Reading through the last few pages of Made to Stick was a great conclusion to this book and to all of the readings we have done for this class. Page 253 and on are a quick "reference guide" to the entire book. However, I can see why we did read the book instead of just skipping ahead to this section.
It gives a great overview of what this book is all about: the keys to SUCCESs. The first is Simple. It is all about stripping information down to its bare bones-- finding the core. It is important to get rid of all of the unneeded information and words when writing for media. The more it gets right to the point, the better.
Second is Unexpected. One must surprise the audience with the unexpected. What is the point in spending your time reading about something that you could probably guess the ending to? That is just boring! To keep an audience's interest, you have to create a twist.
Next is Concrete. This aspect is all about figuring out how to get your audience to understand what you are trying to say and find a way to help them remember it. If you can't paint a picture for your readers so that they cane easily visualize what you are talking about, then they won't understand.
Fourth is Credible. I know that I don't waste my time reading things that aren't credible, so this point is very important. You want believe to trust what your saying so have credible sources that have authority behind them so that your audience knows you did your homework and that you are feeding them accurate information.
Fifth is Emotional. If your audience isn't attached in any way to your idea then they aren't going to care about what you have to say. There are a lot of different ways to get people to care. This section of Made To Stick refers to using associations, appealing to self-interest and appealing to one's identity.
Finally, there is Stories. You want people to act, and stories are engrained in us as humans to teach how to do so. The book Squirrel Inc. goes into much more detail about using stories as motivation. Tell a story, and inspire your readers to action.
These are the main take away points of this book and I am glad that Heath & Heath spent the last section hitting the high points again!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Week of November 5th
One of my favorite parts from the Gillin reading was about dropping "old habits". He talks about how we are so used to pitching and giving a 30 second spiel. Well, honestly, I myself veer away when I hear someone trying to pitch something to me. For example, when you are walking through the mall and every ten feet someone at a kiosk is giving their quick pitch to try their lotion, or curling iron, or purse, or whatever! It becomes tiring, and the public, myself included, find them phony. Gillin says that is less about the quick pitch and more about engagement. I completely agree with him. When you truly engage and form a relationship with someone, that is when you can sell an item. It is all about gaining that trust, and you can't get that in 30 seconds nowadays.
I thought that Chapter 10 was a good lead up to Ch. 11 because it gave a general background to the detailed points made in the latter chapter. Gillin's 5 parts to creating good content were very interesting and potentially helpful to me in our group project. The aspect I really enjoyed reading about was the one of voice. It was touched on in the previous chapter also. I think that the use of voice is so much different in modern writing than it is in traditional writing. We are throwing out the perfect uses of grammar and the proper ways of piecing together sentences--which I like. Yes, it seems that some english classes were a waste of time in middle school, but the "perfect" writing tone is no longer attractive to audiences. People like to read things that make them feel like they are having a conversation. Therefore, writing as become much less formal, and much more personable. It is important to find that balance though so that you don't go too casual and end up losing all credibility as a writer.
The other 4 aspects (objective, medium, topic and angle) are also important. I think that these four are all about setting the content up correctly. It is important to narrow down what you want to talk about (topic), how you want to talk about it (angle), why you want to talk about it (objective), and where you want to talk about it (medium). If you don't know these things before creating content, then the content will be bland and probably go in circles because you don't know where you want to end up. Having a purpose with your writing sets that tone for creative content. This influences how our group is helping OHS. We knew that we needed to focus on one of their purposes, not all of them, so that we could have a more focused plan of attack instead of being jumbled in 8 different objectives.
I thought that Chapter 10 was a good lead up to Ch. 11 because it gave a general background to the detailed points made in the latter chapter. Gillin's 5 parts to creating good content were very interesting and potentially helpful to me in our group project. The aspect I really enjoyed reading about was the one of voice. It was touched on in the previous chapter also. I think that the use of voice is so much different in modern writing than it is in traditional writing. We are throwing out the perfect uses of grammar and the proper ways of piecing together sentences--which I like. Yes, it seems that some english classes were a waste of time in middle school, but the "perfect" writing tone is no longer attractive to audiences. People like to read things that make them feel like they are having a conversation. Therefore, writing as become much less formal, and much more personable. It is important to find that balance though so that you don't go too casual and end up losing all credibility as a writer.
