Spring 2008

Welcome!

2008 is shaping up to be the year of uncertainty. As the economic forecasters remain split, and the political arena heats up with the presidential election, now may be the time to stop and take care of your personal inventory.  This starts with managing and investing in your personal and professional network.

In this issue, our principals and consultants look at how social networking on the internet has crossed the chasm to main street and what you need to know. We invite you to contact the authors of these articles if you’d like to talk further about the issues and opportunities they raise.

News & Views                                                                                                               

Competitive Pros Group in Plaxo

Cambridge launches Product Marketing and Competitive Intelligence groups in social networking site Plaxo. As we explore their capabilities, we are also looking at ways to include similar functionality in our own internal systems. We invite you to join our external competitive intelligence professional network group at Plaxo.

Principal's Perspective                                                                                                  

User Beware-Downside Issues with Social Networking
by Andy Fitzpatrick, Cambridge Principal

Now that the concept of “Social Networking” via the internet has officially reached a shrill and frothy point, users need to be aware of the risks…all of which can be mitigated through sound reasoning and just a little common sense.  Let’s walk through a few examples that help to illustrate some potential downside scenarios.

1)      Today, there are so many websites, one can spend an inordinate amount of time seeking to be connected with all their “friend”, “associates” and/or “contacts”. If this effort to communicate occurs at work, and much of the research out there indicates that it does, what effect does this have on the productivity of the average worker who can easily spend half their day in front of a computer doing non-work activities? Moreover, once hooked by the Social Networking bug, the amount of time for such a user has been proven to grow over time, all other things being equal. So, for the organization, unless there are strict standards in place, this lack of control can severely cripple productivity and employee availability. And, for the participant/user, there’s a temptation to fill your business AND personal time with activities that deliver nothing but a simple association with someone else online…at the risk of revenue generating activities that can cover the rent or mortgage payment.

2)      People can find you; often, whether you want them to or not. Isn’t this part of the fascination factor? And if you like those people, then that’s just swell! However, if the person is a horrific bore (or  worse…can you say “stalker”) and you cringe at having to engage with them, then that’s not so good. From a personal standpoint, this can get really wacky, or scary,  and eventually spiral out of control. So, for the organization, several issues come to the surface not the least of which are legal concerns. What happens when an employee brings their unsavory “connections” past the corporate firewall? What if the user start’s trafficking illegal information through the network? Let’s face it, social networks are rife with subjects revolving around illicit drugs, sexual activities and even confidential intellectual property. What’s really scary  is that some employees are so naďve about legal and/or corporate standards that they bridge those standards and ethics without even realizing it!

3)      Lastly, as Social Networking continues its meteoric growth, be assured that advertisers WILL continue to find a way to promote and/or sell their products to the users. While this fact, by itself, may not be necessarily bad, consider the amount and type of user/consumer information that WILL be collected about the user…AND their “friends”. This information could be collected unknowingly, and then distributed to advertisers that pay the social networking sites (to support their operations). What will be the result of this? We look forward to finding out.

Sound Off                                                                                                                        

The Race to 500 - Are We Becoming Overly Obsessed with the Size of Our Network?
by Jim Judge, Cambridge Principal

 We all know the saying, “quality over quantity”.   Never is that more true than in the realm of social networking.   Building contacts for business or pleasure through a social networking site is red hot!  People are connecting at a faster rate than ever, and sites offer free storage so we can bring even more stuff.  So what’s really driving me nuts?  Simply this obsession with the numbers.   I mean its okay for you to tune out this rant if you’re a site owner wanting to juice up your ads or subscriptions.  But I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the rest of us that use social networks.

How many social network contacts, photos, videos, blog entries, bookmarks or comments have you posted?   Are you’re a member of the 500+ club?  I’ll get back to that one. You’re blog is a disaster because you only have 10 comments vs. my 100. Come on, is it really how many people you know that determine the ultimate status level within your personal or business circles?  I have to believe the law of diminishing returns fits here too.

The Revolution is Coming

Digg.com is a popular site that allows you to publish and review content.  But here’s the catch.  For content to have a higher priority listing, it has to capture the most comments. Well it appeared that the owners of Digg.com weren’t happy with the content that kept rising to the top.  By their measure it appealed to only a small audience.  So they decided to add some software filters that would insure the top content favored a broader demographic segment.  You got it, they needed more volume to increase ad sponsorship or something like that. Well as you could imagine the Digg.com community and especially the top reviewers (tops in terms of quantity mind you), didn’t like the new rules and raised hell.   A love fest ensued and we’re still waiting to see who wins. 

