WebProNews

Tag: Social Media

  • StumbleUpon Reportedly Lays Off ‘Dozens’

    StumbleUpon Reportedly Lays Off ‘Dozens’

    StumbleUpon is reportedly reducing its staff from close to 100 employees to about 30. That is according to VentureBeat, which cites an anonymous source.

    Jordan Novet reports:

    The company had just under 100 employees and will only have around 30 by the end of this week, a source familiar with the matter told VentureBeat. Last week employees were told in individual meetings that they would be laid off, and now those employees are finishing up their work, the source said, adding that the company is preserving people in engineering and sales roles.

    “It’s been tough for StumbleUpon to compete,” the source told VentureBeat. “It predates a lot of the social networks. It certainly had its heyday when they had their largest user base.”

    The layoffs reportedly come after the company failed to secure additional funding.

    Back in early 2013, the company reduced its staff by 30% moving from 110 employees to 75, though it was hiring again soon after, adding engineer talent. Later that year, the company announced profitability, sharing its first revenue numbers. Right after that it made its first acquisition with 5by. Last year, StumbleUpon expanded its native ad sales team.

    We’ve reached out to sources at StumbleUpon for confirmation and further comment, and will update accordingly.

    Earlier this year, Shareaholic reported increases in StumbleUpon traffic referrals to websites after previous decreases. At the time, we had a conversation with CEO Mark Bartels, which you can read here.

  • Alphabet Doesn’t Own Its Obvious Social Media Pages, Domains

    Alphabet Doesn’t Own Its Obvious Social Media Pages, Domains

    Late Monday afternoon, Google announced a major reorganization, and the establishment of a new parent company called Alphabet.

    For a more in-depth look at that, check here. Long story short, Larry Page is now the CEO of Alphabet, which now controls Google, Nest, Calico, Fiber, and all the other companies that used to be under “Google”. Sundar Pichai has been named the new CEO of Google, which still operates the core businesses like Android, YouTube, Maps, search, and ads.

    It was an interesting day for sure.

    The URL for Alphabet is abc.xyz. Yes, it’s a strange URL and yes, it’s a little godlike. It’s the alpha and the omega. Google (er…Alphabet) is your overlord.

    But Alphabet doesn’t really have control over any of the other domains and social media accounts that it would probably like to have. Not yet, at least.

    Of course, Alphabet doesn’t have abc.com. It also doesn’t have alphabet.com. That domain is owned by car company BMW. The site is down right now.

    Also owned by BMW – the verified Alphabet Facebook page:

    Screen Shot 2015-08-11 at 9.21.25 AM

    According to the page, Alphabet “is a leading provider of Business Mobility in Europe and has gathered extensive knowledge of international fleet management and leasing.”

    Over on Twitter, the situation is much the same.

    @Alphabet is manned by a guy named Chris Andrikanich from Cleveland, who describes himself as “Dad, Husband, Self-proclaimed geek who fires off regular gibberish, gobblety-gook about sports, tech, CLE, and whatever…”

    Mr. Andrikanich might find himself the recipient of a few calls pretty soon – and maybe a few hundred thousand dollars. It’s technically against Twitter rules to buy and sell handles – but it happens.

    Alphabet doesn’t own @AlphabetINC either.

    And just for good measure, someone’s already trolling Page and company with abc.wtf – which redirects to Bing.

  • YouTube, Facebook, Twitter Battle For Video Creators

    YouTube, Facebook, Twitter Battle For Video Creators

    It’s hardly news that the video and advertising battle between Facebook and YouTube is heating up, and this has never been more evident than it was on VidCon last week, when both companies as well as other competitors showed off their offerings and tried to woo some of the Internet’s big video stars.

    For the past decade, YouTube has been THE place to make a name for yourself with online video, but the field is much more crowded now, and this year, Facebook has been making a big push to become the main alternative to YouTube if not the first choice for creators and advertisers.

    Last week, Facebook gave Pages new video visibility and management tools, which automatically put it more in line with how YouTube lets people manage and share their videos. You can now keep videos private or have them viewable only by a link.

    For advertisers, the company launched a new “spotlight” showcase aimed at highlighting some of the best in Facebook video ads so others can learn about what makes an effective one.

    The Wall Street Journal reported on the increased competition from VidCon, and says pressure from Facebook is forcing YouTube to “forge better relationships with popular creators, finding them opportunities for growth and in some cases paying the more.”

    In other words, video creators stand to benefit greatly from increased competition among platforms. Twitter, by the way, is taking video more seriously than ever as well.

    Marketing Land reports on comments from Twitter’s Baljeet Singh from VidCon:

    Twitter is hoping to capture some of that youthful enthusiasm, and Singh said his company is well positioned to do that. For one thing he said, Twitter’s mobile focus means that more than 90% of video views on the network come from mobile devices. For another, he said, Twitter is a superior place for the interaction between creators and their fans.

    “It’s one of the few places that you can really and truly engage with your audience, build up your audience, interact with your audience, reply back quickly and have a real conversation,” said Singh, who left YouTube for his position at Twitter last year. “And fans alike think of it as a way to directly connect with those creators.”

    Twitter said in May that 82% of users watch video content on Twitter, and that 90% of video views happen on mobile devices.

    YouTube launched a big redesign of its mobile experience, starting with Android, and coming soon to mobile web and iOS. It aims to make it easier for users to find and create videos. It utilizes a new tabbed navigation with sections for Home, Subscriptions, and Account.

    The journal cites numbers from investment bank Luma Parnters indicating that annual ad spend on video is growing 34% per year, and is due to hit $10 billion next year.

    Image via YouTube

  • Michael Douglas Says American Actors Not Masculine Enough, Too Worried About Instagram

    Michael Douglas knows what’s wrong with American cinema. He knows why roles that seemingly would go to American actors are being scooped up by English and Australian actors.

