ViewPoint.Orange » Social Web

Forsaking the Future Self

Yuki Chow* — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:13:38 +0000

Love this following post written by http://www.brasstackthinking.com Tamsen McMahon

Why do we do it? We set goals, we make plans. We tell ourselves we will…this time.

But we don’t.

A while back, Julien Smith wisely pointed out (as is his wont) that three of us are present for any decision: there’s who we were, who we are, and who we are going to be. One begets another.

As I said to Julien then, each has a siren song: Past Self dwells in what could have been, Present Self dwells in the lush tactility of now, and Future Self sees all that could yet still be. Each has lessons: Past makes us what we are, Present sets who we’ll be, and Future reveals the paths from which we choose.

Future Self fascinates me. It holds so much promise, and yet we forsake it all the time—we do things today that pretty much screw over the person we’ll be tomorrow.

Why is that?

Perhaps because it’s so easy to dwell in the past. We know Past Self—it’s as old as we are, minus a day. It walks with us in everything we do, chats with us, tells us how this is or isn’t like what came before, how we have or haven’t succeeded by doing this or that. Perhaps it’s because some of us don’t like our Present Selves very much, and we can’t see the possibilities that Future Self provides, or at least, we can’t see anything but a continuation of who we are right now (and that’s more than we can bear).

Or maybe it’s just that the devil we know is better than the devil we don’t.

I mean, Future Self…we don’t even know that guy. He just sits out there, dealing in abstraction, putting pressure on Present Self, waiting to see what we’re going to do to him. Bastard.

As much as I love to ask “why?” (and trust me, I can be worse than a toddler on that front), the answers fall too often into the True But Useless category of information. What good is understanding “why” if it doesn’t actually move us to do something different? (Or worse, actually holds us back?)

Not much.

The problem is our success depends on our relationship with our Future Self—on someone we can’t know, and yet whose life we control absolutely.

So, how do we do that? How do you?

Image credit antonkawasaki

Posted via email from sn0wfl8ke’s Muse

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Why you need a social media landing page – Key benefits and examples

Yuki Chow* — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:27:26 +0000

A social media landing page is a hub on the brand.com site that highlights all the social media platforms the brand is on. Similar to other landing pages, it’s a page tailored for a specific user group that is indexed by search engines. However, unlike landing pages for paid search or display banners, a social media landing page (SMLP) offers very different calls-to-action. They typically include the usual suspects such as engaging the brand, joining the community, and reaching out to other social platforms, which place more emphasize on social conversion instead of traditional sales conversion.

So what are the juicy benefits of SMLP?

Pulling segmented social channels together to increase awareness and exposure
Adding legitimacy to help differentiate the brand-owned pages & user generated pages
Sending more traffic to the brand website (Facebook Fan Page can be positioned as the “hub” if traffic is not a concern)
Allowing brands to track the number of social media visitors from various channels
Giving the tech-savvy social media users more context around the brand’s approach to social media and engagement policy
Enabling more creative display of the brand’s social media assets and content

With the key benefits in mind, a well designed SMLP can effectively integrate the brand’s social media assets into the corporate website. Below are some examples of brand’s SMLP with quick assessments-

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© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Assessment, AT&T, BestBuy, Jeep, Landing Page, Microsoft, SMLP, social media hub

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10 reasons why I recommend HootSuite to businesses

Yuki Chow* — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:53:14 +0000

To clarify, HootSuite didn’t pay me to write this post. I am recommending their service simply be’cuz I’m a happy user. I’d like thank my fellow co-worker Sarah Gay @sarahgay for introducing the tool to me. This note is written for all the social media community managers who are deep in the trench managing multiple social network profiles for their company.

