Apple and Loopt are upping the ante on location-aware technology. Thanks to a new feature in iOS4, the application Loopt is able to consistently monitor users' locations in the background. This could have huge implications for the social use of location-aware applications.
Previously we noted that companies like Loopt have received minimal social uptake, partly due to security issues and having to rebuild your network on a new application. There is also a third reason though - the inability to check-out of a location. When a user checks-in to a location, their status remains at that location until they check-in somewhere else, meaning that if a friend decided to stop by and visit them, there was a good chance they could have already left...days ago even. Now, with background location, Loopt can continuously monitor your location (for a duration of time you control) and actually check you out of a location if it notices you are no longer within a given radius of the venue.
Clearly this doesn't address the primary two social concerns of location-aware applications, but this new feature does complete the technology, guaranteeing interactions between friends. Will this be enough to entice early adopters to reconsider social implications?
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Girl Scouts Using Social Media - Modernizing a Brand
I grew up, as I'm sure most of us did, with the doorbell ringing and a little girl in uniform on the other side trying to sell me delicious overpriced cookies using her award winning smile. Buying Girl Scout cookies is so ubiquitous that it almost equates to a rite of passage for new home owners - one of those inevitable events you know anticipate is going to happen that, unlike some first time experiences (like a pipe breaking), you can actually look forward to. However, I haven't had a Girl Scout come to my door in years. It certainly can't be because I'm not friendly :-D. Is door-to-door selling just not bringing in the returns these future entrepreneurs are looking for?
According to an article from Mashable, more and more Girl Scouts are turning to social media in order to reach larger audiences and sell cookies faster - and with less work. This may sound like a good idea at first, a smart way to use modern technology to increase sales, but the article warns that this may actually be tarnishing the Girl Scout brand. For two years shy of a century, the Girl Scout brand has been aligned with cute girls coming directly to your door hawking baked goods. That personal connection of knowing your neighborhood children and shelling out $5 a box to support her is what made the interaction so powerful. You were more likely to buy from her in person because how could you say no to that innocent face price gouging you? If this scenario took place entirely online, not in real time, through plain text, would you be as convinced to buy as you would be in person? If done correctly, yes!
I'll admit that a status update from my neighbor saying "please buy girl scout cookies from my daughter," or, heaven forbid, actually setting up a Facebook store, would not entice me to purchase...unless she had some thin mints...mmm....err but um, no, that situation would not be so persuasive. Imagine this instead, a personalized wall post with a picture of the daughter in uniform standing in an open front doorway, holding up an order form, with a caption attached saying "Ding Dong. Hi Mr. Cox, would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" Um yeah, that's going to work. Why? Because this scenario has modernized the classic Girl Scout interaction to play out in a digital realm. On Facebook, my wall is the equivalent of my front door and a photo takes the place of looking through my peep hole. In all effects, I feel as though I am still receiving the same level of personal service, but on a forum that I am more likely to respond to (I'm always available on Facebook, whereas it would be much harder to isolate a time when I'm regularly home).
This form of modernized service is the key to keeping historic brand interactions relevant today. Feel out of touch with your local grocer or bakery? What if they posted their fresh produce or what's being pulled hot out of the oven? Not at home to receive that package? UPS could post a delivery notice to your Facebook wall, so that you could stop and retrieve the package on your way home rather than having to go back out. Social media has upped the standards for customer service and it's no longer becoming a convenience, it's an expectation. How is your brand adapting to better serve the customer?
According to an article from Mashable, more and more Girl Scouts are turning to social media in order to reach larger audiences and sell cookies faster - and with less work. This may sound like a good idea at first, a smart way to use modern technology to increase sales, but the article warns that this may actually be tarnishing the Girl Scout brand. For two years shy of a century, the Girl Scout brand has been aligned with cute girls coming directly to your door hawking baked goods. That personal connection of knowing your neighborhood children and shelling out $5 a box to support her is what made the interaction so powerful. You were more likely to buy from her in person because how could you say no to that innocent face price gouging you? If this scenario took place entirely online, not in real time, through plain text, would you be as convinced to buy as you would be in person? If done correctly, yes!