    In a recent interview with The Independent, Michael Douglas bemoaned a preoccupation among American actors with image. He indicated that American actors spend too much time and energy worried about how they look on social media rather than working on their craft.

    “There’s something going on with young American actors – both men and women – because the Brits and Australians are taking many of the best American roles from them,” Douglas said.

    “Clearly, it breaks down on two fronts,” Douglas remarked. “In Britain they take their training seriously while in the States we’re going through a sort of social media image conscious thing rather than formal training. Many actors are getting caught up in this image thing which is going on to affect their range.”

    Lest you think that Douglas’ comments were xenophobic, he does not seem to be complaining about the actors from abroad who are getting American roles. Rather, he is simply stating that this is what happens when you take your eye off the ball.

    Michael Douglas further commented on the lack of “masculine” actors in the U.S.

    “With the Aussies, particularly with the males it’s the masculinity,” Douglas explained. “In the US we have this relatively asexual or unisex area with sensitive young men and we don’t have many Channing Tatums or Chris Pratts, while the Aussies do. It’s a phenomena.”

    Michael Douglas has played Liberace. He is clearly not calling actors sissies. When a director looks around for someone to play the part of a bruiser of a man, the skinny boys with their shirts tucked into the belt buckle, wearing their sister’s jeans, are not going to get a second look.

    “There’s a crisis in young American actors right now,” Douglas says. “Everyone’s much more image conscious than they are about actually playing the part.“

  • This Infographic Looks At The Next Generation Of Commerce

    This Infographic Looks At The Next Generation Of Commerce

    The recent 2015 Next Generation of Commerce study from Acquity Group, looks at what the firm considers “untapped opportunities” for brands across nontraditional spaces. It says these opportunities cater to younger generations especially.

    For one, it found that nearly half of consumers (45%) say recognizing a brand they often buy on multiple media channels, such as TV, social media and magazines, makes them more likely to shop from that brand next time they’re in a brick-and-mortar setting. It’s 28% for online.

    The study, which surveyed over 2,000 consumers in the U.S. about their habits and preferences surrounding digital entertainment, content, shopping, and services, also found that 3 in 5 consumers (59%) say they would be more likely to watch an online streaming TV series produced by a brand if that meant no commercials. 1 in 4 consumers indicated they are influenced by native ads in news outlets.

    28% of consumers ages 18-22 and 32% ages 23-30 would switch retailers if offered the option to pay in social currency, such as engagement for discounts, it found. On the other hand, it also found that 60% of consumers believe they see too many ads. According to Acquity Group, this means brands should focus on “weaving their offerings into an appealing and relevant user experience.”

    Here’s an infographic exploring the study’s findings:

    next-gen

    “Innovations across the media, social and fulfillment landscapes have allowed consumers of all ages to step into a new generation of commerce – one that prioritizes convenience, where time and quality of experience are highly valued and the shopping experience extends far beyond the traditional path to purchase,” the firm says. “To compete, retailers must make research intuitive and delivery instantaneous. Brands must craft a consistent and creative digital narrative. Startups and established businesses alike must improve and innovate upon services from driving to home improvement.”

    You can find the study here.

    Image via Acquity Group

  • Twitter Gives Users New Ad Management Access In Mobile Apps

    Twitter Gives Users New Ad Management Access In Mobile Apps

    Back in February, Facebook launched its Ads Manager app for iOS, which gives advertisers a way to better stay on top of their ads by letting them manage them from their phones. This week, the Android version made its way to the Google Play Store.

    Twitter is giving users what is essentially its version of this app on both mobile operating systems, except that it’s not an app it all. It’s simply added functionality within the Twitter app itself.

    You can see the new icon below. When you click it, you can view summaries of your campaigns and edit as you like.

    twitter-ads

    As others have noted, you could access ad management features from Twitter’s mobile apps in the past, but it was basically buried in the settings, and the new feature pretty much puts it front and center.

    Lead Image via Garrett Heath, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Here’s How Businesses Can Use Pinterest’s New Buyable Pins

    Here’s How Businesses Can Use Pinterest’s New Buyable Pins

    Marketers have been waiting quite a while for Pinterest to launch its long-rumored “buy” button, and at an event at its headquarters on Tuesday, the company announced Buyable Pins, which it describes as a simple and secure way to buy products right on Pinterest. It will roll out to iOS users in the U.S. later this month.

    Do you intend to take advantage of Buyable Pins? Let us know in the comments.

    “Pinterest is a catalog of ideas,” a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews. “Our mission is not just to show you ideas, but to help you bring them to life. Buyable Pins is the next step in this journey, as we bring the joy of discovering products in your favorite stores offline, online.”

    Take a look:

    Users will be able to buy things on Pinterest when they see a blue price and “Buy it” button. There’s also a price filter in the search filters for those looking for something specific, which should make the new functionality all the more useful, and effectively make Pinterest much more of a shopping service in general, even if there remains plenty to do beyond shopping.

    When the user is ready to check out, they can tap “Buy it,” and pay with Apple Pay or credit card. Once personal info is entered, it will be stored so the user doesn’t have to keep entering it every time. Pinterest is partnering with payment processors so it won’t be storing credit card info itself. Stripe is one partner.

    “You’ll find millions of buyable Pins on Pinterest, from great brands like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, retailers powered by Demandware like Cole Haan and Michaels, and thousands of Shopify stores like Poler Outdoor Stuff and SOBU,” says Pinterest engineering manager Chao Wang.

    So if you’re a business hoping to increase your own sales with this feature, how should you proceed?

    Right now, Pinterest is only working with a few major brands and two commerce platforms, but if your business uses Shopify, you can log into your account and add the Pinterest channel. Once you do that, you should be able to enable Buyable Pins in a few clicks.

