By alancleaver_2000

The vast majority of posts here on Context Over Dogma deal with social media specifically with respect to use in marketing. But as we all know, social media has implications throughout our lives and across numerous business and personal disciplines. Every so often, we like to address a non-marketing facet of the social media world in which we live and play. These issues will, in some way, affect us all.

Early last week, I came across an article that detailed goings-on at The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. During a recent job interview with the Department of Corrections, Officer Robert Collins was forced to give up the password to his private Facebook account. Rallying to Officer Collins’ defense was the ACLU, which sent a particularly scathing letter to the Maryland Department of Corrections, in which it called the move “a frightening and illegal invasion of privacy” and stated that “[n]either Officer Collins nor his Facebook ‘friends’ deserve to have the government snooping about their private electronic communications.”

I shared the article with my own Facebook friends, and watched the comments roll in: “NO!”, “$%*& NO!”, “%@#&#* &#*&@!” etc… If colorful metaphors can be taken as indication, clearly, a nerve had been touched.

Rushing to the defense of Employers’ right to learn about Applicants was a trusted friend who has spent years working as an auditor for a large accounting firm. In response to my question about whether people thought that Employers should be able to demand private Facebook passwords, he said, “They absolutely can and they will…There’s nothing private about your Facebook profile…I disagree with it, but many…companies are now actively monitoring employees’ Facebook profiles in accordance with new FINRA regulations.”

Umbrage, while misplaced when taken with Employers’ screening of social media sites like Facebook, is well suited for cases like that of Officer Collins. The fact is, you choose what information is made public on your Facebook profile. You choose to share and discuss articles with your friends. You choose to post status updates to your wall, and let others post to it, too. You even choose to publicly click “like” on endless links to keyboard playing kitties. You choose what to share, and (perhaps more importantly) what not to; and between these two, a line must be drawn.

Potential Employers don’t have the right to go through your private correspondence (paper or electronic). Why then should they have access to your private Facebook messages? Why should they, by simple virtue of asking for your password, have access to chat histories, your private email address, account & privacy settings, and photographs? Is this really the shape of things to come?

Decidedly, no. In this case, The Maryland Department of Correctional Services clearly overstepped its bounds, and kudos given to the ACLU for defending Officer Collins are well deserved. We at Pandemic Labs are passionate about social media, and about the crucial role that integrity plays in the space. We constantly strive to maintain the privacy of our clients, while still cultivating the level of transparency and the philosophy of engagement that social media demands. Cases like that of Officer Collins represent the natural growing pains involved with social media, and remind us all to remain vigilant in defense of our privacy. Monitoring of profiles is a prudent move on the Employer’s part – and leaves the smarts to keep what portions of  their Facebook presence they want to keep private, in the Employee’s hands. Culpability rests with them, and they should be smart enough to know what to share, and what not to. But asking Employees – even potential ones – to reveal their Facebook password isn’t just a definite no-no – it’s wrong, plain and simple.

The background to the question is simple. We all know that the social media landscape is changing faster than most can keep up with. For the most part, early-adopting consumers tend to be the first to jump cannon-ball style into any new technological pool. Once the waters are proven safe and comfortable, other consumers join in, all eventually followed by large, lumbering brands that want to join the party. We’ve seen this with Facebook, Twitter, mobile applications, etc.

The sheer size and labyrinthine organizational structure of most large brands has pretty much prevented them from being the first to splash into any new pool. Lately, however, I have noticed a distinct increase in the speed with which many brands are jumping on various new media bandwagons.

Foursquare is one of social media platforms where I have noticed this. It seems to me that there have been brands spending significant energy on Foursquare for many months now; even though Foursquare boasts a relatively small user base compared to many other social networks.

So, again, I pose my question: Can brands adopt a new platform too early? In our personal lives we don’t really need to run a cost-benefit analysis of messing about on Gowalla. We try it and we like it or we don’t. But when companies and brands begin to “mess about” on a new platform, it costs them money (either directly or in the opportunity costs of where else that time could have been spent).

