Keeping that "It" Factor

Foursquare made The New York Times. An amazing piece written by Jenna Wortham featuring the mobile web darling that has taken over metro cities and my friends alike. (Seriously, don't even DARE try and steal my mayorship of Pete's Tavern. :) )

This quote in the article from Deborah Schultz, an analyst with the Altimeter Group who specializes in trends in social media basically summed up my view of early adoption in social media apps/sites:

“There will always be people who love new technology and want to test it out, kick the tires,” she said. “Once those services become too big and the bridge-and-tunnel crowd shows up, they can lose some of that initial interest.”

It's kind of like Twitter now. It's still part of my daily life and an extremely valuable resource, but it's not the same as it was. It's cluttered and there are tons of people adding an overload of information daily. It's lost that "it" factor that a service like Foursquare has right now and I don't want it to. I like using it and want everyone that I interact with to stay involved.

Services like Facebook and MySpace, the long lost days of AOL 3.0 dialing up for 3 hours to talk in chat rooms and browse the Internet are past memories. But, they were the Foursquare of that time. That cool new thing we all wanted to be on.

For companies like Twitter and Foursquare---in some way I think the key thing that needs to be discovered is not just the growth and acquisition of new users, but the maintenance of that "it factor." I hope they figure this out.

Another Social Media Controversy

Note this post originally appeared on my company blog. Check out the original post here.

The Internet was buzzing yesterday with commentary on the latest iPhone app from AMP Energy Drink. In case you missed it, AMP launched a new app to help guys land women (the main Amp Energy site is down, but you can still download the app from iTunes). Users who download the app can browse through a selection of women including the aspiring actress, the nerd, the princess and so on and so forth. Each type of girl comes with a cheat sheet list of things to bring up during conversation, to help the guy, they say, score. The obvious commentary from the peanut gallery followed - Pepsico was sexist, discriminatory. And from the other side, the general public left wondering why, yet again, a huge deal is being made about another flimsy PR stunt.

It got me thinking about the now regularity with which other campaigns have blown up, once the online community got their fangs in it. From the client side, these crisis-lite incidents are seen as something that needs to be buried or moved past, but the bigger pictures is the question of "what's the point here, folks?", which seems to be the strongest consumer takeaway from social media PR stunts and campaigns trying to mix too many things in one. This is a very vocal and opinionated audience that you're now dealing with, so everyone should expect to receive some feedback. Constructive or otherwise.

Here's a rundown on three of the biggest social media firestarters in the past year or two. If you think of anymore, add them in in the comments.

Amp "Before You Score" iPhone app- Aims to help guys land women. Mashable has more on the app announcement and the backlash. Video demo of the app here:


Motrin Moms- The controversial advertisement aimed at "moms who spend their days carrying their child in a sling need Motrin." The key message was that while carrying a baby for long hours can be painful, it makes them look like an official mom. The obvious chatter uproar exploded in the mom blogger community with a tweet storm of responses and the official ad being pulled. Social media: 1. Motrin: 0.



Skittles Social Sites Homepage: Remember when Skittles.com did a full rebrand of their website making the homepage a new social site each day? Wikipedia. Twitter. Facebook. Flickr. The Skittles campaign received questioning from the mainstream audience (and social media critics) around why they chose to do this when the majority of the Skittles audience is not on these channels. Additionally, because of the openness of the Skittles campaign allowing users to publicly comment on the main website, internet jokesters immediately jumped in to grief the campaign with expletives and NSFW comments. The full recap of the campaign can be read here or whatch the video by Onion editor Baratunde Thurston, mocking the campaign at last year's SXSW.


While the peanut gallery endlessly questions why anyone would ever create these campaigns, I have to applaud the marketers. In this day and age when everything has to be new and fresh, pushing the envelope is a necessity. Something that inspires others to be creative and try even newer things for today's brands. Without these mistakes, we wouldn't be able to pull off some of the success stories.

Interesting

I don't know the source of this photo, but I saw it on this person's Tumblr. It's kind of perfect.

Providing value in a cluttered world

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Everyone knows the saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." It's a great saying.