    Shopify says in its own blog post:

    Shopify is currently the only way for small and medium-sized businesses to sell using Buyable Pins on Pinterest.

    If you have an online store with Shopify, you can start selling your products on Pinterest by adding the Pinterest sales channel. Once you’re approved by Pinterest, any product that’s ever been Pinned from your online store will automatically become a Buyable Pin and include a “Buy it” button. All of your Pinterest orders, products and customers will automatically be synchronized with Shopify, just like any other sales channel.

    If you use Demandware, you can get Buyable Pins in the coming weeks. Pinterest says to contact your Demandware customer success manager for more details. A post on that company’s blog says:

    Demandware is enabling its customers to deliver on their digital mobile marketing strategies – and drive sales – through their existing enterprise ecommerce platform, the Demandware Commerce Cloud. Retailers simply need to make their products buyable on Pinterest; there are no new systems or separate inventory required, and retailers capture and process transactions through their native systems.

    Cole Haan, a longtime ecommerce innovator, is one of the first Demandware clients to participate in Pinterest Buyable Pins. In a statement, vice president of Global Digital Commerce Josh Krepon noted the “tremendous opportunity” for the company and that Demandware has “greatly simplified the effort” for Cole Haan to enable Buyable Pins.

    For everyone else, you can sign up to be put on a waiting list. The company understandably says it wants to set a high bar for the feature, so it’s not just making it instantly available to everyone right away.

    “Businesses have always been essential to our mission of helping people do things in real life—after all, two-thirds of all content saved to Pinterest comes from businesses like yours,” Pinterest’s Tim Kendall writes on the company’s business blog.

    We recently had a conversation with Shawn Budde, CEO of payments company 2Checkout. He said a Pinterest buy button would change the future of ecommerce, and given that

    While Buyable Pins are only coming to iPhone and iPad at first, Pinterest promises they’ll come to desktop and Android in the future. When you look at stats like these, it’s not hard to understand why:

    Some old school Pinterest users who used to make money with affiliate links aren’t too thrilled about the whole thing, however. Earlier this year, Pinterest put a stop to that with common thinking being that they did so to make way for their own ecommerce efforts.

    Pinterest addressed that notion in a statement in February: “We are removing affiliate links to ensure we’re providing the best possible experience for Pinners. Recently, we observed affiliate links and redirects causing irrelevant Pins in feeds, broken links and other spammy behavior. We believe this change will enable us to keep the high bar of relevancy and quality Pinners expect from Pinterest.”

    A newer statement provided to TechCrunch just said, “It wasn’t to screw anyone over…It was ultimately a policy decision.”

    In related news, Pinterest working on some new stuff for its developer platform, which could lead to additional buying/selling opportunities. More on that here.

    Do you expect to better utilize Pinterest to sell products online as these efforts kick into gear? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Images via Pinterest

  • News Corp. Will Know in 2 Weeks If It’s Going to Sell MySpace

    At the All Things Digital D9 conference, Jonathan Miller, Head of News Corp.’s digital media group, reportedly said that “in two weeks, we’ll know something,” with regards to a MySpace sale.

    The News Corp. business group that MySpace is a part of lost $165 million in the third quarter (compared to a loss of $150 million in the same period the year prior), according to Bloomberg.

    Once the leader in social networks, MySpace has lost a lot of its luster, as more people have migrated to Facebook and essentially left the site behind. MySpace is even the butt of most of the jokes in the recent viral “Roast of Facebook” video:

    News Corp. bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million, and it’s pretty much been in a nosedive since. Earlier this year, the company cut nearly half of its staff.

    Last year, MySpace basically re-branded itself as more of an entertainment content site than a social network, and even started using Facebook integration. That hasn’t done much to keep the site’s traffic from plummeting, from the looks of it, though to be fair, it still gets a ton of traffic. According to Compete, MySpace had nearly 33 million unique visitors in April.

    That’s got to be worth something to somebody. The question is who. It certainly doesn’t seem like the most attractive buy, but if the price is right, who knows? Could someone turn MySpace around? How much is it worth? Reports suggest that News Corp. is asking $100 million, but is having trouble finding buyers. Bebo owners Criterion Capital and Vevo have both been mentioned in previous reports as possibilities.

  • Twitter Acquires AdGrok Team (Mostly), AdGrok to Shut Down

    Reports surfaced earlier that Twitter may be acquiring AdGrok, makers of an AdWords keyword tool, but AdGrok has now come out and made it official. Starting today, the team (2/3 of it anyway) will be working full-time on Twitter’s revenue engineering team.

    Matthew McEachen, and Argyris Zymnis of AdGrok are now part of Twitter, while the other third – Antonio Garcia-Martinez – has joined Facebook.

    “When Twitter approached us and asked if we’d be interested in working on their monetization platform, we realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we just couldn’t pass up,” the AdGrok team said. “The fact that the Twitter team is both smart and user-focused only made our decision easier.”

    Meanwhile, the team is will be shutting down AdGrok itself. Here’s what they had to say about that:

    We are no longer accepting new customers and will cease charging our existing users immediately. We will shut down our servers on June 30th, after which the GrokBar will not be available. Uninstalling the GrokBar is easy: http://adgrok.com/help#uninstall

    On June 30th, we will also unlink all customers from the AdGrok Google accounts and securely delete our databases. Performance data and campaign structures from AdGrok customers will not be shared with Twitter.

    Please note that performance data and campaign structures from the campaigns you have run through AdGrok will not be affected by the shutdown of our servers; this information will continue to be accessible through your Google AdWords and Google Analytics accounts.

    AdGrok Is Going To @JoinTheFlock http://t.co/fAwLc0Z via @adgrok #woot 1 hour ago via Tweet Button · powered by @socialditto

    @kevinweil thanks! Really excited to be joining an awesome team! 1 hour ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    The acquisition is rumored to have been for under $10 million.

