A call to address the need for Social Media / Online Literacy

Are you a parent? Would you let your son / daughter figure out how to cross a busy intersection on their own in their very first try? Or would you instead spend years holding them by the hand and pointing to them the all they have to watch for before crossing?

However it seems that when it comes to online behavior, and in particular Social Media, we are ready to let people figure it out on their own…

I am not advocating for you to live a life of “online abstinence”, but when online activity affects your chances to get a dream job, the amount of credit you may obtain or your safety I think it is important and fair for all of us to be in a position to make educated choices.

Do you understand the implications of searching, information you share through social networks, and browsing sites for products? Are you aware of the information you are leaving behind and how it is being used? The detail and richness of this data, as well as the focus and attention companies place on capturing, analyzing and deriving insights from it will only grow with time.

How do you think we should address this need? Not every household has someone capable of educating others; and even those that do may be challenged keeping up with the ever changing landscape.. Should it be handled in the schools? Is this even feasible in times when things as important and basic as Art and Music are going out the window due to budgetary limitations?

I propose that those industries that benefit from the data have in their best interest to help the public with this education need; I am one of them and I truly believe addressing this proactively and transparently can only benefit us.. Let’s not wait to be regulated

What do you think?

Filiberto Selvas

In this I believe (repost)

Today I stumbled into one of my old posts (April 2008); it remains relevant and true and I think is worth surfacing it again:

• Social Media (Social CRM?) will change the way we do business, because of the new level of understanding of the relations with customers and among customers, and the opportunity for collaboration with customers and among them.

• After some time, those that really believe and execute in Social Media as a long term and strategic Customer Relationship medium will be easily distinguished from those that are jumping on the wagon because it is the latest buzzword and they need to tick the checklist.

• Frank, unvarnished and prompt engagement will be preferred by all of us customers; and that all those companies that choose to not go this route will find themselves talking to the echo chamber.

• Employees that have the opportunity to engage with customers through Social Media will find a mission; and they will be so ignited and energized by this mission that any competitor that does not provide this opportunity will stand no chance.

What do you believe in? (Or think about the above?)

Filiberto Selvas

Filiberto.Selvas@Gmail.Com

Highlighting a few golden nuggets out of the "Why Influence Mining is the Next Gold Rush" post

Disclaimer: the points below are mostly curation and very little original content, for the original post please go here:

Why Influence Mining is the Next Gold Rush

By Jay Baer (http://twitter.com/jaybaer)

The article has quite a few golden nuggets; I want to surface a couple of those below (paraphrasing)

• Audience and Influence are two different things.
• As in many other things influence is not new; what is new is the virtual elimination of friction: tons of data about millions and millions of people influencing and being influenced by each other is readily available (or becoming readily available) for business to use / apply.
• The richness of the data set that can potentially be used to "calculate influence" is increasing all the time: channels (i..e Facebook, Twitter, etc.), frequency, recency, domain area, what kind of reaction it generated, tone/feeling, how quick and how long, Context, Call to Action Impact, etc.
• Just like in the past tools were developed to leverage "Life Time Value" scores to provide differentiated service levels today we have (and is an ongoing process) tools being developed to leverage "Network Value" at different customer interaction points: service calls, audience selection for campaigns, etc.

What do you think?

Filiberto Selvas

Filiberto.Selvas@Gmail.Com

Thoughts on influence..

--Influence-- Ample term; loaded term and very important one for the Social Media space…

The influence we have on others and others have on us is (just like many other aspects of Social) a consequence of old instincts embedded in the human nature..

• If you don’t know the restaurants on this street, but you can see one of them is almost empty and the other almost full; which one would you choose? (Assuming all other things are equal)..
• You arrive at an intersection and the traffic light is not working; there is a man in the middle of it with dark clothes and a yellow vest; would you follow his direction and stop/go as instructed?
• Your neighbor helped you jump start your car a few weeks ago; have you been attentive to his needs? Would you be more likely to help him given the help he gave you before?
• The car geek fanatic that you have known since high school makes a public statement about the virtues of a new car; unbeknownst to him you are looking for a new vehicle and you were hesitant between this model and another one.. is this person’s opinion going to influence your choice?

We have evolved with a set of embedded social behaviors that have helped us achieve wonderful things as a society: in unknown circumstances we watch what others are doing and tend to fall in line, we pay attention and respect authority, we help those that have helped us (or may be in the position to help us in the future), we understand relevancy of expertise and filter input accordingly.

What has been happening lately is that technology is eliminating friction… we can quickly see what many others are doing (i.e. Oldspice) and if we have the slightest inclination (need) for the product/service we will likely follow, it is now very easy to give/receive from others and return in kind (i.e. Farmville or other virtual gifts that you likely received in Facebook), Retailers create and apply authority schemes to help drive participation and sales (i.e. Amazon), Manufacturers make sure you know what others (and maybe others like you) think about their products (i.e. Intuit)

When the print with movable type was invented the profession of scribes died but many new ones were born or simply exploded up (i.e. teachers, librarians, etc.); I wonder what is the equivalent n the advent of an era where the influence we all have on each other will be quantifiable (domain, speed, volume, etc.) and likely publicly available (based on digital breadcrumbs we all create daily).

What do you think?

Filiberto Selvas

Filiberto.Selvas@Gmail.Com