I'll admit that a status update from my neighbor saying "please buy girl scout cookies from my daughter," or, heaven forbid, actually setting up a Facebook store, would not entice me to purchase...unless she had some thin mints...mmm....err but um, no, that situation would not be so persuasive. Imagine this instead, a personalized wall post with a picture of the daughter in uniform standing in an open front doorway, holding up an order form, with a caption attached saying "Ding Dong. Hi Mr. Cox, would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" Um yeah, that's going to work. Why? Because this scenario has modernized the classic Girl Scout interaction to play out in a digital realm. On Facebook, my wall is the equivalent of my front door and a photo takes the place of looking through my peep hole. In all effects, I feel as though I am still receiving the same level of personal service, but on a forum that I am more likely to respond to (I'm always available on Facebook, whereas it would be much harder to isolate a time when I'm regularly home).
This form of modernized service is the key to keeping historic brand interactions relevant today. Feel out of touch with your local grocer or bakery? What if they posted their fresh produce or what's being pulled hot out of the oven? Not at home to receive that package? UPS could post a delivery notice to your Facebook wall, so that you could stop and retrieve the package on your way home rather than having to go back out. Social media has upped the standards for customer service and it's no longer becoming a convenience, it's an expectation. How is your brand adapting to better serve the customer?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Reviving Your Brand: Chatroulette
By now everyone should be familiar with Chatroulette, the internet site that allows users to video conference with random people from around the globe. As the media and television shows like South Park have made very clear, the site is heavily used by individuals looking to perform sexual acts. Despite the large market for a website serving this purpose, pornography had never been the original or desired intent of the site's creator. This unwanted usage has lead to a surge of backlash from the media and a large portion of users disassociating with the site because they are tired of seeing naked images every time they try to hold a legitimate conversation. For the last seven months, Chatroulette has done nothing to prevent or deter such behavior, most likely on the grounds of fostering free speech and expression; however, allowing the brand to grow organically and earn a negative reputation, especially in the US, has put the brand at risk of permanently becoming nothing more than another internet sex site. Now, it appears founder Andrey Ternovskiy is taking a stand to intervene before it is too late.
According to an article on TechCrunch, Chatroulette is employing a series of new technologies that will use video recognition to weed out pornographic images and flag users who are repeatedly skipped. Assuming the new technology works, will this effort be enough to save the decaying brand? With the right set of actions, the answer should be yes. Alone the technology improvements would not be able to re-energize the brand and reengage users who have already jumped ship, but with the right amount of crisis communication and a solid brand platform, Chatroulette can reinvent itself and ignite a growth in video communications and global networking.
Similar to BP, but on a much less disastrous scale, Chatroulette needs to first initiate crisis communication to begin apologizing to its audience for the current state of the brand. Following a current trend of using CEOs as spokesmen, Ternovsky needs to engage media representatives directly, stating that this was not the intended usage of the site, explaining why the situation was allowed to escalate to its current state, and thoroughly educating users on the technology being put into place to address the problem. Second, Chatroulette needs to develop a new brand platform and positioning that sets the course for the brand's future. If not pornography, what is the true intended purpose of the site? How can the service benefit its users? And what will the future hold if the brand revolutionizes the way we communicate and socialize. The new positioning should give the audience a reason to care about the company and a promise of change to hold on to for the future. Together, these two steps should display an effort to abandon the past and launch a new direction.
Of course, the last step is to carry through with what is promised. Aside from the improvements to the underlying software, the biggest way to reflect the positive changes associated with the new brand platform is to improve the user experience on a visual level. As the site looks now, Chatroulette is a very visually disengaging experience, resembling an early Windows 3.1 feel. Although this may have accurately portrayed the brand as a startup (the vibe gives an old school feel, focusing on substance over quality and aligning with an initial audience that most likely isn't swayed by just a pretty visage), combined with the current perception of the brand, the visual scheme of the site actually portrays a very low tech and even distrusting persona. If Ternovsky cares enough about the brand's perception to change the technology, he should also care enough to create a visual scheme that appears modern and professional (Apple-esque I'm sure).