The other 4 aspects (objective, medium, topic and angle) are also important. I think that these four are all about setting the content up correctly. It is important to narrow down what you want to talk about (topic), how you want to talk about it (angle), why you want to talk about it (objective), and where you want to talk about it (medium). If you don't know these things before creating content, then the content will be bland and probably go in circles because you don't know where you want to end up. Having a purpose with your writing sets that tone for creative content. This influences how our group is helping OHS. We knew that we needed to focus on one of their purposes, not all of them, so that we could have a more focused plan of attack instead of being jumbled in 8 different objectives.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Week of October 29th
Chapter 7 was all about how to create a "significant" online community. There was a lot of info in this chapter, so I am choosing to focus on a few main points. One of the things Howard talks about is that a lot of online communities try to sky rocket to the top as soon as they get started, but bigger isn't necessarily better. What draws curiosity and significance to a site can weigh heavily on its exclusivity. For example, think about Pinterest.com. This site is extremely popular, but what makes it so different from all other bookmarking sites? Its exclusivity. You have to receive an "invitation" to be come an active member. When something isn't open to just anyone in the public, the platform becomes much more intriguing. Starting very small and strict helped them build a strong foundation and gain significance. Currently, I believe Pinterest is open to the general public. It probably would have been lost in the mix of all the other similar sites if it had started out this way.
The next point I want to talk about is the nodes. Since I am a Psychology major, I know a lot about Stanley Milgram. So this portion of the reading was of great interest to me. The 6 degrees of separation is a very cool finding that can be put to use on social networks. If you want to get in touch with a celebrity, there are only a few people separating you if you contact the right people. This leads to Howard's discussion on the types of influentials: connectors, mavens and salesmen. In today's society, I believe that the connectors are the most important of the influentials. We are obsessed with celebrities and what they are doing (thanks to Twitter). So if you want to bring popularity and significance to your social media site, finding a connector to shine that spotlight is key.
The checklist of techniques to gain significance that Howard provides at the end of Chapter 7 was very helpful for me to keep in mind for our OHS project. One of my favorites on list is #3: "Participate in influential communities to create trails back to yours". This is so important for OHS. They need to follow bigger animal advocate groups on different social networks so that it will create a path back to their smaller cause.
The next point I want to talk about is the nodes. Since I am a Psychology major, I know a lot about Stanley Milgram. So this portion of the reading was of great interest to me. The 6 degrees of separation is a very cool finding that can be put to use on social networks. If you want to get in touch with a celebrity, there are only a few people separating you if you contact the right people. This leads to Howard's discussion on the types of influentials: connectors, mavens and salesmen. In today's society, I believe that the connectors are the most important of the influentials. We are obsessed with celebrities and what they are doing (thanks to Twitter). So if you want to bring popularity and significance to your social media site, finding a connector to shine that spotlight is key.
The checklist of techniques to gain significance that Howard provides at the end of Chapter 7 was very helpful for me to keep in mind for our OHS project. One of my favorites on list is #3: "Participate in influential communities to create trails back to yours". This is so important for OHS. They need to follow bigger animal advocate groups on different social networks so that it will create a path back to their smaller cause.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Week of October 8th
I was really intrigued by this reading in "Made to Stick". It was all about making things and ideas stick by making them simple. And by simple, Heath & Heath did not mean "dumbing things down". Simple means stripping ideas to their bare core, where it won't survive if anything else is taken away from it, but it can survive without anything extra tacked on to it.
The chapter starts by referring to the military chain of command. Piecing together a step-by-step, move-by-move, tactical plan never works. You can plan and prepare down to the smallest detail, but you can't predict the future; when things don't go "as planned", military personnel do not know what to do because the event is not fitting into the pre-constructed strategy. Instead, one must simplify from plan, and strip it down to the simplest idea that needs to be accomplished, H & H call it "intent". This way, if and when things don't pan out as planned, the military soldiers know the general goal, or intent, and can react accordingly.