For a few months now, I have been leaning back and watching some brands enter new social spaces with no apparent plan. I want to know if this strategy is working for them. Is there significant value to being one of the first kids in the pool? Or, are these brands suffering from premature adoption (is there a pill for that?)

So here are some questions to ponder (and please discuss in the comments):

• Does a brand’s early adoption of a new technology provide the same status bump (in certain circles) as a consumer’s early adoption?
• If brands enter a new social space and don’t know what they are doing, does it hurt them, help them, or not affect them at all?
• What is the next platform/technology/network that you think brands are going to start using?

This bird hates Twammers

Improper Following on Twitter

You’ve seem them on Twitter. Their messages that they’re “now following you” clog up your inbox. In fact, the only safeguard is not having a twitter account at all.

Who am I talking about? Twammers.

Twammers, or twitter spammers, can be classified as having a succinct, direct marketing strategy. Not known for their subtleties, or their beat-around-the-bush tactics, these twammers actually achieve a pretty high success rate – that is, the rate they successfully turn you away from their product.

Joking aside, are companies marketing themselves in this fashion because they believe it works, or out of just plain laziness? While I wish it was the latter, a strong part of me believes it is the former. And while there will always be these types of marketing campaigns regardless of the medium, what twitter specific aspect makes companies adopt this wildly inefficient strategy? In short, follower count.

Follower counts are sexy, cool, and they announce your popularity to the world. In fact, many celebrities are ranked by their follower count, so one can’t help but rank themselves according to their friends and competitors. But, let’s face the facts here: you’re not a celebrity! And except for some stroke of a magic wand where your father is suddenly transformed into OJ Simpson’s lawyer, or a multi-billion dollar hotelier, you’ll never be someone who commands a follower count into the millions. Suffice to say, stop trying!

Now, it’s quite easy to play the “follower game” on twitter. In fact, you can simply turn on an autofollow feature, and the entire process will be out of your hands. But in the case of twitter, it’s not how many followers you have, it’s how many key followers you have. These key followers are those that understand your product, your message, and most importantly, they appreciate you. They are the ones most likely to search for your latest tweet, rather than simply reading it when it appears on their feed. Key followers are those that are most likely to retweet you, mention you in one of their own tweets, spread your word, or actually buy your product. These folks may even start corresponding with you on twitter, and as long as the name of the game remains “word of mouth,” what better publicity can you find?

Don't give in to this guy

So how exactly can you create an effective twitter strategy without becoming a twammer? First, build your account slowly and organically, by only following those that are in your target demographic. Your goal is not to attract as many followers as you can, it’s to attract as many influencers as possible. These influencers, along with others that have pledged brand allegiance, make up your “key followers,” who will mention your service to others. Attracting them is, well, key, since social media is not always a means to a sale, but a means to interact and create positive brand experience. If you give in to the dark side – and become a twammer – then all of your future plans might be for naught.

Granted, it might be tough to explain the meaning of a key follower to your follower-hungry clients or bosses. However, they must be reminded that a successful twitter campaign is not too dissimilar from any other great marketing strategy: isolating your niche, and becoming the big fish in a small pond. Once they understand that, they’re not too far from realizing how valuable 140 characters can be.

The “25 random things” list has embodied the social media zeitgeist of late, which is to say, for the past week or so. Like most online cultural phenomena, reactions to the exercise run from disgusted eye rolls to exuberant participation. One friend posted Facebook status updates throughout the week stating defiantly that he would not, under any circumstances, be compiling a list of his own random facts. Roughly four days later, he changed his status to, “I gave in,” and sure enough, he had written a list of his own that was at turns illuminating and captivatingly mundane. It didn’t take me long to join him in posting my own list.

