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Archive for June, 2009

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Seeking Case Studies of How Brands Reach Gen X Using Social Media

Categories: Generations, Social Media, TechnographicsPosted on June 6th, 2009

I’m wrapping up my report on “How companies should organize for social media” in a few weeks, and collaborating on a report with Zach Hofer-Shall (a digital device aficionado) on a “Comprehensive community checklist” and am going to start work on a research report exploring the social behaviors of Generation X, and how brands are reaching them using social media. (see my body of research)

I’m probably the youngest of the Gen X generation (people define the age groups differently, but the behavioral traits and beliefs are perhaps the most telling) and we’ve a unique way of growing up with Transformers, GIJoe, My Little Pony, Reading Rainbow, Regan’s Just Say No, and of course Michael Jackson (when he was black). We also grew up with technology: Nintendo games and “↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A”, boomboxes, Sony Walkmen and of course MTV and VH1 –or, at least that’s all that comes to my mind during my growing up experience.

Fast forward to 2009, we’re establishing ourselves in the workplace, becoming the successful professionals as we enter the early or mid-career phase of our lives. Yet with maturity comes the big “R” of responsibility: family, kids, the access to disposable income. As this generation, my generation, moves into the prime light, brands are also recognizing the importance to reach us, so I’m seeking your help to submit information.

Seeking Case Studies of How Brands Reach Gen X Using Social Media
I’m seeking examples from brands or agencies that have case studies of how brands have reached Generation X (my Generation) by using social media. This doesn’t have to be a formal PDF, but it’s most helpful if you include URLs or screenshots, a problem definition, a goal, and then measurable quantitative results. I’m seeking these within the next two weeks so by June 15th will be the last day to email me at jowyang at forrester.com.

For Discussion: How Would Gen X Behave If We Grew Up With Social Media
Oh, and to kick off a conversation, how would Gen Xers behave if we had the internet when we grew up, rather than in just the last decade and half? From turntables, cable tv, to compact discs, we mainly grew up as consumers of technology and media –not creators. We grew up with technology as consumer products, yet in many cases, these devices were not connected, not networked, and not tied together through the internet or wireless technology (we were often ‘nodes’ not networked). Do you think Gen Xers would use it differently than Gen Y? Would we be as willing to share all parts of our personal and social lives as some of our younger counterparts? You can learn more about how different generations around the globe access social technologies using our social technographics profile tool, love to hear your thoughts.

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Breakdown: Digg Allows Community To Choose Advertisements

Categories: Social MediaPosted on June 4th, 2009

Left: This screenshot, provided by Digg shows how an EA Sims ad is embedded in main body editorial as sponsored, as well as in upper right bug.

Digg Launches Community Voted Advertising: “Digg Ads”
Digg, who was formerly partnered with Microsoft for advertising, announced that they will be launching a new type of advertising unit that allows Digg members to vote up (digg) or down (bury) ads that appear in the editorial stream. As a result, the ads that are voted up will cost less to the advertiser.  Nodding to the power of the community isn’t new for Digg, in the past the Digg community actually has more control than the management team, so turning over the advertising power to them strategically makes sense.   After engaging in a discussion on Twitter last night about this, I gave it a good night’s think, here’s my take:

Social Ads Not New:

Requirements for Success:

  • Homogeneous : Community ranked ads will likely work better in homogeneous communities where there’s a common interest or demographic, rather than a large broad community where consensus won’t be found.  In the case of Digg, I’d make a guess from watching the community that it’s a lot of Gen X and Y males that are technology optimistic, and liberal.  Having spent time at the live Diggnation event (the super fanboys, photo by Brian Solis) it could be a representative sample.
  • Engaged: Community ranked ads make sense for the Digg community as they are already highly engaged in voting for stories, as well as the very active comment (over 100 comments is norm per article on front page).  
  • Transparency: Dislcosing in the editorial stream that the ad is sponsored.

Risks:

  • Gaming: Expect gaming of the site, not from marketers, but from fan boys, perhaps those that love Apple products will bury Microsoft ads.  Since you must have a registered ID to vote on items in Digg, the chances of the advertiser influencing the ad price will be limited.
  • Unusual engagement: Expect that most users are more likely to bury ads, not engage with them and promote them.  However, if a user buries an ad they don’t like, this cost per action is still an engagement, which is higher than not paying attention to them at all.

