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Tag Archive: Advertising

Story Building vs. Story Telling

Written on January 31, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

Stories have given us some of the most powerfully multifaceted characteristics that have defined our beliefs, ideologies and the way we see the world. From the religious scriptures that our societies have been founded on, to the musings of poetic literature from the Far East, Europe and South America, to advertising campaigns we are exposed to and the gossip we share everyday. The “story” is undoubtedly one of the greatest compelling aspects we all share and are a part of.

For most of our existence, the story was in the hands of the few. Few knew how to write. Few knew how to read. More importantly, it was left in the hands of the few, the wise and elderly, to tell the story and pass it on from generation to generation. But as time moved on, and as writers and artists and poets began to grow in numbers as literacy began to shift to the masses, we became explorers, authors, directors and ultimately, journalists, columnists, bloggers and tweeters. The “story” has withstood the testament of time.

Until recently, stories have only been told. And rewritten or adapted or rephrased to be told again. We were told the story and we took it for what it was, a piece of news, a wives tale, some juicy gossip. We were passive aspects to what had happened and not what was happening. However, this is all slowly changing.

The introduction of the web, blogging, social media and tweeting forever changed the dynamics of the story. Stories are still very much told and created. But we are all becoming part of the story. The story itself is a live element of the now and not simply a representation of the past. We are no longer just story tellers. We are a growing number of story builders. A shift that has massively transitioned from the few hundred paged stories Charles Dickens wrote and transformed to the 140 character tweets many of us participate in today.

The shift has also made the story real-time and interactive. Newspapers, magazines, books and anything else that represented ink on paper was kept at the vantage point of the author, the story teller. Now, comments reign supreme. The story itself is as much a part of the actual contextual piece as it is in the comments that precede it. As we continually move away from the pillars that encompass the essence of our traditional understandings of stories, we move toward an interesting but strange world full of story builders.

Each and everyone of us who participate in any interactive and social media medium are actively building and shaping the story that is currently occurring. And Facebook offers a series of examples that are paramount to this. Our conversations, “likes”, shares and witty updates are all aspects to the story we are building. Not only have they culminated in the “wall-to-wall” element, the “see friendship” characteristic is an ongoing story from the very first interaction to the very last between two “friends”. And most recently, “sponsored stories” are the culmination of everyday stories occurring before our eyes through growing socially interactive lives.

Stories and story telling will always play a crucial role in our development. And that should never be forgotten. There is nothing more essential than reading your young child a great story book. But at the same time, we have to understand the changing direction of the winds. The story has evolved into a live and living organism and one that is only confined to the extent we choose to create and build it. The prevailing and profound nature of story remains the same. Now, you simply have to decide where you stand. Do you tell it or do you build it? Do you challenge it or do you conform to it? Do you sell it or do you enjoy it? The story is as much about the story as it is about everything else you decide to do with it.

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The Brandification of Your Social Presence

Written on January 27, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

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Douglas Rushkoff was absolutely right when he stated brands have no natural place in peer-to-peer networks. The meagre successes they’ve been able to exhibit within social media are only but a testament to the abnormality of what is the “brand”. They aren’t fellow peers. Nor are they actual products. And they’re always trying to sell you and your friends and you on your friends. Rushkoff’s “ten commands for a digital age” could not ring more true.

The problem here is that brands were never inherent components of social media. In fact, most of anything if not everything online was naturally created to benefit the user, the “friends”, the “followers”, the individual. And as Rushkoff argues, the continual progression, evolution and revolution of the technological, online and social media worlds has in fact weakened who we are. But in the same reciprocating moment, they have provided us with some of the most significant advancements we’ve ever seen.

With our fixations on how these aspects of life have altered, changed and transformed who we are and our daily environments, we’ve undoubtedly cast a shadow on many other aspects we choose to resist. The essence of our existence has been redefined. To think that as we evolve, and business evolves, and work evolves, and life evolves and just about everything within in some kind of correlation to these events evolves while the “brand” and brands don’t evolve also, in one context or another, would be foolish.

As brands try to intercede social media by attempting to create brand-to-peer and even peer-to-brand-to-peer relationships, they will fail and continue to fail if they act like the brands we’ve always known. These relationships are unnatural within the context of social media. Even with Rushkoff’s brilliance, this is where I have to challenge his contentions here. Yes, brands have no place in social media. But what if the fundamental nature of the brand has changed.

