A History of Social Media

I came across this cool graphic about the history of social media. It is interesting because I've actually never sat and looked at the exact dates and progression of things within the social media uprise until now. I know I grew up with social media from its beginnings so its fun to look back and see how far it's come. Thought I would share this with everyone.

- Lauren Cochrane

More Social Media Trends in 2011?

Yes, as if we didn't have enough social media tools out right now there will be a whole new tools for social media trends in this year if 2010 belonged to Foursquare and its playful, competitive and sometimes addicting ecosystem of badges, mayorships and specials, it's likely that Facebook will rain on Foursquare's parade in 2011. With tons of data and the architecture behind Facebook's response to Foursquare, Facebook is well positioned to actually make location based services useful to business. So can Facebook 'wipe' out Foursquare?
 It probably won't but the usage of checking in on Facebook has been successful these past 2 months or so. Although some people haven't really caught onto it or are skeptical about it I feel like foursquare will still be around.

QR codes are making a huge impact onto the social media scene. A lot of places,brands, invites, products, etc... have been labeled with this QR codes that notify the consumer more about whatever the thing is they're scanning. Since interning at the fashion pr firm these past two months the invites for fashion week which was three weeks ago that we did had a QR code on the back of the invite. This was to prevent fraud check ins to the show and also to track who was there and give a count of the total guests in attendance. Magazines, beauty products, resturants,stores and much more have this scanner code to promote whatever it is they want the consumer to know. If you have a smart phone there is an application that allows you to scan this and direct you online to the products website.

I have run out of time but i will post more later . Sorry ; )

-John

web trends that will make us stay ahead of the curve

This is a good article to forecast some web trends which will affect our business in 2011. Here are a few bigger trends shaping the way we’ll do business in 2011.

1. Social media.

It’s true that both B2B and B2C marketers are tentatively embracing social tools as a way to connect with customers and grow their businesses. Most businesses have some kind of social presence or say they plan to launch something: Most have attempted a blog or Facebook page, or have peeked at Twitter. For instance, when Guy Kawasaki asked a room full of B2B marketers recently, “How many people think Twitter is stupid?” only two brave souls raised their hands high.

Still, most marketers have yet to truly embrace the full social toolset for their business, especially in the B2B space. Sometimes, it’s because they are unsure of the real value, and sometimes it’s because they aren’t sure how to approach social channels. (How do you foster engagement on Facebook? What’s the value of social-streaming platforms like Twitter, where your content quickly vaporizes? Why doesn’t our blog have any comments?)

One marketer I met at a recent event in Silicon Valley summed up the state of marketing and social media nicely: “We have a blog, but it sucks,” she said. “We’re here to learn how to change that.”

In other words: marketers + social = lots of room for improvement. But just as relationships mature beyond high school, there’s every reason to anticipate a more satisfying partnership down the road.

2. Content is king, but it isn’t enough.

Most marketers have embraced the notion that they are also “publishers.” In other words, they understand that in addition to being in the business selling whatever they sell—be it shovels or security systems—they also need to be producing content as a cornerstone of their marketing, both to engage and educate their would-be customers, and to get noticed by search engines. That’s especially true for small businesses and web-based businesses, which can amplify their footprint online exponentially through the content they publish.

But at the same time, producing any old content isn’t enough. Businesses like yours have to produce the right kind of content: web content that is honestly empathetic and seeded with utility for your customers; content that reflects your businesses core values and is inspired by your unique perspective and authentic “voice.” As blogger and tech evangelist Robert Scoble said last month, “When you are trying to sell something, a human voice does it better."

How do you produce the right kind of content? That bit about being “honestly empathetic” above is the key: Put yourself in the shoes of your customer and consider what you can do to best suit their needs. Be that expert who can help them with their problems and offer solutions. Be a voice of trusted reason in your industry, about whatever problem it is that your service or product solves.

And do it in an interesting way: “Tweet is the new haiku,” as Guy Kawasaki says. By learning how to write a compelling tweet or an interesting blog post, or by creating video or curate information that speaks to the heart of an issue, you will elevate your status from just someone who sells stuff to someone who has an expert point of view and is a go-to resource.

3. Cozy up your website and social media outposts.

Businesses are challenged to improve the integration of their websites and social media presences. Why? Because your home base (your website) needs to have its look and feel more deliberately integrated across any social outpost your business is part of (Facebook, Twitter, and so on), in order to give users more seamless experience with your brand, to more fully support the conversations happening on social networks.

It might radical to think about, but your future web strategy won’t be based around your site, but around people and your online connections.

It sounds obvious that you need to integrate both your site and social outposts, right? But it’s incredibly tricky to pull off, says analyst Jeremiah Owyang, because the teams who maintain each are often different. Then there’s the technology, issue, too: Social platforms are inherently lighter and more nimble, while websites often are inherently “heavier,” with lots of custom programming.

The goal is to move beyond simply slapping Facebook and Twitter icons on your home page (and driving people to those outposts without any sense of a larger strategy) to more seamless integrating the visitor experience and aggregating conversations, so that someone doesn’t see an obvious difference between being on a home base or an outpost.