Without further do, here are the 10 WHYs:

1. Multiple social network profiles, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn All-In-One
I coach and work with many brand social media managers, one of the questions I receive frequently is “how do you jiggle multiple social network profiles at once?” With HootSuite, you no longer need to waste time “sign in, sign out.” One account login will give you access to viewing multiple Twitter feeds, the Facebook news feed, your Fan Page wall and your LinkedIn Network Updates without ever leaving the application. AND, you can update all of them at once if you’d like, just make sure you select the correct profile(s) before you hit the “send” button!

2. Multiple editors, different levels of control
Want to invite a few others to tweet with you but keep the Twitter password to yourself? If you are the ultimate keeper of your brand social media properties, you can simply add “editors” on HootSuite while maintaining control of the profiles. Basically, there are two types of users on HootSuite – level 1 “admin” is the account owner who can add/remove social network profiles and invite other users to participate on selected ones; level 2 “editor” is capable of tweeting & viewing but has no visibility to the social network credentials. I find this feature very useful for organizations that feature occasional guest Twitters or event reporters. After they are done chiming in, “admins“ can easily remove the “editor” access.

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© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: HootSuite, time management, Twitter client

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2009 in sOcial media: a creative videO wraP-uP

Yuki Chow* — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:33:38 +0000

If you have 9 minutes to chillax, don’t miss this creative video.

If you like reading about the most important tweets in 2009, you’ll also enjoy this cartoon artist’s creation.

© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: AR, foursquare, tech, Tips

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8 Key takeaways frOm Seth GOdin’s “Tribes”

Yuki Chow* — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:25:34 +0000

Second time reading the “Tribes” after almost a year. It’s still a quick inspirational read just like the first time. This book is more about the “why” less about the “how” & “what.” Despite all the rants & criticism, I’d still recommend it to all the social media enthusiasts especially those who intend to lead new movements in their organizations. The eight takeaways below are simple concepts that I found worth spreading…

Management≠ Leadership

Management is about manipulating resources to get a known job done. Managers know exactly what they need to deliver and they are given resources to do it at low cost. Managers manage a process they’ve seen before, and they react to the outside world, striving to make that process as fast as cheap as possible. Great leaders create movements by empowering the tribe to communicate. They establish the foundation for people to make connections, as opposed to commanding people to follow them.

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© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: book review, leadership

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LOcatiOn, lOcatiOn, lOcatiOn – 2010 heading tOwards “hyPerlOcal”

Yuki Chow* — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:22:21 +0000

Over the past two years, the most powerful broad trend in media is fragmentation and while mass media remains, it is becoming a smaller and smaller proportion of the overall media landscape. Audiences have become fragmented – and they have more choices in a fragmented media landscape. Today, our informed customers aren’t happy to blindly consume what mainstream media is feeding them. Instead they want: participation, openness, conversation, community, connectedness & all of that in real time!

The upcoming year we will see increasing opportunities because of this world of fragmentation and the proliferation of media channels. Along with the continuous technology advancements, LOCATION is becoming more important than ever. In 2010, I think there are 3 “hyperlocal” trends that will grow and re-shape the social & mobile business -

1. Local advertising becoming ubiquitous

WHY: Advertisers have been constantly evaluating and experimenting with new models to bring more relevancy and context to the online ad kingdom. After behavior-targeting & social-targeting getting their debut in 2009, location-targeting advertising models start to emerge. There is a future in hyperlocal, and advertising certainly is a big part of it.

WHAT TO EXPECT: New ad-generating application such as Place Local will get more traction as it automates the ad creation, sales and management. Since local restaurants, retail outlets and entertainment venues are the most popular search categories, we will see local business owners jumping on the bandwagon first. As more companies seeking to take advantage of the growth in local ad dollars, more widgets and apps will be available, creating location-based ads will be easier than ever.

2. Local media replacing big journalism

WHY: Traditional news organizations faced cutbacks or closures in 2009, by contrast, small and local publications are doing pretty well by serving niche markets. Although the market is smaller, the community is much tighter. Additionally, Twitter just bought Mixer Lab in an effort to pinpoint the locations of people posting messages on its service. Biz Stone believes that when current location is added to tweets, new and valuable services emerge – everything from breaking news to finding friends or local businesses can be dramatically enhanced.

