Community Manager. It’s a role that has evolved into a must-have position for any company wanting to connect on a deeper level and communicate directly with their consumers. With today’s new media technologies, it’s the perfect way to find brand advocates, solve customer issues and ultimately, build meaningful relationships. There are many qualities and skills to be had by a Community Manager and I could easily list them out myself. Instead, what better way to find what makes a CM valuable than by asking my own community on Twitter.
At about 11:41am PST today (an hour ago), a 5.4 earthquake hit east of Los Angeles. Don’t be fooled by the link, I didn’t hear about it from CNN. The ‘news’ mediums that broke the story first were Twitter and Ustream.tv. I initially heard about it on Alejandro Reyes’ live Ustream channel as viewers in the area commented as it was happening.
I went over to Summize…err, Twitter Search, to hear more news and see how everyone was doing out there. Within a half hour of when the news first broke, there were already over 4,000 tweets about the event (and Twitter didn’t go down!). Luckily, no one had reported any injuries or structural damage; just a few things knocked over.
A friend of mine sent me this video last week called The Process and asks ‘What if there were no stop signs…and a major corporation was charged with inventing one?’
Check it out (only 4 1/2 minutes long so you can spare a short break):
The video is damn right hilarious. I’ve watched it several times and have noticed little cues that poke fun at the corporate ‘process’ when developing new concepts or strategies. As humorous as the video is, the truth is that companies often lose sight of who and what their strategy is for and end up putting all their energy towards the wrong ideas (as seen in the video). The team in this video obviously took a very reactive approach when conceptualizing a stop sign, rather than taking the time to understand who will see the sign and then develop concepts for those drivers, not the company.
Realize who your consumers are, people! Don’t focus on being fancy, demographics (the wrong approach to your demo, rather), ads and any other nonsense this corporate team was worried about; put that power towards the people, first and foremost, and you’ll see a much more effective campaign.
There’s been a lot of talk lately from internet ‘A-listers’ who suggest that Twitter users are flocking to FriendFeed, in lieu of their recent issues. They say that FriendFeed is where the conversation is and that by thenumbers and how fast they’ve grown their networks, FriendFeed has something that Twitter should be afraid of - conversation. Do these numbers really show the truth in FriendFeed as a fast growing conversational network? I don’t doubt its increased popularity as a micro-blogging/life-streaming portal, but what’s funny is the fact that these and other prominent folks in the industry talk about numbers, when in reality it’s about the actual conversations and engaging the user.
Nonetheless, my point actually alludes to more numbers and an email I received the other day from Compete. It provided their June 2008 traffic data and a Top 20 list of the fastest growing websites for the month:
Taking a look at the Top 5, three of them relate to Tennis and Golf, which clearly shows the influence that the US Open and Wimbledon had on those sites.
The surprise on this list though is number 4, Plurk, with a 4561% increase in Visits from May ‘08 - June ‘08. This jump is huge for a new site that’s diving into the already chartered waters of micro-blogging.
In the social media world, we talk about building community and conversations all the time. Well, Matt Harding has definitely taken it to the next level and in 42 different countries:
This amazing video shows how simple creating a community can be. It just takes is a little effort and giving people something to talk about. In this case, it was Matt spanning the globe to spread the joy of dancing.
With as many social networks that are popping up on almost a daily basis, how do these sites get us to stick around? We’re aware of the many benefits from the networks we frequent; APIs/apps, website traffic, conversations, networking - the list goes on. But how do newcomers grab a hold of a piece of the social networking pie?
For the up and coming site that has made the biggest splash as of late, Plurk seems to utilize Karma as one of their main features (and incentives). Users receive Karma for numerous actions taken on the site, which include adding friends, plurking consistently throughout the day and getting responses to plurks. On the other hand, you can also lose Karma due to spamming too many plurks, getting a friend request rejected and getting unfriended by a user. As the Plurk learning curve has slowly died down and the community has evolved, people are quickly learning the pros and cons of Karma.
With the specific guidelines above, it seems quite easy for users to ‘game’ the system to increase their Karma and get the incentives of smileys and high rankings. Where I see the major downfall is in the content. I see numerous plurks a day about people complaining that their Karma went down and that they need to bring it back up. There have also been several discussions on whether people PlurkjustforKarma. I understand that the premise of Plurk is about having fun but Karma brings a sense of forced interaction and ultimately, a form of bribery that diminishes the value of its content.
I’m by no means bashing Plurk as I feel it is a very interesting network with many benefits but there’s too much of an emphasis on Karma. How far can they really take it? Offer more incentives? More user features? It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll continue to use Karma after the smileys. Regardless of what will be offered, it just gives users more incentive to figure out how to increase their Karma to reach those ‘goals’.
From his Plurk, I noticed several users wanting to see some data. Being the statistical geek that I am, I tallied up every single qualified vote (yes, I really did) so we can better gauge the social activities of Darren’s audience.
By The Numbers:
125 Responses (as of 6/8/08 4:20pm EST)
321 Total Votes (note: not all responses included a top 3, or any for that matter)
48 Social Media Sites Voted Upon
Time taken to count the 321 votes in 125 responses - A little over an hour
Now, for what you’ve all been waiting for; the top 3 social media sites voted on by the ProBlogger community:
The top 3 voted sites are Twitter, StumbleUpon and Facebook. From the comments that I read, the ProBlogger audience seems to put an emphasis on communication and networking uses for Twitter, staying connected with friends and family through Facebook and the amount of traffic being sent from StumbleUpon. The last point is interesting and could in fact have relevance to ProBlogger’s audience, showing that the value of website traffic is key when choosing which social media site to frequent.