    Twitter is also expected to be launching its own photo service, which could spell trouble for services like TwitPic and YFrog.

    Last week, the company acquired third-party Twitter client TweetDeck.

  • Top Reasons Fans Follow Brands on Facebook

    Top Reasons Fans Follow Brands on Facebook

    In the past, I’ve uncovered how marketers can develop an effective Facebook fan page strategy by meeting the needs of customers and creating an environment with a clear value proposition to fans.  To take this even further, I wanted to share some recent data by eMarketer that takes a deeper dive into the motivations of fans on branded pages and what suggestions fans have for brands to improve within this space.

    Facebook Fans Perceived Page Benefits

    In my last series, data from a 2010 survey showed the top reason fans were a fan of a brand on Facebook was to receive discounts and promotions (25% of survey respondents), compared to only 8% who were fans of a brand to be the first to know information about the brand.  Now, a little more than a year later we see a similar poll showing a slight shift happening – the leading fan page benefit is now being able to receive the latest news about the brand, followed by new product information.

    What can marketers learn from this?  Contests, giveaways, and special offers are still valued by fans, but not always required.  Mature brands in the social space may explore creating content that engages fans with the latest news and product information in innovative ways.

    Fan Suggestions

    The chart below is another bit of research that highlights specific suggestions for branded fan pages from fans themselves.  While we just learned that fans perceive the latest information as a reason to be involved with the brand,  this data clarifies this even further by showing that fans really desire more advance information from the brand such as sneak peeks and previews.  In my opinion, this is one reason the Ford Explorer Facebook reveal received the type of buzz and exposure it did.  Brands should not only use social channels like Facebook to disseminate information, but to preview information in such a way that can build fan excitement leading up to a launch or announcement.

    Additionally, a couple of other fan suggestions on this list can help shed some light on ways that social media marketing can become more suited for fans .  For instance, two suggestions that are particularly interesting are fans wanting the “ability to take part in games, competitions” as well as fans wanting “invitations to events related to the brand beyond Facebook.”

    These two particular suggestions can show a marketer a couple of things.  For one, fans are interested in being more involved.  This means that social media marketers must find unique ways to involve the fan in something that is more meaningful than just another sweepstakes.  They want excitement, competition, and the ability to take part in something with others. Secondly, fans are beginning to expect social media marketers to take this involvement with the brand into the offline world.  To help this happen, a closer marketing convergence will surely be required so that opportunities in the real world can also be extended to fans.

    All of this being said,  what do you think are other ways marketers could improve their Facebook fan page presence? Feel free to share in the comments below.

    Originally published on Ignite Social Media

  • TweetDeck Purchased by Twitter, Reports Emerge Again

    Around the beginning of May, reports came out suggesting that Twitter had acquired TweetDeck, and an announcement was expected within days. That didn’t happen.

    Here it is several weeks later, and now we have a report from CNN indicating that the deal is done for over $40 million in cash and stock, citing “sources close to the deal”. The papers were signed Monday, according to the report.

    Twitter is evidently still holding its cards close to its chest, and considering the whole thing a rumor, as far as the public is concerned.

    For all those who might be curious, we continue to not comment on rumors. 11 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Perhaps they’re just not ready to answer all of the questions that will come with the acquisition about the future of TweetDeck and the future of Twitter’s own platform.

    UberMedia had intended to acquire TweetDeck earlier this year, but that never happened.

    Shortly after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey returned to Twitter a few months ago, he was quoted as saying, in a talk at Columbia University, “TweetDeck is a very interesting client, because it presents a view that no other client in the world presents, which is this multicolumn, massive amounts of information in one pane. And people really, really enjoy that. But I think that’s maybe five percent of the Twitter population. That five percent of the Twitter population are some of the most high-value publishers that we have, and they’re using the service at extreme velocity. So of course we have to pay attention to that, and I’m not saying we need to rid ourselves of interfaces like that. We have to embrace them.”

    Consider TweetDeck embraced.

    That 5% should grow significantly if Twitter rolls TweetDeck features into its own interface.

  • The Social Business Infographic

    This social business infographic was created to illustrate the social customer’s impact on business operations. It also encompasses most of what is discussed in my upcoming book, Smart Business, Social Business.

    The infographic starts off defining the social customer and social business. The social business declaration is defined; and then discusses the three pillars that make up a collaborative social business – People, Process and Technology.

    The infographic then illustrates the evolution of social business starting with a timelines showing the growing influence of the social customer and most companies’ response by creating a social brand. The next portion of the graphic covers three common social organizational models – centralized, decentralized, and a fully collaborative social business. Social business facts are also illustrated from Altimeter and eMarketer; and then the social technology vendors that I highlight in the book. Enjoy.

    Graphic created by onlinemba.com.

    Originally published at Britopian

  • Stop Shoving Social Media Down My Throat

    It’s time to step up and address one of the great myths pervading the social web — that an essential best practice is decentralizing social media marketing and pushing it down to employees at every level of the company.  This is a philosophy that sounds good, but is often detached from practical reality.

    I have been immersed in the social web for more than three years. It’s a big part of my job.  I teach about it. I consult about it, and of course I write about it. And here is a conclusion that I can confidently make: Social media marketing can be very, very difficult to do successfully.

    Why force social engagement?

    So why do so many people insist that we should be shoving social media down the throats of employees at every level of the company?  This is like forcing me to do accounting.  It would not be a good fit … I just don’t have that mindset.  Not every person has the right mindset, ability, or openness to succeed with social media but that doesn’t mean they can’t still fit in your company.

    Of all the people I interact with on the social web, I would say I am most in-tune with Jay Baer. He is a true intellect and I highly recommend a regular dose of his blog Convince and Convert. But we disagree somewhat on this point.