With all this in place, the brand should have the legs it needs to reposition itself in the market and reengage lost audience members. After a trial period of testing the updated software and analyzing some initial feedback on the overall user experience, I would further suggest that Chatroulette begins to sponsor or partner with other aligning interests. If the new positioning aims to bridge language barriers and span distances, sponsor a pen pal program for high school foreign language departments. If the new positioning is focused on networking and meeting new people, partner with dating sates and social media networks. Not only will this drastically increase the site's user base, it will further build trust in a brand that had once been greatly discredited.
According to an article on TechCrunch, Chatroulette is employing a series of new technologies that will use video recognition to weed out pornographic images and flag users who are repeatedly skipped. Assuming the new technology works, will this effort be enough to save the decaying brand? With the right set of actions, the answer should be yes. Alone the technology improvements would not be able to re-energize the brand and reengage users who have already jumped ship, but with the right amount of crisis communication and a solid brand platform, Chatroulette can reinvent itself and ignite a growth in video communications and global networking.
Similar to BP, but on a much less disastrous scale, Chatroulette needs to first initiate crisis communication to begin apologizing to its audience for the current state of the brand. Following a current trend of using CEOs as spokesmen, Ternovsky needs to engage media representatives directly, stating that this was not the intended usage of the site, explaining why the situation was allowed to escalate to its current state, and thoroughly educating users on the technology being put into place to address the problem. Second, Chatroulette needs to develop a new brand platform and positioning that sets the course for the brand's future. If not pornography, what is the true intended purpose of the site? How can the service benefit its users? And what will the future hold if the brand revolutionizes the way we communicate and socialize. The new positioning should give the audience a reason to care about the company and a promise of change to hold on to for the future. Together, these two steps should display an effort to abandon the past and launch a new direction.
Of course, the last step is to carry through with what is promised. Aside from the improvements to the underlying software, the biggest way to reflect the positive changes associated with the new brand platform is to improve the user experience on a visual level. As the site looks now, Chatroulette is a very visually disengaging experience, resembling an early Windows 3.1 feel. Although this may have accurately portrayed the brand as a startup (the vibe gives an old school feel, focusing on substance over quality and aligning with an initial audience that most likely isn't swayed by just a pretty visage), combined with the current perception of the brand, the visual scheme of the site actually portrays a very low tech and even distrusting persona. If Ternovsky cares enough about the brand's perception to change the technology, he should also care enough to create a visual scheme that appears modern and professional (Apple-esque I'm sure).
With all this in place, the brand should have the legs it needs to reposition itself in the market and reengage lost audience members. After a trial period of testing the updated software and analyzing some initial feedback on the overall user experience, I would further suggest that Chatroulette begins to sponsor or partner with other aligning interests. If the new positioning aims to bridge language barriers and span distances, sponsor a pen pal program for high school foreign language departments. If the new positioning is focused on networking and meeting new people, partner with dating sates and social media networks. Not only will this drastically increase the site's user base, it will further build trust in a brand that had once been greatly discredited.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Has Lincoln Become a Classic Brand Without Modern Relevance?
Recently I was asked by a large automotive marketing firm to conduct a brand analysis for Lincoln. Below is my review of Lincoln’s current market crisis:
With nearly a century‘s worth of history, Lincoln has proudly maintained the concept of elite, sophisticated luxury that the brand was initially built on. For generations the Town Car has been known as the pinnacle of high status. Designed to fill just such a role as the personal transport for Henry Ford, the Town Car brand has long defined its category, similar to Kleenex or Band-Aid, being the name used to describe a chauffeured vehicle long after additional players entered the space. And for 70 years the Lincoln Continental was the vehicle of choice for the successful family man. There is no doubt that Lincoln has always understood what it means to be a status brand – a symbolic expression of the personality and lifestyle of its users. However, as a sea of rival luxury brands continued to enter the market, Lincoln released a product that would forever change the positioning of the brand, opening it up to an endless potential of future-forward possibilities.