4. Social objects can spread your message for you.

Those companies succeeding the most with social media innately understand that customer engagement doesn’t necessarily take place on their own web pages, as we talked about above.

How can marketers capitalize on that trend right now? One way is to create “social objects” that allow your prospects or customers to spread your message for you across the social web. What’s a “social object”? It might be a cool digital tool or other kind of content (an interesting infographic, a compelling Slideshare presentation, or a video) that your customers take and can share on their own blogs, Facebook pages, and other social platforms.

But a social object might also be as something as simple as a real-life stuffed animal: Software company OK Labs’ stuffed mascot, Iggy Wanna, has partied at bars in Birmingham and surfaced in Shanghai, as documented by people who have gotten their hands on one and uploaded their photos with Iggy to the iguana’s Flickr page.

 What’s the value of getting people to take pictures of themselves with your stuffed icon? It raises awareness and interest in your company and builds a sense of community around your business in a humorous, offbeat, and decidedly human way.

5. Serving is the new selling, and support is the new marketing. .

As I’ve written in the past, smart companies will increasingly be "brand butlers,"  focusing on how they can help their customers or prospects to make the most of their daily lives (versus the old model of selling them a lifestyle). Brand butlering is not about simply offering great customer service or awesome sales support. Instead, it's about creating relevance and utility for people.

Content is one way that you can meet the needs of your customers—by delivering information that's timely, needed and on-brand, and that helps your customers as we talked about in #2, above. But there are other ways -- through iPhone apps that help customers accomplish certain tasks, real-world support, or simply rethinking whether your website navigation really helps your customers accomplish what they need to do. (Or whether it just offers them marketing Frankenspeak.)

A major theme of Gerry McGovern’s new book, The Stranger’s Long Neck (A&C Black, 2010) is that today’s Web represents, more than anything else, a shift in power away from organizations and to customers. Are you helping and supporting your customers in their goals, or just selling to them?

@shuwen zhao

Social Media Trends in 2011: Give the People What they Want

From privacy issues to monetization, to mobile applications, 2011 holds many changes for the world of social media and the businesses and consumers who utilize it.

As social media continues and to spread and more people begin using location-based services like Foursquare and Facebook check-ins, privacy is going to continue to be a major issue in the social media world.

Social networking juggernaut Facebook has come under fire many times over privacy concerns. Recently, Facebook has been in the news again and is even receiving criticism from Congress for putting their user’s privacy at stake by allowing third party applications to have access to sensitive user date such as home addresses and phone numbers. With this in mind, it will be very important for companies to instill trust in the people who are using their services.

It is becoming harder and harder to avoid or escape social media and conducting business on the Internet, but I think many people would be more like to do it if they knew that they could trust their privacy was being protected. A company like Facebook is walking a dangerous line by pulling so many fast moves on their users. When this happens, people lose trust in the company and become more likely to leave.

I predict that there is going to eventually be a mass migration away from Facebook. It seems that a lot of people are waiting for the next big thing, like maybe a new social networking service that is far more private and secure. Will Facebook go the way of Myspace?

Another major trend that’s happening in 2011 is the prevalence of smart phones and other mobile devices like iPads taking the place of laptops. People are doing more and more on-the-go these days, and this trend toward mobility is only going to continue to expand with increased mobile applications and services catering to the growing number of people who are purchasing these devices.

Web content is another trend. The web is a huge database of content. Lots of people are turning to the Internet for information, and with this trend there is going to be an increasing demand, not just for content, but for high-quality content from reliable sources.

One of the biggest issues surrounding social media and social networking is how to monetize it. One example is how some businesses have started using Foursquare to offer discounts/deals/incentives to people who come and check in to their business. Businesses that are smart will get on board with this trend.

I think perhaps the smartest move that any company can make in 2011 is to use social media to get feedback directly from consumers, listen to what the consumers want, and find a way give it to them. Hopefully we see a lot of this in the coming year.

- Erika Hansen (@erikathehansen)

Trendsetters & Go-Getters

  From Facebook to Foursquare, social media is becoming the hottest trend since boyfriend jeans and sweater dresses.  Everyone and their mother (literally) are using social media for everyday tasks, business ventures, and even for personal satisfaction.  I have recently just come to the realization how social media users are becoming more and more engaged in social media tools that showcase and identify precise locations and continue to have more tools that benefit the user.  CBS released there are a few other services in the same mix that are certainly worth watching. CBS recently released their entertainment check-in service, T.V.com Relay. It’s a browser-based mobile app for most smart phones that allows users to check-in to live television shows and follows the same TV guide-style format that Philo employs.  It seems as if the entire world is posting exactly where they are what they’re doing, watching, eating, smoking, listening to, etc.  Well, at least missing people will be easier to find I guess?

  Another hot and heavy trend of 2011 for brands and companies is sponsored blogging.  Throughout the past 5 years, society has become heavily influenced by bloggers like Perez Hilton, BrianBoy, and Rumi Neely of Fashiontoast.  Advertisers and marketers understand the importance and link between what societies want from the media, and bloggers are starting to become the fuel to this flame.  Advertisers are going to give their audience what they want, and that means a connection to celebrity and public figures that are naturally persuasive.  

