Everything AOL Is New Again, Again

August 23, 2011 1 Comment

American layout roulette wheel.

Image via Wikipedia

I can’t help it. Maybe it’s because I spent 10 years working at AOL during it’s rise and fall. Maybe it’s just that things happen in cycles. Regardless, when I saw this headline today it made me think of something I’d written about previously:

StumbleUpon passes Facebook in US referral traffic

So what does this have to do with AOL? First, some background for those of you who have never been an AOLer. Navigation within the walled garden of AOL content was aided by the use of shortcuts known as Keywords. Want to jump directly from the Welcome Screen to content regarding vacations? Enter keyword: Travel.  Want to go from there to see how your favorite team did last night, use Keyword: Sports. With both major and sub-categories there were literally hundreds (if not thousands) of keywords on AOL.

So what does this have to do with StumbleUpon passing Facebook as the number one referer on the ‘Net? Well, at AOL we were privy to the list of most popular keywords (as determined by user clicks), and invariably every month positioned near the top was Keyword: Random.

Enter “random” in the keyword box and a roulette wheel would appear. Click it to spin and when it stopped you’d be taken to a random page somewhere on AOL. Some pages were great, some not so great. But people loved the, well, randomness of the result, something I refer to today as “serendipitous discovery“– where you (literally) stumble upon content you previously had no knowledge of.

It worked back then for AOL, and to StumbleUpon’s benefit it still works today.

♫… No need to remember when
‘Cause everything old is new again …♫

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Filed under AOL, Community, did you see that?, facebook, social media, web2.0 Tagged with , , ,

STATS INTERESTING: Social Media By the Numbers

July 31, 2011 4 Comments

Social media is NOT about stats. Too often, companies put too much emphasis on the numbers (how many followers; how many “likes”, etc.) at the expense of ignoring the true value that social media provides.

And even though I believe in the old adage, “There are lies; there are damnable lies; and there are statistics”, I recognize that having a few quick stats on hand can help you gain support for social media — so here are a few:

  • 5 percent of online shoppers note that social media influenced them to visit a retailer’s website (Foresee)
  • 82 percent of 18-29 year olds utilize a form of social networking (Pew)
  • 40% of corporate Twitter accounts engage in some kind of customer service (Burson-Marsteller)
  • In 2011 marketers will increase their social media usage by 75 percent (Brian Solis)
  • 48 percent of consumers combine social media and search engines in their buying process (GroupM)
  • Of all social networks, YouTube has the highest Net Promoter Score with 50 percent of users saying they would recommend it to a friend (MarketingProfs)
  • ~140 Million Tweets are sent each day (Twitter) (update: July 2011 ~200 million/day)
  • 24 percent of adults have posted a review of a product they have purchased (HubSpot)
  • 41 percent of the companies report that there is no staff dedicated to social media (Useful Social Media) (see graphic)
  • 35 percent of small businesses utilize social media in their marketing mix (eMarketer)
  • Facebook expects to bring n $4.05 billion in ad revenues this year (eMarketer)
  • One out of every six minutes spent online is on a social network (comScore)
  • 73 percent of the US internet population visits Facebook each month (comScore)
  • 62 percent of Facebook users between 35-54 years of age have liked a brand (eMarketer)
  • 47 percent of journalists will use Twitter as a source for a story (Digital Journalism Study)
  • The average media site integrated with Facebook has seen a 300 percent increase in referral traffic (Search Engine Land)
  • 61 percent of Facebook users who have liked a brand note that they are more likely to purchase from that brand (AllFacebook)
  • 96 percent of Americans use Facebook (Business Insider)
  • 46 million Americans check their social media profiles daily (Edison Research)
Sometimes, having a handy stat or two can help you build support for your social media initiatives. Then, once they’re on board you can really open their eyes to the value of social media.
For more interesting social media stats, see the source article for this entry: Social Media Stats for the C-Suite by  Jeff Esposito

Filed under facebook, social media, Twitter, web2.0 Tagged with , , ,

Updated: Paying Users to View Ads? Facebook Doesn’t Get It

May 25, 2011 Leave a comment

Facebook logo

Image via Wikipedia

I recently came across this headline on Gather, “Facebook to Pay Users for Viewing Ads?” and my first thought was, “They just don’t get it.” The “it” I am referring to is meaningful user engagement. Yes, Facebook is the biggest social network in the world, with a reported 600 million global users, but sometimes exponential growth is achieved in spite of an organization’s flawed strategy, systems and tactics (remember AOL?).

Let me make this clear, material rewards in exchange for participation on a social network is a long-term losing proposition. Check this cool Dan Pink video on what motivates people, in particular the point that rewarding mechanical functions may work, but once you get beyond “rudimentary cognitive function” it quickly tanks.

Note the mention of the word “engagement”, the current buzzword for why brands and companies should use social media. On social networks, what starts as enthusiastic support for the paying organization by its paid supporters morphs into a feeling of entitlement to that remuneration leading to demands for increased compensation and ending in resentment towards the organization — the exact opposite outcome from what was initially desired.

At that point, you not only have a dissatisfied user, you have one with increased voice and influence who knows how to reach your customers very well.

This is the major flaw behind organizations’ misguided faith in raw social media metrics. Read more of this post

Filed under facebook, social media, theater, web2.0 Tagged with , , , ,

Mark Zuckerberg,TIME Magazine Person of the Year — But Not Mine

December 15, 2010 Leave a comment

Mark Zuckerberg TIME Person of the Year 2010In a year full of the famous and infamous, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is TIME magazine‘s Person of the Year.

While you cannot debate that Zuckerberg and Facebook made news on a global basis in 2010, I don’t agree that his selection was the most worthy.

Let’s talk about impact. True, Facebook is the most impactful social network worldwide, but even with 500 million members, that’s still only about 7% of the world’s 6.9 billion population.  A large number to be sure, but why recognize him now? A hit movie? A killer ‘60 Minutes‘ appearance? The fact that the “enfant terrible” of social media appears to have finally grown up?

Newsworthy, yes, but surely others were more deserving. Love him or hate him, my choice is Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks site who have made a far more serious impact worldwide not only on government and the military, but also on the state of journalism itself. For that matter, strong arguments exist for former BP chairman Tony Hayward or, for group recognition, The Unemployed American. It wouldn’t be the first time a group was the “person”.

Take it from me, a former co-winner of TIME’s Person of the Year (2006).

Updated Feb 4, 2012: My apology to Mark Zuckerberg (among other things) 

Filed under did you see that?, facebook, media, Memes, social media, web2.0 Tagged with , , ,

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