#34: “If you’re bored with social media, it’s that you’re trying to get more value than you create”

As we kick off the new year, I hope your 2013 is off to a great start! Here’s a great Fast Company infographic to refresh everybody’s memory of our brave new world’s rules of the road. Most of it head-nodding stuff but the piece is actually worth pinning to your wall.

What do you think of these? Agree with all of them? Do you have rules of your own?  Hit the comment box and let me know.

The post The 36 Rules of Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC] appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

Until 6 months ago and since 2007, one of my main focus has been to help businesses make sense of and how to best ride the social wave. In that context, I am proud and humbly grateful, to have this year, been recognized by Forbes, among the top 50 social media influencers.

But something is “changing everything, again”: mobile. And along with social, the magnitude of change and the needed adaptation, is even bigger. My attached latest presentation briefly outlines why.

As a result, my mission of assisting businesses bridge the gap between the online and offline worlds and to make digital marketing relevant to business objectives, would be lacking without strategic (what to do) and logistical (how to execute) capabilities in the mobile space. I have them now ready.

Take a look at the presentation below. I’ll be very interested in your thoughts in the comment section below. Share the presentation if you find it of value and / or give me a call if you have a need or just would like to chat about, you know, that thing most of us keep our eyes peeled on, 10+ hours per day.

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The post Can You Hear The Third Wave Roaring? It’s Moving, It’s Mobile appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

Update: Due to heavy controversy and after only 24 hours, Facebook has quietly removed the new feature for now.
“With all tests, some get released as full products, others don’t,” the company said as reported today by @CNET.

I previously talked about the “Facebookitis epidemic“. Well, if its botched IPO isn’t enough of a sign, the diagnosis is confirming itself by the social network’s latest move.

The epidemic is characterized by a user fatigue. Facebook’s genius has so far been to get people to do online what they already do in real life. But even with the deep changes it effected on our lives, if Facebook now assembles all the people we already know in real life: not only your friends but your boss, your ex, your third degree cousin and that shady character from high school; the point starts to become moot. Interest lists, as with any list feature in any social network, have not been able to win over users’ laziness.

Facebook has thus just launched a new service called “Find Friends Nearby” this new service seems to have two main objectives:

1. See who from your friends is nearby -​read- increase Facebook’s relevance by bridging offline activity
2. Offer opportunities to meet new people instead of hanging around with people you already know… and get bored and leave​ -read- treat the serious case of Facebookitis it’s currently experiencing

In order to try the new feature, you need to go to http://facebook.com/ffn to activate and give the proper authorizations. I’ve taken a look at the service this morning and, as you can see in the picture, it is clearly still missing critical mass: none of my friends nearby seemed to have activated the feature, neither did anybody in the usually very connected San Diego neighborhood I was in. I will keep checking and report back.

What other objectives do you think Facebook is trying to achieve with this new feature? Can you think of new marketing opportunities this feature could afford? Most importantly, will you use the feature?

Let me know in the comments section below.

The post With “Find Friends Nearby”, Facebook Wants You To Meet New People #NoMo’ appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

Thanks to a tweet by Jeremiah Owyang (aka @JowYang) I found out about this new “network” that may be pointing out to a new kind of “social”.

The kind that’s closed and limited to the one person of your choice. In this case only two. The name is simply “Pair“, self-described as: “An interactive way for you and your partner to share everything“. With concepts such as “thumbkissing” and “sketch together”, the iPhone app has some interesting features.

This, opens up a bunch of questions, each of which could be the subject of a thesis on its own:

• Data @JowYang is wondering about the intricacies of managing and leveraging the data produced by such a network. Joining is free now but they’ll need a business model sooner or later. Leveraging the data of one person’s social activity is complex enough; try generated by two people. Three targeting opportunities become available: what’s the behavior of one person, the other AND what is it when they’re together
• “Nicheworks” Much has been written on the advent of concept, where the very popularity of social networks is viewed as eventually as a shot in its own foot. In the beginning, Facebook might have only grouped your close like-minded friends. But with close to a billion member today, the like-minded only part may long be gone thus potentially reducing the appeal and driving the search for new like-minded only social networks.
• Cheating Rumor has it that 20% of US divorces are to blame on Facebook, @OWStarr (aka Oliver Starr) rightly raises the point of increased cheating. The Pair network being at the opposite of Facebook from a “privacy” standpoint: two and only two can use it at a time.
  Let’s note that the creators seem to have anticipated these critics to a certain extent; i.e. pairing can only be done with one person at a time; no polygamy possible.
• “Social” Another interesting question is raised by @RicDragon (aka Ric Dragon) and potentially challenges the very definition of “social”. When a network is limited to only two people does it really warrant to be called a social network? Maybe, maybe not.
• Any other points this raises in your mind? Share with me on in the comments section below.

