Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 384

Making Customers Attack

If there's one thing brands hate, it's when customers attack using Social Media.

There's no doubt that using Social Media and publishing your reasons for feeling wronged is not only commonplace, but something that usually gets results. While it may not be complete satisfaction on the customer's side, usually an apology or an acknowledgement that things weren't perfect from the brand is enough to tame the wildest of Twitter beasts. In the past little while, it has been a conversation that seems to be recurring with much more frequency in the Six Pixels of Separation world (just take a listen to my most recent Podcast with Joseph Jaffe: SPOS #222 - Jaffe And Joel #9 [Across The Sound 9.20] or read this Blog post: The White Noise That Is Twitter).

But, here's what brands will never tell you...

On the surface, you'll hear public statements like, "Social Media is an important place for us to listen to and react to our consumers," or, "even if we did something bad, it's important that we're accountable and that the general public sees our response." In the boardroom and behind closed corporate doors, many brands feel like ousted BP CEO, Tony Hayward, and his infamous, "I want my life back!" line. In short, they would love to see Social Media go away - especially the brands/industries that always struggle with customers and satisfaction. In a perfect world, they'd prefer if all of the flubs, foibles and inferior service wasn't publicly broadcasted for all to see, search and comment on.

Now, they're doing it to themselves.

A new trend is that certain brands consider all tweets, Blog posts, etc... as a public record and have corporate policies around responding (in short order) to any concerns or complaints in the many online channels. What brands fail to realize is that this opens the floodgates, and is now pushing individuals who would normally not make customer services complaints publicly, to do so.

Think about that. Think about this...

Just this week I had two customer services incidents that I'll share with you...

One of my mobile providers left me waiting on the phone for twenty minutes. Once I connected, I was told that I was in the wrong department and that they would transfer me. I waited on the phone for forty more minutes before the system unceremoniously booted me off before even speaking to a customer service representative. I called back and waited another twenty minutes before finally connecting to a human being, who then prompted me to try bringing my device into their retail outlet. The best part of the story? This call happened after 12:30 am... I was on the phone until almost 2 am.

I bought a return airfare business class ticket on a major airline for over $4000 (a client was covering this expense). I usually fly with airlines where I have status, but had to use this major carrier because of timing, destination, etc... When I reported three hours early for my flight home and went to the lounge, I was told that I could not access it - even though I had purchased the most expensive ticket possible. The attendant finally agreed to let me in as their "guest" but would not grant me access to the wi-fi, which is only for their "members." Imagine that: a $4000 first class ticket does not get you access to the lounge.

I could go postal. I could go tweeting.

In both instances, I have intimate knowledge of these two companies and know that they both respond to issues immediately online, but I chose not to. Why?

You never know who you are going to work with. As the President of Twist Image, I can never know which brands may become client opportunities. Pushing that further, you never know when the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) for Company A might move over to Company B. If Company B is a major client and this individual remembers that spleen busting rant on Twitter, they may be inclined to do an "agency review." Nobody wants that.

I don't like to leverage this community for my personal gain. By complaining, it forces the brand to take a look at who I am and who I am connected to. I would not want any kind of favorable resolution simply because I have a small semblance of a community, or because I write a newspaper column. I don't write a column or build this community so that brands will pay attention to me when I'm not satisfied. On top of that, you are not here to watch me publicly deal with a customer service issue. You're here to be a media hacker along with me. You're not here to be a part of my personal bidding.

So, how does one get resolution?

It's crazy, isn't it? By working the traditional channels and trying to keep things private, nothing happens. Nothing gets resolved and the brands don't even realize/know these issues are taking place. If I tweet about it (which I don't want to do), there is a strong possibility I would get next-to-perfect resolution and the brand would then be able to iterate and evolve based on the incident. They're, literally, begging me to go public.

Does anyone else see the strange irony here? Brands are now forcing their customers to attack in public! Anyone else find that a little crazy?

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Does Complaining About Customer Service In Social Media Make A Difference?