Once social media became associated with the well known fact of hundreds of millions of users, brands have been ceaselessly and endlessly trying to stake their claim within the social graph. Luckily for them, multi-billion dollar valuations and investments have pushed social media to monetize and return some of that value back to eager investors. And though this is hardly a new issue, it’s taken somewhat of a very intriguing path recently.

Earlier this week, Facebook announced the introduction of “sponsored stories”. Now, “check-ins” and “likes” will give brands the opportunity to sponsor them with a related visible ad. And though, sponsoring anything online and through social media is hardly a new advertising medium, the context of sponsored stories changes the overall context of the brand but more profoundly, your social presence.

What is essentially occurring here is the brandification, yes brandification, of your social presence. Credence has already been given to the creation of these loyal brand ambassadors, as sponsored stories cannot be turned off by the user so their online branded activity in effect creates brand ambassadors willingly sharing brand information. Though that’s significant in itself, sponsored stories are incredibly innovative when you begin to understand and contextualize the importance of the Millennials within this cosmic mix.

Not only are the Millennials hefty social media users, leading the usage and user categories, they are critical and highly noteworthy brand evangelists. Both Edelman’s “8095” and L2’s “Gen-Y Affluents” reports have verified that Millennials are considerably brand-centric. They love the brand. They love brands. They share brands. They talk brands. They live brands. They speak brands. And they have invested considerable ideological value into them. They have come to represent who they are.

When you make this correlation you begin to see the very beginnings of branded social profiles. Brands will no longer come to represent the products that encompass them but the user who empowers them. The user who humanizes them. For better or worse, we will experience a compelling paradigm shift to the branding of who we are and what our very presence online will come to represent. The advancements of our world have not only come to change who we are, they have changed the very essence of everything that surrounds us. And how we willingly interact with them. They have made the brand more synonymous to our existence than ever before.

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Social Influence, Social Authority and the Growing Social Paradigm

Written on December 3, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Our fascination with the social world is far from over. In many ways, it’s only really the beginning. Every turn we take leads down a new and unknown road. Aside from knowing that the masses use social media and that we contribute a massive amount of time to it, we can wholeheartedly say the jury is still out. We all have great ideas, thoughts and insights into what all this really is but who can really say what all of it means.

Over the last year or so, there has been a significant and growing convergence towards attributing some kind of tangible value toward our notions of “social influence”. Something of which is impacted and graded in just about every conceivable way through every action you take on Twitter and increasingly on Facebook.

Interestingly, this phenomena of social influence, which I wrote about in a post last week aptly title A Future Based In Social Influence, will have profound effects on our social media behaviour, actions, perception, treatment and in many other factors of life that at the moment are unforeseen. Just as interesting is the reaction much of this is receiving.

Naturally, some social media users and individuals will thrive within an environment based in social influence. It will create legitimacy, gains and various types of success for these pro-social influencers. Just as naturally, there will be a backlash and opposition to the notion of being graded, measured and valued differently.

Regardless of which dichotomy you fall into, the very true, harsh and evident reality is this is taking place and will continue to take place. And it’s impacts will resonate and move into areas of life that might be understood as separate from the world of social media. But as all lines of differentiation continue to blur on an extreme scale, the future appears to be one that is socially-inclusive on a scale we can hardly conceive or understand now.

Intriguingly, another emerging social media reality caught all of my attention when I came across an extraordinary article earlier today written by Rand Fishkin. He wrote about Google’s and Bing’s confirmations that their search results and all aspects of SEO are in fact influenced by Twitter and Facebook characteristics. What’s substantive and crucial here is that this official confirmation by both verifies that various social measurements do indeed have a serious and growing impact on search. Equally, it exemplifies the prowess “social authority”, as characterized by Bing or “author authority” as characterized by Google, is taking on within the world of online search. And it’s something you can further understand through Bing’s Visual Search function seen in the picture above.

The significance here is the tremendous effect the social graph is having on one of the most prominent uses of the web. And though we fully don’t understand the effects social authority has on search, it’s safe to say its relevance will only grow. Rand himself takes on a series of educated guesses of characteristics that influence someone’s social authority within search, of which are very reminiscent of social influence measuring.

Seemingly, anything from quantity, importance and analysis ratios of friends and followers, to relevance, longevity of content, content surrounding the message, diversity of sources and engagement are but a few possible metrics Rand discusses amongst what is a considerable number of different measuring metric variations that could be used in establishing an effective level of social authority.