The next example used in the book is about Southwest Airlines. What is so different about the way their company works that makes it more successful than other airlines? Simplification. They have one intent: to be the lowest airline out there. This is a basic goal that guides all other actions. Any decision that may come up that will alter their intent is disregarded easily and immediately because all of the workers have one goal in mind-- instead of having to balance a detailed plan of business.
It is not about dumbing down, it is about finding the core idea. I tried to do this with my video project of the social media site Habbo.com. Yes, there are a ton of intricate things you can do on the site like play games, build rooms, complete quests, the list goes on and on. I did not include any of those things in my video. Why? Because I wanted to get straight to the point: the site's main purpose and how a company can manipulate it to benefit them. There was no need to go into all the little, minute "nuts and bolts" of the site, because that just bogs it down. Keeping things simple gets points of cross; complicate things, and you will lose everyone's attention, maybe even including yours.
The chapter starts by referring to the military chain of command. Piecing together a step-by-step, move-by-move, tactical plan never works. You can plan and prepare down to the smallest detail, but you can't predict the future; when things don't go "as planned", military personnel do not know what to do because the event is not fitting into the pre-constructed strategy. Instead, one must simplify from plan, and strip it down to the simplest idea that needs to be accomplished, H & H call it "intent". This way, if and when things don't pan out as planned, the military soldiers know the general goal, or intent, and can react accordingly.
The next example used in the book is about Southwest Airlines. What is so different about the way their company works that makes it more successful than other airlines? Simplification. They have one intent: to be the lowest airline out there. This is a basic goal that guides all other actions. Any decision that may come up that will alter their intent is disregarded easily and immediately because all of the workers have one goal in mind-- instead of having to balance a detailed plan of business.
It is not about dumbing down, it is about finding the core idea. I tried to do this with my video project of the social media site Habbo.com. Yes, there are a ton of intricate things you can do on the site like play games, build rooms, complete quests, the list goes on and on. I did not include any of those things in my video. Why? Because I wanted to get straight to the point: the site's main purpose and how a company can manipulate it to benefit them. There was no need to go into all the little, minute "nuts and bolts" of the site, because that just bogs it down. Keeping things simple gets points of cross; complicate things, and you will lose everyone's attention, maybe even including yours.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Week of October 1st
After completing the project for Jennifer Clark at the Division of Student Affairs, reading the chapters on RIBS is so much easier. Now that I have had some hands on work with these four features, they are so much easier to understand.
Belonging is exactly what it sounds like: you want your users to feel like they "belong" or feel a part of the social community/network. At first, I did not think this was a big deal, or something that really needed to be paid attention to at all. My mindset was, well why does it matter if a user feels like they belong to a network? Obviously they do if they signed up and use the network. Well, after completely my project for Jennifer Clark and reading through this chapter, it is a little more complicated than what I first thought. Just because a user technically is a part of something (because they filled in a registration form), doesn't mean they feel a sense of belonging.
Let's take this back to real life. Say you go through recruitment and join a sorority. Yes, you are a part of that group, but feeling a belonging takes so much more than signing a few papers and wearing a shirt with stitch letters. Belonging forms from learning a sorority's history, going through the same initiation that the founders went through hundreds of years ago, sharing stories between members. establishing routines (like going to chapter every Sunday or wearing a letter shirt every Tuesday), and creating a visual symbol (greek letters). Once all of those steps are taken, that is when a new girl really feels like she belongs.
That list of things to create belonging can be incorporated back into the field of social networking. To keep users coming back to your social community, they have to feel like they belong. To do this, share with them the story of how the community was founded. Not just the facts and statistics, but illustrate the relationships and bonds made, this way they feel a connection to the founders. Have them complete something that every single member, back to the original members, had to complete also. This way they have something in common with everyone, which creates a connection and belonging to the whole group. Have the members share personal stories with each other, this allows them to find things they have in common-- strengthening their bonds. Establish some sort of routine within your social community, this also increases belonging because each member does the same thing at the same time. Finally, create a visual identity. Whether this is a corporate logo or a symbol, anything that when the users see it, they identify that with the social network.
