Facebook is not the Lonely Social Media

Dear marketeer,

I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you for all the amazing things you have done in the past years. I watched and analyzed different projects that you approved and I am amazed that you managed to climb here, on top of Facebook pages. But listen to me, even though you approved a marketing research that aimed to prove which of the media you used was more effective, please bare in mind that if a market researcher puts on separate grounds Social Media Networks (e.g. Facebook) from forums and blogs, he is not right. Social Media is not only about Facebook. There are a lot of other stuff that you need to ask to be monitored in Social Media. For example bloggers and the comments on your website. Are they complying with the social media definition?

Anyway, my only watchout is to not think that Facebook is the "lonely" social media in this new wave.

Thank you for taking your time for reading this.
Let me know if you you have any question on the above,
Best regards,
Corina

Posted from my Ipad

Behavioral Storytelling

One presentation that suits my thoughts on how social media should be used by brands. Should take some time to write my own thoughts upon this.

Behavioral Storytelling: Social Content Strategy from Michael Leis

Broadcasting Your Life

Not owning a TV for a long period of time isolates me from TV news. If something is burning I will eventually find from the radio or online, but I skip the noise from TV. The curious thing is that all the people I know on Facebook are never re-broadcasting TV news, they are only publishing their own lives and stuff happening/ lived, photos from events, articles and books red. Is it because the content is hard to be retransmitted, not being available online or the fact it has a poor quality?
Later edit:
And then I discovered TNN, Twitter News Network.

Authority and popularity

We take examples from real life, from things that happened, use them unquoted and forget who came up in the first place with the idea. They have the right to be mentioned that they were first, but nobody acknowledges them as another man turned the idea into one more popular. So creative authority is being transferred to the famous creator and everybody refers to the second author.  

I know that only a lawyer can solve this issue, but the lawyer does not transfer authority to the first author, unless they know how to turn it into popularity.  Would I like to work fo such a cause?

Der Lauf Der Dinge

Honda, The Cog

One week without telephone

While  changing jobs I had to give up the company telephone and since I do not own a personal phone anymore, I had to wait for the new number. I could have taken the number with me, but do not care about telephone numbers since in the past I lost my agenda several times.

What did I loose: the urge of recency. Of course I was not pressured by anything, but still, I was constantly online to find out what's new, who's meeting who, thoughts of friends and thoughts of certain online publisher or bloggers. I lost it and enjoyed a magazine. I red Zeppelin's March Edition and Dilema's Veche last week newspaper. Enjoyed the magazine paper, the print design and colors.

What did I gained: my own thoughts. I often look at people in pubs or restaurants and disregard their autistic behavior of constantly checking the phone, as I am also autistic when with a smart phone in hand. Loosing the smart phone, I lost the need of checking my accounts every hour or even sooner. I had several other devices to be connected to the "world", but my device was missing. When with friends or family, I often leave the telephone aside, but also consciously sometimes I ignore conversation because I want to see/ read something else. This time I was forced to be present and to actively participate to conversation or I had the time to be only with my thoughts.

What I wish: tablet and normal phone. I really believe that accessing online by tablet will diminish the recency urge, specially in those moments when you need to be present and not just physically, while the phone will keep you connected for urgent or pleasant talks. Also, it is very difficult to pull out from your jeans pocket an ipad, even the mini version.

Broaden-and-Build

While trying to find ways of explaining admin roles/ community managers work in Social Media, I stumbled upon a psychology theory, brought to my attention by Costin Jelea. Broaden-and-build, the theory of positive emotions. In one sentence if people are experiencing positive emotions, they become more creative, wiser, socially integrated and thus happier.

A community manager always has to stay positive an keep the answers for the members of the community assertive and favorable to the brand. This is rule number one. In Social Media you never fight. But the interesting question is what happens between admins and the people they answer for or get engaged to, on long term?

If the relation between the psychologist and his patient is meant to cure the patient and methods of broaden-and-build theory can do this, what happens between the admin and brand advocates?

First of all, let's define the therapy roles. The admin is the brand social media psychologist. Brand advocates are the people who are most present in the community/page, comment and interact with the brand often. They are those who need counseling from the brand. The reasons for which they come to "therapy" are different, depending first on the category and second on the conversation pattern. They come for beauty advices in case of cosmetics and end up talking also about self confidence. They come for entrepreneur advices and start talking about community issues.

Just like in any therapy interaction, admins and brand advocates get attached. The admin raises a question or launches a discussion on a social network and he is the first one to give the answer or guide it. If the admin respects the first rule, he will have a crowd to talk to and guide it further. The brand content has to raise positive feelings. (second rule of social media). I'm not talking about posting funny cats or comedy movies/illustration. I'm talking about generating good content, educational or entertaining, that follows brand equity and values. This is how the transfer of emotions begins, from the admin, towards the brand advocates, by starting a conversation that enables people to write positive stuff.