Social influence has already begun to change social media behaviours amongst users and increasingly amongst marketers and brands. And due to the well-known significance of search, social authority will most definitely have the same reciprocating effects especially for how search is received, perceived and used by marketers, brands and users alike.

Social media and it’s unwavering existence is redefining the dynamics of just about every aspect of life. And that understanding is nothing new. But elements such as social authority further legitimize our notions of social influence amongst other evolutionary aspects of the social world. As we refine, enhance and innovate our thoughts, theories, ideas and insights, we are undoubtedly establishing a growing social paradigm. One that has changed and is continually changing life as we know it.

What Badge Are You Wearing?

Written on December 1, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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As individuals, we’ve always been described and perceived in a particular light. From the jobs we have, the education we received, the actions we take, the thoughts, and hobbies and our differing point of view have all equated to creating and establishing who we are. Though that information might have been relevant in some manner before, it seems that all this information has become more relevant now than ever.

One of the most interesting aspects that social media has created of which is extremely over-looked and hardly taken into consideration is the fact that most of social media is based on information we all manually and willingly input. It’s also information that we all use in an attempt to show everyone else who we are. But social profile positioning is hardly a new found topic. There’s some more intriguing beyond that.

As online users, we’ve all been dissected by our clicks, searches and keywords. Over time, it became a significant indicator of our perceived actions. And though this type of insight has indeed proven to be crucial, our manual input of data has provided profound insights in describing who we are. Even in its infant stage, social measuring is surely going to become a significant source of measurement, if it hasn’t already.

The impact here is, well, awesome. Alright, maybe awesome on a geek-scale. Every action we take is somehow impacting who we are and who those around us are. From controversial influence scores, to the brands we choose to represent, the information we manually input in our descriptions, the friends we have, the pages we “like” and so on, create this impact. Essentially, it all creates our own personal brand. But that itself isn’t a new idea either.

Unbeknownst to us, we’ve been establishing our personal brand from the very first profiles we’ve ever created. And continuing to do this and refine it as time goes by. As we do this we attract others towards us.Whether that be based on intrigue, commonality or some type of previously established relationships. We start to grow and organize tribes. Something Seth Godin brilliantly articulated in his book conveniently called Tribes.

Through all of this, one constant exists. And that’s each one of us. We all act in a way that defines us and at no other time has that been more imperative and pertinent than now. We carry it through our BlackBerry’s and through our iPad’s. We show it through “liking” Coca-Cola, BMW and Family Guy. We explain it through our descriptions, interests and jobs. And beautifully, we do it all on our own accord.

With the whole world watching, with everyone around you watching, with those hidden from sight watching, my question to you is, which badge are you wearing?

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Is Gen-Y A Generation of Opposites?

Written on November 27, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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The more I read about Gen-Y and the more I observe my own actions and those of my fellow Millennials I can’t help but wonder how utterly different we are. Though everyone in a sense represents of a series of attitudes and actions and ways of life, it’s those minor and smaller factors that are having an extraordinary impact on just about everything that defines us as Gen-Y and Millennials.

Over the last week, 3 articles in particular stood out. And they stood out in a way that is quite opposite and contradictory to how this same age-group grew up within previous generations. “Opposite” itself might not be the best used word here, but it does allow us to take on an interesting viewpoint.

The reason why these 3 articles stood out will be more than self explanatory. And I’ll let the titles initially speak for themselves.

A Millennial Vintage: 7-Eleven Fills in Proprietary Wine Line-up with Cherrywood Cellars Varietals

There has been a significant surge and boom within the Millennial generation for the want of wines. Call this what you want, a sense of differentiation, sophistication, vintage elegance or nostalgic effect. The reality is Gen-Y is definitely purchasing wines in a continuing and growing trend. So much so that your local convenience store is specifically targeting them.

Survey: Half of Gen Y would rather text than drive

It’s nothing new to see that cars and Gen-Y don’t mix. It’s very much an oil and water relationship. Gen-Y are buying cars significantly later in life simply because cars don’t mean the same thing they once did in generations past. Aspects of environmentalism, financial circumstances, a different sense of freedom and a mindset that believes and wants to do more with their time are all imperative characteristics into why Gen-Y is choosing to drive less. For Gen-Y, cars are an item in their rear-view mirror. Yes, pun intended.