In this age and time when "saying" something can be translated to blogging, tweeting, posting, Skyping, iming, etc...what if we focus more on a new type of saying: "If you don't have anything valuable to say, don't say anything at all."

Many of the people I follow on Twitter have smart things to say. That's why I choose to follow them. Comments on current events. Links for news articles relevant to me. Or, responses to my questions. As streams are so inundated, I've started to really try and focus on the type of content I'm putting out there. Will what I say matter? Will people care? Will people respond? Will they laugh? Will it brighten someone's day? Will it cause controversy? If I can answer yes to at least one of those questions, I'm OK with posting it. Otherwise, what's your point in posting a message besides adding more clutter to the already overpopulated feed of content?

You've seen it. The people who post two words just so they're heard. It's like Kristen Wiig's Penelope character on SNL.Those people out there DRIVE. ME. CRAZY. Thanks for sharing that you're awake, but so am I. And so is the other person reading the tweet. Come on.

Think of it in real life like in the hilarious College Humor video.(embedded above) You wouldn't just announce on a corner somewhere "I really love the coffee here!" But, you WOULD ask a question in hope of an answer. You would inform someone that there's some interesting news coming out. And, you would listen to others to have a conversation.

Everyone sees a person's value to the community differently. That's what makes networks like Twitter work. Some provide value being the go to source for all things Yankees. The account that has breaking news and deals from a major airline. Others use it as a soapbox to be absolutely hilarious and an interruption to our daily lives with comedy and comments that break through the clutter in the way that only this one person can. All different content-all providing value for those individuals who choose to follow them.

Anyway, back to my original thought--provide value.

And sure, you can call me out for telling you what I think value is, and I'm not telling you to think exactly like me. (You can even call BS on me for posting things that are stupid--I know I have) I'm just asking that as more and more people join these networks, try and think about what you say before saying something and help provide some real content and information to the community. If we all change the way we post to this type of strategy, imagine the amount of clutter that could be removed? No more of those random "I'm sitting in a bar" or "Good morning world" tweets. The less clutter, the more interesting these networks become and the more likely you are to stay involved with them. If Twitter or Facebook becomes a place to just spam or randomly post because you're bored, I'm outta here. And I don't want that because I do find this "value" of information from the smart folks out there doing it right.

What do you think?

I've learned that...

• Sunday nights are meant to rest. What needs to be tackled on Monday can be tackled on Monday.
• Everything isn't as bad as it seems.
• You need to take a minute to think through things.
  
• People can be needy and demanding. They can also be logical and understanding.
• You need to separate work from personal.
• If you put your hardest effort into something, it will show.
• Loving what you do makes it all worthwhile.
• You're probably smarter than you think you are and should never doubt yourself.
• Sleep is needed. 4 hours is not enough and you don't get bonus points for "pulling an all nighter."
• Everything works out in the end.
  

Event Planning- Just make sure you have a damn good time

Photo Credit: Kelly Samardak, Just an Online Minute.

Planning events can be stressful. They can be a pain in the ass. Exhausting. Trying to find a venue can take up more time than you want. Working with the vendors takes time and patience and attention to detail is a must at all time. You have to keep your cool and manage a to do list that goes on for days.

But they can also be amazing. The feeling you get when the room is packed and you stand in the corner patiently watching everyone come in. Watching people smile, laugh, drink and have a good time because you planned something that was worth an hour of their time to come. The moment when you actually realize you can enjoy yourself and figure out what it is that went so right versus what went so wrong.

Events are successful to people for many reasons. Some people see success as the amount of people that come through the door. Some people see success as the vibe of the room, the response to the presentation or the fact that no one got too drunk to function.

There was a great post by Nancy Lublin featured in Fast Company about not having press attend an event. As a PR person, I totally understand that the main goal at an event like the one Nancy talks about is to get press. She lists some great tips about what to do--check them out.

When I was at Carrot and helped to organize Digital DUMBO, I did always want press to come. It helped get the word out about the event and get people to come. (It was also part of my job) But, while it was always a goal, I was always more concerned about the people at the event having fun. Why? Because I knew that that would help bring the press. At the end of the day, while I want a great recap in Kelly's Just an Online Minute post, I also wanted to see tweets with the #digitaldumbo tag and replies to @digitaldumbo from the attendees talking about how fun it was.

