Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 293

End Of Blogs

I love my blog. I love your blog. I love blogs.

Call me old-fashioned. Loving blogs has nothing to do with me not loving the newer stuff. I love Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other places to publish, share and connect too, but I have a soft spot for blogs. It was a punch in the gut yesterday to read this tweet from Gina Trapani: "Wow, Google Reader shutting down. It really IS the end of blogging and old school newsreaders. Watch for 'Subscribe in Google+.'" So, am I supposed to forget about this blog and just post what I'm thinking about on Google+ or Facebook or tumblr or whatever? It got me down to find out that Google has decided to stop the service of Google Reader (you can read more about it here: Google Reader lived on borrowed time: creator Chris Wetherell reflects).

Confession time.

I was a die-hard user and evangelist for Google Reader. So much so, that I encouraged everyone I met to use Google Reader as a way to stay on top of the best blogs and even manage Google Alerts (if you don't want to fill up your inbox). It is the first tab when I open my web browser (which is Google Chrome). It is filled with hundreds (maybe thousands) of blogs, websites and more that provide me with a curated view of what's most important to me to do my job better. I haven't looked at Google Reader in months. Maybe longer. What happened? By connecting to the right people in places like Twitter and Facebook, all of you have - essentially - become a way better engine of curation. If something is really important, you tweet it or post it on Facebook or Google+, and the information comes to me. Since I'm confessing here, email has also become a powerful way to keep me informed. I subscribe to many e-newsletters (like Mashable, MediaPost and more) that provide me with a quick glance into what's going on. So, as much as I love Google Reader, recommend it and think it's a great tool, I don't really use it.

This isn't the end of blogs.

From what I can gather, Google Reader was a very niche product. It was great for me, maybe great for you and a bunch of journalists and media folks, but the general public never latched on the the magic that is RSS. Once Mark Zuckerberg and the crew at Facebook, turned all of our individual profile pages into a newsfeed and put RSS behind the curtain, RSS disappeared out of our zeitgeist and into a line of code that social platforms use to pull information from one page of content to another. The original power of blogging wasn't really in the ease of publishing, it was in the power to subscribe to a blog and be notified when a blogger updated their space. RSS was the next generation of newsfeed, and it was a key driver in making blogging popular and accessible. So, in one sense, Trapani is right: old school newsreaders may have been replaced by things like Flipboard and others, but this better not be the end of blogging.

Please don't stop the blogging.

For my dollar, blogging isn't about RSS, newsreaders or any of that stuff. Blogging is this: the ability for anybody to have a thought and publish that thought - in text (supported by images, audio, video and whatever) - instantly and for free for the world to share. My fear is that when Google Reader goes and Feedburner could be next (which has been on a deathwatch), that it diminishes the ways in which people can find, share and add to this type of content. Blogs are important. This isn't the end of blogging. That being said, I am curious to know how people find and discover blogs? Are we truly in the day and age when if you're not on Twitter at a specific time to see a specific tweet about a single blog post, that blogging suddenly becomes the sound of a tree falling in the forest? I hope not. In the meantime, Mashable offers this up: Check Out These Google Reader Alternatives.

What's you take? Is this the end of blogging or is Google Reader simply not a viable business?

Tags:

blog

blogger

blogging

chris wetherell

content

content curation

e newsletter

email

facebook

feedburner

flipboard

gina trapani

google

google alerts

google chrome

google plus

google reader

google reader alternative

journalist

mark zuckerberg

mashable

mediapost

newsfeed

newsreader

online profile

publishing

rss

social media

social platform

tumblr

twitter

web browser

Who Needs Big Data?

My, what big data you have!

You really can't toss a marketing blogger without watching the term "big data" tumble out of their pockets these days. If there's something - anything - that gets marketers all excited, it's the notion of big data. The sad reality is that few of them (including me) actually have any semblance of an idea as to what the agreed upon definition of big data is, how it's being used effectively and cases where it has made a significant impact on the overall economic value of a brand. In short, big data is like sex in high school: everyone's talking about... few people are actually doing it.

Death to big data.

From my bird's eye view, it feels like big data is being talked about in two ways:

The potential. Imagine a world where you can understand behaviors and actions of consumers in ways you never could before. Imagine a world where you go beyond basic measurement like demographics and psychographics. Imagine a word where you know things about the consumer that they, themselves, probably don't even know when it comes to their habits. Imagine a world where your data becomes three dimensional and you can slice and dice it in ways that were unimaginable before.

