Social Media

I personally do not buy newspapers, I never have done and that is the honest truth.  I source news via radio travelling to and from work and online.
In my previous role as Head of Marketing for an ISP, all staff communicated the latest news through sharing links to the BBC (local and national) and industry news sites.  Your workplace may also have a culture whereby you share online news and features from sources relevant to your company’s industry?

The only newspapers my colleagues read were the free Metro papers they were handed on public transport.  With the introduction of the iPhone and mobile broadband, many commuters perhaps now prefer reading news on deck than the free papers where broadband connectivity is available?

Although I work in a high-tech industry where print based news is a rare sight, at the same time I also fall into the Generation Y label.  So, to gain further insight I recently questioned the ‘baby boomers’ (my parents, relatives and friends) whom I know purchase broadsheet papers.  What I was surprised to find is the majority only purchased the weekend papers as they too read online news at work and at home.  Taking this further my grandparents are the only group I found to still have the paper delivered on a daily basis, so are these findings indicative of the decline in print based news?

Empirical study shows increase in online news
A recent article from The Guardian Digital Media entitled Web overtakes newspapers as source of news in US survey retrieved via my RSS reader on 27 December 2008 supports this thinking.  The article includes the following statistics from Washington-based Pew Research Centre:

• The number of consumers using the web as a main news source surged from 24% to 40% in a year, overtaking the 35% who rely on newspapers. Television slipped from 74% to 70%.
• Younger people are migrating towards the web quickly. Among the under-29s, the web leaped from 34% to 59% as the leading source of news, tying with television, with newspapers lagging at 28%

Simply put: newspapers = monologue, online news = dialogue.

So what is the future for newspapers?
A couple of days before The Guardian’s feature I also received an article from ReadWriteWeb on Community News Frameworks. This article’s main focus was on how the newspaper industry can re-invent a new model to engage further with their audience and featured News Mixer an application that adapts Facebook Connect with its software, mixing both local news reporting and citizen journalism at the same time integrating user comments, rankings and ratings which appeal to social media audiences.  Apparently the New York Times technologies editor Aron Pilhofer has commented that there were bits and pieces of News Mixer he would like to steal right now!

Can you think of any other ways in which newspapers can look toward reinventing new models to remain competitive online in attempt to make up the deficit in declining newsprint?

Tagged as: brian solis, news mixer, pew research, Social Media, the guardian

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Having become a heavy Twitter user these past few months I can now classify myself as an individual within a tribe.  The Twitter tribe I belong to consists of groups of individuals such as myself who share a common interest (Twitter) and unite to form a parallel social universe.  
In my own case I’m interested in following those with a shared passion for social media and our universe is supported by rituals, for example sharing links to blog posts, pages etc… in the form of TinyUrls, retweeting ‘tweets’ that we identify with as well as asking questions and responding to others.

Decline in the use of social network sites such as Facebook
Like myself, using Twitter I’m sure has now become a habit for many.  Not only do I regularly tweet throughout the day but in an evening I regularly use Twitter and enjoy doing so because I’m learning, engaging, participating all at the same time with like minded people.
I have seen the stats of my use of social network sites such as Facebook rapidly decline.  I rarely login to check what is going on with my friends and family on Facebook, not because I’m not interested, but because I want to spend my time engaging and interacting with like minded individuals (people like me) in my own parallel universe on Twitter.  
My very close friends and family would be bored to tears listening to talk about social media marketing and engagement marketing, but with my Twitter tribe we can all tweet for hours about a subject we feel passionate about.   So is the Twitter tribe starting to replace a certain role once provided by my family and friends via Facebook?

The inner workings of the tribe
Taking this further can the Twitter social universe that I’m a part of be defined as a church where we all congregate to celebrate what we are most passionate about, which for myself is social media?  I’m not going to use the word ‘cult’ to associate this to my tribe as there are negative connotations associated with the word, however the behaviour displayed by some Twitter consumers comes very close to that of a cult.

Twitter could be seen as a place of worship of icons that we admire within the social media world where many individuals are increasingly likely to conform to the influences of their peers.
These icons for me such as @jowyang, @ChrisBrogan, @ScottMonty are evangelists of social media whom represent both a career and passion for many.  
It is not uncommon when these icons reply to followers they feel that they have been blessed, which further encourages their need to particpate in the tribe, continuing their journey on Twitter enlightenment!
Many tweets I have witnessed publically declare they “cannot believe that @Scobelizer has replied”directly to them or that @StephenFry “just tweeted me back” - but this is just one part of the enjoyment of using Twitter, other Twit fun includes building up your social graph, discovering great content, tools and research.  

One tweet I have used to sum up Twitter that has been retweeted by many who also identify with my sentiment is:  ”I cannot believe how addictive twitter can be - it is voyeuristic as well as participatory.” 

