Ellie's Blog

Holy Cow! Facebook Enables Comments on Mini Feed

Why do I feel like I am one of few who are really excited about Facebook enabling comments on mini feed items? The second I found out, (not only did I twitter about it, but also) I turned around and shared the exciting news with a couple coworkers. My exclamation was met with some mild accord.

Overall it seems like my excitement level is a bit above the average in the social mediasphere right now. Maybe my fellow social mediaphiles think this is just old news (latching on to the functionality of FriendFeed and Plurk) or maybe they think it won't have any significant impact.

 

Well, here's why I think this is actually really interesting (albeit obvious):

Obviously, this is a natural move. Social media is all about engaging with people and enabling a bi-directional conversation as this does, so it makes sense, of course. But here's the difference between FriendFeed/Plurk/the plethora of other new social media / conversation tools vs. Facebook - Facebook's user base. DUH, right? Well the thing about Facebook's user base is that (1) it's huge, and (2) it includes a lot of people who, I would say, probably don't consider themselves "social media types".

(1) Facebook's huge. So what? Well, that means theres 1000x the number of conversations going on and way more people to interact with. I myself have many more connections on Facebook than I do on any other social networking site. This in itself encourages me to participate. It's not so much the technology but my connections that play a key role here.

(2) Crazy girl, Facebook is a social networking site, what do you mean its users aren't "social media types"? I consider myself a social media newbie (despite my years blogging, on facebook, and all the other sites I tried out) and a lot of my friends - though we grew up in this age of new media - are even less engaged in the social media world (what? blogs?), but they are on Facebook. I think for a lot of these types, sites like FriendFeed and Plurk are (not only unknown to many but also) overwhelming. With Facebook, we've been there from the beginning (my school's network was added in 2004 when I was a college sophmore and I immediately signed up). We're already comfortable with the technology and to add on this new level of engagement is much more manageable and natural than, say, signing up for Plurk and trying to connect with new people.

So I think, in this way, Facebook will continue to engage its user base and also draw in people who otherwise don't engage in social media much. Well, I guess we'll see. Hey, this could very possibly flop too.

Oh - and one last note: Facebook needs to allow the commenting straight from the homepage / news feed page. That's what everyone sees when they first log in, and you shouldn't have to click into someone's profile to leave a comment on the feed item you see right there. Let's really facilitate some conversation here.

Twitter Has Made Evangelizers Of Us All

Over the past week I've had a bit of a social media overload. First the MarketingProfs B2B Forum, with lots of sessions on social media, then the Boston tweet-up on Monday night, then Wednesday's PubClub "New Media" panel and Thursday's Social Media Club Boston panel on "Social Media for the Enterprise." Wow. That's a lot of social media talk for one week.

But in particular I think I've gotten my fill of twitter-talk this week. I don't mean the number of tweets, but rather the amount of time and energy over this past week that's gone into talking about - and arguing for - twitter. Twitter by no means has "gone mainstream" but it is quite the talk of the town in these social media circles. I'm actually quite surprised by how much everyone's been talking about twitter. But what's really amazing is that twitter - a lesser-used social media tool (that, especially lately, has been down quite a bit) - has really got its users evangelizing. Now if that's not some genious social media marketing (getting your users to actively promote your product when it doesn't even work), then I don't know what is. in the end, I worry that while we're all so busy excitedly talking about how great twitter is, we're forgetting that we're in a bit of a social media bubble, surrounded by people who also buy into and actively engage in the social media world. Must take some time to step back and get some perspective.

By the way, I'm still a twitter addict and evangelizer. 

Social Networks - Business or Pleasure?

I was recently posed the question: do you use social networks for business or personal purposes?

It's taken me a little while to really accept that there isn't a clear delineation between my "business" and "personal" life. My different contacts function on both levels - I have business contacts with whom I go out for drinks, catch up on weekend funtivities, and I have personal contacts with whom I discuss more "business" topics. In general, if I had to divide all my contacts into one bucket or the other, I would have quite a few I wouldn't know what to do with. Well, we met at a conference (business), but we talked about Boston Sports (personal) and social networking (see title of this post).

Relationships are relationships. It's not about classifying them into one bucket or another. 