Episode #222 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Joseph Jaffe is widely regarded as one of the top Marketing Bloggers (Jaffe Juice) and Podcasters (both Jaffe Juice in audio and Jaffe Juice TV in video). He is the author of three excellent books (Life After The 30-Second Spot, Join The Conversation and Flip The Funnel). Along with that, he is currently one of the chiefs over at the Social Media Marketing agency, Powered. A long-time friend (and one of the main inspirations behind the Six Pixels of Separation Blog and Podcast), we've decided to hold monthly conversations, debates and back-and-forths that will dive a little deeper into the Digital Marketing and Social Media landscape. This is our ninth conversation (or, as I like to affectionately call it, Across The Sound 9.20), and this one focuses on customer service and how consumers use their online social networks to hold brands accountable. Does this make sense? Is this the best strategy? Does it even work? 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 #222 .

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention

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, Rednod, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, Bite-Sized Edits, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (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:

Looking back at the Infocom era: a review of Get Lamp - Ars Technica . "Last week, I shared a link to an interactive story told in the old world of BBSes. Well, the text adventure is a close cousin to that world, and Ars Technica has a good story on Get Lamp , a documentary about the text adventure. These were one of the first forms of interactive narrative (unless you count the Choose Your Own Adventure books) and I can't wait to watch the movie, having been killed by a Grue so many times in Zork . Plus, here's a trailer ." (Alistair for Hugh).

Is it better to fade away than burn out? - BBC . "I never gave much thought to the fade. But apparently it's got some musical history - from the early fade, when they simply moved the microphones away from the musicians, to modern pieces that use the fade for creative effect. This BBC piece on the fade  will appeal to anyone who's worked in some part of the music industry, or even just wondered why The Smiths ' Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others' simply fades in the middle." (Alistair for Mitch).

Ray Kurzweil Does Not Understand the Brain - Pharyngula . " Ray Kurzweil is a visionary, an inventor, and purveyor of the cult of Singularity : that moment, nigh, when computers' processing power will finally outshine human intelligence. Kurzweil a smart fellow, and invigorating to read and listen to ...but, PZ Meyers says, one thing he doesn't know much about is the human brain. I don't have strong opinions on the validity of either argument, but it is fun to watch such geekery in mortal, snarky combat." (Hugh for Alistair).

A Letter to the Editor of the Charleston Gazette - Pat Conroy . "This week is Banned Books Week , and in honour of all those books that will corrupt the mind of our youth, here is Pat Conroy 's passionate letter to the editor of The Charleston Gazette , in defense of English teachers, reading, and readers. I love this: 'Because bookbanners are invariably idiots, they don't know how the world works -- but writers and English teachers do.'" (Hugh for Mitch).

This is a news website article about a scientific paper - The Guardian . "We all get a kick out of watching science unfold in the era of Social Media. While peer review is still the industry standard, more and more people are leveraging these publishing platforms to share their insights and research. Most of that content reads as long-winded dribble to the average person (like me). Here is a very funny and sarcastic play on what these typical papers and Blog posts look like. This one really cracked me up. It also made me realize how huge of a nerd I actually am." (Mitch for Alistair).

The iPad vs magazines - The Wall . "As Alistair noted in last week's selections, the three of us really like infographics. And if there's something we like more than infographics, it is talking about the publishing industry. Here's a killer combo of the two that focuses on the price and challenges of this very disruptive media in a time where the traditional business models for the magazine industry is also shifting (and at stake)." (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.

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The Web Has Failed Advertising

Think about this: the Web has failed advertising. Hasn't it?

This was the question Marketing Magazine asked yesterday following an Advertising Week session titled, Digital Publishing in the Age of Engagement, that took place on Wednesday in New York City. The context behind the question is that advertising (as we have known it to date) offers little by way of content and engagement, which seems to be the main thrust behind online usage for consumers. They're no longer just consuming content. They're engaged with the content (text, audio, images and videos) in a very different way.

