Have I seen the future of email………..maybe???

In my last blog I talked about where email might be going …  and now I might have seen the delivery of a vision much broader.  I have become one of the chosen few given the opportunity to try  a pre release version of Google Wave ….   I think that means help find the bugs for them!!

A former colleague in the US and now “business partner” (we re-discovered each other on LinkedIn a few months ago) has provided me with what I now know to be a scarce as hens teeth invite to check it out.

Certainly it promises much as Google say it is “what email would look like if it were invented today as opposed to almost 40 years ago!!

In essence it enables groups to edit, collaborate, discuss and develop documents simultaneously online.  On my first look it certainly isnt intuitive … you wont get far until you RTFM (thats read the …. manual for those who dont have an old fashioned IT/MIS/DP/EDP/ADP background).  It looks great but provides no prompts or ideas about what to do.

But there are already some extensive guides available online …  So first do as I am doing get hold of one and work through it.  I will be using Wave on the project I am working with my man in the US on and will provide feedback as i go.  If you want an overview and sneak peak check out the videos on YouTube… there are predictably plenty!!

But I think I have now seen the future of email … and I think I love it.        

Love to hear from anyone else out there who has had any exposure to The Wave!!!

Wether you have a testimonial or an acrimonial love to hear it!!

The Death of Email (as we know it)

Some months ago I was predicting the death on Email and Websites with the growth of Social Networks/Media.  But as was pointed out what I was predicting was the death of those tools as we have known them.

I have been using email for over 25 years – prior to the Internet (as we know it) so feel well positioned to comment there.  It was a great tool when it was just on what we now know as an intranet.  I was working for Dun and Bradstreet Software (the then biggest business software company in the world – it was very pre SAP) and the email network was based on our world-wide IBM mainframe based system, so I could communicate directly with anyone in the company anywhere in the world.

So whats changed – well now I can communicate with anyone anywhere in the world (if I know their address) but apart from that the basics of email are still pretty much the same.

If you dont believe email (as we know it) and we are about to move to a new and smarter form of email then ask anyone under 20 if they use email.  The answer will almost certainly be NO.

They do but they just dont recognise it ….   They use Facebook, Myspace etc as an all-encompassing communications system with their world and only their world.  A bit like out old mainframe system – if they are in the address book we can reach them if they are nt we cant.

So they use a combination of email with integrated address book and broadcast tools (The Wall in Facebook) and then meet others in Groups.

All pretty sensible really – a close environment that keeps the spammers out ….  that means you can publish all those jokes and funny videos that clog up my email every day in a place where I can come and look if I am interested.

So those Grumpy Old Managers who are banning Facebook while they sit in their offices reading their mates’ joke emails need to take the blinkers off and look at where Social Networking is taking email (as we know it) and understand its potential for their business. Incidentally these were probably the same GOM’s that banned email (until their mates told them they could send great jokes), mobile phones (until their mates told them they could send great jokes using text messages) and spreadsheets (until their accountant told them they were useful!!) when they first became available!!!

Recently I had a colleague ask me to distribute an invite to my contacts about an online seminar he was arranging with Joe Abram (of MySpace fame) to my contacts .  He said so that he could track which of my invitees “attended” I should cc him in on all the emails.

When I told him I would contact most of my colleagues using LinkedIn he was at a loss to come up with an idea to replace his cc plan!!

So what I need now to replace email (as we know it) is LinkedIn with some of the features of FaceBook or perhaps FaceBook without all the crap!!

Tomorrow I will give my thoughts on the death of Websites (as we know them) but in the meantime read Shel Holz latest Blog Deathwatch: Static Destination Websites as this will form the basis of much of my opinion!

I have to agree with Shel its not the death of a tool but perhaps the end of an era.  And st the end of the day its about the content not the tool anyway!

Are you LinkedIn or just in LinkedIn

When I first discovered LinkedIn  and subsequently joined I was aware of the basics and not much more.

But in the past couple of years I have used it extensively and gained some great benefits.  Of all the social media/networking we use for ourselves and our clients LinkedIn has delivered the best tangible results.

We have made some great industry connections locally and internationally and as a result we have developed some major international business opportunities.

When I first started I really used it sparingly just to find people I knew and Linked to them never thinking that I actually had a development opportunity/responsibility in growing the potential power of LinkedIn.

So now I have invited everyone in my address book to join (something I felt uncomfortable doing initially) so that they can share in the value and I also tell everyone I meet in business I will invite them to join and why … and do so as soon as I get back to the office.

But it seems most of these people are not sold on it.  So often I see profiles that are basic token efforts with no more info … why would I be interested in that person?  Then there are the people I do know and invite to join a group or become more involved by sending them a message and then never get a response.

Either they have never gone back in since joining or they dont have their LinkedIn email alert on to notify them they have a message.

There are a few basics that can provide great value (such as logging into LinkedIn each morning and check your updates)  but it seems these days with so much going on unless people are shown “hands on” how to use some of the new tools they never get past first base … if they even get that far….. and never realise the possibilities!