Opera: Gen Y screaming ‘encore’ for the mobile web

Gen-Y and the web are an ying and yang relationship. You won’t stray too far from one without encountering the other. What’s absolutely fascinating is the manner in which Gen-Y is accessing the web. The mobile web is increasingly becoming the starting point and main point when accessing the web. Though the article here is based on a global perspective where many other issues come into play, such as mobile web access being the cheapest and most accessible means to the internet simply because broadband, laptops and PCs are not a reality for many people around the world. The mobile web, in a reciprocating relationship with smart phones and tablets, are becoming Gen-Y’s preference.

The intriguing reality is that these are but a few examples. There is a plethora of characteristics and examples that define Gen-Y as a very different and unique set of individuals. Don’t get me wrong here, these actions are not exclusive to only Gen-Y. The most important factor here is the differentiation that exists within our wants, thought processes and beliefs of freedoms. In a sense, it’s all very much a sense of “opposites” to what it all once was.

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A Future Based In Social Influence

Written on November 25, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Since the mainstream explosion of social media, the quest for social metrics and analytics has been a top priority for many. The ability to measure hundreds of millions of users and their activities is being perceived and pursued as a priceless asset. Aside from the valuable information we’re all providing through our clicks, searches and everything else we do online, the ability to measure social media could potentially provide significant insight into many aspects of life that previously remained untouched.

The result of this has created one of the most fascinating trends within recent memory. Though it’s still very much an emerging trend, everyone is seemingly attempting to establish a tangible relationship between social media and the idea of “influence”. And it should really be no shocker that Twitter is entangled in the midst of all of this.

The referrer and activity king of the web, Twitter has clearly established it’s own unique but powerful perspective on all manners of life. Consequently, it’s also the simplest platform to track. Though overall measurable programming has in fact existed for some time, in one form or another, the ability and attempt to measure and grade influence is a growing phenomena. A phenomena that has created the likes of Klout, Twitalyzer and Twinfluence amongst an increasing number of others. Not to mention Twitter’s own analytical move into the field within the coming months.

Earlier in the week, Mark Schaefer wrote a great article regarding the idea of “social scoring.” He pointed out the very harsh but serious reality that those with higher scores and levels of influence will be treated differently. And when I say differently, I mean better. This is so real in fact that some brands, such as those Mark pointed out, the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas and Virgin Airlines, are giving away free product based on individual Klout scores.

Many of you are undoubtedly thinking about what this all means and whether it even really matters. Regardless of where you stand on the idea, the measuring of social media influence will evolve and expand as time goes on. Klout has already incorporated Facebook influence elements and has it’s eyes set on LinkedIn. And through refinement, we’ll see very good indicators of who the influencers are and what type of influence they impose.

The impacts of this might be even more significant than some might realize. There should be no question that our notions of influence have further changed the dynamics of social media and marketing. Users will now begin to act in a manner that will benefit their influence. Equally, influence is already being used as a suggestion mechanism to find people and even refers people to follow on Twitter.

For marketers, this is yet another intriguing method in what is becoming a long list of possible marketing innovations. Some tactics already involve searching out experts, specialists and those popular in particular fields to use their influence. However, the emerging reality is that anyone can become a significant influencer simply by the virtue of their Klout score. Providing yet another outlet for marketers.

Now, what’s really intriguing is how these measures of influence will broaden and expand into other aspects and areas of life. The most interesting being the deterrent aspect of social media when it comes to employment. Now I know what most of you’re thinking. But I’m not speaking about the situations where you were somehow searched and found to be deemed unacceptable for the job based on your social presence. What I’m referring to is the complete opposite. There is growing reality within certain fields that is placing significance on the number of Twitter followers you have as part of that position’s qualifications. And I can only imagine that in time levels of influence will be just as imperative for your social presence.

Beyond the scrutiny and non-believers of our ideas and notions of social influence, there are many who are investing a substantial amount of resources and relevancy into it. The opportunities here are extraordinary both for marketers and brands, just as they are for the influencers themselves. And for this reason, we will see an immense push into this sphere of social influence. It will all come down to how you eventually choose to embrace the idea. Just be aware of the fact that the future will be one based in social influence.

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Entering the One Conversation Age

Written on November 22, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Just over a month ago, I was taking my seat at the final day of the Pivot Conference in New York City. Waiting intently, I was quite eager to hear Brian Solis and Jeanette Gibson, of Cisco, discuss the topic of conversational marketing. After a great discussion regarding conversation, marketing, listening and monitoring, and all that social media jazz, an intriguing thought hit me. And it’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time.

