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By Vegasbab, August 30, 2008 9:26 pm

This week, Twitter was abuzz about a new Twitter Grader. The grader takes several points into account and gives a person’s Twitter stream an overall score. With the release of this, some suggested that Twitter also add a “thumbs up / thumbs down” feature for individual tweets in order to increase “signal” and decrease “noise”. While the idea has its merit points, I just don’t agree with it. Let’s take a look at some things:

• - No matter what someone says, there are few people that handle criticism well. By adding something that criticizes people on an individual (vs. aggregated) basis, two things will occur: the number of new, ”Creators” will decrease as well as the amount of tweets. However, you may get more “silent” listeners (aka Critics). Those who only thumbs up/down, but never post anything. To me, those people are not nearly as valuable as the Creators.
• - I love the fact that Twitter is so diverse. You can use it for anything- an RSS feed for your blog, play by play of what you’re doing, sharing ideas, meeting up with people in your area, etc. What happens to that freedom once you implement a grading system? While you may get a more “newsworthy” signal, you’re going to lose a lot of the extra stuff. Noise isn’t always “bad”.
• - To expand on that point, Twitter’s diversity makes it a unique medium and allows it to evolve based on what people think they should be using Twitter for. A grading system will limit that piece of creativity as well.
• - By allowing users to rate each individual post, you’re going to lose a lot of the “raw” ideas that people post now. Members will think twice before posting and you’ll lose a lot of the “blink” tweets that are out there. Yes, a lot of “blink” tweets are noise, but there’s also a lot that are insightful or lead to breaking news.
• - For other sites, thumbs up/down works great. But, those sites don’t necessarily involve personal thoughts and ideas. Unlike posting elsewhere, a few of the main ideas behind Twitter are it’s fast, spur of the moment and immediate. By making people think twice about what they’re tweeting, you’re going to lose a lot of those “gut feeling” tweets. For example, how long does it take you to write a blog post? I don’t know about you, but I spell check and reread my posts before publishing. A lot of my initial, knee-jerk thoughts get left on the cutting floor in return for conciseness. I don’t do that with Twitter. Twitter is that knee-jerk look into what I’m thinking. As another example, how many tweeted their initial reaction to McCain’s announcement about his choice of a female running mate? I did. I also deleted the tweet after the fact… I didn’t want comments on my political opinion. By adding the grading system, you’ll get a lot more deletes. Now, how many have blogged about McCain’s choice? I haven’t. The majority of people who made Twitter comments on the subject haven’t blogged about it either.
• - Now, let’s take your Facebook or MySpace status update which have a similar idea as Twitter. If you’re not feeding your status update from elsewhere (i.e. Twitter), how much thought do you put into it? I know I pause before updating. I’ve watched friends update theirs. They pause. They write. They hit backspace. They rewrite. The end result? A quality update. However, the update is different from their original thought. And while the update is quality, what was lost was the inside look into how the person truly felt.
• - Will thumbs up/down increase quality for interactive savvy users (aka people in the “industry”)? Quite possibly. Will it scare away new users and the mainstream from tweeting? Probably. Will it result in more “private” Twitter streams? Most definitely.

If you’re so concerned about signal to noise, stop following the people you consider “noisy”. Wow, what a simple solution.

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By Vegasbab, August 30, 2008 11:25 am

 Idea Behind the Promotion:

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By Vegasbab, August 26, 2008 11:56 pm

A few months ago, Dear Jane Sample designed a Brand Timeline. Marketing folks loved the idea and several bloggers, including myself, created their own Brand Profile. It’s been really interesting to see not only the brands people choose to include (especially the International ones), but the way in which each person designed the actual timeline. Some copied the template, others were unique and still others got insanely creative and made mosaics. In fact, I think the design itself said just as much about the person behind the timeline as the brands included.

If you haven’t seen some of these, they’re worth checking out. Many are listed here. If you have, they’re still worth revisiting. Are you able to discover people’s idiosyncrasies and personality characteristics from simply viewing their brand portraits? Are you able to pinpoint your own?

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By Vegasbab, August 26, 2008 11:26 pm

Ick, I dropped the ball today and pushed a little too hard. I hate when I do that. Coming from a competitive, athletic background, I like being pushed hard, really hard. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone likes to be challenged and pushed beyond their limits :/

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By Vegasbab, August 25, 2008 11:22 pm

Oftentimes, search gets a bad rap. It can do no right. However, it’s important to remember that SEM is a “pull” form of marketing. Unless a person actively goes to their search tool of choice (Google, Yahoo, Live, whatever), types in (a) your brand name or (b) the generic category that your brand falls into, you’ll never be found.

So, now the question becomes, how often do you want to be found? Do you want to be found every time someone types in your brand name (i.e. Speedo)? How about when someone types in the generic category (i.e. swimming)? What about obscure terms that relate to your brand (i.e. Michael Phelps)? Is it necessary to show up for the broad terms (i.e. sports)? If you answer, “yes” to all of the above, a cautionary, second question begs an answer. If a brand moves all their money to search, how will consumers know what to search for? Without buzz elsewhere, there’s going to be no “pull” to drive customers to search for a product. Nonetheless, wouldn’t you continue to move budget to SEM as long as the ROI was there? In this case, give the masses what they want… your brand.

