Should Consumers Be Paid For Using Facebook?

The reports of The House Judiciary Committee's letter to Facebook are, for the most part, unsatisfying. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has been quoted as saying, “Companies such as Facebook and Google provide innovative services that enrich and expand the constantly evolving Internet. I want to ensure that privacy concerns are as paramount as creativity to these and all Internet companies, and I look forward to hearing about ways they can ensure this is the case.”

I want to take a moment and share my thoughts about the bigger picture. No, Facebook isn't in trouble, and it isn't likely that the Committee's inquiry will have any effect on revenue or future plans for deployment of advertising services. As marketers we need to ask ourselves a few questions from a consumer perspective:

Is the temptation to share too great?

The allure of social networking is obvious and indisputable. Sites like Facebook tap into a primal need to communicate, find others like ourselves, and form relationships at a faster pace. It's tribal, and it's human, and in the end we can't really help ourselves.

Is our privacy an unfair trade?

Because we can't resist giving up much of our private data to companies like Facebook, we rarely stop to ask ourselves what the value of our personal data really is. It's worth posing the question:

Do we really know how much our information is worth?

If the value of our personal data far outweighs the benefits offered by a site like Facebook (from a financial perspective) why aren't we doing more to capitalize on that market - effectively creating a valuation system for our online behaviors. For more on what that might look like, read "Facebook: The Currency of Like". It raises yet another question:

Should Facebook be paying users to share their information with advertisers?

In the end, the House Judiciary Committee's letter to Facebook is about fair valuation and compensation for private citizens' data. Though it may be true that people all over the world are voluntarily feeding data to Facebook with the full disclosure in Terms of Service for what may or may not happen to that data, it's also true that most users can't imagine a future where their data is used in a way that becomes undesirable. As Facebook pushes toward bigger profits (and, as I have said many times before, the larger goal of an IPO) there will be a sharp uptick in the number of malcontents.

Keep this in mind as you plan your brand's push into social networks. It may be the Wild West today, but there will come a time when things change - be it by privatized hands or government mandates. I, for one, can easily see a future where the dominant social network pays users fractional amounts when their profile data is sold to advertisers; seems fair to me...

How did you interpret the inquiry to Facebook from The House Judiciary Committee, and what do you think will happen next?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Are RSS Feed Readers Irrelevant?

Lately I've been thinking about RSS Feed Readers.

Subscription analytics from the communities I manage, digital properties I own, and input from people who are in the know all point in the same direction:

Feed Readers have become irrelevant.

I'm interested in your input as well as your hypothesis. Why has email dominated feed readers for subscription rates? Let me give you an example:

Two months ago I noticed ADMAVEN had been losing traffic from feed subscribers. I installed email subscription code (check upper right corner) to see what would happen. Now over 60% of my active feed subscribers receive their updates via email.

I manage the Innovation Engine Community. After working through the analytics, it's clear that under 5% of the Community's thousands of active members get updates via RSS Feed Readers.

Is it time to kill the RSS reader subscription links that have become so prevalent on the web and replace them with email forms or other, similar technologies? What has your experience been, and how have you changed tactics to give your readers what they want?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

BP's New Stance on Social Media Crisis Management: Let it Ride!

About a week ago I asked how BP will handle the coming firestorm of social media parody, impersonation, and intellectual property infringement.

As of yesterday we know the answer.

As the faux @BPGlobalPR Twitter account heats up with tens of thousands of followers and a clothing line, I see a trend forming.

Empathizing with and supporting victims has always been a tactic of crisis management. BP has taken this to the next level by allowing branded co-creation of content and merchandise to take place.

In a way, BP has endorsed negative (and arguably illegal) social media behavior by omission.

Here's an interesting question:

What if BP had a hand in creating the parody content?

It stands to reason that angry consumers feel a little better if they are following what they perceive to be a parody Twitter account and participating in the conversation. BP's position seems to be indifference.

Toby Odone, a spokesman at BP, told Ad Age of the parody Twitter account, "People are frustrated at what's happening, as are we, and that's just their way of expressing it."

Another quote comes to mind... Put you geek hats on:

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

When Budget Doesn't Matter

This is how you make a video spot...

Nike's "Write The Future" campaign:

Anyone have a cost estimate for this monster?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Online Ad Revenue Set to Explode, As Marketers Struggle With Complexity Who Wins?

Facebook, LinkedIn, AdWords, countless networks, and now Twitter. These are just a few of the major online advertising platforms agencies, marketers, and entrepreneurs are budgeting for in 2010 and 2011. According to Nikesh Arora, Google's president of global sales, the budget allocated to online advertising is about to skyrocket.

I agree.