    I’m not picking on Jay … his viewpoint is widespread.  But his recent post Speak No Evil – Why Trust Isn’t a 4 Letter Word in Social Media, is a good focal point for the issue.

    A hiring problem?

    Jay concludes that “it’s everyone’s job to represent the company on the social Web” and that if you don’t have employees who can represent you, ”you don’t have a social media problem, you having a hiring problem.”

    The underpinning of this hypothesis is that every employee should be both skilled and trustworthy on social media or you are not running your company well. This logic gets further twisted for me with claims that people are communicating stupid things to the outside world in emails any way … so why not trust them to put it out into public on the social web?  Seems like apples and oranges. Emails don’t go viral.  Just ask NFL player Rashard Mendenhall.

    Should everybody tweet?

    Jay uses the example of Mendenhall and his recent litany of tweets that were outside mainstream American thinking.

    Let’s look at the Mendenhall example. Yes, he was out of step with mainstream thought.  But who isn’t to some degree? The man was hired to carry a football toward a goal line, not necessarily to “stay on message” during a news event.  So did the Steelers make a ”hiring mistake” because he sends out stupid tweets?  No.  The guy is one of the best football players on earth.

    Part of the ”social media is for everybody” myth is that we should humanize our companies — trust people to be themselves and everything will be OK. Again, this is just too simplistic and disconnected from reality. You just might get what you ask for, as the Steeler ownership discovered.

    I work with an extraordinarily gifted man who is one of the best sales people I have ever met. He is kind of “folksy,” maybe even leaning toward redneck.  But he is a perfect fit for his marketplace and there is nothing he would not do to serve his customers. The man is a star and he has single-handedly built up his business — he’s probably the most valuable employee in the whole company.

    Putting this fella into the public social media spotlight 140 characters at a time would be a disaster.  I imagine his tweets would come across as incredibly embarrassing — taken out of the context of the individual and his environment. Does this company have a “hiring issue?” Of course not!  His customers understand and love his quirky humor but that doesn’t mean the whole world would.  Here is what I would say to him — “You just keep selling your heart out buddy. Don’t worry about Twitter.”

    Uniform political correctness is impossible

    When consultants pontificate that every employee should have enough common sense to be on the social web, what they are really saying is we need to hire people who are always politically correct. Which of course will create the most boring, ineffective companies — and who would even want to work there?  Not every employee has good judgment about everything — especially when we are turning them into public spokespersons.

    Before you drink the Kool Aid on this perspective of “cover the world with social media,” ask yourself one question. Think about some of the best bosses and employees you have ever had. Would they take naturally to the social web? And if not, does that make them a bad hiring decision?

    Let’s put this into a practical context

    Theoretically I agree with Jay. But I think applying social media effectively requires business sense and balance. We wouldn’t force everybody into a sales role. We wouldn’t put everybody into the glare of the six o’clock news in a PR role. Why would we set an expectation that everybody should be able to have a role in social media or that is a sign that we have a “hiring problem” if we don’t?  Being adept at social media is NOT EASY for everybody. And we should be able to live with that human diversity.

    Instead I think it makes sense to encourage social media participation in the context of the goals of the company, the available resources, the competitive environment, and the talents of the employees:

    1. I agree with Jay that the PR or marketing department hasn’t cornered the market on social media greatness. Certainly employees can become online ”beacons” for your brand, but don’t force them to do it or dismiss it as a “hiring problem” if they don’t want to blog or participate in Twitter.
    2. Acknowledge that social media participation is going to occur, sanctioned or not.  An explicit social media policy is a must.
    3. If employees do want to be formally active on the part of a company, give them the training and guidelines they need to do it well. Explain how it connects to strategy and the implications of representing the voice of the company.
    4. With the increasing importance of social participation, start adding this to the job requirements of new employees, if that is key to their role in the company.  For example, I certainly would not care if a star engineer doesn’t want to blog. You know, some people have to be about the business of actually making stuff.  Again — “context.”

    What do you think?

    So I absolutely recognize and appreciate the opportunity that Jay and others put forth, but I think this nuance is important –  It’s not that everybody SHOULD be a marketing voice for you company. It’s that everybody COULD be a marketing voice for your company depending on context.  This approach simply recognizes human diversity and that an employee can be extremely valuable … even if they don’t participate in the social web. What do you think?

    Originally published at {grow}

     

  • Comcast’s Approach To Reel Grrls, Twitter, Results in Backlash

    If there’s a war for most popular ISP in the United States, neither Comcast or AT&T are doing a very good job of winning it. Whether it’s poorly-received Internet caps or the unpopular hiring of a former FCC official, something that didn’t sit well with the Internet crowd, both companies have demonstrated a habit of really poor reputation management recently. Granted, as long as the judicial system continues to rule in their respective favor, it’s doubtful either entities really care what the people think.

    The most recent display comes courtesy of the Reel Grrls, a Seattle-based service that teaches empowerment to young women, via the creation of digital media. Their admirable service was the recipient of a Comcast grant to the tune of $18,000, a worthy donation for all involved. That relationship of goodwill was shattered, however, when the news of Meredith Attwell Baker’s acceptance of a Comcast position, a move that many scoffed at, including the Reel Grrls.

    The Reel Grrls took to their Twitter account to voice their displeasure over something they perceived as unethical with what amounts to as an awfully benign response, all things considered.

    OMG! @FCC Commissioner Baker voted 2 approve Comcast/NBC merger & is now lving FCC for A JOB AT COMCAST?!? http://su.pr/1trT4z #mediajusticeless than a minute ago via Su.pr Favorite Retweet Reply

    For Twitter, and, well, the Internet in general, that’s about as mild as you can get. Nevertheless, Comcast was apparently offended and as a response, pulled the already-promised funding. The Washington Post expands the story:

    Turns out that a Comcast executive in charge of sponsoring the Reel Grrls summer program was reading and wasn’t pleased. Last Friday, Comcast Vice President Steve Kipp wrote Reel Grrls an e-mail with a link to the tweet, saying the cable giant wouldn’t contribute the $18,000 it had promised for the film camp.

