Logic+Emotion

How Social Is Too Social?

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Imagine walking up to an ATM — you insert your card and begin to check your balance before you put in the amount of cash you want to withdraw from the machine. As you do this, a small crowd of people begins to form around you peering over your shoulder. Some are friends, some family, some are casual acquaintances and some you don't even know. Uncomfortable situation? Absolutely. While ATMs are in public settings, they are meant to be private interactions. If someone — even someone you know began to involve themselves with your financial activity you would get annoyed.

While this scenario is extreme, it seems to suggest that maybe not everything is better with friends, despite the fact this seems to be the approach, so far, of social networking services. Over the past few weeks the technology world made big steps forward in making your world even more "social." Google Buzz was introduced and caused a firestorm of mixed reactions as it automatically connected people to their e-mail contacts publicly, without asking permission. Buzz also socializes other services, such as Reader, so others can follow what what you read. In short, it takes your experience with Google products and turns it into another social ecosystem to manage. Shortly after, Microsoft (disclaimer: an Edelman client) introduced Outlook Social Connector which will connect Outlook with existing platforms such as Linked In.

While both efforts are different in their approach (Google Buzz could be viewed as a competitor to Facebook and Twitter while Outlook Social Connector looks to extend Outlook's capabilities), they signify a larger trend that points toward the "socialization" of our activities. And this is an important trend. Some things are indeed made better when social. For example, one of my favorite networks is Slideshare, which "socializes" presentations and documents. I believe that this service and others like it are chipping away at "information hoarding" and breaking down some of the taboos about intellectual property. It's disruption, but disruption that can be beneficial to both businesses and individuals.

But not everything should be social, as some Google users have found out. Liza Sperling who works for Scout Labs, a social media monitoring company recently tweeted: "Help, suddenly tons of strangers following my GReader! I used to love GReader, until Buzz killed it." She's not alone. Scores of people have expressed frustration with finding and disabling some of the social features, which resulted in an apology from Google over privacy issues.

Let's be clear. This isn't a technological issue. It's an anthropological one. Businesses that are looking to benefit from social technologies are going to need better and more intimate understandings of the people and cultures of those they hope will leverage their services.

The good news is that that while a counter-trend may be brewing that points toward "social overload" — companies that are agile like Google (and Facebook and others) can help us figure our threshold for how much we want to share and who benefits from it. The current hypothesis that everything is better with "friends" is being tested before our eyes. Each market in different parts of the globe may respond to this hypothesis differently. But the truth that's becoming easier to see is that some things aren't meant to be social (think e-mail and one to one messaging). Understanding this thinking will probably make the social web even better. As social technologies progress, valuable and meaningful engagements will become more important than just connecting with friends.

Less Networks. More Meaning.

 

Here's what I observed this past week after scanning the reactions of people in my own networks in relation to Google Buzz. People in my own ecosystem seem utterly exhausted by the plethora of networks they manage and the number of people within those networks. E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Instant Messenger... just how many platforms can we participate in?

Google's strategy is likely meant to solve this problem. To become the one "ecosystem" to rule them all. But the Web doesn't work this way. It's unlikely that people will abandon existing platforms or networks unless they become so polluted that we have no choice. Sure we may have wandered away from e-mail, but how many of us have actually abandoned it? Very few I suspect. E-mail like Twitter or Facebook will remain relevant as long as our friends and co-workers keep using it. When they stop, it might go away—but how likely is it that scenario?

In my trends for 2010 article at Harvard Business, I wrote the following:

1. Social media begins to look less social
With groups, lists and niche networks becoming more popular, networks could begin to feel more "exclusive." Not everyone can fit on someone's newly created Twitter list and as networks begin to fill with noise, it's likely that user behavior such as "hiding" the hyperactive updaters that appear in your Facebook news feed may become more common. Perhaps it's not actually less social, but it might seem that way as we all come to terms with getting value out of our networks — while filtering out the clutter.

I believe that we are already beginning to see this trend accelerate as the onslaught of new networks for us to explore and manage continues to assault us even as we struggle to find the signal within the noise of our existing networks. The average and even not so average person is simply finding it to be too much. So what's next?