Advertising has failed.

" Erin Clift , senior vice-president, global sales development at AOL , said 'failed' is a strong word, but the Internet as it exists today isn't built for what brands are trying to accomplish. 'Publishers in general just need to think differently,' said Clift, offering up her company's new platform Project Devil as a possible answer. 'What we're trying to do is maximize the page for the consumer experience. And if you're going to reinvent a page for content, then let's also reinvent the page for brands to really engage with the users who want to connect to that content and give them a canvas where they can have messaging, utility and function.'"

The Web has not failed advertising. Advertising has failed the Web.

Let's tweak my last turn of the phrase: advertising - as we have known it to date - has failed the Web. Bad, boring and interruption-based advertising always struggled to capture mindshare. Traditional marketers beat that reality through frequency and repetition (in layman's terms: shoving more of it, more frequently, down our collective gullets). More modern online advertisers not only followed that tactic, but they also cluttered the pages with multiple messages in multiple sizes in a very primitive way (low quality images and creative to ensure speedier downloads).

We did it to ourselves, really.

When those models began to fail, we switched the name of "banner advertising" to "display advertising" as if that turn of the phrase would make brands (and consumers) forget the big promise of online advertising: that consumers will take action and click on your highly relevant and targeted ads. The truth is that there is a lot more to online advertising than just those little square boxes that surround every piece of content we see online. In fact, search advertising (the kind that Google mastered) hasn't failed the Web at all. Email Marketing has not failed the Web (well, spam has, but that's another story for another Blog post). Affiliate marketing works great too.

The secret isn't much of a secret.

Add value. Add context. Add relevancy. The best advertising does this. Yes, the big idea and breakthrough creative is critical, but if it's not delivered on a platform that runs in compliment to the content it surrounds - and the desires of the people consuming the content - all is lost. If anything, the Web has changed advertising. The Web is changing advertising. The Web is forcing advertising to take a big, hard and long look in the mirror and ask itself: " how do I make consumers care about my message?"

Has the Web failed advertising? Has advertising failed the Web? What do you think?

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The White Noise That Is Twitter

Don't get too caught up in the amount of followers that someone has on Twitter or how big the overall network actually is.

Unlike some of the other new media channels, it's important to remember that Twitter is still nascent, confusing, busy and hasn't fully matured to the point where it has a clear direction or intention. The more people connect on Twitter, the noisier it gets. The noisier it gets, the harder it is to uncover the gems, find the most relevant conversations, and the best people to follow.

The Real-Time Web only complicates Twitter further.

Even if you have a significant amount of followers and those people are able to amplify your message, Twitter lives in the real-time Web. Meaning: if you're tweeting while your key followers aren't on Twitter/paying attention, your content remains stagnant in the ever-flowing river of tweets that flow in an unrelenting tsunami of 140 characters. This is why many of the more "influential" people on Twitter actually retweet their own content several times a day, across multiple time zones. They are - in essence - trying to ensure that their tweets rise above the noise.

We all can't be Ashton Kutcher (apparently, this is a good thing).

Ashton Kutcher has close to six million followers on Twitter (I know, that's incredible. And no, it's not a typo), but Mashable had a recent Blog post titled, Ashton Kutcher Has Little Twitter Influence. According to the Blog post: "A study conducted at Northwestern University determined that celebrities like Ashton Kutcher with millions of Twitter followers are mostly ignored on the social media site, resulting in very little if any influence. When the researchers applied their mathematical algorithm to the countless tweets that appear on Twitter each day, they found that experts in certain fields were much more likely to cause topics of discussion to become trends. That might come as a relief to social media enthusiasts who crave discussions of substance, and a surprise to critics who argue that social media is prone to inanity." Once again, we're looking at the whole "quality over quantity" debate.

Is there really a lot of conversation happening on Twitter?

