Message From Michael - Social Media - July 13, 2009

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        July 13, 2009

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

    SOCIAL MEDIA – A SPECIAL EDITION

       BAROMETERS AND COCKTAIN PARTIES

      THE COLD WAR

      COPYCAT MEDIA

      GOLD MINING

      THE GLOBAL PERIOD

 

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      SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT OVERVIEW:  There has been such an enormous amount of focus on social networking, social media, social whatever, that it was time to do a special MfM on the concept.  This is not the final definitive report.  To prove that, I will give you the bottom-line line at the start of the report, instead of the end.  The bottom-line is that despite the hoopla there is no business model associated with social media.  After reading innumerable articles and reports, it comes down to – nobody has figured out how to commercialize it or monetize it.  That is not to discount social networking, by any means.  It is an important method for connecting to people, or if you’re in business, getting the pulse or mood of people.  And that is its true value.     

      BAROMETERS AND COCKTAIL PARTIES:  According to the Consumer Internet Barometer produced for the business-oriented Conference Board, the percentage of “the online community” using social networks has jumped from a quarter (27%) to nearly a half (43%) in only the last year.  The increase is even more dramatic amongst the AARP crowd (those over 55), tripling from six percent a year ago to 19% now.  A different report, by Participatory Marketing Network, “a trade association promoting social networking” (so, yes, there may be bias) says the numbers are even more dramatic among the 18 to 24 crowd with every one of them (or at least 99%) having at least one or more active profiles on social networking sites.  Going back to the Consumer Internet Barometer report, it cites several conference board members who make the point that social networks have become… “an integral part of our personal and professional lives… (and) transformed the way individuals connect and communicate with one another.”  An analysis by the conference board and Marketing Vox says SocNets (the now fashionable shorthand for referring to social networks) are ‘not viable commercial platforms” for the simple reason that people see them as a way to interact but not as a means of conducting e-commerce.  Consumers do not see them as places to shop for product or services or a place to be ‘marketed to.’  The Participatory Marketing Network even says the same things, noting that such sites, especially Twitter, are “for friends, not Brands.”  Despite that, the conference board report argues that social networks are still critical to marketing efforts because they’re important communication tools and because businesses should be listening to those on-line conversations to ‘harness the power of influencers to co-create their marketing strategies.’  Marketing firm Bazaarvoice makes a similar point.  Company founder Brett Hurt argues that social networks are like a big cocktail party with everybody enjoying each other’s company, “but nobody shops at a cocktail party.”  He argues though that the smart companies will turn their Brand sites into social networking ‘cocktail parties’ in which people can turn to friends and colleagues for advice.

      HALF EMPTY: Just to provide balance, a poll earlier this year by Harris Interactive made the point that half of Americans (51%) do not use social networking sites Twitter, MySpace or Facebook.  It also notes that while just under half (48%) of U.S. adults have either a MySpace or Facebook account, only one in six (16%) update their page at least once a day.  Only five percent of Americans say they use Twitter and even among the younger demographic (18 to 34), that percentage only increases to eight percent.   

      CELEBRITY WATCHING:  Despite all the hoopla (I just wanted to use that word again), Twitter followers are not necessarily twitter-pated about celebrities.  The PMN report says four out of five active Twitter users (85%) use it to follow friends.  Similarly, the CIB report says nearly half (42%) of those surveyed said the main reasons for ‘tweeting’ are to connect with friends.  Another third say they use it to interact with family.  That’s not to say they Twitter users aren’t celebrity watching.  The PMN report says more than half (54%) track celebrities using Twitter while the CIB report says a third (30%) use it connect with celebrities.  The CIB report says Twitter users are also “likely to interact with TV shows, employers, co-workers, companies/ brands and TV anchors/ journalists.”