The excuse. Without access to big data, we're sunk. Everyone is using big data, so if we don't have access to big data, we're not going to be as smart as our competitors! If we only had access to big data, we could probably understand our business better and get improved results.

Big data is good.

The potential and the reality of big data is not something to graze over, forget about or dismiss. The power and potential is very real, but here's the thing: data is just data. My good friend, Avinash Kaushik (Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google and author of Web Analytics - An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0) often deflects the data and prefers to focus on the power of having the skills to pull the actionable insights out of the data into something that truly drives magnificent results. I'm with him. As far as we have come as an industry at getting better with the data and analytics we use, there is still a vast majority that are looking at the wrong data, making assumptions and taking actions that aren't based on business strategy or better outcomes. Few understand the power of the data, the real-time web and what can be done with a focus on marketing optimization. If you're struggling with what this looks like, check out Avinash's blog Occam's Razor (he goes way more in depth on what actionable insights can do over a data puke... as he calls it).

So, what now?

How about we start thinking about big insights instead of big data? More data and big data, is just that: more of stuff (and bigger stuff) that most professionals don't understand. I sometimes worry that giving marketers access to big data is simply going to make their heads explode. What if we took a step back? What if we actually took a look at the data we're capturing now, in real time, and better understand what it means and what we can do with it (this will force us down the road of doing the hard work of figuring out things like the lifetime value of a customer, a cost per acquisition strategy for a customer, and how performance-based media can drive tangible results). Think about it like this: we all get all excited about the features and functionality that comes with Microsoft Word (or whatever software we used for word processing), but the truth is that over ninety percent of us probably use only five percent of the features. Have we become so good at the analytics that we're currently capturing to be able enough to graduate to the big data?

It's not the wrong question.

In the coming months and years, big data is going to morph from theory and "would like to have" into access and information at all of our fingertips. If we're challenged (as we currently are) to take the proper actions on what we've currently got, how can we expect to do more and be better with data sets that are of a size and magnitude that we can't even imagine? Don't look at big data as an excuse for what's not working now or at the potential of what could be. Instead, re-focus on what you have, get your head into the weeds, study the analytics that you're getting right now, today, uncover true actionable insights and act on it in as close-to-real-time as you can. Once you master that, big data will only open up many more doors and opportunities.

What's your take on the current state of big data?

Tags:

actionable insights

avinash kaushik

big data

brand value

business strategy

consumer behavior

cost per acquisition

data

data puke

demographic

digital marketing

google

lifetime value of customer

marketing

marketing blogger

marketing optimization

marketing professional

measurement

microsoft words

occams razor

performance based marketing

psychographic

real time web

web analytics

web analytics 20

web analytics an hour a day

word processing

Get My Next Book CTRL ALT Delete Now

Warning: the following blog post will be self-promotional. If you're not interested in it, please feel free to ignore it. If you have been following this blog, listening to my podcast, seen me speak live or engaged with me on many of the various social media platforms, I'm hopeful that you will keep on reading...

My second business book, CTRL ALT Delete, comes out on May 21st, 2013, but you can get a pre-release copy today.

There will be many interesting and fun marketing initiatives leading up to the launch of CTRL ALT Delete on May 21st. That being said, I was meeting with my publisher last week in New York City and we got on the topic of galley copies. Galleys are not finalized books. They are advance, uncorrected copies that are typically given to journalists who have a long lead time. They are also used to entice booksellers to sell a book. Grand Central Publishing published an extra 80 copies for me to give away to the people that matter most to me. And that, my dear friend, is you.

How to get a galley copy of CTRL ALT Delete right now.

Part of the success of any any book is how well it sells out of the gate. Most pre-orders that are made on Amazon or Barnes & Noble count as first week sales, so here's the deal: If you pre-order the book now and email me your receipt (mitch@twistimage.com), I will have the publisher send you a galley copy of the book right away. The only stipulation I have is that you read the book and post a review of it (positive, negative or neutral) to Amazon or Barnes & Noble when you're done reading it. That's it. No strings attached. You get the advance galley copy right away and a finished, hard cover version on the release date. One more thing: if you're buying just one copy, I don't care who you buy it from. If you're going to be purchasing multiple copies, please buy the book from Barnes & Noble. Apparently, multiple copies sold on Amazon to one person will only count as one copy sold, but multiple copies sold on Barnes & Noble will each be counted as an individual sale.

