifying information, could often be “de-anonymized” by statistically analyzing an individual’s distinctive pattern of movie ratings and recommendations.

in reference to: How Privacy Vanishes Online, a Bit at a Time - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Learn more about how to protect yourself online: http://www.privacy.gov.au/topics/technologies/security

Women in Business: The Art of a Solid Handshake

I was in a meeting the other day, there were 4 men present, another lady and myself. I extended my hand to everyone in the room for the business handshake, but a peculiar thing happened when I went to shake the woman's hand. She laughed, as though what we were doing was silly and then fumbled with the sunglasses in her hand to present me with a limp, half-assed handshake.

It led me to wonder - why is she reacting in this manner? At the end of the meeting she behaved the same way again, so I can only assume this is her reaction to shaking other women's hands. With my male co-worker she had no issue, but with me she was very awkward.

It could be that this is an isolated case, but in fact it's happened to me before. I think it's a confidence thing and perhaps a old-school attitude about women's role in business. It's like reverse sexism, or something.

There are "rules" to a good handshake - I don't really follow any of the traditional social etiquette. I just try to treat everyone the same. A solid, firm grip and a couple decent pumps of the wrist - that's really all I expect. I offer my hand when I introduce myself - I don't worry about who's more senior or junior or has what title.

I believe a person's handshake is an indication of their self-esteem. If you offer someone a limp, lifeless hand it tells them that you don't think very much of yourself and it can even give the impression that you don't respect them.

“Self-esteem isn't everything; it's just that there's nothing without it”

Is Social Media Just for Kids?

I had an interesting meeting with a large group a client brought along to a strategy presentation yesterday. It was a scene I've witnessed too many times to count - everyone in the room was roughly 45+ years of age, and they were entirely convinced that social media was something for their kids, but it's not anything for them to be concerned about.

I've heard the same statements over and over. "This new social media thing is just for kids". "Social media is a time waster." "Social media doesn't make anyone any money."

The sentiment is hard to handle because there are stacks of evidence to contradict just about every negative remark. The truth is that it comes down to a personal preference about how you spend your time and what matters to you. It is also about the size of your existing network and location limitations.

Personally, I think if you’re doing something just because everyone else is doing it – then you’re living a very desperate existence. If you believe something just because a credentialed “expert” says its true – then you are doing your own intelligence a tremendous disservice.

I’m not a social media advocate. I really don’t mind if people don’t want to use it or know anything about it. But I wonder about a reaction that is defensive or causes someone to lash out with a negative judgment – doesn’t that sound like fear to you?

Realizing that consumers have the power should not be a new idea to anyone. No one is going to buy your product just because it exists. The world of advertising is changing dramatically because Ad Agency’s are finally realizing that people need to understand the value of things. Consumers ask themselves questions like: How does this product relate to my code of ethics? Is it organic? Is it made of renewable materials? Is it going to last me long enough that the cost is reasonable for my budget?

Maybe the problem for me is that I've never cared about the "experts" - that was something my Mom used to try and drill into me all the time, and still tries to convince me that the only opinion that matters is from a renowned specialist. What I enjoy the most about Social Media is that I can learn from people I can relate to and understand. I don't know about you, but most professional journalists seem to say the same things and report on the same things. I don’t want to know what someone is paid to say – I want to know what is real. Knowing what real people are saying is what matters – not what a spokesperson is paid to say or a politician wants you to believe for their own benefit.

Interestingly my mother also told me not to follow the crowd and do things based on my own code of ethics- the pearl of wisdom, "if you're friends thought it was cool to jump off a cliff, does that mean you have to?”

If you don’t think social media makes sense for you personally, then that’s ok. It's not about following what everyone else is doing - it's about finding the right resources so that you can steer your own ship. The idea that we all are expected to follow the same code and traditions is over. People move around these days - living in different countries and travelling more often. Not everyone goes to school, finds a job, gets married, has a couple of kids, lives in a house with a white picket fence out front, etc. What was once 'traditional' is now unpractical for most people or generally unrealistic. Today we are fractured from our network and we use social media to stay connected. It’s really that simple.

Here's a few statistics that might help shed light on the subject:
  • In June 2009, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 8.4million active internet subscribers in Australia
  • 79.1% of internet users in Australia view online video.
  • YouTube receives 6.17 million Australian visitors monthly.
  • A study on social networking usage in Australia, found more than 70 percent of Internet users in Australia visited a social networking site in June 2009, up from 29% the previous year.
  • Facebook could generate between $1 billion and $1.1 billion in revenue this year, a big increase over the $710 million estimate from The Wall Street Journal a few months ago. In fact, the world’s largest social network could have made between $600-$700 million in 2009.
  • Huffington Post Revenue and Valuation Estimated Value: $150 million
  • TechCrunch is now building a conference business and expanding its network of blogs. It probably fair to guess that it has grown to a revenue run rate of $5 million. To believe that the figure could double to $10 million in 2008 is not unreasonable.