1998 brought the launch of the Lincoln Navigator and, although they may not have realized it at the time, this vehicle would set a new precedent of bringing luxury and class to emerging markets. The Navigator allowed Lincoln to enter the highly sought after market of SUVs, but in a way that opened the trend up to its core demographic. From that moment forward, this is where the power of the Lincoln brand would lie, in bringing its history and industry-leading standards of luxury to new automotive trends and new audiences. A lack of internal understanding and external communication of this new positioning, however, would soon cost the brand relevancy in the market.
As it stands now, a decade later, Lincoln’s brand has lost focus. New model vehicles have continued to bring luxury to new markets, including eco-friendly with hybrid support, technology focused with Sync and SIRIUS Travel Link, and power seekers with superior performance and handling and ultraquiet environments; however, this has most likely been as a means of keeping up with lower priced competitors rather than as pioneering a field. Additionally, Lincoln’s true audience has dramatically shifted from its original target. The successful family man is now a thirty year old entrepreneur.
If Lincoln is to uphold its heritage and regain its superiority in the market, it needs to understand how to reach and communicate with its new audience and reposition itself in a way that gives the audience a reason to care about the brand. It needs to remember what made the Navigator such a success. It needs to become the brand that brings luxury to groundbreaking technology.
With nearly a century‘s worth of history, Lincoln has proudly maintained the concept of elite, sophisticated luxury that the brand was initially built on. For generations the Town Car has been known as the pinnacle of high status. Designed to fill just such a role as the personal transport for Henry Ford, the Town Car brand has long defined its category, similar to Kleenex or Band-Aid, being the name used to describe a chauffeured vehicle long after additional players entered the space. And for 70 years the Lincoln Continental was the vehicle of choice for the successful family man. There is no doubt that Lincoln has always understood what it means to be a status brand – a symbolic expression of the personality and lifestyle of its users. However, as a sea of rival luxury brands continued to enter the market, Lincoln released a product that would forever change the positioning of the brand, opening it up to an endless potential of future-forward possibilities.
1998 brought the launch of the Lincoln Navigator and, although they may not have realized it at the time, this vehicle would set a new precedent of bringing luxury and class to emerging markets. The Navigator allowed Lincoln to enter the highly sought after market of SUVs, but in a way that opened the trend up to its core demographic. From that moment forward, this is where the power of the Lincoln brand would lie, in bringing its history and industry-leading standards of luxury to new automotive trends and new audiences. A lack of internal understanding and external communication of this new positioning, however, would soon cost the brand relevancy in the market.
As it stands now, a decade later, Lincoln’s brand has lost focus. New model vehicles have continued to bring luxury to new markets, including eco-friendly with hybrid support, technology focused with Sync and SIRIUS Travel Link, and power seekers with superior performance and handling and ultraquiet environments; however, this has most likely been as a means of keeping up with lower priced competitors rather than as pioneering a field. Additionally, Lincoln’s true audience has dramatically shifted from its original target. The successful family man is now a thirty year old entrepreneur.
If Lincoln is to uphold its heritage and regain its superiority in the market, it needs to understand how to reach and communicate with its new audience and reposition itself in a way that gives the audience a reason to care about the brand. It needs to remember what made the Navigator such a success. It needs to become the brand that brings luxury to groundbreaking technology.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Why You Should Check-In to Location-Aware Apps
Location-aware applications have been a hot trend this past year after the leaders in "Check-In," Foursquare and Gowalla, took SXSW by storm last spring. Surely these two companies were not the pioneers in the field (as this author had been using similar location-based social media app Loopt for several months prior), but their strong presence at the national event, backed by sleek interfaces and updated technology, brought the attention of location-aware apps to the forefront of social media. The response from users and industry analysts alike has been mixed at best with a few early adopters (yours truly included) singing their praises while a larger majority either dismissed the tools or frowned upon them for various reasons including privacy or redundancy. However, as new contenders continue to enter the space and marketers become a little more savvy, industry players are beginning to realize that there may be more use to these tools than they were previously given credit for. Here we will analyze the social versus business value of these services and discuss how new players are changing the nature of the game in the right direction.