For those looking to start an event and get coverage, don't worry about the media first. Worry about your guests and throwing a great event. If it's a good time (and worth their time), they'll show. They'll want to come and attend the talked about events and get reactions from those enjoying the event. In one way, I think that's a better environment to bring the media into. Rather than planning an event for media, plan an event for your guests, throw a good party and make sure everyone has a good time.

You'll have a great review of the event written up the next day :)

Google Fast Flip

Horizontal Scrolling of the top news stories. "It combines qualities of print and the Web, with the ability to "flip" through pages online as quickly as flipping through a magazine. It also enables users to follow friends and topics, discover new content and create their own custom magazines around searches."

It's my new home page. Check it out. You can also share articles(via email---no social sites yet. Really Google?) and "Like" them.

A free box of Uncle Ben's rice should come with every new iPhone purchase.

I accidentally knocked a glass of water on the nightstand next to my bed last night. What was nearby? Well, my brand new MacBook and my iPhone. I quickly grabbed the MacBook as I am still remembering the feeling I had putting $1300 on my credit card for it. Luckily nothing was damaged as the case was shut so I just needed a towel.

Relieved I then looked at my iPhone. SOAKED. I freaked out. Took off the case and started blow drying the phone. The earpiece had no sound. No ringing. Nothing.

Quick thinking I ran and grabbed a box full of Uncle Ben's uncooked brown rice as I remembered a blog covering what to do if you ever got your phone wet. Poured it into a bowl and placed my iPhone in covering everything. The idea here is the rice will absorb all of the moisture from the phone. I could only hope that in the morning the phone was working.

It did. All is well now. And use this tip if it happens to you.

The Best of the VMAs according to Twitter and the funny folks I follow.

Using social media to live update during major performances (Super Bowl, The Oscars, etc..) is always fun. Tonight's MTV Video Music Awards were definitely "interesting" with a ton of unexpected happenings perfect for the snarky Twitterati to comment on.

I present to you some of my favorites from tonight's #vmas from the people I follow:

Kanye West storming of the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Music Video:

Baratunde Thurston:

1. is there someone running against Kanye West in 2010? If so, let's raise $400K for that person. #vmas #youlie
2. i would pay HELLA money to see Kanye & Joe Wilson tour together. just yelling whatever comes to them #vmas #youlie #wwkd
   

Pink: Kanye west is the biggest piece of shit on earth. Quote me.
TheBalcony: kanye beats lady gaga for most surprising dick move of the night...

The Taylor Swift performance that started on a "F Train":
Noah Mallin:Taylor Swift is on the whitest, youngest, F Train ever.
Maury Postal: Anyone know where I can find the fabulously lit F-Train Taylor Swift was on? It would really accent the rotting hobo I usually see.

Beyonce's Performance:
Maury Postal: Beyoncé is the best ventriloquist in the business. #girlyouknowitstrue
Michelle Collins: Also they should give a VMA to whoever waxes Beyonce. Always a stellar job. #VMAs

Lady Gaga Accepting Best New Artist in Full Red Outfit:
OMGICU: Lady Gaga says that her award is " for God and for the gays." She also wore a human torch outfit.
Christina Coster: Looks like Lady Gaga stepped into a Slim Jim #VMAs

Serena Williams:
Lindsay Robertson: Serena Williams just told Taylor Swift she was going to shove that Moonman down her fucking throat.

Lady Gaga's Birds Nest Outfit:
@vonverena: Gaga's 4th outfit appears to be a sno-cone. #VMAs

9/11

Every generation has a "I remember where I was that day" moment. For my parents it was the day JFK was shot. For mine, it's 9/11.

It was the first week of college as a freshman at the University of Rhode Island. I had just crossed the quad hearing my peers talk about New York and the World Trade Center. Being a New Yorker I definitely picked up the pace to get back to my dorm and to a TV.

And there it was.

Today is a day for remembering. And I can't believe it's already been 8 years.