Less Networks. More Meaning.
In a recent panel discussion for brand managers, I talked about Facbook's "hide" feature and how we will begin to see more of this type of functionality emerge in response to the need for people to extract value from their ecosystems. While I believe that new platforms, service and networks will emerge that promise this—I think the reality is that people will not abandon existing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. especially if those platforms continue to add noise reducing functionality. We are limited beings with busy lives and creating new networks every few months is simply not sustainable behavior.

I believe that technology titans and upstarts have a huge opportunity in front of them IF they pay attention to this trend. Optimize your existing platform to filter out clutter while decreasing the learning curve as opposed to increasing it. Twitter's List feature is a nice little tool which empowers people to trim down followings to topics and manageable numbers. 3rd party extensions such as Listorious make lists even more effective. The opportunity in front of us may not be connecting just because you can—it will be making those connections more meaningful.

We Are The Media. Do We Trust Media?

 
First, an informal disclaimer. While I work for the firm (Edelman) that conducted the 2010 Trust Barometer, the following opinions expressed are personal and I was not involved with the research or creation of the report. That said, I wanted to express a few non data based thoughts around the the specific finding that there is less trust in a "person like yourself".

Now, let's get into why this is worth discussing. Based on comments and conversation which I've seen in industry publications and elsewhere there seems to be a concern that this finding flies in the face of social conventional wisdom. Previous studies such as the one below conducted by Forrester tell us that we trust a friend or acquaintance who has used a product more than anyone else:

 
Below that is the review of a known expert which is less trusted. Note that these two charts are NOT apples to apples, (while the Forrester is more specific to consumers it does provide an interesting contrast). However, I have a few random but related thoughts that I'm going to put out there. If you want something more analytical you can find it elsewhere. Keep in mind that I approach things intuitively at times.
 

Everything Is Media. Do We Trust The Media?
At a recent client presentation, colleague Steve Rubel said something which I found to be very insightful. Essentially, we are all media. We act like the media, espousing opinions—reporting from the field (Iran etc.) and in turn media has begun to act like us (blogging, tweeting and becoming more opinionated vs. hard news oriented. The barometer had this to say about trust in the media:

"The only institution to lose trust around the globe is media. Over the last three years, trust in media has fallen from 48 to 45 percent among older informed publics. With the dispersion of traditional media’s authority and the rise of opinion journalism, trust in the institution as a whole has waned."

So with "peers" acting more like media and media acting more like peers, I'd put forth the observation that it's logical for people to take a step back and ask the question "who can I trust"? The blurring of lines here is likely causing some confusion. Also the speed at which media spreads. We've seen several examples of social media being "first on the scene" but also inaccurate. On the flipside as mainstream media becomes more opinionated, they may be perceived as less of an authority.  Some pretty interesting dynamics here—but I think it's fundamentally true that we are all media now. So who do you trust when trust in media has fallen?

Media Is Increasingly Paid
As the above chart also indicates, trust in corporate or product advertising is relatively low. Now, an inconvenient truth in world of social media is that many social initiatives are actually paid. And it's not only in cash (though increasingly it is) it's also in free products etc. A recent conversation with a peer in another firm was especially insightful as someone performing outreach to bloggers was telling me that the bloggers were making more than she did just by being full time bloggers. Is this social media?

Well, it's leveraging social technologies, but I believe that it's closer to paid media side (see the above diagram) and in a fragile economy jaded yet intelligent consumers might just be coming around to this. Increasingly with new FTC ethics that force bloggers to be transparent about payment we are seeing the evidence of a paid system. Services such as IZEA are brazen about the fact that your platform in social media can and should be monetized. I say it's all fair game, but ask the following question:

Has the monetization of your blog etc. eroded trust with the people you serve? It's possible.

The Noise Is Deafening
Social media has given everyone a voice, and related to the points above the noise from advertisers, media and now our friends who act like media and use social platforms to advance their own agenda (if you use Facebook you know EXACTLY what I am talking about), it's conceivable that the average person is overwhelmed, possibly annoyed and frustrated at the bombardment they now receive from advertisers and friends alike. So where does one turn? The report suggests experts and academics and I see this as totally plausible. When there is so much noise, we seek a dense type of signal that is apart from the frey. It's quite possible that social media may be a victim of it's own success in this area. HOWEVER, it's worth noting that in the first graphic, "a person like yourself" still ranks high despite the dip in trust over the past year. It's possible that the amount of noise generated by peers in networks combined with some of these other factors may have caused the dip—though the movement is still very much in play.