Early services in the location-aware field, such as Loopt and Britekite, and even more recent players like Google Latitude, Gowalla and Whrrl, have focused their services primarily around the social aspect of checking-in. These services allow users to broadcast their location to their social circles by checking-in at a venue, often accompanied by a short comment or picture. The goal is that nearby friends will see your location and choose to join you. In theory this sounds fun, but many concerns and short-comings quickly arose - chief amongst them safety. But the real problem was that there were too many of these apps and none of them were offered by the major social players - Facebook and Twitter. Users had to rebuild their networks all over again, convince friends to use the new services and, frankly, remember or continue to use the services. An update to have these apps post your check-in directly to Facebook seemed like a possible solution, but it was nothing that posting to Facebook on your own or sending a text message couldn't already accomplish.
The real solution is that the services aren't being used for the correct purposes. Don't try and fight the market leaders. Facebook and Twitter already own our social networks. Anything we want to communicate directly to our groups of friends, colleagues and acquaintances will be done through these well established channels. Instead, focus on how checking-in to a location can benefit the user and the venue. This is where Foursquare and subsequent derivatives are beginning to do things right.
Location-aware services need to be entirely focused on direct marketing - knowing exactly who your customer is, where they are, how often they go, and providing them with the rewards and incentives they have earned for their loyalty and advocacy. Most people are aware of Foursquare's mayor status, but there are so many more reward tiers that Foursquare allows, such as loyalty programs, first time visitor promotions, and even one day only sales. Take a look at what Cynthia Rowley (Mashable) is doing - a one time promotion, for two hours, where anyone who checks in gets a $25 gift card and 15% off. Brilliant! Veteran Loopt introduced an additional service called Loopt Star which has a similar, but more refined, effect. Check in twice at Gap with Loopt Star and save 25% (Forbes). Not only does this provide a great incentive for users to visit and return to a restaurant or store, but it also costs nothing for the venue to market the promotion and it gets plastered all over Facebook and Twitter every time someone checks-in. That is where the value lies.
An additional benefit for the venue lies in reviews and referrals. Yelp is a prime example here as one of the largest online peer review sites. Users check in to a location and proceed to write reviews, post photos and share their experiences. In fact, most of the location-based apps allow for Twitter-esque 140 character shout-outs, which can be shared via Facebook. Give the customer something positive to shout about and reward them for doing it and you have a perfect platform for free marketing that is golden for large corporations and small businesses alike.
Of course, problems still exist, largely in that these types of promotional uses are still few and far between. Getting $1 off your coffee after battling to be the Foursquare mayor at your local Starbucks hardly seems like a strong enough reason for users to maintain another social media tool. There's also the fact that there are a lot of new apps being developed that are quickly flooding this space and its far too soon to pick a winner. Big names like Foursquare or Gowalla may have the recognition and high number of daily check-ins (Foursquare is estimating 1 million check-ins per day [Twitter]), but new services like Loopt Star and WeReward are rewriting the rules, creating apps that blatantly depict the value of checking-in. Finally, there is the problem of corporate buy-in. Most businesses, large or small, are still trying to figure out what it means to operate in the social media realm, maintaining a relationship with their fans, providing industry news and insights, and engaging the consumer directly on Facebook and Twitter with storefronts, promotions and contests. If most brands still don't see the complete value of social media, how can we expect them to by into another fledgling tech trend?
The solution is to directly engage the businesses that have the most to gain from localized, low cost advertising - small businesses and restaurants. Although every business is trying to increase sales right now, small businesses especially are suffering and can benefit greatly from this service in many ways. First is awareness. After establishing a partnership with Foursquare, the app informs users every time they are near a venue with a special offer. This will immediately help raise awareness of unknown venues and encourage first time visits. Second is rewarding loyalty. Everyone is familiar with loyalty cards that reward a visitor for their 10th purchase. Location-aware apps offer the same tool, but without the need for printed cards, special hole punchers and with the bonus of a network-wide shout out every time a hole is punched/check-in occurs. Finally, it helps to venue reach out to a new audience on their terms. Today's younger audiences aren't being exposed to direct mail, ads in the paper or even commercials on the radio. They're taking suggestions from friends and social media. By connecting with this audience on their terms, not only are small businesses able to tap new audiences, but the audience in question's immediate perception of the business will be tech savvy and modern, which they can relate to.
