The Rise of the Aggregate in Social Media Applications

How many Social Media services are there? How many do you use? Our research shows over 300 blogging platforms, over 80 calendar services, 20 microblogging platforms, 200+ news feed services, numerous Web conferencing solutions, multiple Instant Messaging services, 300 plus variations on RSS feeders, over 20 Web-based sales automation and CRM solutions, 1000+ CMS solutions to manage your content, 14 teleconference solutions. In other words, we’re overflowing with Web 2.0 and Social Media applications.

To engage in Social Media as a consumer, our research shows the average consumer has 4 Social Media services they use; Social Network (i.e. Facebook), Microblog (i.e. Twitter), Blog (i.e. Blogger), email (according to eMarketer most active Web users have 3 email accounts) and a preferred photo sharing site. The issue then becomes “which” of these services do they use? Some behavioural research we did showed that the average user will sign up for 4 additional Social Media services (such as calendaring, video sharing etc.) over the run of a six month period, but there is only a 20% chance that these additional services will be used more than 2 times after sign-up. You can infer a lot in user behaviour patterns and churn rate issues for the providers of these services.

Now we increasingly see the rise of “aggregation” services in Social Media applications (Friendfeed being an example.) These are services that pull information from multiple sources or broadcast to multiple services creating Pull Aggregators and Broadcast Aggregators. The failure of most of these however is that they limit “what” they pull or push. For example, Ping.fm pushes (to a fair number of services, but not all) and others only aggregate RSS feeds. Granted that the major issue is each provider allowing these connections. Something OpenID is aiming to solve, and looks to be doing so. The best Services Aggregator (pull and push) we’ve seen so far is Digsby. We wouldn’t call it a “professional” type of service yet, but for people active in Social Media and just “conversing” it is a great tool. It is still only for Windows, though we think it will work best when it resides purely in the browser and can have total platform and device independence.

What we are seeing though, is a definite need for such aggregators, perhaps better called Information Arbiters than aggregators. As SmartPhone adoption grows there will be more apps developed, and thus the need for arbitration will need to tie with aggregation the more society learns to leverage Social Media.

Text Vs. Video in Social Media

The past couple of years has seen much discussion surrounding the rise of video. Reading the writings (note we say “reading”) of pundits and analysts alike, it would seem the keyboard is fading to a faint memory. Then there are those that hail the doom of good grammar, spelling and creative writing. So, which is better? Text or video? We set out a few weeks ago to explore this question, not in any extensive detail, but using our mediasphere360 tool and plumbing the brains of our team.

Essentially text is very much alive and well with no signs of slowing. In fact, the use of text is growing, we argue, more so than video. We see the reason for text as being predominant over video as a mix of issues, mostly that there are bigger barriers to video than text. More technology is required for video; camera, editing software, the right PC and the knowledge to make truly effective use of these tools. We also noted some key changes in the use of text, noted below in this article.

As monitored blogs we found that using estimations by eMarketer, Gartner and Forrester (all respectable research houses) we see there are roughly 60 Million text-based blogs. Then there are the microblogs like Twitter, Plurk and identi.ca, all text driven. Add in the increasing use of SMS to blogs,  microblogs and participatory services, you have about 60% more text than video. In our research of monitoring daily blog entries we found that there is on average over the past 4 weeks a ratio of 3:1 for text over video blogs. Additionally, underlying the use of video on video sharing sites is that user comments are 95% text based even when video commentary is an option.

It is still easier and faster to produce text-based content than it is video. Additionally, we find that video when shot personally using a Webcam on a PC tends to be more “personal” and a quick survey found that users were less comfortable putting their “face” out there versus writing a blog entry in text. The other factor was that with a Webcam mounted on a PC or in a laptop creativity has limits; the person must operate within a restricted field of the cameras range. So to really make video interesting, you need a camera operator to create more movement, since this is how broadcast television and movies have trained us to view video productions.

We believe that video will continue to be very strong, and predict that video and text will grow closer together in the coming years. The ability for Smart Phones to have higher quality video, quick in-device editing and lower cost uploading will impact the increased use of video as well; but these technologies need to develop and become easier to use.

The changes we have noted in text are interesting as well. This article/blog post actually exceeds the average blog post by a few hundred words. We found that of 10,000 blog entries (we though “n” should be about n=10,000 as a minimum representative number) the average entry was 150 words or 3 paragraphs. We found only 30% had poor grammar and found 70% had spelling mistakes. We found a common use of contractions as increasingly popular (i.e. LOL, IMHO etc.) which we think is carried over from mobile device usage and microblogging. We’ll post more on these findings later.

So why does this matter? On the one hand it is a signal to how we are evolving our communicating styles and preferences as a society, and on the other hand it can be a good guide when developing a Social Media strategy to determine a good mix of video and text and where to place effort.

