Yesterday, I went about 11 hours without a cell phone. That’s more than an entire day at work, and really, not something I would ever do willingly unless I was on some sort of digital detox program.
And when I said I didn’t go without my phone for a day willingly, what I really mean is that I dropped it in the toilet. It was long gone the minute it dropped in the bowl, and I realized at that point that I didn’t have much choice but to suck it up and work the rest of the day. Continue Reading
For companies wondering about social media, it’s easy to make the mistake that social media and advertising are the same thing–when really, they aren’t. So why do businesses continue to assume that they don’t need to use social media (or are using it wrong) because they already have an advertising department?
Similar goals, different processes
If we look at some of the goals that both social media and advertising try to accomplish, it’s easy to see why businesses make this mistake. Both platforms try to: Continue Reading
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ll of us remember our first days with Twitter: looking at it funny, attempting to figure out what to tweet about (much less in 160 characters), and especially wondering how often to do it. We address the general strategy question pretty directly here and here. Even so, you have to ask: just how often do I have to do this? Continue Reading
On Sunday, Yahoo decided to purchase the popular blogging platform Tumblr for a cool $1.1 billion.
The tech world and blogosphere has been buzzing both with praise and condemnation of the deal. Supporters think the deal will make Yahoo’s content more accessible across mobile devices and more competitive with other social sites like Facebook and Twitter. The naysayers aren’t convinced that the integration will work, and they also think that Yahoo overpaid for a revenue-deficient business model.
Now, all of that is fine and good for the global tech powers and billion-dollar hedge fund managers, but what does the Yahoo-Tumblr deal mean for your business? Continue Reading
One of the first concepts that confused me in Ec 10 my freshman year at college was opportunity cost—yes, it’s free to watch the Red Sox game on TV, but it means you miss out on the opportunity to hear your friend’s band play a gig.
There’s only so much time, and you have to pick the activities that will create the most value for you. Every time you choose to do something for an hour, you are losing the opportunity to do something else with that time. Continue Reading
One of the first thinkers on social media who really made an impression on me was Danah Boyd, who developed the idea that social media (at the time, she was talking about MySpace(!)) is identity production. A MySpace or Facebook page was a platform for teenagers to tell the world who they were — using original thoughts, curated content from others, and public friendships.
It fit perfectly with the thinking of Scott Bedbury, who told us The Brand is a Sponge. By aggregating together a collection of content (or data points), we present to the world a rounded, multi-dimensional picture of who we really are. Or at least who we claim to be. Continue Reading
If you’ve been on Twitter, Tumblr, or any of a few other social media sites, you’re probably at least aware of hashtags. Hell, they seem to be a requirement for most TV commercials, these days.
The problem with hash tags? Too many users demonstrate a loose grasp of the concept, at best.
The hashtag was conceived as a way to organize subgroups of users, enabling ongoing niche conversations among perfect strangers. But the awesome power of # has fallen into the wrong hands. Continue Reading
Robert Caro said that power doesn’t corrupt, but power reveals. When people get power, their true nature comes out.
You can say the same for social media.
You may have seen the case of Amy’s Bakery, in which a bakery owner and her husband had a very public meltdown on Facebook. It was not a good day for the brand. But in fairness, it’s not clear that any day has been particularly good for that brand for a long time. Continue reading
There was an election here in Omaha yesterday. Someone with a “D” behind their name was trying to get re-elected as mayor by fending off a person with an “R” behind their name.
As with any election, when you hear the spin doctors talking about what message matters to this “group” or that “group,” they seem to completely forget the delivery system. As I have watched this election I have realized that, yes, I am a middle-aged white male in the suburbs and I am one of “Those Groups.” However, I missed the debate on TV so I am left making my decisions based on 15-30 second sound bites that are mostly focused on negative stuff. Continue Reading
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How to Recruit With Your Company Blog
Yes, internet comments have become a cruel irony bordering on performance art in today’s online circles. Everyone acknowledges they are the worst, and yet we all keep reading them and creating them. Trolls, martyrs, activists, illiterates, firsties (do people still do that?) — they all have forged their collective identities on the internet. Kind of like this. Continue Reading