Assembled Web And Social Media

The Assembled WebGetting Started with Social

25 August 2009

John Eckman, Sr. Practice Director, Optaros Labs

Agenda

Context: The Assembled Web

Social Media: How to Get Started

Mobile: The iPhone Effect

Social Networks: Facebook

3 © 2009 Optaros, Inc. Some rights reserved.

Three Previous Eras of Web EvolutionContext

Era Characteristics Limitations

Web of Documents

Content-centric

Static HTML experiences / lightweight CMS

Focus on eyeballs, stickiness

“The web is a giant universal library for information”

Results in Brochure-ware

Experiences are not engaging

Not digitally native

Not interactive / immersive

Web of Transactions

Transaction-centric

Focus on conversion rates

“The web is a giant universal marketplace for buying and selling things”

No loyalty to merchants

No depth of experience

No social interaction

Transactional focus often resulted in weak content – don’t distract the buyer

Web of Communities(aka “Web 2.0”)

Community-centric

Focus on “engagement”

“The web is a giant universal cocktail party / high school reunion / community”

Struggle to find business models

Community for community’s sake

Herd mentality

Cost of community management underestimated


The Assembled Web

The Assembled Web incorporates those eras:• From the “web of documents” it inherits

– The core innovation of the hyperlink– The importance of SEO and findability– The ability to present rich, multimedia

experiences (video, audio, graphics)• From the “web of transactions” it takes

– The ability to manage complex transactional workflows

– The core innovations of SSL, commerce, forms

– The requirements of usability, accessibility

• From the “web of communities” it has learned– The importance of social connections– The desire for two communication– The key notions of “social objects” and

“the social graph”

And introduces two major differences:• The Three C’s

– The integration or convergence of the three previously separate domains: content, commerce, and community

– Neither of the three by itself is ever enough, though in most applications one of the three is most prominent

• The Digital Footprint– What’s important ultimately isn’t your

site or sites, but the distribution of content, commerce, and community to your audience(s) pervasively throughout the web

– Customers expect to be met where they spend time, and have a great degree of flexibility in how they interact with you


The Assembled Web


The Assembled Web

Agenda


Social Media: How to Get Started


Social Network Applications: Facebook, Open Social


What is Social Media?

http://twitter.com/avinashkaushik/status/1270289378


Social Activity in Context

Understanding the Assembled Web means:• Not focusing just on content

(“let’s create a bunch of viral videos”)• Not believing that community in the abstract is

enough (“people can’t wait to talk about how much they love us”)

• Not ignoring the transactional elements (“we’ll create engagement first and then someday figure out the business model”)

All three Cs must be in sync for any social media strategy!


Two Models for Getting Started

P.O.S.T.:• People: Assess your customers social

activities• Objectives: Decide what you want to

accomplish• Strategy: Plan for how relationships with

customers will change• Tactics: Decide which social technologies

to use

Forrester Research, in Groundswell

L.E.A.D.:• Listen: Understand what’s being said

about you across the web in various contexts

• Experiment: Engage with customers in a controlled but real fashion - pilots

• Apply: Make those experiments useful, connect them to your existing web presence

• Develop: Build on existing successes, integrate more over time into core experience of the brand

McKinsey Quarterly, “Managing Beyond Web 2.0”


Getting Started

What kind of listening can you do?• Real Time Search Engines: Scoopler, One Riot, Social Mention, Topsy, Twitter Search,

Radian6, ScoutLabs, dna13• Alerts: Tweet Beep, Tweet Later, Google Alerts, Technorati• Existing Public Communities: Where is the conversation happening?• Hosted Private Communities: Customer council, advisory board, beta users group

What audiences are you after? What do they want?• No longer any rational excuse for guessing• Decision makers & buyers versus end-users• Broader community of interest

What do you hope to accomplish via social media & social networking?• Better awareness of consumer attitudes, perceptions, feedback on programs?• Influence over brand awareness?• Increased enrollment in programs by eligible end users? (More users / more use?)• Increased pool of eligible users / better market penetration?