I’ll keep an eye on this interesting “animal” and come back on each of the above points.

Disclosure: I have downloaded the app and sent a “pairing request” to @HodaSpa (who else?!). As off press time, she hadn’t returned the request just yet. She might feel we have enough ways to share things as is, we’ll see. I’ll provide updates on that as well!

For now, the iPhone app is categorized in “social networks” on the App store and the latest data has it at the eleventh spot of most downloaded apps.

The post For Couples (and lovers) Only: A #New Kind Of Social Network appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

SloMo is not to be confused with the currently very hot SoLoMo acronym.

So this past week during a social event in Marrakech, I met the charming @Michelle_Adams_ and a — by his own account — photographer, British, living in New York, that drinks tea fellow by the name of Patrick Cline, aka @PatrickCline_.

Within the time constraints of the event – a photo shoot at @PeacockPavilion for @LonnyMag – and during the rare breaks, we exchanged business cards and the traditional social platitudes.

Although it is still some people’s reality today — and this post is really for them,

let us now imagine this encounter happening in a world without the social networks we know today. With good enough reasons, that encounter may be followed up by an email exchange or two. Email, being the reflected and daunting communication medium we know: can’t write too much to stay relevant, must take the time to read to stay polite; this could have gone one of two possible directions:

Click the picture for more SloMo pictures

1. a one-way street, where the exchange dwindles and dies
2. a mutual spark of interest about photography, interior design or social media; giving way to sustained email communication over time… meeehhh not very likely

The reason for this all or nothing situation, is that we have managed to speed up just about everything in our lives; but despite speed-dates and speed-interviews, there’s still one thing that necessitates time and it is the building of human relationships. Email communication is ill suited for that and wanting to rush any human relationship into strengthening is like wanting to make a cheese soufflé in a microwave.

Social Media in a Classroom

Fortunately, in today’s world, there’s a third possible direction. @Michelle_Adams_, PatrickCline_ and @FasTake are all using Twitter, Instagram and probably 3 or 4 other networks. What is now available to all is the ability to consume, share, transform, leverage, comment on or choose to ignore without much consequences, each others social updates. Tweet by tweet, picture by picture, bit by bit, on their own terms and schedule.

It is then like stretching and slowing down time. Where you once had the choice between as-it-happens-live-no-rehearsing and reflected-daunting-blow-by-blow communication means; we now have an a-la-carte, always-on, on our terms opportunities to communicate, connect and create new relationships.

The most blatant example of this I’ve seen so far is in the field of education. How Twitter is used in large amphitheaters to all together engage all students even the shiest and open up opportunities for the conversation about the particular course to continue well beyond an hour or two of teacher lecturing. Opportunities also for a new kind of relationships between teachers and students and betweens students themselves.

Did you have SloMo experiences on social networks? Care to share?

The post SloMo: The Secret Fuel of Social Media appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

A few highlights on this infographic illustrating one of the most fundamental shifts happening in education today. Just as remote commuting is exploding, the wave has moved upstream into the younger strata of society with e-learning.

• 1971 enrollment at the Open University: 25,000 students. Today it is the largest UK university with 250,000 students.
• Online education industry: $34 billion
• By 2019, 50% of all classes taught will be delivered online and many for free
• Half of online students are 26 years old or more
• Higher education is, reportedly, no longer only for the elite. Anyone with an internet connection can educate themselves.

On that latter point, one might wonder about the headache recruiters are bound to have. Going from a model where:

1. an institution name or even just the name of a degree already, gives out clues about the qualifications of an applicant
2. to one where many of the applicants are self-taught online and may have a lot more practical experience available for the enterprise to tap into.

Do you think this is something likely to happen?

Companies are already using what some might call “strange” recruiting methods. Google receives 1 million resume every year and — if they are serious about hiring only the very best — cannot possibly only rely on pieces of paper that after looking at 10, all look the same. Google now use questions that some call crazy or absurd; maybe or maybe not. Either way, these are now as famous as feared by applicants: “A man pushed his car to the hotel and lost all of his fortune. What happened?”, “How much would you charge for cleaning all the windows in the city of Seattle?”, “How many ping-pong balls could fit in the Mediterranean sea?”…

William Poundstone, author of “Are you smart enough to work for Google?”, recently told the time that: ”Studies show that traditional interviews don’t reveal enough, they throw these eccentric questions out to gauge how creative, open and flexible applicants are”. This type of interviewing is no longer exclusive to the geeks of Silicon Valley; it has spread like wild fire to all industries.