Come and Join me in my social universe at: http://www.twitter.com/tomchapman

Tagged as: chris brogan, facebook, jeremiah owyang, Micro-blogging, scott monty, Social Media, Tribe, Twitter

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The original Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens published in 1843 was written when social observances were in a time of decay. 
As a reader of this post you already know that advertising and marketing has experienced rapid decay in its relevance to consumers in recent times and that social media is proving to be a vital catalyst for building trust and loyalty between a brand and its consumers. 

Advertisers and marketers worldwide are currently going through a period of redemption based on their past activities of mass media ‘push’ but coming out the other end with campaigns that embody the true spirit of social media employing one to one communication and engagement marketing.

As we look forward to 2009 we should encourage and educate the ‘Ebenezer Scrooges’ of our world to get with the times and understand that social media is here to stay and there’s no running away from it.

So take heed Mr Scrooge!  If you are a brand that has devoted your life to the accumulation of wealth at the expense of building trusted relationships and at the same time doing social injustice you should be worried. Those who still do not understand the importance of social media within the workplace, throughout their business practices and beyond will be haunted by their competitors who do – and if they do not change their ways, the business will end up dead and buried.

OK, let’s take a brief look at the three successive Social Media spirits this Christmas and please feel free to comment at the end of the post…

Social Media Past
John McCain will be reflecting on his electoral loss by overlooking the potential of social media and the value of tapping into the Groundswell. You can read more about the use of Obama’s use of social media.
McCain should be the poster child for all those businesses that have ignored social media within industries where others have adopted and seen growth.  I hope they will now be looking to place importance on social media within their marketing mix, focusing their efforts on consumers, not the brand’s love for money.

Social Media Present
Again the Obama campaign has to be the most publicised example of social media success in 2008.  We can also identify that the campaign had a measurable ROI as Barack’s seat in the white house speaks for itself! 
Here in the UK, the Conservative Party has recently announced the appointment of a digital spokesperson in hope of replicating the same success in the forthcoming UK elections. This is good news as social media will filter through the establishment.

Throughout 2008 we have seen many great campaigns this year and the most successful were recognised through industry awards, for example the Interactive Media Awards in the UK and the Forrester Groundswell awards in the US.

With regard to formal research and a blatant plug for my own work.  In October I personally issued a detailed report outlining how brands can engage with social network consumers.  This was well received by the industry.  Thank you to those who requested the free report and if you would like a copy drop me an e-mail: info [at] socialnetworkmarketinguk [dot] com.

Social Media Yet to Come
Even though we will experience tough times for the next 12-18 months based on the fragile state of the world economy. For social media there are some fantastic developments and countless opportunities to look forward to.

Below is a brief list of articles/posts featuring the opinions of industry experts on what brands and social media can look forward to in ‘09 and beyond.

• Cheerful news for UK digital agencies as UK firms are to spend more on social media in 2009 – Brand Republic
• 8 experts including Charlene Li and Chris Brogan predict how Web 2.0 will evolve In 2009 – Fast Company
• Predicting the future of social media from a social media marketing perspective – Jason Falls

Overall my personal hope is that the Ebenezer Scrooge’s we all know will have an awakening over this Christmas period.  C-level executives from all business units need to listen, learn and understand the fundamental media shift that is already happening and, as a result become more willing to adopt a new social media persona and mindset.

Have a so so so, social media marketing Christmas everyone.

Tagged as: brand republic, charlene li, fast company, groundswell, ima, jason falls, obama, Social Media, social media marketing, social network marketing, Tom Chapman

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For 60 hours on the 26-29 November, India experienced their deadliest terror attacks since 1993 which took the lives of 195 people.

The scale and unpredictability of the attacks which took place at different locations throughout Mumbai meant that professional journalists and traditional media were unable to document the terror at the exact time and location when it was happening.

Although the mainstream media did follow the attacks, the horrifying events were highlighted most through citizen journalists - ordinary members of the public on the ground witnessing the attacks unfold, who updated the global media leveraging social media tools such as blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia.

This recent example of citizen journalism mirrors the 2005 London bombings coverage by ordinary civilians on the ground that is one of the most referenced case studies of citizen journalism.

Below is a list of social media used by citizen journalists to document the Mumbai attacks, if you know of any more please comment on this post with your updates:

• Twitter - users @puneet, @whizzkidd and @krazyfrog tagged their updates ‘mumbai’, ‘bombay’ and ‘#mumbai’.
• Flickr - photo page by Vinukumar Ranganathan. Ranganathan also used Twitter micro-blogging updates to inform friends what was happening.
• YouTube - videos footage of the attack uploaded from camera phones.
• Google Map – custom map shows all of the attack sites.
• Bloggers - posted first hand accounts of the attacks Sonia Faleiro, Arun Shanbhag, Mumbai Heros.
• Wiki’s - Wikipedia and Mahalo, as well as the citizen media aggregators NowPublic and GroundReport.

A further list at journalism.co.uk also documents social media used to report on the attack.

Tagged as: Citizen Journalism, citizen journalists, citizen media, Flickr, groundreport, journalism.co.uk, mumbai attack, nowpublic, Online PR, Social Media, Tom Chapman, Twitter, wikipedia, YouTube

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