How can you achieve those objectives?• List of potential platforms is large and growing • Align target platforms and actions to objectives


Key Social Computing Principles

Primary Utility• The best (and most sustained) social applications first provide value to the individual,

even if he’s the only one who ever uses it

Mutual Benefit• The user(s) have to see benefit (in their terms) or they won’t return• The host(s) have to see benefit (in their terms) or they will stop participating

Social Media is not a Cure-All• If you have an image problem, social media may be able to help; if you have a reality

problem, social media will only make it worse• If your core business fundamentals are poor, fix those before (or at least in parallel with)

focusing on social media

Social == Two Way• If you are not as an organization willing to actually engage with users in the broader

community, social media may not be for you• If you intend to use social media purely to broadcast and not to listen, the community

will learn (and quickly!) to ignore you

Agenda


Strategy: How to Get Started




The iPhone Effect


The iPhone Effect

This slide and previous from: http://www.slideshare.net/ravenme/kleiner-perkins-ifund-presentation-at-iphonedevcamp-3


iPhone Considerations

Mobile Web versus Installed Application• iPhone native applications are developed with Apple SDK, have access to all native APIs

(location awareness, push notification, orientation, stored data)• iPhone mobile applications leverage existing web infrastructure and target Safari mobile

browser• “Best on this device” = Native; “Most leverage for all devices, lower cost” = Web

The importance of constrained design• Don’t make a stripped down version of the web application – focus on key scenarios,

activities• What’s the minimum set of interactions which, if enabled, would make the application a

compelling supplement to the web applications, first – then what set would make the application a compelling replacement

Beware Shiny Object syndrome• You do not need to have an iPhone application simply because others do• It’s easy to get lost in the App Store, or on the phone once installed• Be sure to align mobile strategy to broader business strategy

Iterate• Release early and often• Prove out baseline functionality then build on success


What about the rest of mobile?

Easy to over-focus on the iPhone• Blackberry, Palm Pre, Google Android, Symbian,

MobLin all viable platforms• Simple mobile web interface may “just work” across

many browsers

SMS and Mobile-Friendly Email also important• Part of Twitter’s success was that it enabled posting

via simple SMS message• Adoption curve for “send and receive email” well

ahead of “browse the web” and “install applications” across most demographics

Plan for the long term now• Even if you build only on the iPhone now, ensure that

server-side APIs and lightweight SOA approach are used, for later reuse on other platforms

• Don’t assume same uptake rate on other platforms – iPhone uptake will likely be highest by large margin – but that doesn’t mean others can be ignored

Agenda


Strategy: How to Get Started




Facebook


Facebook Demographics

Facebook goes mainstream• Fastest growing segment in

most of 2009 has been 55+• Increasing prevalence of

“my parents friended me on Facebook”

Major retailers and media companies trying it• NBC Universal adds

Facebook Connect• Starbucks has over 3.7

million fans of its page, Coca Cola over 3.5 million

• 83 of the top 100 advertising spenders in the US use Facebook

If Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest in the world• 250 Million active users


Facebook Opportunities

Applications on Facebook Platform• Your custom web-based application running inside

Facebook “Frame”• Barrier is getting app installed, used• Potential engagement is high, reality is generally

much lower• For users who grant permission, you get quite rich

data (except email)

Facebook Connect• Facebook JavaScript API running in your web

application (Application inside out)• Leverage Facebook friend relationships,

authentication• Enable publishing out to FB activity stream

Caveats about Social Media all apply!• Must offer value to user on her terms• Must connect to business value for provider• Don’t let tactics distract from strategy

Groups• Enable broadcast

communication• Enable large numbers of

users to express and intent or affiliation

• Tend to peak quickly• Tend to be started by users

Pages• Enable users to become

“fans” of products• Enable marketers to

communicate to fans• Tend to be very one-way

and static• Better for spreading

awareness than for deepening engagement

• Dipping your toe into social


The World Beyond Facebook

Distributed Social Networking• No single point of failure, no single point of control• Like email, DNS• More complicated, takes longer, but we’ll get there

eventually• Simple set of connected open standards – IETF model

over W3C model – Open Web Foundation, OpenID Foundation, working groups

Open Social Application Containers• LinkedIn• iGoogle• Yahoo! Application Platform• MySpace• Xing• Orkut• Ning• Hi5• etc

Facebook API containers• Facebook

Thanks

John Eckman

[email protected]

http://twitter.com/jeckman

http://www.optaros.com/

http://www.openparenthesis.org/

Assembled Web And Social Media

Technology

assembled web social

social media social

web customers

social mention

social technologies

social graph

social activity

social media strategy