Open The Dialogue

Last week I looked at what drove the meteoric rise of Chatroulette.  In short, it showed that while traditional news outlets primed the audiences about the service but with limited effect, it was Mashable’s coverage that boosted the service to stratospheric heights.

There were at least two lessons from that study.

1) Social media outlets such as Mashable, Engadget and others can have much greater influence than online version of traditional news outlets.

2) How the content is covered is also different in social media than on television news shows.  While the sentiment on social media was mostly neutral towards the service, those that communicated an emotional response, showed that the users found the service to be “funny,” “hilarious,” “great” and “addictive.”  While others said described the service as “creepy,” “NSFW” and “perverts,” it was no where near what CNN and other television news outlets suggested.  A cursory study by Casey Neistat shows that 83% of users were anything other than perverts.   Despite such a large section of normal users, CNN decided to frame the issue based on the small 17% of “perverts” and headlined the service as “titillating.”

What this suggests is that social media is definitely a better indicator of mainstream sentiment on issues.  The traditional media, especially television news programs while embracing social media are engaged in framing issues in a way that may not be reflective of public opinion.  The implication are far reaching especially when it comes to critical national issues such as healthcare reform, financial reform and other important issues.

A few weeks ago, a coworker mentioned they had tried a new chat service where you can meet random people online using a webcam.  I didn’t give it much thought then because I couldn’t test it out as my webcam on my laptop was broken.  I did, however, give it a moment’s pause for what was about to be unleashed on the masses with this anonymous video chat service.  Those thoughts proved prophetic and Chatroulette has since exploded on to the scene.  This obviously didn’t happened on its own, and with the use of MWW Groups D.insight powered by Radian6, I take a look into how it came about in the last couple of weeks.

Total Mentions:  58,704

Media Channels

Based on the chart above, the conversation is really taking place mostly on micromedia websites like Twitter and Friendfeed.  However, the three next most popular channels suggest that there is a lot of conversation happening about Chatroulette based on the high volume of comments and forum replies.  However, to understand what is really driving the conversation over time, a more detailed view is required.

Daily Trends and Key Drivers

The following graph really captures the sudden rise in buzz about Chatroulette.

As the graph shows, starting on February 20th, there was clear rise in mention on blogs and comments.  The New York Times article “The Surreal World of Chatroulette” started off this rise in mentions on the 19th, which was later followed by CNN and a number of other news sites.  While these stories primed the public on the topic, they were not the source of the major spike in mention on the 23rd and 24th of February and again on March 4th.

It took Mashable’s post “Calling All Romantics: Chatroulette Now Has Its Own Missed Connections” to give it that boost that traditional news sites could not.  Also a major driver of mention was the short documentary about user behavior by Casey Neistat.

The second large spike on March 4th was due to a piece by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show.  The video is available on the Daily Show website and should be viewed at your own risk.

Key Sentiment About the Site

While the service has received high increase in mentions in a very short time, a majority of the mentions are neutral.  However, this chart highlights the prevalence of some key words used to describe the site.  The website is definitely connecting with the public because of its entertainment value despite traditional media’s framing of it as the “dark side of the internet.”

Key Personalities

While Jon Stewart’s video was a major driver of conversation, there were a few other notable celebrities testing out the service.  Even Kermit the Frog was seen engaged in some questionable practices on the service and hope the Jonas Brothers will not need counselling from being exposed to the website.

Google Launches “Buzz”

Google announced Buzz, a service similar to Twitter, Yammer, Foursquare, Yelp and other, but built right into Gmail to leverage its current user base.  More information on activating this service is available at http://buzz.google.com.

Foursquare Partners with Major Brands

Location-based services were predicted to get major traction in 2010.  That much seems true as Foursquare has signed on with several major brands to provide location based services.  Partners include Zagat, Warner Bros, HBO, History Channel, and the New York Times.

Writing for People and SEO

Brian Clark delves into how to write to increase SEO, often one of the important goals of setting up a blog or corporate website makeovers.  However, Brian emphasizes the importance to write for people instead, relying less on keyword frequency and instead using the readers language.  The article provides some great ideas in ways to create content that is both engaging to the reader and good for search engine crawlers.

Facebook Privacy Debate Rages On As Sensitive User Information Is Made Public

Marshall Kirkpatrick does an excellent job of laying out the arguments on both sides.  While the response from the Facebook camp has been both inconsistent and unconvincing, Marshall also presents some legitimate privacy concerns about the current public-only features of the profile pages.  Also check out Shel Israel’s open letter to Marck Zuckerberg.  From a network that attracted users by promising to let them connect to friends only within their college network but then transforming to one that now exposes potentially damaging and sensitive information to the entire internet community (family, professional networks and political affiliations included), is this a case of “bait-and-switch” on Facebook’s part?

Things that Make Companies Unprepared for Adopting Social Media

Joshua-Michéle Ross has some interesting points on why some companies may not be a good fit for social media.  Inability or unwillingness to address user concerns as the communication department may have little to no control over product quality, pricing and terms of use are some of the major concerns.

Content Delivery and Lagging Broadband Speeds

Streaming content may be getting a big push as Microsoft is in talks with Disney about getting ESPN content available through Xbox 360.  At the same time, a study by Akamai shows that US broadband speed has been lagging in comparison to other countries.  This is sure to create conflict as majority of broadband users connect to the internet via cable companies who will be directly affected by this growing trend in streaming content.

Product reviews have become standard practice for most online retailers, yet many brands are simply not implementing it on their own websites for their products.  Whether you go to Amazon.com or Best Buy’s website for purchase, the presence of the consumer reviews of products is unavoidable.  These reviews can have significant impact on consumer purchasing decision.