Who Do We Consider Peers?
Lastly, and this is more of a question—who are our peers? Edelman colleague Christina Smedly said the following on Advertising Age:

"There are ... consumers who still only trust the people they see every day or their 120 friends on Facebook," Ms. Smedley said. "But there are those that trust all 380 of their friends on Facebook. And there's opportunity for brands with both groups. If marketers can find those action consumers, they can build campaigns that work through their parameters and get some very good results."

To my previous point about the amount of noise, I think there is a much validity to what Christina says here and I would add a further insight. Who are our friends that we have chosen not to hide in Facebook—who are the people whose phonecalls we take and whose e-mails we read right away? It's an important question. If there is a company that has totally nailed the algorithm in this, I'd invest in it because I think there is a future in understanding in depth how people separate signal from noise and who truly influences their behavior from consideration to point of action.

In short, these are a few factors that I believe make it understandable that trust is more delicate than ever even with our "peers" or perhaps our various sources of "media". Personally I see trust being connected to value. If you provide value to me consistently, I am more likely to believe you are looking out for me. If I feel like you are looking out for me, I am more likely to trust you. If I trust you—you are more likely to succeed in your business.

These are my personal thoughts. I hope you find them valuable and would like to hear yours.

The Unofficial SXSW Survival Guide

 
Having passed on my slot to the folks at Dachis Group, I will not be speaking this year at SXSW (interactive) but I will be attending. It will be my second time, and I'm happy to share that there will indeed be a sequel to the sleeper hit event last year known as "Allhat". This year we are going with "Allhat II: Return of the Cattle", and it's sure to be even better complete with local live music thanks to the support from Edelman Digital. That said, there were several things I learned from surviving SXSW, and you might want to take some of them into consideration.

Go With The Flow
SXSW can be chaotic at times and with so much going on, you will be tempted to think you can schedule everything and cram it all in. You won't. There's simply too much going on so the best thing you can do is commit to a few "must attend" and be flexible for the rest. It's the serendipity of who you meet and how you spend your time that makes the event special. Also, scanning Twitter will tell you what's hot and what's not in real time.

Extend Your Battery Life
Last year the deluge of iPhone users nearly rendered the network unusable—still there is wifi and certain hours where you can get a strong signal, IF you have battery juice. If you have not invested in an extra battery or iPhone battery life extender, buy one before you go.

Drink Plenty of Water and Pack Some Tylenol
I shouldn't have to explain this one to you. If I do, then you're going to the wrong conference.

Don't Be "That Person"
There is serious internet star power of all levels at SXSW in addition to it presenting all kinds of networking opportunities. This can cause the temptation for people to exhibit what I call "wandering eye syndrome" where you are constantly scanning the crowds for better networking candidates than the one you may currently be engaged it. It's not easy to avoid the temptation to do this, but try to if you can.

Pack A First Aid Kit
This one's kind of random, but I fell into an unmarked hole in a sidewalk and it put a nice gash in my knee. I wish I had one. You can never be too prepared. :-)

Find Small Groups
Packs of people will often gather to get away from some of the crowds and larger gatherings. If you get invited to go along with a smaller group—go for it. Quality is always better than quantity and this applies to SXSW as well.

Mix It Up
SXSW is sort of like Highschool 2.0. People will flock to their own cliques, from the social media crew to the user experience crew, to developers, marketers etc. But they'll all be there. Try to mix it up a bit and spend some time with some folks outside of your immediate comfort zone. It's all about meeting new people and cross pollinating.

Stay Awake and Drink Coffee
Plan for several days and nights of activity with moderate to small amounts of sleep (you can catch up when you get home). It's the best way to make the most of your time and it's only once a year. Plus it's a great excuse to meet people for coffee in smaller settings.

These are a few informal tips—hope they help. See you at SXSW and don't forget to register for Allhat II.