What do you think now? Likely we’re running up against a fundamental shift in education?  

The post How The Internet Is Revolutionizing Education And Google Confirming it appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

First question is it really? Answer yes and twitter provides that unequivocal answer via 5+ million tweets across 46 countries in 23 languages.

Why? Simply because it’s an event that moves billions of dollars in advertising and most brands are today operating on a global basis.

Not convinced?

Check the infographic below for the heavy hitters who rode this year’s football super-bonanza:

• H&M has 2,300 stores in 43 countries and outsources to 800 factories in Europe and Asia
• Doritos first introduced in 1966, owned by Frito-Lay or PepsiCo, which distributes its products across more than 200 countries
• Chevrolet operates in over 140 countries, where it sold a record 4.76 million vehicles in 2011
• M&Ms, owned by Mars since 1941, is available in over 100 countries

Without discussing the commercial importance of the superbowl in the US, at the tune of $3.5 million the half-minute (according to ESPN) and with this kind of geographical scope; we can be sure these companies will do everything they can to maximize every last cent they spent. Apparently, and looking at at the Twitter data, a large part of the world did respond.

Since it is well known that “American Football” is a sport hardly popular outside the US and the superbowl season, the question might now be by which self-fulfilling mechanism? The coolness ads? The sheer gravity of the billions of dollars spent? Social media? Some version of the American Dream? A combination of the above?

What do you think?

For now we can be sure that the superbowl DOES have a worldwide reach and you can be d… sure the NFL will do everything it can to leverage any and all channels — social in particular — to reinforce, expand that reach and keep the half-minute sticker price  ($2.6 million 2006) rising.

This infographic is brought to you by ExactTarget a leader in Email Marketing, and Social Media Marketing.

The post Why #Superbowl 2012 Is A Worldwide Event (Infographic) appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

Honestly, a list of top anything can be created out of thin air and include people or things deemed worthy based on multiple factors. Notwithstanding, I’m flattered to know that the dedication and time I put in, generating content through various online channels, proved valuable to others.

“Pride is the illusion of separation. Humility is the realization of unity.”

I couldn’t help but think of this proverb when I got the news about making the Who Are The Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers? list by Forbes. I mean this achievement is also in large part thanks to all that  have listened and amplified my voice; and I feel so humbled for it. All the more, that there are so many great names on the list that I respect and enjoy.

In the end, this underlines for me that creating great value and engaging people on it can be a game changer on both the professional and personal levels.

The post Thoughts On Making The Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

This Foursquare feature could be very tricky.

On my way to Fayetteville, Arkansas (Yes, Arkansas), I check-in on foursquare at the San Diego Airport. A rather busy airport from a social media junkies standpoint: 41 people were already checked in when I did.

The interesting thing that happened is that by sharing the check-in on Twitter, Foursquare automatically tagged me as being at airport with a certain @TylerJanderson.

We haven’t had the pleasure to meet yet, nevertheless if you look at the resulting tweet, it does look like I am purposefully mentioning him as in his company.

Good things for me is that, 1/ he’s male 2/ @HodaSpa, who just dropped me off, trusts me blindly… I hope at least. I wonder what she would say have I been tagged with a Jennifer, Maya or other Ginny.

I’ve seen my check-ins tagged with “XX others” but never with one named person.

Has this happened to you on 4sq before? What do you think of the potential implications?

The post If You Use Foursquare, I Hope Your Spouse Trusts You appeared first on Yacine Baroudi.

Since a picture is worth a 1,000 words and even 1,000,000 Words according to Twitter, the screenshot below should give ample response to this question.

When I learned that foursquare had launched “business pages” where brands could sign up as check-in users, I initially had a chuckle about it myself and wondered why?

In looking through restaurants to spend a quiet family evening on Saturday, it all the sudden made total sense when I saw the tip The History Channel had left about a restaurant called El Fandango. In that tip, the channel was telling the originating story of the restaurant and what happened at its location in the 19th century; thus perfectly tracking with the mantra of a brand becoming media in the age of social media.

Why Is The History Channel On Foursquare?

For an entity such as The History Channel it does make perfect sense, but it might make less sense for Blackberry: it might want to spot places where BBM connects the best; or NASA who might want to check-in to spots where and when Venus can best be seen.

I have to admit it is a pretty smart move from foursquare to better engage brands without a physical location on its platform.

Let me know in the comment section, will foursquare pages take off? What kinds of spots do you think the white house write tips about?

You can find out more about 4sq business pages here

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