So I wonder of the 50 million plus in LinkedIn how many are token members.  It would be great to get some stats based on the % complete  indicator one day.

In the meantime I will do my best to get more people I know more engaged … because I think it could be good for thema dn their business/professional lives.

I need to listen to my own advice

If you want to succeed with social media you need a plan which includes developing content, blogging and distributing your thoughts to those that may be interested……   thats I what I tell others.

Well for the past month like many of my clients and prospects I have been too busy being busy to focus on whats important and as such I broke the habit and then found it too hard to get back…. but now I am back to practice what I preach!

They say timing is everything … don’t they?     Yesterday I was sitting making a list of blog topics and working out what I should be saying to back up The Grumpy Old Managers Guide to Social Media and along came Chris Brogan to the rescue.

If you are interested in the how and not just the why of Social Media you must subscribe to Chris Brogan’s blog as he provides the help you need and generally when you need it.

So I was delighted to read www.chrisbrogan.com/how-to-blog-almost-every-day as it provides some guidelines, tips and a potential structure to support my blogging effort and those of my clients.

We have developed a simple methodology fro Grumpy Old managers to get started with Social media a and we certainly be adding some of the ideas we have picked up from Chris to it … with full credit to him of course.

But more about that soon….   in our quest to turn the Grumpy Old Managers of the world into the Not So Tribe

Vitaminwater Gets Facebookers Brainstorming on a New Flavor

Vitaminwater ventured into the world of crowdsourcing Tuesday with the launch of a new a Facebook application in which users compete to create the energy drink’s newest flavor, even down to the bottle design, to the tune of a $5,000 prize.

Vitamin Water's New Facebook App

The new “flavor creator” app features a cartoon of a lab-coat-clad woman who instructs users to vote on their favorite flavor or combination of flavors, based on the most buzz-worthy results culled from online sources like Google News and the food photography blog Foodgawker. Ginger, for example, takes the top slot for generating buzz online.

Users can play games and take quizzes about their fitness levels to determine which kinds of vitamins and minerals should be part of their new concoction, and can also team up with other Facebookers to design a bottle for the new drink. “We’re basically handing over the control and the lab coat to our fans,” said Eric Berniker, a senior vice president of marketing for Vitaminwater. “It’s one of the hottest brands with youth, and of course, Facebook is a great way to connect with them.”

The winning flavor will be selected by country singer Carrie Underwood and rapper 50 Cent, and will hit store shelves in March of 2010. The rapper, also an investor in Vitaminwater, has already co-created his own grape flavor, “Formula 50,” and allegedly raked in some $400 million when Coca-Cola acquired Vitaminwater’s parent company, Glaceau, for $4.1 billion in 2007.

Vitaminwater is far from the first brand to seek online fan participation. The online T-shirt company Threadless paved the way for companies to benefit from the idea of consumer-as-designer, scoring big with its crowdsourcing business model of rewarding the top user-submitted T-shirt designs.

And this isn’t the first time Vitaminwater has used a social-networking presence to gain fans. It launched its Facebook page in February and has more than 400,000 fans. During the NCAA basketball tournament in March, it devoted television airtime to plugging the page. In May, Vitaminwater worked with MySpace Music to offer a free song download with the purchase of a bottle of its new Sync flavor.

The Vitaminwater line markets itself to health-conscious consumers, with its emphasis on vitamin and mineral combinations for specific benefits like “focus” and “endurance.” Earlier this year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a class-action lawsuit against Coca-Cola on the grounds that Vitaminwater made deceptive claims about the drink’s health benefits.

Marketing on Social Networks: Branding, Buying and Beyond.

A tool for every purpose

Though social network advertising gets a lot of attention, it is only one of many ways marketers can reach customers on social networks. Social networks can be used for branding, improving customer loyalty, lead generation, direct marketing and e-commerce.

“The beauty of social networks is that they are a place where nearly any marketing goal can be achieved, with nearly any marketing tactic,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Marketing on Social Networks: Branding, Buying and Beyond.”

Common wisdom over the past few years has been that people are interested in interacting with social network friends, not marketers. Not so, according to Anderson Analytics’ May 2009 survey—52% of social network users had become a fan or follower of a company or brand, while 46% had said something good about a brand or company on a social networking Website—double the percentage who had said something negative (23%).

In a December 2008 MarketingSherpa survey of social media marketing professionals, 92% of respondents said social media marketing was effective at influencing brand reputation and 91% said it worked for increasing brand awareness. These executives found it far less effective for generating sales leads or increasing online sales.

However, savvy marketers are demonstrating the effectiveness of using social networks for direct marketing and lead generation as well. Brand pages and applications can be vehicles to deliver coupons and offers to consumers to drive trials, store traffic and response. A July 2009 Starbucks promotion, for example, distributed coupons for a free pastry via Facebook and other social outlets. The chain was soon one of the top trending topics on Twitter and the top brand on Facebook, with more than 3.7 million fans.