Inevitably, we will all forget the “25 things” list phenomenon by next week. We’ll be back to creating our own Shepard Fairey images on Obamicon or sending breakdance e-cards. Before the moment passes, however, it seems worthwhile to look at the exercise as a salient example of both social and viral media.

Can we pinpoint where the social part ends and the viral part begins? That is to say, at what moment does the exercise move from one that is shared among members of a group to one that carries its own momentum to self-perpetuate and even influence people outside of the immediate group?

If we examine the “25 things” list, we see that built into its structure is a method to turn the list from merely social to significantly viral:  tagging.  At the top of each “25 things” list is a set of rules:

“Once you have been tagged you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you because they want to know more about you.”

The instructions then tell the user exactly which buttons to use to find and tag people and then publish the new list. Tagging becomes a vehicle to viral because it disseminates content extremely rapidly among a group of 25 people who are all connected to hundreds more online friends beyond the intended audience of the note. While tagging does not guarantee viral success, it does increase the odds. Imagine if 25 people compiled individual lists and then tagged 25 unique friends, and then those 25 friends tagged 25 more? Within minutes, 15,625 people could potentially be exposed to the “25 things” virus.

Regardless of their personal feelings about the general usefulness or value of “25 things” (or even Facebook, for that matter), marketers can learn lessons from this phenomenon. Why did “25 things” become a viral sensation?

1. It was simple.
   Participants in the “25 things” challenge were handed nothing but a blank canvas and straightforward directions for how to get started.
2. It “sold” compelling content.
   Online readers are consumers. No, they’re not necessarily clicking on ads or filling shopping carts, but they are consuming information and ideas with alacrity.
3. It took advantage of network effects.
   As exemplified by my friend who finally “gave in,” the power of the network is in its insidious ability to convince you that you’re missing out on a global activity. “25 things” spread rapidly because its influence grew beyond the individual nodes; it began to affect enough people that it felt somehow rude to shun the invitations to participate.

Of course, it’s difficult to predict the effects of any virus. Some lie dormant for years. Others flare up and then quickly die. While no one can estimate exactly how long or far the “25 things” virus will travel before it runs its course, we can be sure it will leave its mark on the Facebook community

The American Idol/Social Network Generation knows no world without the internet. Online video and other bandwidth-heavy experiences, to many of this generation, are as reliable as gravity. Be they fresh out of college or still bushwacking through the various levels of school, the people of this generation are known for rejecting traditional ways of consuming news such as print and television, and embracing newer, instantaneous ways such as websites, Twitter and now Facebook. Traditional ways of consuming information are increasingly coming up short as the definition of “news” becomes more literal every day and this generation is spearheading the change-over.

Over the past few years, social networks, once single-purpose tools for students trying to keeping in touch, have integrated themselves ever more fully into the fabric of the larger global society. After the college crowd, Facebook and other social networking sites expanded into the professional realm as a centralized tool to meet and keep in touch with professional contacts. After a more diverse cross section of people (and corporations) began to spend significant portions of their time on social networks, people began looking for social network-based outlets for information like news and politics.

The most recent, and possibly the most powerful, of these groups are the multitude of groups devoted to sharing photos from the recent Gaza conflict. Using photos of mangled and murdered children (be warned: very disturbing images), the groups are effectively presenting an unheard version of truth about a conflict that is a world away and making it hard for any user of social networking sites to ignore.

Recently, people have been using the groups and apps built into these sites as ways to even challenge and protest legal rulings. While many of these movements are largely symbolic, check out the millions of dollars possibly lost by Cinemark (to the tune of 4%+ of Sales) due to unpopular campaign donations by the CEO. With social networks taking such a large role in many aspects of society and people using social networks as a place to share their deepest concerns with the larger world, companies who resist social networks in favor of more traditional advertising need to ask themselves if their reasons for avoiding social network advertising are out of prudence, or out of fear.