As social media marketers it is our job to promote these services to our clients and continue to help them grow. The more business partner with location-aware websites, the more users will join, and so on, forming a reciprocal cycle. (*Shameless Plug*) As my clients can attest, the benefit is there and the value is measurable, the hard part is just taking the first step and learning more.
Early services in the location-aware field, such as Loopt and Britekite, and even more recent players like Google Latitude, Gowalla and Whrrl, have focused their services primarily around the social aspect of checking-in. These services allow users to broadcast their location to their social circles by checking-in at a venue, often accompanied by a short comment or picture. The goal is that nearby friends will see your location and choose to join you. In theory this sounds fun, but many concerns and short-comings quickly arose - chief amongst them safety. But the real problem was that there were too many of these apps and none of them were offered by the major social players - Facebook and Twitter. Users had to rebuild their networks all over again, convince friends to use the new services and, frankly, remember or continue to use the services. An update to have these apps post your check-in directly to Facebook seemed like a possible solution, but it was nothing that posting to Facebook on your own or sending a text message couldn't already accomplish.
The real solution is that the services aren't being used for the correct purposes. Don't try and fight the market leaders. Facebook and Twitter already own our social networks. Anything we want to communicate directly to our groups of friends, colleagues and acquaintances will be done through these well established channels. Instead, focus on how checking-in to a location can benefit the user and the venue. This is where Foursquare and subsequent derivatives are beginning to do things right.
Location-aware services need to be entirely focused on direct marketing - knowing exactly who your customer is, where they are, how often they go, and providing them with the rewards and incentives they have earned for their loyalty and advocacy. Most people are aware of Foursquare's mayor status, but there are so many more reward tiers that Foursquare allows, such as loyalty programs, first time visitor promotions, and even one day only sales. Take a look at what Cynthia Rowley (Mashable) is doing - a one time promotion, for two hours, where anyone who checks in gets a $25 gift card and 15% off. Brilliant! Veteran Loopt introduced an additional service called Loopt Star which has a similar, but more refined, effect. Check in twice at Gap with Loopt Star and save 25% (Forbes). Not only does this provide a great incentive for users to visit and return to a restaurant or store, but it also costs nothing for the venue to market the promotion and it gets plastered all over Facebook and Twitter every time someone checks-in. That is where the value lies.
An additional benefit for the venue lies in reviews and referrals. Yelp is a prime example here as one of the largest online peer review sites. Users check in to a location and proceed to write reviews, post photos and share their experiences. In fact, most of the location-based apps allow for Twitter-esque 140 character shout-outs, which can be shared via Facebook. Give the customer something positive to shout about and reward them for doing it and you have a perfect platform for free marketing that is golden for large corporations and small businesses alike.
Of course, problems still exist, largely in that these types of promotional uses are still few and far between. Getting $1 off your coffee after battling to be the Foursquare mayor at your local Starbucks hardly seems like a strong enough reason for users to maintain another social media tool. There's also the fact that there are a lot of new apps being developed that are quickly flooding this space and its far too soon to pick a winner. Big names like Foursquare or Gowalla may have the recognition and high number of daily check-ins (Foursquare is estimating 1 million check-ins per day [Twitter]), but new services like Loopt Star and WeReward are rewriting the rules, creating apps that blatantly depict the value of checking-in. Finally, there is the problem of corporate buy-in. Most businesses, large or small, are still trying to figure out what it means to operate in the social media realm, maintaining a relationship with their fans, providing industry news and insights, and engaging the consumer directly on Facebook and Twitter with storefronts, promotions and contests. If most brands still don't see the complete value of social media, how can we expect them to by into another fledgling tech trend?