Five Social Media Trends for 2011

I was curious to see what social media trends to look forward to in the new year and I came across an interesting article:

Five Social Media Trends for 2011 by Stephanie Schwab

I thought I would give my own thoughts on each of these five social media trends and perhaps hear other people's insights to these upcoming trends for 2011.

1. Consumer Content Curation

With technology becoming smarter, consumers are becoming smarter as well. Consumers are realizing that following hundreds of brands on Twitter and Facebook is becoming more and more overwhelming. Therefore, what's happening is that things are being created such as Facebook lists to turn off brands posting to their walls so they can pay closer attention to their "real" friends. For brands this means it's not going to be enough to create content; they need to create content that can get put into people's streams. I honestly do try to block most of the content coming from brands to my social media pages. I am bombarded all day by brands trying to advertise to me so why do I need to continue the bombardment once I am home and using the Internet? If I want to view the brands that I follow for coupons or special deals, I want the ability to turn their constant postings on and off. Brands of course are going to be looking for new ways to bipass this new system and I look forward to seeing how they plan to do so whilst hoping that they don't succeed.

2. Niche Location

Even though it was found that only 4% of the Internet population are using location based services, there's no question that Foursquare and Gowalla were huge social media trends in 2010. Now there are sites sprouting such as Shopkick (a service that appeals to in-store shoppers who love bargains) and Foodspotting (a service that allows people to find and share foods that they love). I myself had always been against location based services until I began my social media class. I had no idea that you could receive special coupons or discounts simply from checking into a venue. I've learned that when using sites like foursquare you can limit who sees where you are. If I don't want anyone but me to see my check-in, I can do so. Thus, I don't annoy people with my constant updates on where I am which was the first reason for why I had stayed clear of Foursquare for so long. I learned about Shopkick and Foodspotting from this article and have installed both applications on my phone to try them out. Foodspotting is great in that I can see what dishes look like from particular restaurants that may make my restaurant choice more clear. Shopkick on the other hand works with partners such as Best Buy, American Eagle, Macy's and Target to reward frequent customers with savings. In a time when money is tight, Shopkick is definitely appealing.

3. Gamification and Social Gaming

Gamification means applying game mechanics to things such as marketing to increase engagement and participation. Popular examples of gamification are Farmville and even Foursquare. Farmville works because if you don't log in and harvest your crops, they die. I myself used to be a Farmville addict and even a game that seems silly in the beginning, it can be very addicting after a couple times of playing. Foursquare is so successful because it has a competitive aspect to it. You can unlock badges by traveling to different places, get mayorships with special privileges and leave tips to be liked by as many people as possible. Companies are even using product placement in their games to get even more exposure. Gaming has definitely been a way for brands to get to me.

4. QR Codes
I am not a big fan of QR Codes nor do I recall ever using them. Even so, I think that QR Codes are going to become more mainstream soon enough. For those of you who don't know, QR Codes are on advertisements for people to scan with their mobile devices in order to bring up websites or other information on a persons mobile device. Perhaps I have not found an advertisement worth making the effort to scan their QR Code, but it is an interesting trend. Years ago I would never imagine scanning codes in a magazine so that information would come up on my phone. It is a fascinating technology, however it needs to become a little bit more mainstream before I will begin to use them more.

5. Social Commerce

I actually did not know this existed until reading this article. There are sites created merely for people to share what they have purchased at stores. I had heard of websites such as Groupon but did not know that it fell under this category. There is also Facebook Commerce where people can share their purchases with others. I don't think I will be partaking in this social media trend anytime soon. I feel somewhat of a hypocrite that I can share where I am or what I'm doing but when it comes to what I'm buying I don't feel the need to have a whole other social media site to post on.

I am enjoying all of the new social media trends that have emerged in the past couple of years. Some I find unnecessary (but yet I still use them) and some I find extremely helpful. It all depends on your lifestyle and privacy preferences whether or not a trend is going to appeal to you. Whether or not you like a trend personally though, always research them and see what is in it for brands or businesses. You never know when you could come across the next big thing that could help out a company you are working for, putting you ahead of the curve.

- Lauren Cochrane

Living in NYC without Media is Difficult

 

Hi all,

I’m an international student from Thailand. I’ve been studying in NYC for five years. I fist think about NYC that is a beautiful country, and most people in NYC should know how to communicate by using media such as the Internet. Yes, NYC is a graceful big apple, but there is quite difficult for living if you don’t learn about media.

When my first day in NYC, everything was unfamiliar to me; people and a language were confused me at the first time because I didn’t know about anything, and I also didn’t know about how to communicate to people in English. Thus, I felt so bad about my English, but I've been told myself that I wouldn’t give up.

Recently, my English has improved. I tried to understand English by learning from many sources out of school such as the program on TV, magazines, newspapers, American friends, and the Internet. I think there are very helpful for me. Indeed, I think I have lots of great experience in NYC.

Guntapons@yahoo.com