Even if you fear these new locations as places to engage in marketing, in this recession, might it make sense to lay a foundation on these networks so that you have them as outlets for your message during the coming boom times? The financial and PR risk are significantly lower than other types of marketing, so what’s stopping you from reading some Chris Brogan or calling a successful social network marketing company? Ignore social networks, their communities and the marketing and messaging opportunities they offer at your peril.

In a very short time, social networking has been redefined beyond its initial scope of just being a way to keep in touch with family and friends. For one thing, legitimate news organizations are now keeping an eye on online social networks as they’ve become an alternative source for news. Some social networks are even consistently “outscooping” traditional media outlets when it comes to the latest news. The viral success of social networks speaks to the fact that social networking has become mainstream and that it’s no longer the domain of the geeks and the teenagers. It’s Ironic really, since a few years ago social networking was considered just another online fad.

One quick look at the recent social networking map and you’ll find sites that target different demographics, from sites like LinkedIn that focuses more on business networking to sites like Eons for the Baby Boomers. Recently we’ve seen the rise of small, niche-driven social networking sites that cater to such topics as pet ownership and cake baking. As for the bigger social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, there are interest groups that you can join to talk about your common interests. It’s interesting that, after building up to monstrous sizes, social networks are scaling down and focusing. Due to this fact, there is really something out there for everyone.

What’s really remarkable, however, is that these online social network connections are now moving offline, with people meeting their online ‘friends’ in the “real world.” With the prevalence of Tweetups (for Twitter-based friends) and sites like Meetup.com, we’re in the midst of watching the online world prove that it is an effective way to mobilize people who share interests to gather offline.

Let’s take me, for instance. I’m a big Star Wars fan, so when the prequel trilogy rolled in, I was interested to meet individuals who shared the same kind of passion that I have for Star Wars. To make a long story short, what started out as a small Yahoo! Group of Filipino Star Wars fans that I helped begin turned into the Philippines’ biggest, internationally-recognized, George Lucas-approved Star Wars fan group. We see from my example that online-based groups can and have gained real world clout (and yes, we do wear costumes to many real world events). With local, user-generated groups gaining international clout and credibility, it’s really not surprising to find companies now using what was once a “kid’s tool” as their new medium to spread the word about their products and/or services, or even to recruit more people into their fold.

The benefit isn’t only to the companies themselves, but also the employees of the companies. Due to social networks like LinkedIn, today’s business executives can now network online, and even use LinkedIn to check the background of their new contacts. In a way, LinkedIn, and its European counterpart, Xing, is becoming the business card of the internet.

Artists (particularly musicians) have also benefited significantly through the use of social networking since they now have a medium to let their work be heard, and hopefully, attract the attention of record executives. As a matter of fact, some music industry insiders are even calling this shift of focus “industry changing.” Gone are the days of playing in clubs, hoping to be seen by record executives, or shopping around for a record deal by giving away demo tapes. After all, why go through all that hassle when you can just create a profile on a social networking site like MySpace, upload some of your songs, promote your MySpace page at events, and let people stream your music from it? It’s faster and definitely more cost-effective for up-and-coming but still-penniless artists.

The biggest surprise to me is that non-profit groups have turned to social networking to raise awareness, and funds for their causes. If philanthropy gathers people behind different causes, then social networking is really the logical next step in the advancement of those causes. That way, it becomes a definite win-win situation for not only the non-profit organization and the donor, but of course, the beneficiaries.

Even with these examples of social networks affecting people in real ways, many critics of social network marketing base their argument on the ephemeral qualities of social networks and the fact that these social sites don’t “do anything”. Might this be an example of the old guard protecting its turf from the new wave? Those same critics will soon need new arguments.

Patrick Everett Tadeo is PandemicBlog’s eyes and ears in the Philippines and Asia. This is Patrick’s first post at PandemicBlog, subscribe to our feed to hear more from him.

Facebook has a special initiation…namely ‘follow our rules or die’.