      THE COLD WAR:  Russia versus the U.S., and the winner is… Russia.  According to a study by digital measurement service comScore, Russia has the “most engaged social networking audience” with the average social networking visitor in Russia spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages each month.  That compares to the U.S., which comes in 9^th in the ranking of 40 countries with the average visitor spending 4.2 hours and viewing 477 pages each month.  The average visitor world-wide spends 3.7 hours and visits 525 pages. (I could not find a mention of China or India.)  According to the report, two-thirds (65%) of all Internet users world wide visited a social networking site at least once during the month.  Brazil came in second worldwide, averaging 6.3 hours and 1,220 pages.  Facebook and MySpace reach less than two percent and one percent respectively of the total online population in Russia.  The giant killer in social networking in Russia is Vkontakte.ru which has nearly half (45%) of the online population. The comScore report put the unique visitors at 14.3 Million, but a counter at the site put the visitor number at more than 37 Million.   A report by Global Comm Class out of Georgetown University says that while the Russian social networking sites are huge, they are also hugely ‘insular.’  More than 70% of all Internet usage in Russia comes from the area right around Moscow.
          
If you’re interested, there is an English language Beta version of Vkontakte, if you want to keep up with things in Russia.  And if you’re really curious (and know some Russian), President Dmitry Medvedev has his own Vlog which has proven, according to Wired, something of a hit.  Even though I don’t understand Russia, it was interesting to visit.  You can access it at:  http://community.livejournal.com/blog_medvedev.  The Georgetown University report notes that Google has failed to make inroads into Russia, despite (I didn’t know this) Google co-founder Sergeiy Brin’s Russian background.  To prove that I’m easily amused, I found it particularly funny that Twitter-like micro-blogging has failed to take off in Russia because the long Russian alphabet makes it difficult to fit ‘meaningful dialogue’ into 140 characters. 

      COPYCAT MEDIA.  Both Russia and China tend to copy the American social networking sites and search sites.  And the native sites out-perform their American invaders despite a concerted effort by Facebook and Google in particular to gain a toe-hold.   Again, according to the Global Comm Class report, the leading search engine in Russia (Yandex) and the leading search engine in China (Baidu) trounce Google. Website cnreviews.com, which focuses on China and Asian affairs, says Google is doing ‘okay’ in China with a 30% share, but, whatever this means, “it is too late for Facebook.”  The website cites several examples of the copycat approach.  There are at least four Chinese versions of YouTube – Youku, Tudou, Ku6, 56; the same for Facebook – Xiaonei, Hainei, Xiaoyou; even Twitter – Fanfou, Jiwai, Digu; and Linkedin – Wealink, Tianji, Linklist.  The big social networking site in China –kaixin001.com – has ‘skyrocketed’ to more than 30 Million registered users in less than a year.      

      GOLD MINING:  It seems that social media is like gold mining in California.  What the heck am I talking about?  Well, you probably remember the old apocryphal observation that the people who made money in the gold rush were not the miners, but the businesses that sold the tools to the miners.  In the same vein, it seems that since no-one can quite figure out how to monetize social media, the next best thing is to offer conferences or seminars or webinars on social networking.  I have seen so many I’m not sure I can keep count:  WebProNews, WOMMA (Word Of Mouth Marketing Association), MarketingProfs, AdAge, along with another half dozen that I haven’t even heard of.   

      THE GLOBAL PERIOD:  I’m not sure what this says about social networking, but the latest social networking concept is called the Global Period Project, in which millions of women around the world are trying to synchronize their periods.  The two websites about it cite a concept called “The McClintock Effect” or “The Dormitory Effect” in which women who connect emotionally or share a physical space for a period of time tend to menstruate simultaneously.  The organizers of the Global Period Project say they want to make that connection through the Internet.  As they candidly admit, “it’s just an experiment with no practical application” but they say an experiment which could develop into something much bigger.

      NETWORKING NEWS FLOW:  It made the news everywhere, so it’s not worth repeating here, but the death of Michael Jackson also spurred an especially high usage rate amongst social networks.  In any case, an interesting idea that didn’t make the previous MfM about Michael Jackson, but which is worth thinking about.  Consumer adviser Regina Lewis with AOL defined a cycle or sequence in social networking news which goes like this:  first, people ‘clamor for the news’, then, second, they want to share it; followed by number three, when they react to it; and, finally, they create ‘tributes’ about the event.

      DISCLAIMER:  I am on four social networking sites – Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and Plaxo.  But I don’t visit them nearly as often as most people, even though you would think someone doing a weekly report on media would.    

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