WHAT TO EXPECT: Those who understand the fragmented media landscape and know how to reach customers cost-effectively will thrive. Highly entrepreneurial sites that are a blend of community-building and a focus on tech expertise such as Oakland Local will look to fill the gap in news content. On the Twitter side, location-aware tweets will simply be the main source of future breaking news. Remember how Twitter beat CNN on reporting the plane crash over Hudson River? Expect the real-time location-aware updates to substitute big journalism, very often.

3. Local on-the-go searches

WHY: As we know, the majority of smartphone owners in North America are the younger consumers. According to Forrester’s latest Technographic survey, Gen Yers and Gen Xers are 4-5 times more likely to perform local searches than Boomers and Seniors. Those GPS embedded devices have enhanced the mobile search experience tremendously.

WHAT TO EXPECT: In 2010, GPS embedded handsets will become a necessity while mobile-based local search process will continue to evolve. More web 2.0 sites will translate into the mobile channel; more mobile apps will incorporate maps/destination-search function to extend the usefulness of their core offering. More attention on the location-based social networks and mobile games Foursquare & Gowalla? You bet, their service is proving to be more useful by the day. The possibility is endless!

As the location-battle rages on, what you do you keep an eye on?

© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: AR, foursquare, gowalla, mobile search, Twitter

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Eyetrack reVeals search is gOing sOcial, sO what?

Yuki Chow* — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:55:53 +0000

Do people actually look at ads on social media sites? Marketers face the constant challenge of keeping up with and understanding consumer search behavior. Social networking sites offer opportunities to develop a relationship between brands and consumers, display ads and search. But a lot of confusion over the effectiveness of advertising on social networking sites still exists. An eye tracking study conducted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by a digital marketing company reveals trends about the way people interact with paid ads in social media sites. The study hopes to alleviate some of the mystery.

Oneupweb found that not only do people spend time viewing paid ads on social networks, but they often looked at the ads more quickly once they landed on the search results page. For example, 65% of participants engage with sponsored ads within the first 10 seconds of their search. Often times, the path eyes scan the page often does not follow the order of the search results. Contrary to expected behavior, sponsored ads were looked at before the 3rd or 4th result. The Oneupweb study indicates similar behavior was observed throughout the YouTube search. The participants engaged with the sponsored ads in the process of completing the search task. Twitter does not support sponsored ads but the study still observed users’ search habits on Twitter as it has become an essential social marketing channel. About half of survey participants revealed they were satisfied with their brand search on Twitter. Many liked that they could find the most current opinions about a product. If you would like a PDF copy of the study results, access it here!

Okay, we’ve established that there’s not blindness toward ads in social networks, people still look at the ads. But do they click on them? Unlike searching on Google, the interaction with content in social media sites is very different. Many marketers including myself believe that opt-in advertising works best, while behavior-based campaigns and randomly generated ads are far less successful. In my opinion, this notion still holds true although the end users are becoming more acceptable of sponsored ads on social sites. Niche targeting and relevancy are the two areas advertisers need to focus on more when they try to apply their brand campaigns to those new environments. Will targeting based on niche, geographic location, interest, lifestyle & social graph be the future of advertising? Certainly! Will “engagement ads” change the game of online advertising after Google’s creation of “contextual ads” (judge the quality yourself)? Sooner or later. As of now, there is still a lot left to be desired!

© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: experiment, online advertising

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Want tO take crOwdsOurcing tO the next leVel? SOUR did it!

Yuki Chow* — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:04:14 +0000

This multinational fan-based crowdsourced music video had just made my day! I can’t begin to imagine how much coordination it takes to synchronize all those webcams all over the world. It’s eye-opening and jaw-dropping guaranteed, take a look yourself.

For more info on the artists and lyrics, please click here.

© Yuki Chow* for ViewPoint.Orange, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crowdsource, SOUR, video

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