All of these techniques work together to create a sense of belonging online.
Belonging is exactly what it sounds like: you want your users to feel like they "belong" or feel a part of the social community/network. At first, I did not think this was a big deal, or something that really needed to be paid attention to at all. My mindset was, well why does it matter if a user feels like they belong to a network? Obviously they do if they signed up and use the network. Well, after completely my project for Jennifer Clark and reading through this chapter, it is a little more complicated than what I first thought. Just because a user technically is a part of something (because they filled in a registration form), doesn't mean they feel a sense of belonging.
Let's take this back to real life. Say you go through recruitment and join a sorority. Yes, you are a part of that group, but feeling a belonging takes so much more than signing a few papers and wearing a shirt with stitch letters. Belonging forms from learning a sorority's history, going through the same initiation that the founders went through hundreds of years ago, sharing stories between members. establishing routines (like going to chapter every Sunday or wearing a letter shirt every Tuesday), and creating a visual symbol (greek letters). Once all of those steps are taken, that is when a new girl really feels like she belongs.
That list of things to create belonging can be incorporated back into the field of social networking. To keep users coming back to your social community, they have to feel like they belong. To do this, share with them the story of how the community was founded. Not just the facts and statistics, but illustrate the relationships and bonds made, this way they feel a connection to the founders. Have them complete something that every single member, back to the original members, had to complete also. This way they have something in common with everyone, which creates a connection and belonging to the whole group. Have the members share personal stories with each other, this allows them to find things they have in common-- strengthening their bonds. Establish some sort of routine within your social community, this also increases belonging because each member does the same thing at the same time. Finally, create a visual identity. Whether this is a corporate logo or a symbol, anything that when the users see it, they identify that with the social network.
All of these techniques work together to create a sense of belonging online.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Week of September 24th
I really enjoyed Howard's chapter on Remuneration. After reading the introduction of this book, I was given a brief overview of the concept, but this chapter really made it clear to me what remuneration exactly is.
Remuneration is all about experience. It is about getting a benefit or reward from visiting a social media site. Remuneration is less about functionality and a business model, and more about a positive user experience. To put it into perspective: Why do we go to a movie theater? Well, a movie theater's function is to display films. But we could just rent one and watch it at home, or catch a movie on cable television. So why go through all of the trouble of driving to a theater, buying a $9 ticket, spending $15 dollars on food, and sharing a space with 50 strangers, when we could receive the function of a movie at home? It is because we like the experience. We aren't going to a theater just to watch a film, but also to be in the cinematic atmosphere, and experience the excitement of the lights dimming for previews, and crunching on the salty popcorn. It is so much more than watching a movie. That is exactly what remuneration refers to when talking about social media.
The reason we return to our favorite social media sites is most likely because they do a good job remunerating. We have to have a sense of benefit for us to enjoy a site. Howard gives a great example when comparing AltaVista and Google. AltaVista, while it functioned well and had a good business model, was very poor at remuneration. Its site was frustrating and busy, making the user experience confusing and slow. There wasn't a clear entry point and the webpage was full of too many search categories and options. On the other hand, Google did great with remuneration. It's first layout was very simple and it was clear where to begin a search. Even though Google had a detailed and very good functionality, that is not what users care about nor do they care to see it. What we care about is use and ease of a site, not everything "under the covers", as Howard would say. As you can see, just because a site had a great business model and functionality, does not make it a popular site users want to go back to again and again. While both business models and functionality are needed to have a successful site, they cannot stand alone-- remuneration is key.
The best and most popular example of remuneration today is Facebook. Why do millions and millions of users not only visit it every day, but also spend hours on it? Because it provides a beneficial user experience. We are rewarded by being able to connect to our relationships in a easy way. There are millions of other sites with the same functionality behind them, but the reason they are not as successful as Facebook as everything to do with remuneration.