The second step for the admin, when transfer happens, is to become friends with the advocates and educate them to create more valuable content. They are sharing same values, so why should't they become friends? The reason behind this is to generate the milestone of online communication - WOM, to have more people taking the message further, but also to generate duplication of content.

Social Media and the Unconscious

What if the only role of social media were to drive conversation? Then it would sound like you're going every day to your psychotherapist and unveil him your conscious thoughts so that your unconsciousness could get out or deposit itself in a another box.

If you watch an analytic account and search for referrals you also observe that social does not drive traffic. It contains and consumes itself, as unconscious thoughts mess with your mind.

You do not take decisions upon on what you are reading and interacting on your newsfeed, it only helps you deposit and include information for further discussions or cognition processes. Brands should take social media as an opportunity for listening and driving conversation, just like a psychologist listens to his patient. Consider also that a patient can get cured and would no longer need the brand. Then the conversation changes.

About brands, social media, churches and legacies

Some churches are small, quiet, traditional, repetitive and full of rules like orthodox churches.
Some are loud, crowded, organizing each week humongous meetings like megachurches.
The admin is the priest, the mediator between brand values and followers.
Priests are changing. The pope can resign.
Priests can influence the church, but not the religion.
Some priests do not influence anybody, not even themselves  Some admins also.

I was the "priest" of some communities and left the job. The first community was a swap clothes event that I wanted to turn into an online swap community, but did not managed (lack of budget). I was preaching on Facebook (page and group) and on a blog, beside the event itself. After I decided to leave the community, I found another preacher, but only offered the Facebook page. I didn't want to lend my entire legacy. The blog space remained empty in recency ever since, even though the Facebook Page continues it's activity.

Now I have to do the same with Oriflame and the feeling is torturing me. I have to leave everything clear. This is why I am asking myself if the work I have done is social and visible enough to be easy to understand for the person who will replace me, beside the training that I will support. Each brand advocate that the brand acquired in the past year has it's own story and it's own drive to be part of the community. I have the police woman, the school teacher and the mother near the brand. The woman from rural area, the one from urban and the one from outside our country. Each one of them entered the community with some expectations. We become friends. I just met one live, the others only during Facebook chats but I will surly miss them.

How can you be sure you will leave all the advices on the table and the community will be run in the best way or better? How can you be sure that your recipe is easy to follow?

Fenomenul Pitești

Sunt oameni care s-au săturat să audă de comunism, să vadă filme despre comunism, sau artiști care exploreză zona. Dar uităm că nu s-a spus tot și că părinții și bunicii noștri nu puteau vorbi deschis despre ce se întâmpla. Nici după ce s-a terminat.

Dezbaterile CSIC - Rezistenţa armată anticomunistă eveniment; pagina de Facebook; site.

Curățenia de primăvară + întrebări

Am șters jumătate din lista de bloguri și site-uri pe care le urmăream pe vremea când mă ocupam de blogul ăsta (începutul lui 2009). Cele mai multe nu mai existau, mulți nu au mai scris de peste un an sau poate mai mult iar câteva bloguri s-au mutat pe un alt domeniu. Eu am simțit nevoia să mă întorc aici, după ce am vagabondat pe Facebook și m-am ocupat de alte bloguri și proiecte. E [con]textul meu. Simt nevoia să mă întorc acasă, la fel cum mă voi întoarce în agenție în scurt timp.

Apropo de curățenia de primăvară, mă întreb de ce lumea dezaprobă schimbările dese din Facebook, când de fapt userii au nevoie de schimbări și de personalizări multiple ale contextului digital pe care îl frecventează?

Facebook face curățenie în news feed. Utilizatorii vor alege ei ce fel de conținut vor să urmărească. Chiar dacă Facebook spune că din punct de vedere al designului diferența nu va fi sesizabilă, din punct de vedere al funcționalității se va vedea ceva. S-ar putea să dispară edgrank, fiind înlocuit de schimbător/ switcher (deși nu e încă oficial) și expunerea la conținut se va face în funcție de nevoile userului. Tu vei putea controla conținutul pe care vrei să îl urmărești. Schimbarea aceasta este ca un  leucoplast pentru algortimul edgerank și de aceea mă întreb care va fi impactul asupra paginilor de brand în care s-a investit enorm în ad-uri și cum va scădea interactivitatea între branduri și utilizatori.

Totuși, mai am o altă întrebare: unde cauți detalii despre schimbările din Facebook? Nu pe Google?

Tot din domeniul curățeniei de primăvară, Google Reader se va închide de la 1 iulie 2013. Am nevoie de alt Reader, la fel de ușor de folosit. Recomandări?

Și ultima întrebare, când ne vom sătura de #hastaguri pe Facebook, ne vom întoarce mai mult către Twitter?