Social Media monitoring company, Sysomos, released a study yesterday titled, Replies and Retweets on Twitter. There is no denying that a retweet is a powerful indication that what someone says on Twitter has relevance (more on that here: The Retweet Is One Of The Best Measurements Of A Brand's Success), but the stats from this research (which studied 1.2 billion tweets in the last two months) may surprise you...

29% of all tweets produced a reaction (a reply or a retweet).

Of that group of tweets, 19.3% were retweets and the rest replies.

Out of the 1.2 billion tweets only 6% were retweets.

92.4% of all retweets happen within the first hour of the original tweet being published.

1.63% of retweets happen in the second hour.

0.94% of retweets happen in the third hour.

96.9% of @ replies happen within the first hour of the original tweet being published.

0.88% of replies happen in the second hour.

Beyond the retweets and replies is there a conversation?

Here's what the Sysomos research says: "We also examined the distance between an original tweet and the replies it attracts. Of all tweets that generated a reply, 85% have only one reply. Another 10.7% attracted a reply to the original reply - the conversation was two levels deep. Only 1.53% of Twitter conversations are three levels deep - after the original tweet, there is a reply, reply to the reply, and reply to the reply of reply."

Twitter isn't bad... it's just different.

Yes, there are millions and millions of people on Twitter, but don't confuse Twitter for a traditional mass media outlet. It's not. It's a live organism that can be one thing in this moment and something completely different in the next. You could have all of your followers active and engaged in one moment and silence in the next (depending on if they're online or not). Twitter continues to be many different things to many different people. And, because of the many uses, people, applications, broadcasting and communications, we're not seeing a ton of depth or amplification (as we may have once thought). That doesn't make Twitter bad, useless or on its way to irrelevancy, it just makes Twitter something different that we're all going to have watch and figure out.

Is Twitter nothing but white noise? What's your take?

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The Future Of Blogging Might Surprise You

As social media evolves, it's normal that the channels and platforms evolve, too. Some continue to grow in popularity, while others dwindle.

One thing is for certain: The Internet is not a fad. This new media is not going away. And, as it continues to grow in popularity, it's important to also accept that social media is not a fad. Yes, some of the platforms have becomes less popular (Friendster, MySpace and Second Life), but then again, maybe they have returned to a more realistic state of stability. Maybe these platforms were never meant to compete with the raw numbers of television viewership. Perhaps not every platform and channel should be benchmarked against Facebook and its 500 million-plus users. Maybe MySpace is doing right now what it does best: serving entertainment professionals and wannabes with a place to connect.

What about the future of blogs and blogging?

Last week, eMarketer released a new report titled, The Blogosphere - Colliding With Social And Mainstream Media, written by Paul Verna. If you think about the advent of social media, blogging really was the first pin to drop. The ability for anybody to have a thought, be able to type it up and then publish it online for the world to see (for free) changed everything we know about publishing, journalism and the media. Along with the publishing component, the ability to subscribe to the content via RSS, and have the ability to comment on it publicly, link back to it or even start your own blog was a watershed moment in the history of humanity and evolution of publishing. Some equate it with the advent of the printing press, while many in traditional print media wrote it off in an attempt to maintain their own credibility and professionalism. As blogging took hold, the ability to publish in images, audio and video pushed social media into many different directions and - as with all things - the content that was easiest to produce and publish (like snapping a picture or shooting a quick video) replaced the not-so-easy task of putting your thoughts into words. Blogging was always hard, because writing is hard. Everyone is not a writer. Everyone is not a blogger.

Nothing has changed ... but everything has changed.

"Despite the success of other social media venues such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, blog readership has increased steadily and is expected to continue on an upward path,'' the Blogosphere report says. ''Just over half of U.S. Internet users are now reading blogs at least once a month, and this percentage will climb to 60 per cent in the next four years. The main drivers behind these increases are the prevalence of blogs in the mainstream media, the increased use of blogs for corporate marketing and easy-to-use personal blogging platforms." It's interesting to note that the true growth of blogging is not coming from individuals using this empowered publishing platform to share their insights with the world. The credibility and growth from blogs moving forward seems to be coming from the mainstream media's desire to have a cheaper, faster and near-real-time platform to distribute their content.