Here's where you can pre-order CTRL ALT Delete right now:

Amazon - CTRL ALT Delete.

Barnes & Noble - CTRL ALT Delete.

Want to know more about CTRL ALT Delete?

You can read a little bit more about the book right here: CTRL ALT Delete Is My Next Book. I am also thrilled to share with you the testimonials for the new book that have been provided by some of the people I admire most in the world. I am truly honored that each remarkable individual took the time to read the new book and offered a blurb about it:

"In CTRL ALT DELETE, Mitch Joel surveys the ways technology has transformed how brands and businesses create, connect, and adapt to a shifting new landscape. This book--and especially the five new movements he identifies that are forcing brands to reboot--is an indispensable read for a time when so much is in transition."-  Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group.

"In his new book, Mitch Joel describes how you must strive to adapt, to learn, and to stay ahead of the curve online. This book will help prepare you for the future . . . now!" - Tony Hsieh, bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.

"Writing with his signature blend of warmth and intelligence, in CTRL ALT DELETE Mitch Joel delivers a crucial blueprint for running your business--with humane intention and razor-sharp results." - Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.

"Too many brands, in their frantic effort to fashion a new business strategy, fail to build meaningful relationships with the customers they serve. Even fewer understand the new business landscape as it is (not as it once was). They need to listen to Mitch Joel. CTRL ALT DELETE is a wise and practical road map that can help you navigate today's challenging economic, social, physical, and digital landscape." - Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of To Sell Is Human and Drive.

"The way we work and do business is changing faster than most of us understand or can comprehend. Fortunately Mitch Joel has given us CTRL ALT DELETE, a wonderful book full of his invaluable insight to help us navigate, adapt, and survive these fundamental changes." - Dan Ariely, James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational.

"In CTRL ALT DELETE, Mitch Joel shows us that in times of great uncertainty--like ours--flexibility, creativity, authenticity, and kindness are the keys to developing great businesses--and ourselves. His book is a wonderful guide through the new terrain." - Julie Burstein, bestselling author of Spark: How Creativity Works.

"In a world filled with broken promises, Mitch Joel is the real deal. He lives the work he talks about, and he does it with generosity and insight." - Seth Godin, bestselling author of The Icarus Deception.

There are 80 copies of the pre-release galley copy of CTRL AL Delete up for grabs. Please help support the new book... and may thanks for all of your support.

** Just an update to let you know that the 80 galley copies have now all been accounted for! Many thanks for making this such a success. I'm hopeful to get the copies in the mail as soon as possible and look forward to seeing the book reviews. As we get closer to book launch date - May 21st, 2013 - there will be much more book launch goodness happening, so please stay tuned! **

Tags:

amazon

arianna huffington

barnes and noble

book review

business book

ctrl alt delete

dan ariely

dan pink

daniel h pink

delivering happiness

drive

duke university

grand central publishing

huffington post media group

julie burstein

marketing

predictably irrational

quiet

self promotion

seth godin

spark

susan cain

the icarus deception

to sell is human

tony hsieh

zappos

Real-Time Social Media Marketing Strategies

Episode #348 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Welcome to episode #348 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast. There are few people who have the depth of experience and knowledge when it comes to e-commerce, social media, content and digital marketing than Sam Decker. I've known Sam for close to a decade. He worked at Apple before handling e-commerce for Dell, from there he went on to lead marketing at Bazaarvoice and he's currently a founder at Mass Relevance. Mass Relevance has been making a lot of noise lately with intense growth as the company leverages real-time social media activity to helps brands create unique social experiences. If that last line confused you, don't panic, Sam is here to explain it all. The changes in the digital marketing landscape have been dramatic in the past decade and the opportunities for brands to rethink how they connect and inform consumers has changed right along with it. It's no surprise that Mass Relevance is seeing the meteoric growth that they're experiencing and Sam's insights should inspire you to think differently about how you can best market your brand in these digital channels. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #348.