(Author: G. Crouch, Managing Partner)

The Ecology of Twitter

What’s the cost (i.e. time) of following someone on Twitter? What is their “grade” and just how popular are they and how many people have blocked them or not followed them and well, who cares? Is it relevant at all? More than anything, these questions may point to some growing trends in Social Media usage and services. The ecology that Twitter has spurned begs some interesting questions and sparks some thoughts on the evolution of Social Media.

Why do we need to understand this evolution? Because understanding the evolving Social Web is critical to understanding global economic shifts, consumer spending and saving and political changes. The Social Web is the enabling technology  that will have an impact on our society even greater than the first Social Media tool – the printing press; which lead to the Christian Reformation. I point out Twitter simply as a reference point, and this topic could go very long and very deep.

Taking a look at what one might call Twitology (or spin-off apps leveraging Twitter that form a transaction economy of information) we can see that Twitter, the service  pundits only a year ago pondered it’s worth on, has now grown an ecology just like the iPod, only in the Social Web, with no apparent monetization plan. So what is the ecology of Twitter?

Without compiling a whole list (some of which can be found here) in this entry, suffice to say we’ve counted over 30 different spin-off applications that feed off of Twitter. Other microblogs like Plurk and Identi.ca have not seen this kind of uptake spin-off. Clearly Twitter has become a phenomenon. Services range from seeing your own and others ranking, feeds to Smart Phones, tracking topics, graphing trends and sentiment ranking. Whole conversations take place with Twitterers using the “#” sign followed by a letter/number sequence which can be followed in real-time or later.

We see this as an indicator of how we’re still learning a new set of communication skills. We marvel at the stories of Twitter on saving lives or as a terrorist tool and a social safety net. These are all small and early indicators that Twitter and similar tools are playing a role in an evolving style of community the world hasn’t quite seen before. So it’s not the technology – that is just an enabler – it’s how we’re using that technology in our daily lives and how services like Twitter will hekp us shift how we organize and foment change locally, regionally and globally.

How do you think Twitter will evolve?

(Author: G. Crouch, Managing Partner)

Addressing Culture In Social Media Marketing

What makes our world so incredible is the mix of cultures on this little planet. This diversity is exemplified and amplified in Social Media applications. One might ponder that Social Media could be a way of uniting us, resulting in less wars, greater societal wealth and more. Coming back to earth for a moment, there are some serious implications in regards to marketing and communications in Social Media in cultural terms.

Failing to understand cultural issues is a key, yet often overlooked, factor in the success or failure of Social Media activities. Done right however, reaching and succeeding with cultural clusters in the U.S., UK and Canada can mean highly loyal customers and vital feedback on product development.

When looking to implement a Social Media marketing effort however, the considerations go beyond just language planning and resource allocations internally. Each cultural group has specific social rules, etiquette and behavioral issues that should be addressed. These can range from who is making the buying decisions and how those buying decisions are divided in the household. Different cultures have different traditions regarding the handling of finances. Then there’s “how” ethnic and cultural groups make decisions on sharing. There are many variables, failure to understand or plan for them can result in a failed effort. If you truly fail, the results can also be very long term.

Simply translating the creative and campaign elements when targeting an ethnic group will likely result in failure. As with language support, you need to have the back-end support and understanding in place. Not doing so can result in abject failure and long-term loss of potential customers. So while implementing a Social Media campaign or strategy that engages cultural groups can be very rewarding, take careful planning and consider you’re ability to commit to maintaining that relationship. Many non-Western cultures place extremely high value on familial and social relationships, so engaging needs commitment, research, resources and empathy.

When Less Is More In Social Media

Sometimes big numbers mean less in Social Media marketing. Traditional agencies and most Web marketing agencies sell their clients on driving big numbers to their website, or at the very least focus on Big Numbers as the measure of success. When it comes to Social Media marketing however, less can often mean more.

A case in point is when I worked with Makita tools. They were thinking about the launch of a new power tool that they needed big numbers. Their agency, a traditional agency with two Social Media specialists, had almost sold them on big numbers. But what was more important was connecting with the right target. The key word here being “connecting” which meant engaging in a key user who would support the product. What turned out to be of more value was the “user experience” with the product.

Using blogging and some promotion across Facebook and leveraging some database marketing tools, the campaign drove key users to partake in a series of surveys, forums and blog commentary. The result was a core set of professional product users who felt engaged with Makita and would become product recommenders. Makita ended up with a core set of customers who provided key feedback on a new product and would shorten the product development cycle significantly.

So the project was successful on several levels; better in-field customer feedback reducing product development cycles (and costs), gaining loyal customers who’d buy other products and better sales in those regions. What was also important is that the company was able to develop long-term relationships with those customers. Over time, maintaining contact with new customers, they would also gain an increased core of customers, ever growing their base.

In summary, it’s not always about big numbers when it comes to leveraging Social Media. It’s more about the right numbers. Key is understanding what you want, and not being sold on “drive the big numbers” everytime. Sometimes, big numbers are the goal, but be sure that is the goal.