So, as question period began, I stood up and walked towards the mic ready to make my comment and ask a question that really goes against our understandings of current social media conventions. But it’s something my clever and curious self has been thinking about for some time. To paraphrase my remark, I asked how the two of them felt about the notion that in fact everything that is occurring is all aspect to one conversation instead of our perceived notions of multiple and many conversations.

Both Brian and Jeanette answered my question to the best way they perceived it. But I had the underlying feeling that they were somewhat perplexed and confused by what I had meant. And I can’t really blame them. My theorem, though simple, is complex for a question and answer period. The simple end of it would be the conversations we have across all varying platforms is in fact relatively the same rather than being different. Equally, our conversations do not simply end within one platform but actually continually exist from one to the next across everything we have available.

With the real world increasingly merging with the online, social and mobile ones, our abilities to communicate and converse with each other is becoming exceedingly important and imperative. The result of this has made aspects of Facebook, text messaging, tweeting and anything else all relative to one and the same conversation rather than having multiple ones. Where once it was almost taboo to talk about what we shared on Facebook, texted or tweeted, as if we were ashamed to say we were doing it but everyone was doing it, has become commonplace in everyday life.

Nothing simply pertains to itself. Everything is an aspect of a greater series of thoughts, ideas, notions and conversation. Now, rather than Facebooking, tweeting and texting in separate spheres of conversation, we are having a one conversation on a platform, continuing on the next and intermingling across communicative tools while keeping the same conversation. So an example would be that, the same conversation might begin in a morning text message, continue over Facebook, then continue over email, then continue over tweeting, and back to texting. Or in any given combination across varying channels the conversers find pertinent during their time of conversation.

The immediate problem with all of this is we understand social media to be a series of different conversations. And though different conversations will undoubtedly occur between different individuals, no conversation can be said to exist solely within the confines of a particular platform. Increasingly, many of us are going on with the same conversation. My one conversation age notion definitely throws a wrench into our ability to monitor and listen to the social universe. And everything we’ve come to bear and understand.

But then reality itself threw a significant wrench into our current notions, ideologies, thoughts and conversations. Last week, Facebook made one of the most fascinating announcements to occur in a while. They announced the launch of a new messaging system that would involve releasing it’s own email service. There was more than some interesting sentiment towards this. But as Mark Zuckerberg said himself, “it’s not email” nor will it replace conventional email.

The new messaging system itself is not going to be a email killer as many believe, considering Facebook’s half of a billion user network can be perceived as a threat. Rather, this new messaging system itself is going to innovate and enhance the way we communicate. A system itself that involves a cross-platform approach by incorporating everything from email, to instant messaging, Facebook messaging and texting all into own messaging locale.

And this where I had my “a-ha” moment. The one conversation age has begun. As this new messaging system begins to role out, Facebook will effectively be creating a single platform across which all conversation can take place. Though I don’t believe it will replace anything, as everything that we currently use has established its place and use, I do believe it will usher in a new generation of conversation agents and the way we will converse as we go into the future.

Think about the many young individuals within the Millennial generation, and those after them, that have hardly established a variety of different communicative means and how they will be incorporated into this. Equally, think about the simplicity and seamless ability this offers. At this point in time, many of us can reach the same individuals across more than a variety of different channels often resulting in the same type of channeled response. We all also weigh these different channels by different standards resulting in different levels of conversation.

Why settle for more channels, communicative tools and platforms? The greater amount of different accounts we have the greater amount of time we have to spend attending to them. Many of us would die for an “all-in-one” solution. There’s more than a series of third party applications that have attempted this but nothing this significant as Facebook’s proposition. Call this what you like, a Facebook takeover, cloud communicating or whatever else. In an ever-growing era of mobile and social technologies, the one conversation age has begun. One conversation is becoming the emerging reality.

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Yes, I Read Weekly Flyers. Why Traditional Marketing Won’t Simply Disappear

Written on November 19, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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We’re in a great time of disruption and innovation. Old ways versus new ones. Traditional versus non-traditional. And the list goes on and on. Much of this can be seen within the Millennial generation and their perspective on the world. An increasingly online, social and mobile life is more than evident. But what about everything traditional?