What I think an interested question is: do you use particular social networks particularly for business vs personal purposes? Back even just a few months ago, I pictured LinkedIn as the place for my professional networking, while Facebook would be reserved for my personal networking. Today this isn't the case. While LinkedIn hasn't changed that much (though it has made some nice improvements over the past few months), Facebook has successfully moved in on my professional network. Pretty much everyone at my company is on Facebook, and a lot of the people I've met through work / conferences / etc. I've also been able to friend on Facebook. This is pretty consistent with my view that I probably wouldn't even be able to separate out my business contacts for one network vs. my personal contacts for another. But: why in the world do we need so many identical networks if each serves all our contacts in the same way?

 

What? You're Not Just a Floating Twitter Head?

This week has been quite the whirl-wind (even though it's only Tuesday). I was at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum in Boston, which turned out to be quite a blast. I got to spend two full days with all marketers talking about topics I find really interesting (and happen to address in my job) like blogging and social media.

What was also great is that I finally got to meet some of my "virtual friends" if you can call them that. Meaning people I've spoken with over e-mail, followed on twitter, or whose blogs I've read. Turns out that (1) they're amazingly nice in person, (2) it wasn't weird to "know" them before I actually met them, and (3) oh, they're more than just a floating twitter head.

The second point is actually what baffles me. These are people I "met" online, had conversations with online, and by the time I actually meet them in person, I already know what they look like and what they've been up to, but it's not weird.

On top of that, I felt "at home" with this crowd. We got to talk about marketing and social media, but it wasn't really work-related - it was actually just a group of people talking about a common interest. So what if it was a little geeky. Oddly enough, I don't get a lot of opportunities like this. I'm one of two marketing people in my office right now, and I don't yet have many "industry" or "peer" contacts - most of my friends are in odd jobs or in graduate school and most of my business contacts either aren't in marketing or haven't embraced social media. Gosh who knew I'd turn into such a marketing and social media geek? Well at least I'm not alone.

And for those of you who haven't met me, and in case you want to recognize me at the next social media meet-up:

Lessons from a Beer Cap

"Moments only pass to make room for more"

That's really the message I got under the cap of my Magic Hat #9 the other night. I find it very fitting when trying to deal with my past week.

Magic Hat, Buddhist principle, or Jewish story?

The sentiment is clearly one of the principles of Buddhism. Non-attachment - joy will pass, pain will pass, everything passes so don't get attached. My mom also recently told me of a similar version from an old Jewish story (when I told her it was a Buddhist principle, she says, "So now we know where the Buddhists got it!").

No matter the source, the lesson here is quite powerful. There will be difficult times in your life, but they'll pass, so don't dwell on them. There will also be wonderful times in your life, but they'll pass, too, so enjoy them while you can. It's been a tough week for me, but that's just what it is - a tough week. It will pass. Just make the most of what you have.

I'm big on lessons, not regret. Honesty, not lies. Analyzing myself, not letting unknown forces take control of me. That Magic Hat is pretty philosophical stuff.

Facebook to the Rescue

A couple months ago I was out in Davis Square in Somerville celebrating my friend's 23rd birthday. We had a great time bar-hopping and having some tasty Mexican food. Then, the next day my friend gets this message from a Tufts student on Facebook:

"Hey, I found a driver's license and blood donation card with your name on it and I'm wondering if you lost them on the T."

My friend had indeed dropped them at the T. Of course she messages back with her address and a million thanks.  And she gets her license in the mail the next day. Now that's what I call the power of social networks ;)

*This is clearly awesome enough to get published in the Boston Globe - "Friendly Facebook"

"I'm sorry, guys, can we please not talk about paper... er... Internet marketing?"

After another amazing month at work, we of course went out on Friday night to celebrate with a few beers and rounds of pool. And funny enough - though not surprisingly - many of our conversations devolved into a conversation about work and Internet marketing. Sound familiar?

(at Jim's barbecue)

Stanley: I didn't think the premium laser color copy batch would sell as well as it did.

Oscar: It surprised us all. I'll tell you why, because-

Kelly: I'm sorry, guys, can we please not talk about paper? There's gotta be something else that we can talk about.

The difference here, at least, is that Internet marketing is quite different from paper... and we talk about it because we're wonderful Internet marketing geeks and we love what we do. In fact, we do it in our free time (who wouldn't love a job that involves hanging out on facebook and writing blog articles anyway ;) ). Always a good time with my folks, no matter how much "work-talk" there is involved.