Blogs are (and will become) a mainstream media platform.

In February 2006, I wrote a blog post titled, A Blog Is Like Lemmy From Motorhead. The point of it? I wrote: "A blog is the glory of a personal voice - warts and all. That is why people are gravitating toward them. Deep down, we want companies to speak our language. We're tired of jargon. We're zoning out when we hear phrases like 'best of breed' or 'end to end solution.' We want to know that business cares about us and treasures our loyalty. We want more... and we're starting with a conversation that has a human voice behind it ... warts and all."

That world is quickly leaving us as blogs become almost indecipherable from a mass media news website.

The Blogosphere report goes on to say: "The number of blog creators is also expected to climb, though not as steeply as that of blog readers. For many people, the appeal of blogging is not as intense as it was when blogs were the leading form of social media. Today, people have many other social tools at their disposal, and some of them are more fun and less labour-intensive than blogs. Facebook offers most of the capabilities of blogs; users post frequent updates that can include photos, videos and links. To give an idea of how blogging stacks up against social network usage, there will be 26 million bloggers in the U.S. by the end of 2010 compared with about 150 million Facebook users. ...Nevertheless, overall blogging rates will inch upward. The biggest factors driving the increase are the ease of use of blogging platforms and the growing comfort level with blog reading among U.S. Internet users. Blogs with broad reach - whether media blogs, corporate blogs or influential technology or celebrity blogs - are creating a culture in which blogging is accepted as an integral part of the media landscape."

From a personal journaling platform in 1997 to a full-on publishing platform, the transformation of blogs over the past few years can be best summed up in one word: astounding.

It's a profound shift in how we write, read, contribute and distribute the published word. Blogs are no longer the black sheep of publishing. They have quickly become as important as the printed word. "The New York Times operates at least 50 public-facing blogs," the Blogosphere report says. "These blogs are intertwined with the paper's regular coverage. Readers are routinely redirected from the main site to the blogs and back again. There is a near total fluidity between the traditional coverage and the blog posts."

So, in some strange, ironic way, the future of blogging lies in its ability to act like and augment the most traditional types of the printed word.

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

Montreal Gazette - Blogging marks profound shift in how we read and write the published word .

Vancouver Sun - Blogging continues to grow with its place in publishing secured .

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7 Things That Blogging Does

Seven years ago (2003), I posted my first Blog post here. The day would have slipped by had someone not sent me a note about it.

After tweeting about my Blogaversary, Jay Fleischman, replied: "@mitchjoel 6.18 posts/wk for 7 yrs. Take out 1 for the podcast and you're at 5.18; 400 words ea = 2,072 words/wk. 754,208 words total. Nice." my newspaper column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun (which will be cross-posted here tomorrow) is all about the future of Blogging. That being said, after 7 years and 2251 Blog posts, I have learned some very important lessons about the value of Blogging when I think back.

7 Important Lessons About Blogging:

Blogging = Critical Thinking. If everything else went away (the readers, the comments, the community, the feedback), Blogging was (and still is) an amazing place to think about an issue or news item and work through it. I liken myself as a Media Hacker. A Blog is a great place for anyone to be a Hacker of whatever it is that they love. If you don't believe me, then just watch this: Blogging Still Matters... Now More Than Ever.

Blogging = Ideation. In using your Blog as a platform for your critical thinking, you will quickly start uncovering new and interesting business models and ideas for how you can push your industry forward or how it can/should be thinking differently. Writing a Blog, reading the comments and feedbacking into them is the ultimate Petri dish for ideation and innovation.

Blogging = Tinkering. The ideas and critical thinking are not always one hundred percent final. Blogging allows you to tinker with ideas. To work at them (like a complex mathematical formula). Slowly, over time, you start realizing how wrong you were, how visionary you were and how much further you still have to go.