    “I am frankly shocked that your organization is slamming us on Twitter,” Kipp wrote. The tweet “has put me in an indefensible position with my bosses. I cannot continue to ask them to approve funding for Reel Grrls, knowing that the digital footprint your organization has created about Comcast is a negative one.”

    Apparently, if you deal with Comcast, you have to approve of every little business decision they make or they’ll cut you — or your funding. Either/or.

    Anyway, due to the subsequent outcry, Comast backtracked, saying it would like to continue its support of the Reel Grrls summer camp, and that Kipp had no authorization to pull the funding, something the Reel Grrls haven’t made a decision about accepting. Their sticking point is being able to express themselves, regardless of any business arrangements. They also made a video as a response to Comcast’s handling of the situation:


    In the Post’s article, Reel Grrls Executive Director Malory Graham offered this response:

    We are pleased that the public debate on this issue has caused Comcast to reconsider this decision and hope to continue the discussion about how we can best ensure that corporations do not play a role in stifling free expression or limiting Americans’ access to information

    And the Reel Grrls Twitter feed has been an explosion of thanks for all the support they’ve received:

    Thank you 2 EVERYONE for standing with us & showing so much support! The community response has been overwhelming. Thank you!! #mediajusticeless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply


    As to be expected, FreePress.org championed the Reel Grrls’ cause, emailing and posting about Comcast’s behavior. If you’d like to support the Reel Grrls and help save their upcoming summer camp, you can do so here.

  • LinkedIn IPO Reactions From The Twitter World

    LinkedIn has sent the tech world in a flurry since their initial public offering yesterday blew all expectations out of the water.

    LinkedIn announced its pricing at $5 per share, but by the end of trading yesterday it had reached a high of $107 per share. Shares are currently hovering around $101 to $103.

    Initial reporting valued the social network at around $4 billion. Some are now indicating that LinkedIn could be worth more than $9 billion dollars, an absolutely astounding figure.

    So the tech world sounded off on Twitter as LinkedIn’s valuation continued to climb. Many talked about the infamous “tech bubble,” which others pointed to LinkedIn’s IPO success as a sign of future social networks’ success in public offerings. Others from inside the social media field simply congratulated the people at LinkedIn on their big day.

    First, that bubble talk:

    LinkedIn made $15 million last year. It’s now worth $8,000 million. That’s a P/E of 500+. How can anyone claim we’re not in a bubble? 23 hours ago via Tweetie for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    New post: LinkedIn IPO: You know it’s a bubble when Grandma can buy in http://bit.ly/kaXpbO 14 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    I think we’re in a “calling it a bubble” bubble. 21 hours ago via YoruFukurou · powered by @socialditto

    The staffs of other social networks Twitter and Facebook also talked about the IPO:

    I bet LinkedIn employees are getting Invitations to Connect to estranged relatives. 17 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    #linkedInIPO shows how people believe in social network and what its impact will be! 18 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Impressive IPO for our friends and partners at LinkedIn. Congrats @skottr @lizreaveswalker @allenb et. al. 23 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    Yay LNKD! So good for the industry! 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    Congrats, LinkedIn: $100 a share and rising. I remember joining 6 years ago when Friendster, Tribe and Orkut were… http://fb.me/znQYn3pV 22 hours ago via Facebook · powered by @socialditto

    Here are some more reactions from the blogging and tech writing world:

    If $AAPL traded at 45x (like $LNKD) its FY 2010 revenues, its market cap would be almost $3 trillion dollars. 22 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    #Linkedin stock price is not a function of it’s revenue. It’s a function of the markets 5+ yr pent up demand to get in on social networking. 22 hours ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

    RT @albertwenger: LinkedIn is Netscape of this decade. IPO window blown wide open. 22 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    There is a rumor floating around that shares of LinkedIn can be used as survival rafts for the upcoming apocalypse. Buy, buy, buy! 22 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Anyone who natters today about how much $$ LinkedIn left on the table should be ignored for keeps. Cluelessness^3. 21 hours ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

  • Social Search Is A Matter Of Trust Not Technology

    There’s been a lot of commotion recently about the integration of social signals into the search results of both Bing and Google. Bing has the upper hand with those signals coming from Facebook while Google is still Google, and is still the search engine of choice worldwide, regardless of what signals they have or don’t have.

    My question is not so much about who will win this game. Google is the 800-pound gorilla that Bing has to move in some direction so it can make any progress. That alone is a daunting task. However, add into the mix that Bing actually already delivers better results (in many opinions) on certain searches that go beyond the blue link text results and you can see that this mountain is about more than a better service.

    The problem facing Bing is that no matter what strides they make in product there are not enough people taking a deep enough dive into the engine to be convinced that they should stop trusting Google results. Because in the end, search is about trust.

    This trust element is one that lives within all of us. Trust requires an investment on a person’s part. An investment with something more valuable than money. It’s an investment of some part of that person. It’s more personal than we in this tech-fueled era tend to give credit to.

    It’s this trust issue that makes me wonder just how important social search will actually be. Why? Because taking a cue from someone else about a problem you are trying to solve requires trust. Trust is not something that is easily given by anyone to anyone else. It’s serious business. It can only occur where there is a bond that goes beyond “Hi how are you doing?”

    It seems that Google and Bing are banking on people trusting more readily. The trouble is, that we have watered down the meaning of friend to the point where it is almost unrecognizable to what it was a mere 10 years ago.

    I have a relatively low number of Facebook friends (although I am still above the stated average of 130) but many aren’t more than acquaintances, and that’s with me being very careful about who I accept. As a result, my level of trust with these friends does not come anywhere near the level of the small circle of truly trusted people in my life.