Remuneration is all about experience. It is about getting a benefit or reward from visiting a social media site. Remuneration is less about functionality and a business model, and more about a positive user experience. To put it into perspective: Why do we go to a movie theater? Well, a movie theater's function is to display films. But we could just rent one and watch it at home, or catch a movie on cable television. So why go through all of the trouble of driving to a theater, buying a $9 ticket, spending $15 dollars on food, and sharing a space with 50 strangers, when we could receive the function of a movie at home? It is because we like the experience. We aren't going to a theater just to watch a film, but also to be in the cinematic atmosphere, and experience the excitement of the lights dimming for previews, and crunching on the salty popcorn. It is so much more than watching a movie. That is exactly what remuneration refers to when talking about social media.
The reason we return to our favorite social media sites is most likely because they do a good job remunerating. We have to have a sense of benefit for us to enjoy a site. Howard gives a great example when comparing AltaVista and Google. AltaVista, while it functioned well and had a good business model, was very poor at remuneration. Its site was frustrating and busy, making the user experience confusing and slow. There wasn't a clear entry point and the webpage was full of too many search categories and options. On the other hand, Google did great with remuneration. It's first layout was very simple and it was clear where to begin a search. Even though Google had a detailed and very good functionality, that is not what users care about nor do they care to see it. What we care about is use and ease of a site, not everything "under the covers", as Howard would say. As you can see, just because a site had a great business model and functionality, does not make it a popular site users want to go back to again and again. While both business models and functionality are needed to have a successful site, they cannot stand alone-- remuneration is key.
The best and most popular example of remuneration today is Facebook. Why do millions and millions of users not only visit it every day, but also spend hours on it? Because it provides a beneficial user experience. We are rewarded by being able to connect to our relationships in a easy way. There are millions of other sites with the same functionality behind them, but the reason they are not as successful as Facebook as everything to do with remuneration.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Week of September 17th
The entire beginning section of Howard's last chapter was very interesting and educational for me. Not only does he talk about how social media has the power to effect change for people, governments, and more, but he gives a real example. Looking at the twitter feed for hashtag #gr88 was very informational. I was able to see how the RIBS principle was at work during the 2009 Iranian election protests. The use of hashtags creates a community, like an underground society where everyone knows the same code to use. #gr88 brought protesters together even if they were far away because they could communicate. Even more interesting, was the outburst of RTs. Howard explains how rapidly people were tweeting so it was difficult to keep track of what everyone was saying. Retweeting helped people see the important statements if they missed the original post.
On another note, the foresight Starr Hiltz and Murray Turoff is amazing. They knew how rapidly technology was bound to change, and their predictions were correct. They are like modern day psychics, or to be even more realistic, they are like stock analysts-- predicting huge jumps.
I enjoyed how Howard took a look back in time and showed us how history is basically repeating itself. This boom of technology has happened in the past, with books. The invention of the printing press created a huge flux of books and, more importantly, literacy. The invention of free, accessible social media is doing the same. More and more people can put whatever they want on the internet and find pretty much anything. The more popular that it becomes over the next few years, the more we struggle between control and creativity. What is okay and what isn't okay to post? Where do we draw the line? Do we draw a line?
We have got to make sure that, like books, the internet and social media is improving our intelligence. It should be a place, like Howard said, to be able to think and discuss critically and therefore, make smart decisions. Beauty pages and celebrity gossip posts are not what is important to social media's future and our's, it is whether is can host an area for smart decision making.
On another note, the foresight Starr Hiltz and Murray Turoff is amazing. They knew how rapidly technology was bound to change, and their predictions were correct. They are like modern day psychics, or to be even more realistic, they are like stock analysts-- predicting huge jumps.
I enjoyed how Howard took a look back in time and showed us how history is basically repeating itself. This boom of technology has happened in the past, with books. The invention of the printing press created a huge flux of books and, more importantly, literacy. The invention of free, accessible social media is doing the same. More and more people can put whatever they want on the internet and find pretty much anything. The more popular that it becomes over the next few years, the more we struggle between control and creativity. What is okay and what isn't okay to post? Where do we draw the line? Do we draw a line?