Tags:

advertising podcast

apple

bazaarvoice

blog

blogging

brand

business book

content marketing

david usher

dell

digital marketing

ecommerce

facebook

itunes

marketing

marketing blogger

marketing podcast

mass relevance

online social network

podcast

podcasting

real time media

sam decker

social experience

social media

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #142

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Le Quebec Vu Par Les Montrealais - Gab Roy . "Every day, the Quebec government finds new ways to incense English citizens and remove things even the UN considers to be basic human rights. Every morning, my wife and I--both bilingual anglophones--plot our escape from the language craziness that is Quebec. And yet every evening, I proudly read to my daughter in French and drive her to bilingual daycare even though the government is busily trying to take away our right to educate her in the language we choose. So sometimes, it's nice to remember that Montrealers are as different from Quebec as Quebeckers are from Canada." (Alistair for Hugh).

Create More Value Than You Capture - eCorner . "I've been lucky enough to work with Tim O'Reilly and the organization he created over the past few years. Tim has been a proponent of open source, and. DRM-free books, and citizen government, and more. But he also defined brands like Web 2.0 and created the first commercial website. Somehow he manages to balance the aspirational and the commercial sides of technology. This podcast, from a recent event he spoke at, gives some insights into how he pulls it off." (Alistair for Mitch).

Moshers, Heavy Metal and Emergent Behavior - MIT Technology Review . "These findings offer strong support for the analogy between mosh pits and gases." (Hugh for Alistair).

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling - Aerogramme Writers' Studio . "In the end, everything is about story-telling. Disney's animation studio, Pixar, is pretty good at story-telling. Here are the 22 rules for writing for Pixar." (Hugh for Mitch).

Scientists One Step Close To Human Mind Meld - PSFK . "We often talk about technology in relation to the stuff we used to read about and watch from the science fiction genre. Star Trek really did have a ton of technology that we're currently using. Tell me smartphone don't look like their communications devices or that Uhura wasn't rocking a bluetooth headset decades before they became a reality. Currently, there's a contest for scientists to develop a real-life tricorder to diagnose human beings. So, that's the physical stuff with lights and buttons, but what about Spock's ability to have a mind meld with another species? Think that's possible for humans? Read on... and, whether someone can meld with your brain or not, this is sure to blow your mind." (Mitch for Alistair).

A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy: Answer Customers' Questions - The New York Times . "Over the years, I have become both fast friends and a fan of Marcus Sheridan (you can hear more here: SPOS #285 - How To Be A Marketing And Sales Lion With Marcus Sheridan ). He's done some pretty amazing things in a world where people with his business lot in life would sit around and complain about their situation. Selling pools is not an easy job. The question is this: how did Sheridan become such a powerhouse in that industry and pull off the transition from using social media to sell pools to becoming a marketing and sales advisor and world-class speaker? This article in the New York Times details his ascent. What I find most interesting is this: most people in the digital realm have heard of Sheridan, but when he gets major traditional ink in the New York Times, suddenly literary agents come calling and everyone's ears perk up. He's an amazing guy with an amazing story, so this is a great primer, but watch him go below... he rocks the stage too." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

aerogramme writers studio

alistair croll

bitcurrent

complete web monitoring

disney

ecorner

gab roy

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

marcus sheridan

media hacks

mit technology review

pixar

pressbooks

psfk

social media

spock

start trek

the new york times

tim oreilly

tricorder

uhura

year one labs

Celebrate The Differences

Back to Oscar Wilde.

When I first became interested in the power of developing a personal brand, it was long before the Internet took hold and it would be many years before anyone had uttered the phrase, "social media." In 2013, you hardly hear anyone talk about personal branding anymore. We call it reputation and other things. Nearly ten years ago, famed speaker Mike Lipkin would quote Oscar Wilde in his presentations when he would say: "be you, because others are already taken." We spend a lot of time talking about being different, standing out and our appreciation for individualism, but do we really mean it? Do we truly understand it?

This isn't about business or marketing.

This time... it's personal. Far From The Tree is a book by Andrew Solomon (special thanks to Julie Burstein for bringing this to my attention). From his website: "He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, as are the triumphs of love Solomon documents in every chapter." Solomon recently gave a presentation at Google. It is amazingly powerful. I urge you to put everything down for a bit and just watch this video. How do families deal with children who are radically different from who they are? It's a fascinating question and it peers deep into the human condition and how special we can be...