    Back to social search. Google is now making social search a global play, so social signals for me will come from people I may not even know at all. How is that helpful to me or to anyone? Bing is more targeted toward Facebook but, as I stated before, even my Facebook pool of friends is not exactly the most trustworthy source of information for me.

    So, in the end, social search is more about trust than it is about social signals. The term “social signal” is as clinical a term as you can have when talking about relationships, so I have no great expectations that my social media friends will send a great signal.

    As a result, I don’t hold out much hope for social search for someone like me. It may be fun and it might make me see things a bit differently in a particular instance, but it’s not something I will dive into. Why should I? If I want real opinions about things that really impact me, I have a few people that I can have actual conversations with who will help give me more than a signal regarding my needs.

    Social search’s success will be dictated and possibly limited by the level of trust that someone is willing to hand over to a group of friends. Initially, this will be easy for the younger crowd because they will have grown up steeped in this social world. Will it stay that way? No. Because never before in human history has there been more opportunity to abuse trust and it will ultimately make people less trusting than ever.

    Dark view? Maybe, but I know from my 47 years on the planet that trust is something that is earned. When it is handed out to all and not given the right amount of value it will lead to disappointment more often than not. This is just a fact and it will be a hard one for the social Web to learn, but it will. And it will hurt.

    Originally published at Biznology

  • LinkedIn IPO Doubles Company’s Valuation Overnight [Photos]

    LinkedIn has exceeded all expectations with its initial public offering today, which has been deemed the biggest web IPO since Google’s. Pretty impressive for a social network that isn’t Facebook.

    When the company announced its pricing for the IPO, it was $45 per share. At the time of this writing, shares are at $105.70.

    While just yesterday, the company was reported to have been valued at $4 billion – a number some thought too high – the reports are now indicating a valuation of a whopping $9 billion. Again, pretty impressive for a social network that’s not Facebook.

    LinkedIn has posted some photos from the opening bell ceremony this morning on its Flickr account:

    LinkedIn IPO

    LinkedIn’s Executive team at the NYSE Bell Ringing Ceremony on May 19, 2011. From L-R: Reid Hoffman, Jeff Weiner, Steve Sordello, and Erika Rottenberg.

    LinkedIn IPO

    LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weiner, at the center. Reid Hoffman (to the left of Jeff), Steve Sordello (behind Jeff) and Erika Rottenberg (to Jeff’s right) on the floor of NYSE – May 19, 2011.

    LinkedIn IPO

    LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weiner, at the center. Reid Hoffman (to the left of Jeff) and Erika Rottenberg (to his right) on the floor of NYSE – May 19, 2011.

    LinkedIn IPO

    Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) the day LNKD started trading on May 19, 2011.

    So the question is can LinkedIn live up to its valuation? It’s got a lot of competition in the social space, from some pretty fierce competitors. Facebook and Twitter, for example, can offer businesses and individuals many of the same or similar functions, and in some cases on a wider scale. The IPO will no doubt help with LinkedIn’s growth, but neither Facebook or Twitter have gone public yet either. Here, we looked at some different things LinkedIn has been doing lately.

    What do you think?

  • LinkedIn Shares Blow Up After IPO

    LinkedIn Shares Blow Up After IPO

    The nifty career-based social networking site LinkedIn announced its decision to go public, and the reaction on the first day of the company being traded has been fantastic. Initially, the service’s stocks were priced around $45 a share, but after a relatively short amount of time, the price of LinkedIn’s shares has almost doubled.

    A quick glance at the current exchange rate finds that LinkedIn (LNKD) is being traded at $91.72 a share, clearly marking the early returns of LinkedIn’s IPO as a massive success. In fact, the LNKD stock opened trading at $83, almost a $40 increase of the initial share price. So what gives? Why has LinkedIn’s first day of trading been such a runaway success?

    The Wall Street Journal has some ideas, which are related to confidence in the tech sector. In her lead sentence, Lynn Cowan offers this realistic take:

    Social-media companies, take note: LinkedIn Corp.’s swift rise on its first day of trading Thursday proves that U.S. investors are hungry for similar stories.

    Apparently, the dot com boom scare no longer exists and investors are willing to spend their money on tech companies, especially ones that are apart of the social media world. Cowan goes on to say that LinkedIn’s IPO is the largest Internet IPO since Google took Wall Street by storm. While the fear of another dot com bust has died down, as indicated by LinkedIn’s skyrocketing first day of trading, that fear hasn’t completely evaporated, something Cowan also points out:

    …many across Silicon Valley and Wall Street say that investors are being taken in by a new Internet bubble.

    Because LinkedIn’s initial foray into the world of public trading has been such a smashing success, people have begun speculating about what will happen if/when services like Facebook and Twitter go public. Apparently, the anticipation for these events is awfully high, something the LinkedIn IPO no doubt fueled. However, most, if not all eyes, are on Facebook, because once they go public, the thinking is, it will be harder for the lesser social media sites to compete:

    Victor Shum, a partner in the San Francisco offices of Jeffer, Mangels Butler & Mitchell who advises technology firms on financing, mergers and acquisitions, and other business transactions [says], “If it works, there’s going to be a big push from a lot of social media companies to try to get out before Facebook does. Because once Facebook comes out, they’re not going to be able to get any analyst attention.”

    Facebook may be the current golden calf, but the confidence surrounding its potential IPO is fueled directly by the success of LinkedIn. Granted, Facebook may ultimately sell for more stock, but it will owe a great deal of gratitude to LinkedIn for proving the confidence in trading social media companies is indeed high.

    Lead image courtesy of a LinkedIn retweet.