We have got to make sure that, like books, the internet and social media is improving our intelligence. It should be a place, like Howard said, to be able to think and discuss critically and therefore, make smart decisions. Beauty pages and celebrity gossip posts are not what is important to social media's future and our's, it is whether is can host an area for smart decision making.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Week of September 9th
I really enjoyed the readings from both last Thursday and for tomorrow. Squirrel Inc and Made to Stick are very conversational, which makes them easy and interesting to read!
I am so intrigued by the way Squirrel Inc is formatted. I am learning about how to tell a story by reading a story about a character teaching another character how to tell a story-- ironic. My favorite tip thus far is to remember not to include to much detail in stories. The more simple they are the better. I can definitely agree to this because if I am listening to a story and the storyteller is drowning it with every detail down to the type of chips the main character ate with his sandwich for lunch, it distracts me and I become bored.
This idea of stripping a story of too much detail is brought up again in the Made to Stick book. One of parts of the SUCCES's is simplicity. There is a fine line though because you have to be careful not to take away all of the detail. If that happens, the story isn't a story anymore, but online a bite of information. While people won't get bored by a quick snip of information, they certainly won't retain it.
In the chapter on stories, the idea of creating stories that mental stimulate an audience was brought up. I agree that this concept is very important in grabbing attention. You want to put the audience inside the story so that they take each step as the characters do. This makes a story memorable and pushed the audience to act-- which is the point of telling a story isn't it? If you can get someone to mentally walk through the process, then they are more likely to take action and actually complete the goal you want them to in reality. We have to forget that audiences are just ears listening to us blab on and on. It is key to take advantage of an audience's minds and make them active within the story. In the end, they will feel inspired and act.
I am so intrigued by the way Squirrel Inc is formatted. I am learning about how to tell a story by reading a story about a character teaching another character how to tell a story-- ironic. My favorite tip thus far is to remember not to include to much detail in stories. The more simple they are the better. I can definitely agree to this because if I am listening to a story and the storyteller is drowning it with every detail down to the type of chips the main character ate with his sandwich for lunch, it distracts me and I become bored.
This idea of stripping a story of too much detail is brought up again in the Made to Stick book. One of parts of the SUCCES's is simplicity. There is a fine line though because you have to be careful not to take away all of the detail. If that happens, the story isn't a story anymore, but online a bite of information. While people won't get bored by a quick snip of information, they certainly won't retain it.
In the chapter on stories, the idea of creating stories that mental stimulate an audience was brought up. I agree that this concept is very important in grabbing attention. You want to put the audience inside the story so that they take each step as the characters do. This makes a story memorable and pushed the audience to act-- which is the point of telling a story isn't it? If you can get someone to mentally walk through the process, then they are more likely to take action and actually complete the goal you want them to in reality. We have to forget that audiences are just ears listening to us blab on and on. It is key to take advantage of an audience's minds and make them active within the story. In the end, they will feel inspired and act.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Week of September 3rd
I am writing on the reading for last Thursday. I can already tell that the Shuen book is going to be the most challenging for me to read. It is not written as casually as others, therefore making it less interesting. Shuen's book is a little dryer, but it does give some hard facts about the business of the internet.
However, I did find it very interesting to read about how websites like Flickr and Netflix became so successful. I am familiar with both so I was intrigued to know more. After reading through the first two chapters, one lesson stood out the most: happy users make for a successful company. It is all based on the relationship with the user so that those users spread the word, and getting new people to become users. The more people involved, the better the profit. What attracts users? Free membership! Otherwise coined as "Freemium". Yes, Flickr has payable upgrades, but the freemium includes everything that an amateur photographer could want: easy uploading, storage of photos, photo sharing, etc.
There are so many things that Flickr did right to ensure for a successful company. For one, building a good search engine can be extremely expensive. Flickr chose to use its large user base to help build one for free. They created the option to tag photos with descriptive words. With the tagged words, the users build a database that others can search through. This is a huge cost that Flickr dodged by taking full advantage of its users.
Flickr makes its money through a multi-stream model. Money comes in through the upgrade subscription fees, advertising transaction fees, and and sponsorship fees. Flickr may not have been a huge profit from the get-go, but once they invested a lot of money at the start, the return profit was huge!