Back to this notion of the 500+ Club.  A reference if you haven’t caught on, refers to the cap placed on total network contacts anyone can have displayed on LinkedIn.com.  Can you really have more than 500+ contacts in your network?   I feel another revolt coming. We need a 1,000 + Club or 10,000+ club.  Hell if I could upload my local phone book and blast email out to everyone then I’m guaranteed at least 1,000+.  The stats are in my favor!

I read an interesting article in Entrepreneur Magazine about the founder of Wikidepida.com, Jimmy Whales.  Here’s a guy who built a phenomenon based on the quantity of community contributions.  Some say he’s no Daniel Webster.   But what caught my eye was his comment that we only need five working contacts to be successful in creating a network. There you go, five people working for us vs. 500+ out there in name only.  Maybe that’s why you can only get five stars as a top restaurant or hotel in the world.  Anymore than that is, well, just plain quantity.

Meaningful Metrics                                                                                                           

Social Networking Demographic Trends: Percent of US online consumers who use social networking sites

Source: Forrester - How Consumers Use Social Networks June 2007

The Basics                                                                                                               

Choosing a Social Network on the Internet and Protecting your Profile
by Vincent Madigan, Cambridge Consultant

Social networking applications and websites (SNAW) are integral to the daily lives of the 16 to 25 year old Generation Y crowd.  For the rest of us late Boomers and Generation X types, SNAW adoption is still in the early stages.  Many of us are drawn like the herd to popular destinations like MySpace.com, YouTube.com and Flickr.com.  But the majority of us are still in discovery mode.    With hundreds of new SNAW destinations to choose from and hundreds more expected to start-up, a question then becomes how do we choose a SNAW?   Here are a few tips to help you save time, and protect your precious profile.

General vs. Niche

MySpace.com, Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com are large SNAWs interested in attracting a general user base.  The classic volume play.   Only in the last year have we seen the niche category seriously develop.  Most of the rising niche SNAWs were created to share common ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, political, religious and even educational ties.     Blackplanet.com, Faithbase.com and Classmates.com just to name a few.   But for the rest of us that can’t find a SNAW that shares a common interest, consider the group function. Just be aware of the restrictions. 

Plaxo.com is a newer SNAW that offers a group function that is relatively unrestricted.  LinkedIn, a more established professional SNAW provides a function that is controlled. You can not create a group unless it has been approved by LinkedIn.  As groups develop and grow, expect many of them to spin-off into their own SNAW niche.  Yes, there are even SNAWs for creating your own SNAW.  So if you can’t find your niche, check out Webs.com.

Open Vs. Closed

A leading premise of all SNAW communities is the ability to create and share personal content and networks.  Today that remains true for the largest SNAWs like MySpace.com and YouTube.com.   Once you start there may be no telling how your content will be used, or who will reach out to be your friend (See the article “User Beware – Downside Issues with Social Networking”).

Earlier this year a professional contact of mine reached out to join my open network.  I thought, hey I know this guy.  So we connected.  A few weeks later he emails me through the SNAW and asks why he can’t access my network.   My response was that I turned off this option.    When you setup your profile and join a SNAW community look for this option.  Most SNAWs provide this capability as a simple switch. Unfortunately the default is always open.  Some say this is the “price” you pay for free membership.  The smart sites find a balance.   Make sure your SNAW gives you the control over who sees what.

People vs. Content

We’re all about sharing.   That’s the common mission, theme or even tagline for every SNAW.  By definition social networking begins with people to people interaction in either a business or personal venue.  The distinction between people or community-oriented and content-oriented SNAWs continues to blur.  Facebook.com is a good example of a traditional community-oriented SNAW that has opened its platform for more applications and content to be published and shared.  The simple reason, a SNAW needs to offer more services to keep its members.  

Content sharing has been part of the internet since day one.  The biggest change is that the traditional publish and subscribe model has been replaced by a more open and interactive model referred to as user generated content (UGC).  Unfortunately, the positives of UGC have been overshadowed of late by copyright infringement cases.  Just remember that your content will likely be used again in different context (i.e. mashed) when you contribute to SNAWs like Digg.com, Flickr.com or YouTube.com.

Some Final Advice

Here today, gone tomorrow.  Many SNAWs remain independent. Some are being snapped up by the major portals and media conglomerates.  That’s the nature of the beast in the Web 2.0 world. Remember I mentioned a few niche sites like Blackplanet.com and Faithbase.com?  Those sites and several others are all owned by one company.  The point is, realize who you’re dealing with.

My final bit of advice on a SNAW or any website that requires your personal profile, is to make sure you have the ability to delete it.  Don’t be surprised.  Many SNAWs fail to offer that “feature”.  A shame for you if you joined Bolt.com.  A community that filed for bankruptcy last year and took several thousand profiles with it.

To find out how Cambridge Consulting can help you staff your marketing organization to support these emerging social networking trends, please call 800.436.7185 and ask for a client representative, or read about our client and consultant services.