Let’s take a look… the graph from Google Insights shows major growth for Speedo and Nike occurring around the Olympic Trials and Olympic Games.

As Nike or Speedo, would you have capitalized on this additional buzz? Were those searching for additional news a qualified audience (i.e. athletes, sports fanatics) or bored housewives that had nothing to do but watch the Olympics? If you need to move quickly and inexpensively, search is one of the easiest things to put into motion. However, is it worth it? Do the spikes lead to increased revenue or does the increased CTR backfire and ruin your ROI?

If the increased CTR kills your campaign, is it really the unqualified audience or an inability to make a sale? If…

1. Your website sucks / your conversion funnel is difficult
2. Your website sucks / doesn’t evoke enough interest for someone to physically go to a store
3. Your front line people can’t close the deal

…then, no amount of push or pull marketing will increase sales. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.

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By Vegasbab, August 24, 2008 11:43 pm

Viral Marketing makes me laugh. I think every CEO has said, “let’s do a viral campaign” to their BDA. Anyone not in the industry suggests that you learn more about it as there is an “extremely high demand for that in conjunction with marketing” (yes, this is a real quote from one of my non-interactive marketing friends). And both parties are under the impression that viral marketing is (a) inexpensive and (b) will takeoff immediately and on its own if released into the “wild”. This is where I start laughing HAHAHA.

Honestly, even if your silly campaign goes viral, how many people will it truly reach? Will those people be a qualified, targeted audience? And more importantly, for how long? A day, a week, a month? Moreover, will it go viral when you want it to? It took Office Max’s Elf Yourself two years before finally catching on. Are you willing to wait that long? Will the CEO understand waiting that long?

Awhile back, Jeff Bridge from CP+B said, “The days of making funny things that may or may not have an effect on the client’s business are ending.” Especially in this “economic downturn”, more focus should be on actionable campaigns that improve customer service vs. silly, viral campaigns.

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By Vegasbab, August 24, 2008 10:35 pm

I finally started packing this weekend. I hate packing. I hate unpacking even more.

Surprisingly, packing provides several interesting lessons:

1. Realizing how many boxes your life fits into is quite the lesson in humility. Moreover, the fact that your whole life can fit into x amount of boxes, well that’s sobering too.

2. Packing forces you to truly see and understand what parts of the past you either (a) haven’t let go of or (b) are unwilling to let go of. As I discover items hidden away in the backs of closets, there are a few that should really be thrown out, but are being packed nonetheless. What purpose will they serve in the new place? The same they did here – tucked away in a dark corner, bringing odd senses of comfort just knowing their whereabouts. These items ensure memories of the past that I fear forgetting, yet desperately want to let go of.

3. I’m still not sure about this moving thing. Vegas was never supposed to be permanent. In fact, it’s not even in the latest and greatest Five Year Plan. So why the hell did I just sign a one year lease to a place twice as big as my current condo?!

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By Vegasbab, August 22, 2008 11:23 pm

Usual collection of links that I think are fun, but am too lazy to write a full blog post about:

Animal Planet “We’re Not that Different” Ads. Cute and funny.

Guess I’m not quite grown up yet. There’s still way more beer in my fridge than food.

Looks like everyone is banking on mobile advertising to be their magic bullet in 2009. I’m a skeptic… shhh, don’t tell anyone.

Are you doing actionable listening or just listening?

Of course people posted more about your brand! The Olympics saturated the market. Most of what people write, talk and share has to do with current events. This study will be so much more interesting if they pull the data further down the road.

We launched a similar campaign today. I don’t receive the messages, I just love saying, “Bluejacking”… almost as much as I like saying Paint That Shit Gold :) (side note: interesting how many people choose Google vs. other sites to ”paint”)

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By Vegasbab, August 20, 2008 9:59 pm

Stuff about how Generations interact, view the world and experience things always intrigues me. So of course, Beloit College’s Mindset List got me thinking. It’s a collection of 60 cultural waypoints to help professors understand where the Class of 2009 is coming from. Below are a few of my favorites:

1. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego. Ahh, Carmen Sandiego, I can still sing your theme song.
2. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available. If only… my family wouldn’t have nearly as many jokes about me.
3. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles. Anniversary glass bottles were WAY cool.
4. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle. Was there really a time when they weren’t?
5. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling. Can you imagine life without the Internet? I can… in nightmares
6. Students have always been “Rocking the Vote”.
7. College grads have always been able to Teach for America. Didn’t realize there was a time when this wasn’t available either.
8. IBM has never made typewriters. I wrote my first published story on a typewriter. We didn’t have a computer. My dad helped me type it. Damn, that was a long time ago.
9. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day. Ohh, Pee-Wee Herman. Remember his scandal? I wasn’t allowed to watch his show after that.
10. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear. Remember when it was done elsewhere… you know, like your armpit or butt?
11. Macaulay Culkin has always been “Home Alone”.
12. Caller ID has always been available on phones. Can you imagine life without this? You might actually have to check your voice mail.
13. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
14. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib. Awww, can you imagine missing out on Atari games like Pac-Man?
15. Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.