In an age where traditional media is in the throes of a long and painful death and more of the world spends time online Mr. Arora's estimates are well taken. He states,

"People are shifting their spending dollars more and more to the online world – whether it be direct marketing, or advertising, or branding. And that follows industrial marketing logic which is that you have to go where the eyeballs are, where the customers are.

The next big wave will be consumers consuming more and more video on the web, and you will see more and more brand advertising and display advertising move to the web."

There's just one problem: Most marketers don't understand online ad technology.

I'll admit - I have a lot to learn, but based on some impromptu research of major North American Brands marketers have a long way to go. Take this statement as an opinion only for now; I'm not prepared to present the hard facts on what's out there.

All things considered, here's my prediction of who will cash in and why:

Twitter: the hugely popular microblogging service is about to unleash it's ad platform. I think the concept is simple enough that marketers will flock to the service... at least in the beginning. From a long term viability standpoint I don't see Twitter generating the kind of revenue it needs to be profitable from ad sales. Not to be a pessimist, but I have witnessed the decline of Twitter in the consumer marketplace, and I can't imagine a future where inundating consumers with sponsored Tweets and ads will make the service more palatable.

Facebook: the world's most popular social network has visions of becoming bigger still, and in order to accomplish Facebook's goal of going public (trust me - this IS a priority no matter what Facebook is saying publicly) they are going to have to have some serious revenue on the books. Ad sales are going to make up a big part of this, and I think the next big wave on online ad spending will see Facebook cleaning up as it expands it's semantic web approach. The "Like" button, among other widgets and games will increase the importance of Facebook - and it's value to advertisers.

Ad Networks: though Facebook will get a healthy bump in revenue from selling advertising, it will be dwarfed by the increase in sales through ad networks. As semantic, geo, and behavioral targeting become more refined (and more intrusive) expect the immediate benefits to be irresistible to advertisers looking to squeeze more out of an already reduced budget (raise your hand if you had a healthy increase in your marketing budget over the last 2 years... Beuller? Anyone?).

Video Services: YouTube and others will reap big benefits in online ad revenue from a sharp increase in online video viewing.

What other trends are you observing in the online ad space?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Fixing the Music Industry, One Viral Video at a Time

If the late 90’s and early 2000’s were about scandalously clad underage girls becoming pop sensations, the second decade of the new millennium is most certainly starting with youthful boys belting out shrill tenor chords on YouTube.

It’s about to be common knowledge that Canadian born Justin Beiber has the top selling US record for the week of May 9th – the same week that other, and certainly more “adult” sounding artists pitched their wares through more traditional channels. Add to that the fact that the number of Beiber’s units sold is abysmally low. It’s just another nail in the coffin of an industry that is currently seeing the downside to rejecting progress.

Beiber’s meteoric rise to fame is another, and for marketers old, YouTube story. You know it just as well as I do – talented kid thinks it would be cool to put his videos up on YouTube, does so, and is plucked from a normal childhood by a bevy of talent scouts, agents, and record labels who come late to the game after seeing huge numbers of video views.

Greyson Michael Chance is the latest in a long line of child artists to be snapped up by Hollywood – moving from a YouTube viral phenom to guest of the Ellen show in three days. Wikipedia hasn’t even decided if he’s article worthy.

The impact of social technologies works both ways.

Consumer behaviors are changing by the hour. Music industry executives are left confused, disoriented, and unsure of the future. To the modern marketer for a large brand, it’s just another day at the office.

A source at Universal Music Group told me this today:

“If we don’t start selling more [physical] records soon, all the major retailers will pull out. If Best Buy pulls out, target will pull out, and Wal-mart would have already been out. There won’t be any more product on the shelf unless you are Lady Gaga. I don’t see that we are making up for it digitally. So Beiber is #1 with a tiny amount of records sold. Where are all the people buying digital albums? Where is the revenue? And what kind of message does this send to emerging artists trying to break into the business? If our industry as a whole won’t come off of our high horse of pricing [physical] albums at $13.99 to match or best digital prices, consumers won't see records on the shelves anymore.

If they aren’t buying it at Best Buy and they aren’t buying it at Target where are they buying it? The answer is they aren’t. They are streaming it on sites like YouTube and Facebook. Music has become so fluid you can literally listen to it anywhere you want. It’s not confined to a car or iPod. The music industry has to figure out a way for them to pay for it without paying for it. The artists have to be sold in a different way.”

The need for the music industry to reinvent itself has never been more pressing (assuming you care about music). I'll ask the question and let you tell the rest of the story:

If you could give one piece of marketing advice to a top music industry executive, what would it be?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

BP Suffers Social Technology Backlash Over Gulf Disaster

No one likes the idea of ecological havoc bubbling up from 5000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico. And no, I'm not talking about Facebook "liking".