There are more times often than not when my technologically based life has to resort to traditional means to get answers, information and everything I need. And though, the internet has been around for some time and though we’ve been able to accomplish some absolutely extraordinary things, I’m amazed when the Best Buy weekly flyer is a far superior experience than the Best Buy website itself.

As a Millennial that is more savvier than many, there is an assumed oxymoron at play here. To observe a blogger, tweeter, avid BlackBerry user and someone that could hardly be pulled away from their laptop take a seat at the kitchen table and look through my bundle of weekly flyers is, well, a paradox.

The unmistakable reality and dilemma here is that technology has not reached that point where it has replaced everything. The resulting factor of this is that I’m forced to use traditional methods simply because sometimes they are significantly better, simpler and more efficient than their technological realities and variants.

Often, most of us are simply looking. If we do need something specific, internet search is king. But for the sake of simple browsing, exploring, comparing and seeing what’s out-there, there is no social media, online or mobile experience that is as simple and seamless as flipping through the flyer that is delivered to your door. And of course there are exceptions here. Though chances are, and good chances at that, I will take a look at the flyer. I can’t reciprocate the same mutual feeling towards the same technological elements.

Much of this same thinking can be applied to any method of traditional media and marketing. I watch TV because it’s a far superior experience than it’s online counterpart. Why wait to watch it after unless I really have to? I read books because e-books lack the functionality of being a book you can flip through back and forth.

The dilemma here is that Millennials, such as myself, are looking for the most optimal and best experiences in everything. And though technological and digital means have created some very good alternatives and new creations, they have yet to truly replace traditional methods. Don’t get me wrong here, I completely understand traditional methods are losing ground. But that’s only a natural aspect that occurs when something new is introduced into an existing environment.

A great example is that I enjoy reading newspapers simply due to the fact that I can quickly glance over everything and see all the articles at once. However, unless an interesting tweet or Facebook share came across my way, I can hardly say I would take the same approach to even read it online. Like with anything else, the internet has had a significant impact on the industry. But it has to be understood that the internet has simply provided a series of new and different experiences, not replacements. Everything traditional still very much exists.

Don’t be fooled here. The Millennials shouldn’t be assumed to be just like everyone else. We are quite different. But the quandary we face and introduce is that we do respond to traditional methods and means simply because our online, social and mobile world is clumsy, clunky and a serious hassle to get through sometimes. For that reason, we are forced to use traditional methods. Like many Millennials, I’m waiting for traditional innovation to really occur and for true technological extravagance to take place.

I’ll hardly follow Best Buy on Twitter, “like” them on Facebook or even visit their website unless I’m looking for specific answers or unless I mistakenly threw out their weekly flyer. It’s not because I don’t want to. I have no need to most of the time. The weekly flyer is the best, simplest and most seamless approach we have available both in-home and in-store. I’m not denying a fascinating new-age is upon us and people won’t embrace that. But as someone with all the savviness, social media understanding, online presence, digital know-how and gadgets, I’ll happily be reading this week’s flyer before I even think about doing anything else.

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The Millennials and Their Differing Social Media Paradigms

Written on November 11, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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The Millennials and social media have always been understood to be just that, Millennials and social media. Though it seems that one can hardly move away from the other, the reality would suggest otherwise. Millennials and social media are not as synonymous as people think. Ok, let me take a step back and say that the “Millennials” are the most significant users of “social media”. But neither really represents simply one element, characteristic or entity.

Social media is often understood and mistakenly perceived to be one single entity. And thus, since a significant majority of the Millennials are social media users, from numbers ranging from at least 80-90% and even suggestions of complete saturation, it is also understood and mistakenly perceived that Millennials are social media users across all platforms.

There are two significant distinctions that must be addressed here. The first being that social media is not simply one network or paradigm. It is a large and eclectic series of platforms, networks and webs of connections. Now the second point is, and just as important to understand, though Millennials are significant social media users they don’t not represent all social medias.

Their usage can easily span Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare without every Millennial ever using all four and yet still represent an understanding that all Millennials use all social media.

This all brings me to the point of my article at hand. What relationship do the Millennials have with social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare? And how could be benefit from understanding this? The most immediate reality here is that not all Millennials use every kind of social media. Equally, each social media is not perceived to be the same and nor should it be.

So without further hesitation, a Millennial breakdown of the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare paradigms.