The solution is to directly engage the businesses that have the most to gain from localized, low cost advertising - small businesses and restaurants. Although every business is trying to increase sales right now, small businesses especially are suffering and can benefit greatly from this service in many ways. First is awareness. After establishing a partnership with Foursquare, the app informs users every time they are near a venue with a special offer. This will immediately help raise awareness of unknown venues and encourage first time visits. Second is rewarding loyalty. Everyone is familiar with loyalty cards that reward a visitor for their 10th purchase. Location-aware apps offer the same tool, but without the need for printed cards, special hole punchers and with the bonus of a network-wide shout out every time a hole is punched/check-in occurs. Finally, it helps to venue reach out to a new audience on their terms. Today's younger audiences aren't being exposed to direct mail, ads in the paper or even commercials on the radio. They're taking suggestions from friends and social media. By connecting with this audience on their terms, not only are small businesses able to tap new audiences, but the audience in question's immediate perception of the business will be tech savvy and modern, which they can relate to.
As social media marketers it is our job to promote these services to our clients and continue to help them grow. The more business partner with location-aware websites, the more users will join, and so on, forming a reciprocal cycle. (*Shameless Plug*) As my clients can attest, the benefit is there and the value is measurable, the hard part is just taking the first step and learning more.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Is Instant Messaging Dead? What About Email?
Think about the last dozen times you communicated with a friend in writing. Maybe you were inviting them to lunch or asking about a homework assignment. How many of those times did you do so using a standard instant messaging client, such as AIM, Yahoo! or MSN Messenger? What about the last month? The last year? Next to none? This author too. In fact, even though I have an account with each one of those services linked to Meebo on my phone, I still don't recall my last time using them.
Quite frankly I'm not surprised. As TechCrunch points out in their article 2010: The Year Instant Messaging Finally Died?, instant messaging has largely been replaced by SMS messages or texting and Facebook's built in chat application (which is also linked to my Meebo app and I happen to use it daily). Is this a result of brands losing their focusing in the marketplace and failing to connect with target audiences? Or is it a symptom of something much bigger and more common? This strategist feels it's safe to say it's not the former. IM clients have done nearly everything possible to remain relevant in a mobile world, including rebranding themselves, acquiring new technologies and building multiple smartphone chat applications. But all of this hasn't been enough to tackle the bigger issue at hand that once again our communication preferences and abilities are expanding as technology evolves.
IMing does not and cannot provide us with the simplicity, speed, and global availability that texting permits, nor does it allow for the longevity, mass blasting and pull consumption habits of mainstream social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. A text message allows the user to send a short message to multiple recipients at once, without the need for a computer or internet connection, and without having to launch a program. There is no need to wait until your friend is online or gather a series of handles across multiple clients. Facebook and Twitter mirror this effect with the addition of allowing you to post a message to be seen by your entire network at once, when it is convenient for them to read it. And if you still want that instant response (without the inconvenience of a voice conversation, perish the thought), Facebook Chat lives right on the site where you are presumably already spending most of your time, alleviating the need for superfluous programs or screen names.
It is not the individual IM client brands themselves that have become irrelevant here, it is the underlying technology behind them that is being phased out. They are no more responsible for this shift in preference than the Postal Service is for us not sending personal letters anymore (my guess is stamps would be relatively cheaper had we still been sending letters instead of emails). Which reminds me of another dying technology: email. Up until recently, my personal inbox was covered in e-dust and collecting virtual cobwebs. Why would I send a friend or family member an email when I could text them, post on their wall or send them an evite? But unlike instant messaging, which has been branded primarily as a personal or social tool, email still thrives as a business necessity. It has not yet become largely acceptable to send your client's CEO a text message or post on their wall. Partially this is because of confidentiality, paper trail and legal reasons, but primarily it is because these communication methods on a grand scale do not carry the same heir of respect and professionalism that more personal and private communication methods hold. My guess is that over time this too will fade, first internally amongst colleagues and teams, then much later for external communications, but as brands large and small continue to embrace their customers through social networking and allow their operations to become exceedingly transparent, simplicity and social preference will prevail.
On a personal note, please don't interpret this commentary as an opportunity to become an evangelist for your favorite IM client and try to single-handedly resurrect them. Let's simply remember the good times we shared and allow them to pass peacefully.