As boring as I think that this particular book is, I agree that it is important to know the in's and out's of what makes a successful internet business. Learning the history of some of the most successful and long-lasting companies gives me a lot of insight on what are the right steps to be profitable.
However, I did find it very interesting to read about how websites like Flickr and Netflix became so successful. I am familiar with both so I was intrigued to know more. After reading through the first two chapters, one lesson stood out the most: happy users make for a successful company. It is all based on the relationship with the user so that those users spread the word, and getting new people to become users. The more people involved, the better the profit. What attracts users? Free membership! Otherwise coined as "Freemium". Yes, Flickr has payable upgrades, but the freemium includes everything that an amateur photographer could want: easy uploading, storage of photos, photo sharing, etc.
There are so many things that Flickr did right to ensure for a successful company. For one, building a good search engine can be extremely expensive. Flickr chose to use its large user base to help build one for free. They created the option to tag photos with descriptive words. With the tagged words, the users build a database that others can search through. This is a huge cost that Flickr dodged by taking full advantage of its users.
Flickr makes its money through a multi-stream model. Money comes in through the upgrade subscription fees, advertising transaction fees, and and sponsorship fees. Flickr may not have been a huge profit from the get-go, but once they invested a lot of money at the start, the return profit was huge!
As boring as I think that this particular book is, I agree that it is important to know the in's and out's of what makes a successful internet business. Learning the history of some of the most successful and long-lasting companies gives me a lot of insight on what are the right steps to be profitable.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Week of 8/27
After reading parts of "Secrets of Social Media Marketing" by Paul Gillin, I feel as though I have just scraped the surface of how to perfect marketing in the booming age of social media. Gillin makes many valid and convincing points throughout this book, backing them up with examples from the real-world. He advises that when one is venturing into the world of social media marketing that they should create a plan. You should not just jump to a social media tool and try to mold it into what you need. Instead, recognize the goals of your project and then pick a social media tool that will best support your plan. It is also important to not get caught up in the always-advancing social media tools out there. If you already understand some basics of social media tools, don't buy into the fancier ones because it may not be worth the time spent re-learning all new gadgets. Along with this, it is important that one does understand how to use a variety of social media tools because different tools can be used to the best of their advantage for different jobs. While using social media is becoming a popular marketing strategy, Gillin says that it is not always the best path for every situation. For example, think about the audience you are trying to reach. If they are over 60 years old, the majority of your target audience is not hooked up on social media tools. Therefore marketing via social media would prove to be pointless because your audience doesn't access it.
Gillin stresses the point of relaxation. Too many large corporate companies are strung too tightly. They may react to the company being posted about on the internet negatively. In turn, they can harm themselves even more than if they would've just laughed it off. Attacking a customer is never a good idea, especially if they were posting something that was to boost the company brand. He reiterates the Dell computer story- a perfect example of the importance of relaxation over silly social media posts.
Later on, Gillin explains some of the highlights of social media marketing. One being the low cost for companies, which is an obvious incentive. Another being, that you can reach a large mass of people with a variety of interests at the click of a mouse. Not only does social media marketing reach people here in the United States, but Gillin says that some of the largest social media tools are in the overseas markets. No matter the location or the tool, the author states the all social media outlets have some general similarities: anybody can connect to them, users can personalize their information, and they support software applications. Keeping these general aspects in mind, it is most important to understand the individual "personality" of each tool. Knowing the purpose and drive behind social media sites can help one choose the best social media tool that will do the most for their marketing plan.
Dr. Howard gives a great introduction to the production of social networking communities and what we are doing with them these days. Companies are beginning to use the booming memberships of social networking sites to their marketing advantages. The way to be successful in creating an online community that lasts is summed up in the acronym RIBS:
Remuneration
Influence
Belonging
Significance
The second chapter clarified a lot for me. I didn't realize that a social network and an online community were not different things. Up until I read this chapter, I thought the terms were interchangeable. The main difference is their purposes. A social network's main focus is the users personal relationships with other users. An online community's main focus is that there is a shared purpose between all of the members, not so much on the individual relationship from one member to the other. I am interested to learn about RIBS more in depth as I continue to read through this book.
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