As marketers, we know a few things. We know that green products and services are becoming increasingly relevant in consumer purchase behaviors. We know that consumers are placing a premium on these same types of products or services, and putting their money where their mouth is.

Then the British Petroleum owned Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up, killing 11 workers and sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil from an unsealed bore hole began pouring into the ocean. Since April 20th the Gulf of Mexico has suffered one of the worst man-made disasters of our time.

I'm not political on this issue. I'll leave it to the pundits to play the blame game. I am, however, conscious that it's bad. Really bad. And as marketers, advertisers, and public relation...ers we should be watching the social web to gauge how a tragedy of this magnitude affects consumer trends and appetites for green.

How will the disaster influence unmet consumer needs (especially in the Gulf states)?

Here's a few thought starters:

Beyond Punishment (new Facebook group calling for a consumer level boycott of BP - full disclosure - I support it)
Boycott BP Twitter
Google Blog search on BP (mostly negative and highly political opinions)
Greenpeace Gulf Oil Spill aggregation

Final thoughts after the jump.



I'll leave you with one final question that is of particular interest to me:

How should BP deal with the social firestorm brewing on the web?

Should BP actively seek and shut down Facebook groups, Twitter pages, blogs, and forums that infringe on their intellectual property or should they simply let it all go and chalk it up to internet karma?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

The End of Advertising As We Know It, Says IBM

According to IBM the next five years will hold as much change for the advertising industry as the previous fifty, because it's the end of advertising as we know it. Thanks IBM, but we sort of figured that out already... If you are still gainfully employed in the advertising, marketing, or public relations industries after three years of layoffs and lost clients you know how much the game has shifted. Chances are your job today looks nothing like it did three years ago; from social technologies to augmented reality it's a brave new world.

There aren't any surprises here: including the fact that the whole report is a sales tool for various IBM business consulting units. Perhaps the most interesting fact of all is that, for whatever reason, IBM has decided that agencies will make up a major consulting vertical for 2010. Is IBM aware that most agencies are scraping for pennies and probably aren't prepared to drop $300k+ on a consulting gig?

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Adobe's Official Anti-Apple Campaign Begins

It's official. The public relations campaign Adobe has been waging against Apple (or is it Apple waging a war against Adobe?) is now an interactive advertising campaign. I'm not sure if this reeks of desperation or defiance, but I do know that Adobe will need to release some non-Flash based ads if it expects to get the attention of current iPhone and iPad users. The campaign is currently running rampant online as well as in print:

To coincide with the campaign, Adobe has a new section of their website dedicated to "Freedom of choice":

What do you think? Desperation or strategic offensive? I'm not sure who these ads are targeting, but so far they aren't tugging at my heart strings.

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Did You Hear? Privacy is Dead.

An easy way to predict the future is by watching movies.

I know, I know... Most movies about the future have no foundation in reality. But every once in a while we get a glimpse into what our fourth dimensional minds will produce in the next five to ten years.

Recently, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg expressed his desire to reveal more "private" data to public and media consumption, potentially opening the doors for targeted and highly interactive advertising. Let's get real for a second; before Facebook can go public (and trust me, it's not a matter of if, but when - regardless of what you hear from the officers of the company) they need more profit on the books, and the current advertising model isn't sustainable. I've already postulated on what the future of Facebook looks like, and wild as my vision may be the principle still holds water.

When I do technographic and digital behavior analysis of target audience groups, it's apparent that privacy boundaries are a generational phenomenon. What is considered personal and confidential by Generation X is thought of as open and public by Generation Y or Millennials. But what level of digital privacy is uncomfortable even for the tech savvy social medialites of today?

The 1997 film GATTACA (if you haven't seen it I highly recommend you do) features a bleak, postmodern world in which everything from employment to human coupling is based on genetic superiority, and establishing the validity of your mate or job candidate is as simple and painless as swiping a credit card.

Over the counter genetic testing technology is advancing at a startling pace. GATTACA may have given us a peek into what the future of these products holds.

Mixing a social technology cocktail

If testing yourself for genetic disease isn't scary enough, how about posting your results to Facebook? Are we preparing to raise a generation that literally has no privacy concerns? How about genetically targeted advertisements (bioadvertising) served based on likelihood of acceptance? Neuromarketing has nothing on this stuff...

UPDATE: Facebook VP of Public Policy Elliot Schrage comments on recent privacy missteps

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.

Front End of Innovation and Community 2.0

I'm at the Front End of Innovation and Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies conferences in Boston this week. You can follow my tweets using the #feiboston and #socialc20 hash tags.

Nick Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 9 years, and helps the Fortune 100 identify unmet consumer needs, create ideas to fill those needs, and bring them into market. He currently works at Maddock Douglas.