Forward Thinking:

  • If this works, Digg or it’s partners could replicate this product and extend to other sites.   Interactive advertisers like Federated Media would do well to open discussions with Pluck and Kickapps, who have a strong media focus.
  • For brands and advertisers this is a great way to find out why an ad may not work for a particular community, rather than make guesses based on CTR performance.  Advertisers that analyze or even engage in the dialog may benefit their next generation effort.
  • In the most ideal sense, community preferred ads become information and content –not invasive content.

Takeaway: If Anyone Can Pull This Off, It Will Be The Digg Community 
Digg is a very unique case study, and if these ads work here, it will be hard to replicate on other communities, a unique mix of a very engaged community that is somewhat homogeneous will be required to make this work.  Let’s see how it unfold.

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Is Your Website SNOWED? (Stakeholders’ Needs Overwhelm Web Experience Design)

Categories: User ExperiencePosted on June 2nd, 2009

Having too many stakeholders on your website results in forcing your users to trudge through a confusing experience, where each laborious step results in frustration then abandonment. Like poor Jack N on the left, you have frozen your own users, your website is SNOWED.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen Result in Mush
I’m sure you’ve seen it, websites where there’s such a jumbled mess of content on a webpage, you know it’s a battle from internal stakeholders. Typically, you see this jumble of information on large corporate websites, in particular, large tech companies with HW and SW products. (I know this as I used to do it)

Being SNOWED is far worse than Avinash’s acronym of HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion). At least with a HiPPO there will be at least some direction where the website is headed.

What’s worse is having too many masters too serve, resulting in serving none. I created this little acronym which I encourage you to share with your stakeholders, hopefully your website won’t be SNOWED in either.


[Is your website SNOWED? Stakeholders' Needs Overwhelm Web Experience Design]

Case Study: American Airlines Website Afflicted by 200 Stakeholders
Take for example the American Airlines website, which was so frustrating to users that designer Dustin Curtis decided to mock up an improvement and write this open letter. One of the designers from AA responded, saying there were over 200 stakeholders involved in the final output of the product, resulting in the jumbled mess of a corporate webpage. Reminds me of this self-created video from Microsoft showing what would happen if they designed the iPod package.

Solution: Have an Empowered Web Strategist
Yes, we know that putting the needs of your users is key to a successful webpage, but it should also be coupled with the needs of the business. This is where the Web Strategist comes into play, who balances this with technology to deliver the right experience. This diagram of the three spheres of web strategy should come in handy, a great diagram to print out and put on the desk.

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How Can I Improve?

Categories: Feedback, RuminationsPosted on June 1st, 2009

This is the hardest post to write, but perhaps the most important.

I enjoy meeting people in real life, and if they tell me they enjoy reading my blog or tweets, I thank them, and then ask them “What should I improve on?” I realize I don’t do this enough online, where I’m located most of the time, and would love to hear from you.

Yesterday, a contemporary I respect gave me some feedback on an area I should improve on, and while it stung for a second, I know deep down he’s right. He reminded me that successful professional and companies know how to listen, take in feedback, and then improve. I’m not an expert on this, and make my fair share of mistakes, but I should certainly practice what I preach, so here goes:

I’ll leave the topic very open, love to hear what you think, so how can I improve?

Feel free to leave a comment, but If you don’t feel comfortable saying it in public, feel free to email me at jeremiah_owyang @yahoo dot com, or if you want to submit to uservoice (an embracing technology), that’s fine too, as it helps with prioritization. It really doesn’t matter which method you choose, I look forward to hearing from you.

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Switching to Media Temple as my host

Categories: RuminationsPosted on June 1st, 2009

After being with Dreamhost since I launched this blog, I realized it was time to move on after my site would be down at least once a week, nor could it handle a large influx of Twitter users at a single time. To Dreamhosts credit they were very responsive to my support tickets, but I really never saw things improve as far as uptime goes, and that’s what matters.

Mitch Canter, my web designer is handling the migration as I move over to Media Temple, but there’s a few recent blog posts that are missing, but we’ll get it ironed out in short order. It’s interesting that Robert Scoble called me as soon as he noticed my site was down last week, reminding me that he works at Rackspace, but I’ve already started the migration plan.

Looking forward to good experience at Media Temple, I’ll keep this post updated as I learn more about the service.

Update: Some of my blog posts in the last few days are still being migrated, and I may have lost some of the comments, we’re working on retrieving those now. Hang tight till we get this all sorted out.

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