Quite frankly I'm not surprised. As TechCrunch points out in their article 2010: The Year Instant Messaging Finally Died?, instant messaging has largely been replaced by SMS messages or texting and Facebook's built in chat application (which is also linked to my Meebo app and I happen to use it daily). Is this a result of brands losing their focusing in the marketplace and failing to connect with target audiences? Or is it a symptom of something much bigger and more common? This strategist feels it's safe to say it's not the former. IM clients have done nearly everything possible to remain relevant in a mobile world, including rebranding themselves, acquiring new technologies and building multiple smartphone chat applications. But all of this hasn't been enough to tackle the bigger issue at hand that once again our communication preferences and abilities are expanding as technology evolves.
IMing does not and cannot provide us with the simplicity, speed, and global availability that texting permits, nor does it allow for the longevity, mass blasting and pull consumption habits of mainstream social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. A text message allows the user to send a short message to multiple recipients at once, without the need for a computer or internet connection, and without having to launch a program. There is no need to wait until your friend is online or gather a series of handles across multiple clients. Facebook and Twitter mirror this effect with the addition of allowing you to post a message to be seen by your entire network at once, when it is convenient for them to read it. And if you still want that instant response (without the inconvenience of a voice conversation, perish the thought), Facebook Chat lives right on the site where you are presumably already spending most of your time, alleviating the need for superfluous programs or screen names.
It is not the individual IM client brands themselves that have become irrelevant here, it is the underlying technology behind them that is being phased out. They are no more responsible for this shift in preference than the Postal Service is for us not sending personal letters anymore (my guess is stamps would be relatively cheaper had we still been sending letters instead of emails). Which reminds me of another dying technology: email. Up until recently, my personal inbox was covered in e-dust and collecting virtual cobwebs. Why would I send a friend or family member an email when I could text them, post on their wall or send them an evite? But unlike instant messaging, which has been branded primarily as a personal or social tool, email still thrives as a business necessity. It has not yet become largely acceptable to send your client's CEO a text message or post on their wall. Partially this is because of confidentiality, paper trail and legal reasons, but primarily it is because these communication methods on a grand scale do not carry the same heir of respect and professionalism that more personal and private communication methods hold. My guess is that over time this too will fade, first internally amongst colleagues and teams, then much later for external communications, but as brands large and small continue to embrace their customers through social networking and allow their operations to become exceedingly transparent, simplicity and social preference will prevail.
On a personal note, please don't interpret this commentary as an opportunity to become an evangelist for your favorite IM client and try to single-handedly resurrect them. Let's simply remember the good times we shared and allow them to pass peacefully.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Staying Abreast While Making Headway
Success! Five months later and I'm finally writing my first post. For me that seems like an eternity, but apparently I may be right on track. Just today I was reading an article on the blog Digitally Approved called "Graduating with an Edge" in which the author discussed three tips to landing a new job, one of which is writing a personal blog. In the article the author states it may take a couple months to find your voice, but the important part is just starting. So here I am, having done just that, and hopefully this will sync in as part of my routine.
As it stands, my daily routine is already overflowing, as nearly all can relate to, with a large portion of my day spent updating myself on the latest trends, technologies and major players in my field.
- New books are published every month (I'm currently reading Socialnomics by Erik Qualman)
- Fodder for case studies and blog articles occurs every week (the Apple v. Adobe "feud" is like marketing reality TV - edited for dramatic effect, completely over-hyped by the media and a guilty pleasure for tech junkies like me)
- Podcasts are posted to my iTunes subscriptions daily (I'm a huge fan of Cnet and CnetTV, especially Loaded, hosted by Natali Del Conte, and Buzz Report, hosted by Molly Wood, and these shows provide me with a decent helping of tech news accompanied with a spoonful of humor to help it go down)
- Blog feeds populate my reader on an hourly basis (I subscribe to, and actually read, over 20 blogs spanning technology, marketing, branding, social media and a few other personal interests).
I think it is safe to say that we all want to have our voices heard and be respected for the work we accomplish. I'm very lucky to have some really exciting projects in the future and you can be sure that this blog will become a sounding board for cast-aside ideas, fascinating inspirations and revolutionary finds.
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