The rage (and I mean RAGE) of the week has been the new microblogging site to hit town, Plurk. It’s a fun, ajax-filled, timelined conversational network that gives users the feeling of freedom with what they talk about and share with their friends; did I mention that they have weird creatures as their logo?
Some have deemed it a Twitter killer, while others feel it’s just too over the top. I’ve been actively utilizing it this past week and have admittedly become addicted. Addicted, yes. A convert, not just quite yet. I won’t get too in-depth with the inner workings of the site as ReadWriteWeb has posted a great review of the service, but I do have some thoughts on how Plurk could create a system overload for some.
Real-Time Updates
Plurk gives real-time updates on your profile page that shows new ‘plurks’ or responses from your friends list. A cool feature as you’re kept up-to-date on the conversations going on but has become overwhelming. This aspect of Plurk has almost forced me into rehab. It creates a constant urge to check, update, view all, mark all as read, etc.; it’s seriously like a drug. The feature makes using the site very time consuming. Although, it’s all contingent upon the number of friends that you have and how often they’re plurking (yes, I giggled when I first said it too), but it vastly shows the difference between Twitter and Plurk. Twitter can give you constant updates through Twhirl or other apps as well, but there was never a sense of urgency to check updates every single minute. Plurk creates this need to continually update all responses and plurks, which becomes very chaotic to those with larger networks. I’m by no means captain popular but even with over 80 friends, the time needed to truly stay up-to-date with my network’s conversations becomes too much.
If you’re not aware about Common Craft’s ‘In Plain English’ show, head over there right now! They’ve created an informational series that simply explains the many mediums of the web through fun and creative videos.
They’ve just released a new video, Social Media in Plain English:
Through the use of a simple story, their newest show explains how Social Media works through communities and the user-generated content each unique network provides. Reiterates that the voice of the people is what makes a community or product special, it’s just a matter of finding your niche; or ice cream shop.
While I was washing my car this morning, I got a little free time to reflect on my past week before a hectic and fun weekend begins as my family is coming into town later today. There were several moments during this week that have stuck with me, though.
First, to give everyone a better understanding of myself; I enjoy helping people. That simple four word statement reflects my being and outlook on life; to treat everyone that I come across with respect and care. I’m no Mother Teresa but I do believe in Karma and how you treat others will, sooner or later, have an impact on your own life.
Moment 1: I was on Twitter Tuesday morning (shocker huh). An online friend of mine that I’ve gotten to know more in the past few weeks, Reem Abeidoh, had published a great interview, that morning, with a Yelp reviewer who was threatened by a restaurant owner. For whatever reason, her blog had been marked as ’spam’ on Digg for quite awhile, subsequently no one was able to submit her story and give it the recognition that it deserved. She told me that she’d tried to contact Digg numerous times, but to no avail. I’ve spoken with Digg support in the past (with quick response, might I add) and wanted to help her out and try to get her blog unbanned. Lo and behold, with numerous emails later, we were able to get it unblocked and her post actually made it to the front page. Win-win.
Moment 1.1: Now, cut to the end of my day - I was driving home and had to get my glasses fixed because I apparently love to sleep with them on and then proceed to roll over them. I stopped by a local repair shop, ASAP Eyeglass Repair, to get it fixed while I wait. It took all but 15 minutes and I was ready to pay the guy until he stopped me and said ‘Ah, don’t worry about it!’ and handed me my glasses. Albeit a fairly cheap repair, I was caught off guard and asked him a couple times if he was sure. Nonetheless, he let me go on about my day, which left me with a smile on my face.
Moment 2: Again, I was on Twitter and began conversing with my Austin Twit buddy @LaniAR. (If you follow her, be forewarned, she is known to keep you entertained) Being in the real estate industry, she tweeted about a gorgeous home that was up for sale in the Austin area. Now, as some of you may know, I am actively looking to relocate and mentioned to her (in half-seriousness) that I’d take the house if I were in Austin. This little blurb and my explanation to her about my career plans, led her to communicate and get me in touch with local SM professionals on Twitter. I was super appreciative of her help, more than she knows. I haven’t landed a new job or anything like that, but her willingness in helping me grow my Austin network blew me away.
What’s this even have to do with social media? It doesn’t…directly. It deals with everyday life, personally and professionally. Don’t get it twisted though, this isn’t a self-help post lol - it’s merely an observation of my past week and how connecting with and helping those around me has seemingly impacted the happenings in my life.
Conversation isn’t just a way of social media, but a way of life. Conversing and actually listening to those around you, while taking action, goes a long way. Not to mention, it further builds your personal and professional relationships.
Do something good for someone this weekend, no strings attached. See how it feels!
Surround yourself with those who you’ll benefit from.
What’s this mean to me? It means creating an environment that surrounds me with people who are conducive to my focus in life, personally and professionally.
Personally, I’m a very optimistic person that tries to stay away from the negativity in life, so surrounding myself with like minded people creates a positive group of friends around me.
Professionally, it focuses more on what your industry or niche is. Twitter is the perfect example as social media marketers are looking to follow similar focused people. We *typically* want to create a stream of information that we can learn & grow from and vice versa to those who follow us. That is the benefit that comes from Twitter but really any business relationship. It’s what makes industry events so fun; the networking and sharing of ideas (and a few drinks) with industry leaders.
Don’t forget though, this is a two-way street. This needs a mention but most people in any form of a relationship eventually realize if a person is using them solely for their own benefit.
What’s this quote mean to you? I’m sure there are different perspectives so feel free to share!