Tags:

andrew solomon

far from the tree

google

individualism

julie burstein

mike lipkin

oscar wilde

personal brand

reputation

social media

Living On Planes

Do you live on a plane?

It's a question I get asked almost as much as, "how do you blog so often?" I do not live on a plane. I don't feel like I blog all that often. The reason I am on a plane so much is because I refuse to stay out "on the road" for an extended period of time. If I can get in and out on the same day, this is my preference. If I must stay out for a night or two, I will. Begrudgingly. One day on the road is fine. Two if I must. Three if it's completely out of my control. This all nets out at one thing: I'm on a lot of planes, because I'm always flying back home.

It's not a hard life.

People whine and cry about their lot in life. As stressed out as work makes me, I try not to complain. I'm not fighting a life threatening disease. I don't have to dig holes in the freezing cold. I'm not going to cry because I have to take a lot of planes. That being said, when I watch my peers (mostly online) talk about travel, it is rarely pleasant. There are so many uncontrollable factors that make air travel impossible, it's a miracle that anyone has anything nice to say about the experience. We have turned complaining about air travel into the new, "how's the weather?" It's as easy to complain about air travel as it is to have a conversation about the weather... or your local sports team... or a band that you like. Living on planes is easy, so long as you take the appropriate measures. 

How to improve your life when you travel by air:

Before you go. Make sure that your briefcase, knapsack, whatever is your new home. Be self-contained. I usually travel with my MacBook Air fully charged, a magazine (for the moments of flight that you're not allowed to have something electronic on) and enough wires, headphones, chargers and more to keep me occupied. I also travel with my trusted Moleskine notebook if I ever feel like writing. On top of that, I travel with both a stomach and cold kit (trusted medicine and remedies should a cold or stomach issue arise).

Loyalty. If you fly on a plane with any semblance of frequency, join a loyalty program. As most of my travel starts in Montreal, I'm part of Air Canada and Star Alliance program. Having access to the lounge helps take away some of the grind of gate-waiting. You can even use certain credit cards that grant you lounge access. It is worth it. As you gain status, it's less about the accumulation and redemption of miles and much more about the concierge services, food, wi-fi access and comfortable spaces to relax, work or lose yourself in.

Meditate. The entire process of air travel is about lines and waiting. From the parking or taxi cue to checking in to security to boarding to deplaning to waiting on luggage. Everything is about line-ups, pecking orders and waiting. Know this. Take a deep breath and acknowledge that the second you step into the airport, the only thing you can be sure of is waiting in lines and waiting for things to happen. I meditate by taking some strong, deep breaths before entering the airport. I'll do this in the parking lot in my car or in the cab ride over (you can learn a great breathing technique right here: Take A Breather). Once I'm inside, I shut off from lines and waiting by keeping myself busy with my iPhone. Not email, Twitter of Facebook but long-form copy. I use Instapaper to read long articles that I have been saving up or my Kindle app to read some book pages. Trust me, when you have long copy, lines move faster. 

Embrace the wait. You will be delayed. The flight will be cancelled. Something will go awry. It happens all of the time. So, reverse your thinking. Marvel at an on-time departures and arrivals. Don't book important meetings that can't be missed too close to the time that you are scheduled to land. It's not the airline's responsibility to organize your agenda. If you're on the plane and it's delayed for two hours and you suddenly realize that you're not going to make that meeting you planned, don't blame the airlines. If it's really important go in the night before. If you can't do that, let your client know that if the flight is delayed or cancelled, you won't be seeing them. In short: you create the air and buffers to make airline travel as stress-free as possible.

Catch-up. Travel time equals catch-up time. I let everything pile up before a flight: emails, movies I would like to watch, articles I want to check out, books that I want to read. This way, when I finally get to sit down in a lounge, at a gate or on a plane, I hardly know where I'm going to find the time to catch up on all of the amazing and interesting things there are to consume. If I'm due to write a blog post, article or book, the airport and the plane are the perfect environment to catch-up on that too. We all spend so much time wishing we had more time to watch movies, TV shows, read a book or magazine... or whatever. Airports! Planes! To the rescue.