A consumer reviews practice on a brand’s website has a different purpose than that of an online retailer.  It is about communication and PR and less to deal with sales.  There is stronger link to sales only if the brand has an online store selling directly to consumers but otherwise it is mostly about brand perception management.  This is why a product review practice accomplishes several things.

The top three benefits from my perspective are:

1. Communicates that the company is listening to consumer feedback on its products.  While reviews are pretty structured in format, it is still an avenue for the consumer to channels their views back to the brand about the product, short of calling the customer support line.  It also allows the consumers to voice both positive and negative views about the product.  It is important to understand that while the views are specific to the product, simply having review practice in place also communicates volumes about the brand itself, which brings me to my next point.
2. The willingness of a brand to listen to its consumers communicates greater transparency, which in turn can increase trust in the brand.  If consumers think that the brand is open to not just praise but also “constructive criticism” about its products, it creates the perception of honest dialog between the two parties.  As such, this is as much about brand perception management as it is about marketing to improve product sales.
3. A review practice on the brand’s website can draw in people searching for product reviews through increased SEO value.  As more reviews are written, a brand’s page can increase its SEO value and become the source for information on a particular item or rank high in a given category of products.

However, the a review practice simply can’t be a replacement for quality improvements on a given product or service.  If a product is not improved upon after countless feedback from  consumers, it can not only have negative PR implications, it is also poor business management as sales will suffer in the long-term.  However, a product review practice can certainly help with brand perception while giving time for improving based on the feedback received through multiple channels with consumer reviews being one of them.

Are there any other benefits that should be included in this list?   Do let me know in the comments below.

Website, Facebook, Twitter and How to Use Them

Guy Kawasaki interviews Dan Zarrella on how to use social media.  Key insights for companies include: when to implement a Facebook presence, the difference between a retweet and a Digg, and so on.

What are Company Obligations Under FTC Endorsement Guidelines

This article specifically addresses the issues at play for a company, its employees and any affiliated organizations under the new FTC endorsement guidelines.  Documentation of steps taken to comply with the guidelines is key to any future enforcement action.

The Evolution of Social Media Marketing to Social Business Design

David Armano and Jeff Dachis talk about social media marketing’s evolution in becoming integrated into all aspects of a business.  This is the creation of a social business model.  They provide early examples in the accompanying slide presentation but also some of the challenges they also pose.  This is as much a change to the approach to social media as it is to the way a business is organized.

Socialnomic’s Social Media ROI Video

Here’s a great video by Socialnomics on Social Media ROI that features one of our clients, Volkswagen, which with the help of MWW Group, launched its GTI exclusively through an iPhone/iPod Touch app.

Check it out:

Media Mogul to Build Wall around News

At the same time when the world celebrates the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, media mogul Rupert Murdoch states that the News Corp websites will have its stories de-indexed from all search engines.

Droid Army Seeks to Dominate Mobile Ad

With the invasion of the Android mobile OS devices, Google acquires AdMob, a mobile display ad serving platform, for $750 million.  As 2010 is destined to be the year for mobile internet, Google is positioning itself to dominate the lucrative mobile ad business.

Five Future Gaming Trends Predictions

Ben Parr at Mashable makes six predictions for the gaming industry.  Among those that make the list: social gaming acquisitions, monetizing of social gaming and social gaming on traditional console.

Want to Promote a Real Time Event?

Chris Brogan has some wise words for those in need of advice.  They include building a webpage or using Eventbrite for single events, use of other events announcement websites, and other social media platforms.

Mobile Web is on the Verge of Greatness

This will be a significant trend for the next year with an explosion of smartphones to be available across all carriers.  Wordpress, the popular blogging platform, released a mobile web optimized theme suggesting user generated content will be a significant player in the field.

Success in Social Media for Small Businesses

Here are five examples of some great social media use by small businesses.  They involve 2 restaurants, one of the oldest cinemas in the UK, worm composters and active wear.  Do check them out.

Managing Facebook Groups

Here are some essential tips from Mashable on managing a Facebook groups for clients.  Some top recommendations include making the group open and public, filling out all information fields, and so on.

Organizational use of Social Media

Deloitte released a new study on organizational use of social media.  Of note, 32% of respondents (organizations) are lurkers – “people who observe the community, but don’t participate in the discussion.”

Social Media and Health Information

Study says 80 million people use social media for health and medical information.  According to the study, “user-generated content is an influential resource for therapeutic segments, suggesting social media is more of a priority for some brands than others.”

Washington Post Cracks Down on Dissident Journalists

Reports have come in that the authorities at Washington Post have launched a severe crackdown on journalists’ use of social media after news broke that one of its editors, Raju Narisetti, used the popular microblogging website, Twitter, to send personal opinionated comments to the public.  The crackdown includes never before seen levels of censorship by shutting down Narisetti’s independent Twitter profile and new edicts outlawing similar uses by all WaPo writers.  These actions have been severely criticized by other member websites such as TechCrunch with limited discussion on the subject coming from within.  Narisetti’s conditions and whereabouts within the WaPo HQ are as yet unknown.

Brand Websites Under Attack by Google Sidewiki

Correspondent Steve Woodruff reports that brand websites are facing a critical threat to its image by the emergence of Google’s new tool called Sidewiki.  The wiki allows rogue agents to leave unflattering comments in direct contradiction to the careful messaging on the branded websites for all others to see.  Woodruff highlights the effects it is having on pharmaceutical blogs and websites.

Google Wave or a Google Tsunami?

Reports indicate that there are high levels of chatter surrounding Google Wave to be unleashed today.  Some are predicting it to be a Google Tsunami in its “potential to redefine the web and how we interact digitally.” Experts are still waiting to see what effect it will have for brands and social media strategy.