Navel Gazing (and Other PR Blog Jots)

We're Our Own Worst Critic
Marketing Roadmap
Susan Getgood examines some of the recent “blogstorms’ that have plagued social media, focusing on both the Nikon blog loaner campaign and Debbie Weil’s misstep with the Alli blog. She makes good sense of the Nikon program, pointing out that the blogosphere’s “collective ability to navel gaze” seems to have gotten in the way here, as the program followed all the usual rules for engaging in social media, and all the participants fully disclosed their relationships with Nikon. Susan effectively counters the argument that only a select few received this terrific benefit as well, pointing out that marketers are the natural audience for such a program, and surely not everyone could have been involved. “We cannot expect every outreach, from every company, to benefit every member of the community. It's nice when they do, and I am a firm believer in companies giving back. But sometimes, they just want a little talk about their products, so they reach out to influencers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

You Gotta Have Friends
Communications Overtones
In a relevant post that I missed initially in the wake of the release last week of Edelman’s Social Media Index, Kami Huyse questions the need to use the number of “friends” a person counts on their social network as part of the measurement of their value. She questions the inclusion of that particular metric, as it encourages the idea of “friend building” simply for the sake of driving up numbers, rather than filling one’s network with the most valuable contacts. “Also, doesn't measuring and encouraging friend building just lead to more overload and ultimately a push platform rather than a social platform for interchange of ideas and information?  Right now I would posit that this is the most important use of these social networks.  Drowning is messages I don't care about, say on Twitter, would undermine its usefulness to me.”

MySpace Shouldn't Be Suffering
Marketing Conversations
Linking to a recent Forbes article involving the battle between Facebook and MySpace, which reports that MySpace is losing users to the “shiny new object” Facebook in droves, Chris Abraham wonders if MySpace shouldn’t have an easier time dispatching Facebook. He notes all the advantages of MySpace, and thinks they ought to be decimating the competition. I think he misses the point that Facebook allows outside apps, which is a major draw, but I see his point. “MySpace should be shooting fish in a barrel — they have exclusive content, 2008 political channels, sponsored content, 59 million subscribers, and all of the support of the world’s largest media conglomerates: News Corporation.”

Comments

[Chris Abraham]

Thanks for the link and the mention. You're right, too. In fact, in many ways, Facebook is becoming an OpenID of its own -- I don't have to leave Facebook to register for all of these applications -- Facebook acts as an OpenID token.

[Chris Abraham]

Oh, and PS, I would love to swap Blogrolls :)

[Sarah Wurrey]

Any time, Chris--I actually need to update ours, I've added a bunch of blogs to my reader since the last time.

[Susan Getgood]

Thanks for mentioning the Nikon/alli post.

On Facebook versus My Space, don't underestimate the power of the User Interface. Facebook is clean, simple, can't muck around too much. You can add stuff but you can't make it non-functionally ugly.

My Space UI is none of those things. Most MySpaces are a jumble that quite frankly gives me a headache.

[Jen Zingsheim]

Susan, I agree wholeheartedly about the UI being important. Some of the MySpaces I've seen are so dreadfully distracting it doesn't matter what the user has written--I have to leave. It's like too much makeup or too much jewelry--you can't get past it.