When you get down. It's going to happen. You're going to get down. You'll miss a connection. A flight will get cancelled and leave you stranded in a not-so-fun city. Airports and planes really will (and can) drag you down. When that happens, look at pictures of your family and friends. If I'm really getting anxious about air travel, I go through the thousands of photos and videos on my iPhone of my family and everything is right in the world. It makes me realize why I'm doing this in the first place and what is truly most important in my life.

Travel well.

I am anxious by nature. I only started flying much later in life (I was in my late teens when I took my first flight). I see how stressed out and angry people get at airports and on planes. The system is flawed. It's designed to be passive-aggressive and because of the intensity that people bring to air travel, I do one extra, little thing: I amp up my niceness by twenty percent. Open doors for people, say "please" and "thank you" all of the time, before you speak to anyone make eye contact first and smile and be overly sympathetic. I travel over 120,000 miles every year by air (and have done so for close to a decade), the only thing that makes being on a plane pleasant, fun and effective is my ability to make a very cold situation warm... at every point.

What are your tricks to making airline travel tolerable?

Tags:

air canada

air travel

air travel tips

airline

airport

blog

book

business travel

facebook

flying

instapaper

iphone

kindle app

loyalty program

macbook air

meditation

moleskine

plane

star alliance

twitter

The Future Of Facebook And The Newsfeed

Do you remember Facebook before the timeline... before newsfeed?

I do. I loved the introduction of Facebook's news feed when it happened. Many were up in arms and many thought that Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was going to destroy the power and potential of the online social network. The idea that you would not explore other people's pages, but simply have their information, updates and content come to you - on your own profile page - seemed like a stupid idea. Who is laughing now? While many think that photos are the killer app of Facebook (and the reason the company paid a billion dollars to acquire Instagram), none of that would matter had Facebook not had the insight (and the courage) to imagine, develop and deploy this personal RSS feed of our social graph.

Is the newsfeed perfect?

It is not. Nothing is. But newsfeed is - beyond a shadow of a doubt - the true killer app of Facebook. Strolling through the newsfeed and timeline, you easily and quickly get a glimpse of what's happening to the people you are most interested in (and you can mute the self-absorbed and those who are simply there to inflate their own tires). You are able to like, follow, comment and interact with more information than ever before. As Facebook continues to roll out Facebook marketing initiatives for brands, the newsfeed becomes ground zero. In the past few weeks, there has been controversy about just how much Facebook allows individuals and brands to get listed on the timeline of those they are connected to (you can read more about that here: Each Facebook Post Seen by One-Third of Friends, on Average, here: Disruptions: As User Interaction on Facebook Drops, Sharing Comes at a Cost and here: Facebook to Nick Bilton (And Everyone Else): Seriously, There's No Pay to Play Scheme Here). EdgeRank is the quiet tool that Facebook uses to filter, hold back and sort what content is displayed in our timeline. It's a curious strategy, because it runs counter-intuitive to the notion that individuals are choosing who to follow (be they brand or people). In short, if you follow a brand or friend an individual, you will not see everything that they post in your timeline. Facebook throttles how much interaction a brand can have with the people who have given them permission to communicate. Facebook claims that this is a strategy to ensure balance and quality, but to some it feels like you're giving out your mobile number to whomever you chose, but the phone company is deciding which calls to allow through. If someone (or a brand) is posting too frequently, why not empower the consumer to decide the amount of content (i.e. everything, allowing EdgeRank to take over, muting or unfollow/unfriend)?

The magic of the newsfeed.

TechCrunch reported that Facebook is about to make big and important changes to this feature (which will be announced today: Facebook Will Launch Content-Specific News Feeds, Bigger Photos And Ads On Thursday). Users will be able to better manage and filter their timelines. This could include the addition of multiple timelines (or tabs) just for things like news, images or brands. While the rumors swirl, it's an interesting but dramatic shift away from what we currently have. The change is analogous to listening to music from your iTunes library or listening to music on satellite radio. The current version of timeline is satellite radio. There is nothing but serendipity that flows in. Every time a consumer hits the newsfeed button, life becomes a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're going to get. As social Graph Search, more user-controlled newsfeeds and other features roll out in the next short while, the ability for consumers to choose, mute, filter and change what they see will move Facebook into the iTunes world. A place where consumers are getting more control over what they want to do. It kills a lot of the serendipity.

What do people really want?