Blogging = Relationships. It's not about sitting in the dark recesses of your basement as you tinker away with words and thoughts. It's about using this platform to connect. It's about real interactions with real human beings. Some of my best friends are people that I would not have otherwise met were it not for Six Pixels of Separation (the Blog, not the concept). If you Blog, step out into the physical world. Meet other Bloggers. Share, learn and collaborate with them.

Blogging = Business. Make no mistake about it. This Blog started out as a means for Twist Image to tell the world how we think differently about Media, Marketing, Advertising and Communications. Over the years, this has attracted many world-class clients, speaking engagements, a book offer and many other amazing and interesting business opportunities. So, while this is not a place where Twist Image shills its wares, it is a place that is directly tied to our overall business objectives/strategy. It consistently delivers a very solid ROI to our bottom line (take that, you Social Media measurement naysayers!).

Blogging = Sharing. As each day passes, I like Charlene Li's latest book, Open Leadership, more and more (her first book, Groundswell rocks as well). Many people think that Social Media is all about the conversation and engaging in the conversation. I believe what makes any media "social" is the ability to share it. To help you to open up. Not only can you share the concepts by telling your peers and friend about a Blog, but everybody shares in the insights as well (whether you work for my company or not). It has changed/evolved our corporate culture. A Blog makes you think more about how you can share your content, your thoughts and why others may want to work/connect to you.

Blogging = Exhaust Valve. A great Blog is great because the Blogger actually cares and loves to create content. If it's forced, if it's your "job," then the passion rarely comes through. The biggest lesson I have learned in my seven years of Blogging is that this Blog is my exhaust valve. After working a full day with clients and their many challenges, this Blog is my playground. It's the place where I can let off some textual steam. Make your Blog your exhaust valve. Caution: be careful that you're not Blogging simply to blow off angry steam. The steam and exhaust I am talking about is the pent up energy of passion that I have from doing what I love to do.

What does Blogging equal for you?

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The Future Of Online Video

Video is what video is. You can shoot it cheaply or you can produce cinematic quality. Is it ever going to change?

In many instances, it takes someone who is not an expert in a specific area/channel to truly point out the major cultural shifts that are taking place in our world. Have you ever really stopped to think about what our YouTube generation is actually doing to our global conscience? Does that sound like radical thinking? Is it possible that people shooting videos of dogs skateboarding, baby panda bears sneezing or teenagers re-enacting their favorite professional wrestling antics are ever going to change the world? We have to appreciate that beneath the veneer of the asinine videos is a deep wealth of new information, stories and issues that connects us all (you just have to dig beneath the gloss of the haul videos to find it).

There is a video what will show you the future of online video. 

Chris Anderson is a fascinating individual. As the curator of TED, he acts as host and chief instigator in not only one of the most fascinating conferences (one that I am proud to attend), but in helping to bring people together to discuss and ideate around some of the biggest challenges and opportunities that face our world. His global perspective has helped to open up the many presentations that take place in TED's highly-exclusive events. Known as TED Talks, these video presentation have been seen millions and millions of times and translated into hundreds of languages. Most recently, Anderson presented the concept of Crowd Accelerated Innovation at the TED Global 2010 event.

Here is 19-minutes on the future of online video...

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How To Bring Out Your Genius (Yes You Can) With Mark Levy

Episode #221 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Who is Mark Levy? I had heard his name is some of my online social networking circles, and while reviewing his site I was amazed to see testimonials like: "Mark Levy is a positioning guru extraordinaire and is my guru in residence" from David Meerman Scott author of The New Rules Of Marketing And PR and Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead. Simon Sinek, the best-selling...

Social Media Can Change The Corporate Culture

Most corporate cultures are what they are. Some have been around for decades. Others have had the same corporate culture for a century (or longer). Change is never easy, but change does happen.

There's this old trucker saying that goes: "if you can't change people, you change people." The truth is that not every competent individual is right for every company, and there are also some serious nincompoops who manage to stick with a company longer than anyone can fathom. Beneath the many...