  • Secret Service Twitter Clowns Fox News

    Secret Service Twitter Clowns Fox News

    Social media is, quite obviously, the gift that keeps on giving, especially from a content point of view. Whether it’s professional athletes showing their ignorance of current events, or techie CEOs who post pictures of dead elephants, or some racist rant from someone who immediately realizes the error of their ways, social media is simply a fount of wonderful content.

    Granted, the signal-to-noise ratio isn’t always great, especially on Twitter, but if you can sift through the chaff and locate the wheat, many times it’s well worth the effort. Take, for instance, the following tweet issued by the Secret Service. Apparently, one of their understudies had access to the recently-launched Twitter account and during the course of the evening, they let their thoughts be known about Fox News — in a far and balanced manner, of course. Naturally, such an “offending” opinion was removed, but not before someone snatch a screenshot of it, as seen here:

    Secret Service Tweet
    Hat-tip to Boing Boing for the capture

    As indicated, the tweet has been removed and the Secret Service’s feed has returned to its antiseptic “Meet our recruiters at such-and-such’s career day” type of tweets. They also issued a statement concerning the post, saying:

    “An employee with access to the Secret Service’s Twitter account, who mistakenly believed they were on their personal account, posted an unapproved and inappropriate tweet. We apologize for this mistake, and the user no longer has access to our official account. Policies and practices which would have prevented this were not followed and will be reinforced for all account users.”

    Oh, boo. Live a little, guys. Think about the discourse that potentially could’ve taken place between Fox News’ minions and your agency. It could’ve been epic. Instead, we, the people, have been denied by the high road. Furthermore, Fox News didn’t respond on their Twitter, meaning we’ve truly been denied a chance to witness a great moment in social media history. Again, boo.

    As for the Secret Service’s Twitter account, they currently have over 20 thousand followers, but they haven’t been so kind as to follow anyone in return. Um, shouldn’t they be following President Obama? I mean, that’s their job, right?

  • LinkedIn IPO Prices Value Company at Over $4 Billion

    LinkedIn is expected to launch its IPO on Thursday to the tune of 7,840,000 shares of class A common stock. The company said in an SEC filing that it expects shares to sell for $42 – $45. The filing says:

    LinkedIn Corporation is offering 4,827,804 shares of its Class A common stock and the selling stockholders are offering 3,012,196 shares of Class A common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders. This is our initial public offering and no public market currently exists for our shares of Class A common stock. We anticipate that the initial public offering price will be between $42.00 and $45.00 per share.

    Following this offering, we will have two classes of authorized common stock, Class A common stock and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock will be identical, except with respect to voting and conversion. Each share of Class A common stock will be entitled to one vote per share. Each share of Class B common stock will be entitled to ten votes per share and will be convertible at any time into one share of Class A common stock. Outstanding shares of Class B common stock will represent approximately 99.1% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock following this offering, and outstanding shares of Class B common stock held by our co-founder and board Chair, Reid Hoffman, will represent approximately 21.7% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock following this offering.

    Valuations for the company based on the stated price range are being reported as up to $4.3 billion. Not bad for a social network that isn’t Facebook.

    Earlier this month, the company celebrated its 8th birthday:

    So what has LinkedIn been up to lately? Here are a few things they’ve done recently:

    • LinkedIn announced the launch of a new platform last month, that some see as a competitor to Facebook’s social plugins. While it’s unlikely that this will have the impact on the web that Facebook’s presence has, it could make a huge splash on the professional web.
    • The company recently launched a feature phone app, expanding its mobile presence beyond smartphones.
    • LinkedIn launched a new social news product designed to let users see the top news in their fields they’re interested, as shared by those in said fields. The product is called LinkedIn Today.
    • LinkedIn Skills was introduced in beta earlier this year. This is product aimed at showing areas of expertise, and who has the skills in these areas. Essentially, it’s a way people to see the top talent in the industry for individual skills.

    These are just a few things the company has introduced this year. A recent report found that LinkedIn matches newspapers as a job search tool for students.

    In the SEC filing, LinkedIn counts exclusive focus on professionals, a large and growing global member base, a business model with powerful network effects, it being robust and trusted source of relevant professional data, a large customer base, and its proprietary technology platform as its competitive strengths.

    In March, LinkedIn hit the 100 million member mark. Still, the company will always run the risk of users losing interest because of other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which have both been proven to be reputable tools for recruiting and finding jobs, and of course just professional networking.

    Is LinkedIn’s valuation too high, too small, or just right? Tell us what you think.

  • Facebook Places and Check-In Deals Come to Pages

    Facebook is making changes that make it easier for businesses to manage their Facebook presence and get customers to engage.

    InsideFacebook reports that Facebook has confirmed with them that it has started bringing Facebook Places functionality (including Check-In Deals) to Facebook Pages that have street addresses. Local businesses, pay attention.

    Josh Constine says: “Facebook tells us this automatic merge of Pages and Places ‘makes things easier for Page administrators’. We agree that it is a better solution than the now removed option to manually merge Places with Pages. By expanding the number of Pages that can run Checkin Deals, Facebook may be looking to drive user awareness and engagement with the product and earn money off of it through ads promoting the incentives.”

    Local is an increasingly competitive space right now, and businesses have more and more ways to reach consumers online and through mobile devices than ever before. What will be particularly interesting to me is to see how this plays out with regards to competition with Google, which has essentially taken the place of yellow pages for many consumers.

    Facebook is certainly not new to business pages, but the increased functionality, stacked up to new and forthcoming features for Google’s Place Pages, means more direct competition as the go-to place for consumers to look up local business info, find deals, and even check in. Add to that, the fact that Bing continues to expand on its own Facebook integration and has made some big deals to greatly expand its mobile presence (via Microsoft partnerships with Nokia and RIM), and Google may end up feeling the heat from that angle as well.

    Facebook also recently rolled out Page tagging in Photos. Google is actually sending photographers out to businesses to take professional shots of interiors for inclusion on Place Pages.