Facebook

If there is one social media network all Millennials use, it would be Facebook. Often understood by many Millennials as the beginning of the social media movement, Facebook has become the online home to many of us over the years. It’s where we’ve shared our most intimate experiences and prized moments. It’s where we act as if we’re talking to each other person. And it’s probably the only network where we’ve actually met all our “friends” in person at one point or another.

The influence here is high, simply due to the nature of our immediate-friendships. It’s very personal and very personable. Not only is it an aspect of everyday life, it is a mutual meeting grounds, and place of both opinion and conversation. So be weary of intruding this space. It can’t be expected for us to simply “like” everything. Unless the offer is right of course. It could be as simple as representing the expression of who we are. Or a way to stay up-to-date to our friends that are brands. Or a straight-up tangible offer. No one just “likes” for the sake of liking.

Twitter

The undisputed referral king of the web, Twitter probably see’s the most conversation. Though something that was not originally picked up by the Millennials, Twitter has come to represent a notable number of Millennial users. Most interestingly is the fact that Millennial networks established via Twitter are quite the opposite of the ones established in Facebook. The majority of Twitter users have hardly ever met in person. Strangers are readily more accepted here than anywhere else. Not that there is something wrong with that, as online friends are coming to represent real friendships.

What’s fascinating here is the substantial influence we receive from other Twitter users, who more often than not are complete strangers. What’s equally as fascinating is the purposes behind Millennial Twitter use. Some jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Some are really interested behind all the tweeting. Some are looking to promote themselves. Etcetera. The reasons are, well, endless. You have the feed watchers, the retweeters, spammers, thought-givers, conversationalist, and complainers. All tweeting to a series of individuals that they’ve probably never met. Yet at one point or another we’re all interested by their tweets. We’re all greatly influencing everyone and being influenced by them.

Considered to the networking site for professionals, LinkedIn is quite easily the least active yet most intimidating social media platforms amongst Millennials. Many find absolutely no use from it as many Millennials themselves have infant or no professional network. So contacts and the prized recommendations are hard to come by. Once you add this with LinkedIn’s very stringent spamming protocols, you find many Millennials with blank profiles, for those that haven’t deleted it yet, or weak presences.

And you can’t really blame them. Compared to very simple to use and network building sites like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn seems like a lot of effort for nothing in return. It’s a great place to look for work however most of those jobs here are out of the reach of many Millennials, even when they have the recommendations, experience and connections to suggest otherwise. So, if none of my friends or colleagues don’t use it and if connections for new-inexperienced LinkedIn users are hard to come by, why would Millennials want to use it? They might have a pretty concrete point. Where’s the benefits? And no, Millennials will not willingly pay monthly for premium services,

Foursquare

Oh, Foursquare. Still very young, and not used by very many at all. However, we are hearing more and more about place media and location based services. And though like Twitter, it’s users have heightened activity and influence in just about every category, why would any Millennial want to use Foursquare when most of their friends and colleagues only use Facebook on a regular basis. Foursquare does have it’s place, don’t get me wrong. But in it’s current state I can whole-heartedly say the Millennials at this point in time really don’t care about Foursquare.

Even on the basis of possibly getting something for free, many have already perceived it to be a ludicrous idea because who really wants to tell other people where they are and why would we want to care where are friends our. Considering, chances are we already know where are friends are. And you thought the barriers were up for adding strangers to Facebook, I can hardly imagine any Millennial just adding a complete stranger to Foursquare. Why would they? It seems beyond taboo to be stalked in a sense. Does it have its place? Of course it does. Just don’t expect any vast Facebook or Twitter effect amongst the Millennials.

Although this post is longer than I expected it to be, it is a clear layout of how many Millennials perceive and understand different social medias to be. The paradigms are clearly different across all categories. And the principles within those categories are just as different. Of course, you’ll find Millennials who use all four. I use the first three myself. But I’m more savvier and aligned with social media than many choose to be.

The fact of the matter is that social media doesn’t simply encompass everything social. Equally, the Millennials are social media users across a vast spectrum and use each for varying reasons. Like everything else, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Foursquare do all have their purpose. The question you should be asking yourself is whether the Millennials are finding purpose for them.

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Introducing: User Marketing

Written on November 8, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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There’s no denying we’re in a time of great disruption. Our ways of life are changing. Newfound trends are emerging. All while many of us are trying to grasp what’s happening. And it’s something of which in large part is directly the effect of advanced technologies.