A vast majority of people will applaud this shift to a more user-centric and controlled Facebook experience. One where you can have multiple feeds or, potentially, pull all of the brands that you follow and like into their own tab segregating it from real friends and connections. Some will argue that this is good for brands, because that section - which may have less users in terms of the overall population of Facebook - will have better interactions with the fans that really care, and it will be less annoying to those who are getting tired of brands asking them to like a photo if they're happy it's Thursday (the old quality over quantity debate). There is something powerful (and valuable) in serendipity. There is something magical in suddenly seeing a relevant and contextual brand offering in your feed that gives you pause. Facebook is filled with very smart marketing professionals who have - without question - done some serious thinking about how these newsfeed changes will affect their media business. It seems like the addition of social graph search mixed with new functionality and control over newsfeed will keep consumers more engaged and connected. As always, it is the brands trying to squeeze their messages into these tiny and closely-knit connections that will be put to the test. They're going to have to develop more social insights and relevant stories to share to earn the trust and credibility of the consumer's crowded newsfeed. Which, by all of this news, sounds like it's going to get more fragmented and crowded.

What's your take on this? Are all of these changes good for brands and the Facebook experience?

Tags:

brand

content marketing

contextual marketing

edgerank

facebook

facebook app

facebook marketing

facebook strategy

graph search

instagram

itunes

mark zuckerberg

marketing professional

media business

mobile

new york times

newsfeed

nick bilton

online social network

rss

satellite radio

serendipity

social graph

social insight

techcrunch

timeline

3D Printing Will Impact Business In A Big Way

Many people see 3D printing as a pipedream or something that major brands need not concern themselves with yet.

It's true. It will be a long while before anyone and everyone can effectively hit a "make" button as easily as they are hitting the "print" button from their desktops. It will be a while before you can print out a new pair of Nike runners from your desktop as easily as you're printing your expense reports from Excel. That's the dream of 3D printing, and so long as that dream lives, it will take the focus away from the multitude of amazing things that you will be (and are) able to do with 3D printing immediately... and the impact/disruption that this will cause.

Go back in time.

If you go back to the pre-industrial revolution and before mass manufacturing times, you'll be reminded that things like screws, nails, hinges, bookshelves, kitchen appliances, homes, buggies and more were all built by hand. Each and every little piece. There were no boxes of nails, where each and every one came from an assembly line and were the same size and weight. Each nail was a unique piece. MIT Technology Review published an article recently titled, Micro 3-D Printer Creates Tiny Structures in Seconds. From the article: "Nanoscribe, a spin-off from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, has developed a tabletop 3-D microprinter that can create complicated microstructures 100 times faster than is possible today. 'If something took one hour to make, it now takes less than one minute,' says Michael Thiel, chief scientific officer at Nanoscribe. While 3-D printing of toys, iPhone covers, and jewelry continues to grab headlines (see The Difference Between Makers and Manufacturers), much of 3-D printing's impact could be at a much smaller scale. Micrometer-scale printing has shown promise for making medical and electronic devices." In short, faster printing technologies are moving from the research lab to industry with a pace that can only de described as exponential. We're starting small, but this is big, important moves. Take these simplistic 3D printers that we currently have in market and think about the ability to replace pieces and parts of a myriad of products on demand. A latch breaks on your luggage, a piece breaks on your phone, the piece of the remote control that you remove to replace the battery snaps and more. All of these smaller pieces can be printed up at the local level. Imagine being able to work through a customer service website for the products you have purchased and being able to "make" your replacement parts locally. Admittedly, there are still service calls to deal with along with warranty issues for those eager enough to do their own repairs or updates, but the potential, opportunity and reality of this is happening. And, it's happening quicker than most of us realize.

The new aftercare.

The subsequent growth of social media was driven - in no small part - by customer service issues. Namely, individuals taking to blogs, Facebook, Twitter and beyond to get an issue with a brand resolved by calling them out in public. As this independence continues and more web services that are self-serve come online (think about booking a flight, online banking or making an appointment at an Apple Genius Bar), the likelihood that once you have identified an issue that you can simply get a new replacement part right from your desktop is an inevitability. The brand simply send the 3D printing file to your computer to make at home or the nearest maker space.

This is, obviously, only the beginning.