Meet Coder Barbie

What do you think of the newest Barbie? My favourite barbie had a reversible outfit - by day she wore a pink swede power suit and by night she had a sequent bustier and disco skirt.

I'd expect a woman in tech to have a multi-use outfit and nerd tools that would make MacGyver jealous.


Over half a million votes were cast to decide Barbie’s newest career. But even though Computer Engineer Barbie was developed in consultation with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering, the new doll’s appearance has sparked controversy.


Read more about this at Mashable.

Optimise All Content

If you had asked me a few years ago if I saw myself working in online marketing or SEO strategy I'd think you were bent - but here I am, in a role I never imagined for myself. I always thought I'd be working in some role that focused on the user experience. Coming from a forum and moderator background - being in the "trenches" is where I've always loved being. I think it's a great job to interact with people, find out what interests them and what they like and dislike about the platform or website content - and then working with the team that makes it the best user experience possible.

I assumed online marketing was just an old practice in a new media. Sometimes online marketing is a little like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I'm not a huge fan of AdWords and banner advertising - I think it's lazy to be honest and generally ineffective.

I guess because of my background and personality I want to create an experience for people online. I want interactive, fun, and if possible- inspiring capabilities that result in people having a good experience. To me, my job is about making it easy for the right audience to find the right content. That doesn't always mean a website- hence, AdWords and Banner Ads aren't always the right fit. Video is a great tool for just about any brand.

A great example comes from a post by a brilliant guy named Ian Lurie.

One innocent Tweet and everyone went nuts. Sheesh.

The YouTube Video Optimization session at SMX West today kicked butt. Out of many cool tidbits, one really stood out: Matt Ballek pointed out a Forrester study showing that an optimized YouTube video is 50x more likely to get onto page 1 of Google than an optimized HTML page.

I tweeted it. It then got retweeted. And retweeted again. And then some more. And so on.

Since it got a lot of attention, I figured I'd better provide a proper citation. Matt was referencing a Forrester report that said:

Now that's a lot of math, but here's what it means: on the keywords for which Google offers video results, any given video in the index stands about a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of results than any given text page in the index.

Matt's presentation was dynamite. Learn more from him on his site, vidiSEO.


I think it's a great point to raise - SEO is about optimised content. As much as it's good practice to optimise a website it's just as important to optimise each piece of media you create.

Collaborate or Perish: An Introduction to Social Media

Yesterday was an incredibly long day for me. On top of my regular non-stop schedule I presented an introduction to social media seminar to a few of our existing clients. You can check out the presentation on Slideshare.

For those who have read some of my earlier posts, you’ll know that I moved from Toronto to Melbourne last year, and I had a really hard time figuring out how to market myself to potential employers. The job titles I had at home aren’t traditional and aren’t seen as roles within a corporate organization. Titles such as: Online Community Specialist and Online Community Moderator, are roles that fit into online gaming or user management on platforms, but not traditional company’s, right?

Wrong.

After 9 months I realize that the roles I had do fit into Australian businesses, but it’s a lack of connection between the marketing strategies and the business objectives. I believe there is a disconnect and the people who are meant to be initiating these activities are not receiving the right kind of guidance.

To me, the main reason company’s should engage in social media is to create a dialogue. And not a always a literal dialogue where you create a group and lamely ask random questions to a disinterested audience. A dialogue can be a lot of things. The narrative is in assembling all of the communication to create a message.

If you look at a platform, such as Twitter, you can assess the functionality and use it to create your communication strategy. Twitter is a great way to extend your customer service and find ideas for customer-centric solutions. Facebook is a great place to conduct surveys and solicit feedback based on opt-in offers. It also allows you to conduct research to a broader audience. LinkedIn helps you generate leads and find potential partners.

The point of these examples is that you can extract metrics of measurement to build business strategies that are future-proof. Your services can identify solve problems in a more timely manner then traditional reviews. All of this data and information needs to be disseminated by someone within your organization. It doesn’t need to be only one person’s job to manage and communicate, but there should be someone collecting and reporting on the information. Teams should have access to this information to form the basis for the day to day practices of your business.

Interestingly, at the end of the presentation a woman asked me about privacy. She said, “how are company’s supposed to control what their employees say to people online?” This is a classic response and something I expected to hear. My response to this is that employees should sign confidentiality agreements that clearly stipulate what they are permitted to share with others outside of the company. If you are a car manufacturer, you might not want your employees leaking information about a product soon to come to market, but it would be ok for your employees to solicit information about people’s favorite car or the story of how they bought their first car. Or even what types of software they’d love to have in a car if they were able to design their own. Alternatively, if a car designer wants to find out whether people like 2 door or 4 on a particular model – why not ask people? Isn’t it better to find out what people want before launching a product that may or may not satisfy the demand? No one is suggesting that employees give away the secret sauce, but the world is full of great ideas and specialists. If you turn your back on the crowd you will surely find yourself out of business sooner than you think.You need to relinquish control.