What’s great about this is that there is significant room for innovation. Everything we’ve ever known as traditional is becoming adapted, transformed and somehow altered to suit the times. Equally, new and non-traditional mediums are materializing at unprecedented rates. Amidst the real world we’ve always known, and the online world we’ve created over the last two decades, comes the rapidly growing and expanding social and mobile worlds.

From my own personal perspective, classifying things as such supplements the argument. To me, everything is in essence part of one real world. The perceived distinctions and differences will all undoubtedly become a part of real life as time wears on. Rather than simply being factors of the internet, Facebook, BlackBerry’s and the such.

The truly fascinating aspect here is the elements being forged as a result of our growing interconnectivity. Social media and mobile technology are amongst the greatest catalysts towards innovation that we’ve ever seen. However, disappointingly, there is an extreme hesitation to what could be possible and adopted.

I understand that the dynamics of business would like to have greater value returned than that exerted. The beloved ROI. So, yes, social media and mobile technology are difficult to measure on a return-on-investment basis. But in that same breathe, many are pursuing social media and mobile marketing methodologies. It’s at this point when I can’t help but wonder what is possible and what hasn’t been done or tried compared to what we all observe.

In any case, we are beginning to see and we will increasingly see the raise of something new, exciting and impacting. Enter, User Marketing. This is my take on innovation.

In an environment where the interaction and relationship between the people, the consumer, the individual has never been closer to the brand, the product and the company than ever before, the User will become the proponent to your either marketing scheme.

Not to be mistaken for a user of the product itself, User Marketing will come to represent the very users of social media and mobile technology. And I’m not referring to paid tweeters, bloggers, influencers and anything of that nature. Rather, and most importantly, the premise behind User Marketing will in fact be the average consumer, the individual, the everyday user of social media and mobile technology will be the main ingredients within this mix.

Groupon’s threshold couponing, location based service’s like shopkick and foursquare and Facebook strategies that entice “likes” in return for an offer are all examples of the path we are taking to User Marketing. But, what I’m waiting for and wanting to see is something beyond that.

The reality is that we still spend excessive amounts of time shopping at in-store retail locations. The reality is also the fact that in-store retail has yet too be optimized for the User, as shopkick and foursquare themselves are still taking on a company-centric approached as opposed to an user-centric one.

Not only are the proponents behind User Marketing user-centric, it’s really all about the user. It’s not about spending time within a location, or checking into that location, or having you do some kind of loyalty variation. It’s about the user receiving immediate and tangible offers. And in-return for receiving that offer, the User must be willing to spread the word to other users, by venture of using social and mobile means.

With all that being said, there are three underlying dynamics to User Marketing. It involves the socialization and technological expansion of the in-store retail space, the message element and the user element.

In-store socialization and technological expansion: The in-store retail space is a socially and technologically untouched area, in relative terms. Not only is there plenty of room for growth in this segment, it seems to be an inevitable occurrence. Live social capabilities that both allow you to update and watch updates is an avenue more than worth exploring. It’s all about the dialogue amongst the consumers. Along with this, there is a series of other social and technological possibilities that could be put into play.
The message element: With the unprecedented growth of smart phones and tablets, communication has become an increasingly imperative and diverse tool for everyone. As a result of these transpirings, we all have the capability to reach an growing audience of colleagues, friends, family and anyone else. User Marketing will dictate that communication channels will be measured differently. The offer value for a text or BBM message will be weighed differently compared to a tweet or a Facebook share tagged to the brand. Not to mention the many variations that exist within this.
The user element: Unfortunately, as users we all don’t carry the same network. But like anything else, size does not equate to value. User Marketing is not looking for the significant influencers to sell for them. Rather, it looks for the average consumer to connect with their average network. There are more than a few variables to these equations however they will not discriminate in a manner where users are out of reach for the offer. The idea here is to provide a tangible offering that is valued accordingly for everybody.

What’s great here is that User Marketing adds greater value to many elements that already exist with in the in-store retail space. What’s also great is that the current in-store retail space doesn’t represent the times. Not only would User Marketing change the way you market and advertise for better business, it’s absolutely a fantastic proposition for all the shoppers out there. Who wouldn’t like a pair of shoes for half price just because they sent a tweet or text. How about some dollars off some cool gadgets for a Facebook update. With prices hardly coming down, hard times remaining, social media expanding and mobile technology increasing, User Marketing could be that great innovation in these growing disruptive times.

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