3D printing - in all of its nascent excitement - is still expensive, slow and there is not mass adoption. The same was true about the personal computer, but it rapidly became more and more commonplace. I'm bullish on 3D printing because it just makes good business sense. It reduces waste, shipping issues and creates entirely new opportunities for brands to engage with consumers. This includes (but is not limited to), the replacement of parts discussed above, new and original products and much more. Early days? Yes. Very early. Something to watch and pay attention to? Absolutely.

Things are going to change faster than we have anticipated them. They always do.

Tags:

3d microprinter

3d printing

apple

apple genius bar

assembly line

blog

brand

business

customer service

desktop

excel

facebook

industrial revolution

karlsruhe institute of technology

make button

maker

maker movement

maker space

manufacturing

michael thiel

micro 3d printer

mit technology review

nanoscribe

nike

online banking

printing

research lab

self serve models

social media

twitter

warranty

The Other Story Of The Smartphone

When you think of smartphones, what do you think of?

Most people interested in media, marketing and technology think of smartphones as the device that is putting the PC world to rest. Yes, personal computers are still pervasive, but the growth of smartphones has been exponential and astounding all in one breath. Because the technology has become so advanced, so quickly, we often look at what these smartphones are replacing in terms of the next generation of consumer's wants and needs, but there's something else happening as well.

Take a look at this in another other way.

On Monday, March 4th, 2013, Cellular News published the news item titled, Smartphones Expected to Outship Feature Phones for First Time in 2013. From the article: "More smartphones are forecast to be shipped globally than feature phones in 2013, the first such occurrence in the mobile phone market on an annual basis. According to IDC, vendors will ship 918.6 million smartphones this year, or 50.1% of the total mobile phone shipments worldwide... By the end of 2017, IDC forecasts 1.5 billion smartphones will be shipped worldwide, which equates to just over two-thirds of the total mobile phone forecast for the year due to these primary factors."

How the landscape shifted so quickly.

According to the article from Cellular News, the shift to smartphones at such a rapid pace is happening for many reasons:

Price. The price of smartphones had dropped globally.

Networks. The growth of 4G and higher speed cellular networks continues to evolve and expand.

Small computers. These devices are more than phones and text messaging platforms. They are powerful computers that allow consumers the ability to do most of their day to day digital activities from the palm of their hands.

Economics. Smartphones used to be manufactured in relation to pure demand that was driven by the US market. Now, as countries outside of North America experience growing and healthier economies, there is a growing demand for more smartphones as well. Look to China, Brazil and other regions for this growth.

Governments. As the economies in certain regions continue to evolve, Governments are also looking to improve their respective land's connectivity and, clearly, this is all driving to smartphone growth.

Sophistication. While the United States has a higher level of user and product sophistication, the development of the technology will continue to get more and more sophisticated. As these smartphones have cooler and more compelling features, this will drive interest and consumer adoption.

Any age. Technology is finally removing the technology from the technology. These devices are intuitive, don't require an instruction manual or a doctorate's degree to set it up. Toddlers and the elderly are able to use and understand these devices with ease.

So long to the feature phone?

For many years, mobile pundits have lauded the feature phone and developing text messaging platforms that can be used in markets that don't have the sophistication in terms of devices, networks and raw dollars to purchase these devices. As the price of smartphones continues to drop and the penetration continues to rise, it could well be not only the post-PC world that we have entered into, but the post-feature phone world as well. As those interested in mobile, smartphones and more, we often don't look at these changes in terms of how it affects the feature phone. This is a dramatic shift. It's not a sudden shift. We will not be seeing the end of the feature phone for some time due to infrastructure, cost and more (specifically in developing nations), the change is afoot. Smartphones aren't just replacing PCs or putting an end to the feature phone. Smartphones are also showing us - in raw power - what exponential growth looks like. It can be scary to some. It will make others skeptical about how quickly this growth will happen. It will prove to be a massive opportunity for many smart entrepreneurs and established players. Regardless, the story of smartphones, their growth and the evolution into wearable technology is happening before our eyes, and it's a multifaceted  story that runs much deeper than how smartphones are outselling PCs.

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

Huffington Post - The Other Story Of The Smartphone .

Tags:

4g network

business column

cellular network

cellular news

connectivity

consumer adoption

entrepreneur

feature phone

huffington post

idc

marketing

media

media hacker

mobile phone

pc

personal computer

product development

smartphone

technology

text messaging

wearable technology