If you don’t know how to use Facebook you need to be “in the know” before you get started in order to avoid any unpleasantness and hassles. This saves you a great deal of time both now and in the long run. Invest a little of your time now in discovering how to properly use Facebook so you avoid losing massive amounts of your time later dealing with account issues and warnings.

Here’s where you get initiated and kept out of the Facebook black hole:

One of the big reasons people use Facebook is for networking. Especially for business, it makes sense because it is a protected environment. This can be a very good thing because it keeps away spammers.

Less Spam = More Attention

This being true, your communications to your friends have a better chance of being read and responded to (which is what you want). Of course, you’ll need to know how to build your friend/contact network. Don’t worry, I’ll talk with you about that and give you tips on how I obtained 2211 friends.

Unfortunately, many new users get caught by the Facebook spam moderators and get their accounts shut down. These guys mean well but unfortunately sometimes the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater.

Even many seasoned Facebook users have had their accounts disabled and banned. Robert Scobleizer (a long-time and experienced Facebook user) wrote about how his account got shut down. He later got it reinstated but why make yourself go through the hassle. After the effort it takes to build up 500, 1000, or more friends, you want to protect your account and the time that you’ve put in.

There are some basic rules that you want to follow. When you are sending friend requests always include a personal message and only send the same message to 8-9 people before changing it up and sending a different one.

Realize this is a general guideline and Facebook changes their algorithm periodically. They also have human administrators that check things out when a filter is triggered.

To be ultra safe at the start when you first signing up and are getting comfortable with the Facebook laws and user community you may want to send only 5 of the same personal message each day.

This ‘message’ field is available when you do a friend request. To be clear here’s a pic of what I’m talking about:

Facebook won’t tell you exactly what their filter is but right now it seems if you send 10 or more of the same messages on the same day it triggers one of their filters and you’ll get an account warning. If you exceed the limit for account warnings (seems to be between three and five), your account will be disabled.

So the thing to remember is to vary your messages when you’re sending friend requests. I recommend, and I practice this method, that whenever you’re requesting a friend you include a personal message of how you know them or if you know one of their friends mention that name and what kind of business you are in along with your contacting them. Or if you found them through a common interest group mention that in the message because it is an instant commonality and bond you share with them (which raises the chances they’ll accept your friend request).

Also, when you are e-mailing friends you make within Facebook, you must vary your message here as well. I don’t recommend emailing people you aren’t yet true friends with because it can lead to trouble. Facebook likes to enable communication between friends and has a filter that you could ‘trip’ by emailing random users. So, if you are coming out with some new product or some new cool website you want to set up an event to notify all your friends instead of attempting to e-mail them all individually because that will cause your account to get shut down. Events are one of the Facebook applications that I’ll talk with you about further later.

You now know some of the basics of the Facebook community and how to interact with people without getting your account shut down. Follow these basic guidelines and you’ll have a good Facebook experience.

Basically, don’t send the same friend request more than 10 times per day, and don’t send the same email to your friends more than 10 times per day. I’m talking when you’re doing cutting and pasting. These are guidelines that are working right now but to be ultra safe you could do only 5 of the same per day.

Now for another huge bugaboo…mass emails. You know the ones that are sent to you and 100 other email addresses in the ‘to field’

Here’s an example:

As you can see there are many email addresses that this was sent to and this makes people (especially Facebook people) angry. You’ll often get angry messages back in response and even some hate messages. Also, many of those people may unfriend you. This can hurt your ability to make new friends. It’s just not worth it. So stay away from this. The right way to do it is by using the Events application. Setup an event and invite all your friends to it through the events invite function. That’s the only way to do this correctly.

Email is a 1-to-1 communication and you should always think of it as you have a face-to-face conversation with someone sitting across the table from you or next to you on a couch or in a chair.

Next time we’ll talk about powering up your networking through a huge time-saving tactic.

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This is a guest post by Alexander Alaric. Make sure to show him some love because he’s got a lot more to come in this series.