In terms of e-commerce, few retailers are currently selling products directly through social networks. But the pending launch of Facebook’s virtual currency will make it far more appealing for this purpose. Meanwhile, e-tailers can take advantage of services such as Facebook Connect to allow users to share information about their browsing and purchasing activity on an e-commerce site with their social network friends.

Measuring social media success remains difficult for marketers. Many of the metrics that marketers can track on social networks today involve what is called “soft ROI”—which does not show up in the bottom line. But a study from the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint, along with a separate study from Razorfish, indicates that the stronger a brand’s social media presence, the better the brand performed—whether measured in conversations or in financial performance.

“Social networks are a constantly changing database of consumer sentiment, attitudes and information, and marketers today have only the earliest glimpse of the potential,” said Ms. Williamson. “Companies that want to maximize their presence on the social Web must take advantage of social networks in all stages of the purchase funnel, from awareness to learning to buying to loyalty.”

Maximize your social network marketing. Download the new eMarketer report, “Marketing on Social Networks: Branding, Buying and Beyond,” now.

It’s inevitable – online TV coming to everyone … Live too!

The latest data from comScore Video Metrix shows an incredible 158 million U.S. Internet users — or 80% of the country’s online population — watched online video in July.

It is amazing to find that a total of 21.4 billion videos were viewed during the month.

The report also shows the average online video was 3.7 minutes, while the average online video viewer watched about 500 minutes of video, or 8.3 hours, according to the research company.

This was not as surprising as I first thought when I thought about it. Why? Because the market is now being defined by a generational phenomenon … and of course there is a buzz word for this … “digital natives”.

Their media mix is much different to other generations but this mix is now filtering through to others rapidly. The “digital native” lives on the internet and thrives on a diet of social networks/media, web TV, podcasts, mobile TV, peer to peer file sharing and video on demand mixed with linear TV, cinema and radio.

But these latest “survey” figures show that online video is spreading well beyond the “digital natives”. I must admit that although I spend a lot of my time focused on digital media I am a product of my era … in that online TV does not come naturally.

My best example of this is the recent world record in the 100 metres by Usain Bolt. As a Track and Field fan I was desperate to see it … having missed the live telecasts into Australia at 4am … and working whilst TV News services were on … I turned to Google!!

Google very quickly pointed me to several links (mainly YouTube) where I could watch every possible angle and see the telecasts provided to a variety of countries and in a variety of languages.

So whilst the latest figures from the US are startling, but not surprising, there is much growth to come from people like me and in terms of the type and duration of viewing.

An Adelaide company AustraliaLiveTV has been proving this for some time. Unlike almost every other online video outlet … they broadcast live and as such encourage interactivity with the presenters. Within their first year of operation they are producing more live/local content than any of the free to air networks in this city and their advertising revenues have them at their forecast earlier than planned.

Even more surprising is the fact that the bulk of their programming at the moment is targeted at an Adelaide ageing demographic and one that is more associated with talkback radio.

But radio on Internet TV is working because it’s live and interactive … and it’s attracting audiences well beyond Adelaide and the ageing demographic because of this.

So I have tried to get my head around why talkback radio on TV works … and I guess it’s the same reason as breakfast TV, panel chat shows etc work. As long as the hosts/guests are entertaining we like to watch the interaction as opposed to just listen.

So for the Grumpy Old Manager who is still blissfully ignorant of the power of social media in building business … maybe Internet TV is the trigger that we need to add to our new media/marketing mix!

Lois Kelly gets it right … and puts it simply again…

Lois Kelly has answered the “what should I write about in my Blog?” question in a very simple manner.

And once again she is dead right …  When she came out with her  nine best story lines in marketing and PR a couple of years ago she had it right.

We adopted that model and use it in planning our campaigns with our clients and it has been very successful… and I know her 4 things that people write about in Social Media will be just as effective.

Imagine how much more effective Twitter could be if you were answering one of these questions rather than that inane “What are you doing?’

Most people that know a bit, but not a lot about Twitter and probably  haven’t used it are turned off by thinking they have to keep a record in Twitter of what they do all day long and will be fed meaningless info about the habits of their friends as well.

But when you think about it – these 4 things are what we really want to tell others about … so in Blogs, Twitter etc … or in just plain old fashioned face to face conversations … when you are stuck for a word ask yourself one of these question and you are bound to find something meaningful to say.

Need a reason to have a Social Media Policy … for all Staff??

My Thanks to Brenton Trafford for emailing this little gem to me!!

Follow Lance Armstrong … and ride with him..

The final day of the 2009 Tour Down Under held on the streets of the city of Adelaide.

As a poor example of a Lycra clad looney who loves to ride a bike, I naturally follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter … esp since he came to Adelaide this year to ride The Tour DownUnder.

Now he is giving us all a reminder  why it’s a good idea to follow interesting people on Twitter Lance Armstrong has invited his Twitter followers for an impromptu bike ride in Glasgow.

Unfortunately  I’m not near Glasgow, and while my cycling is barley adequate for a leisurely ride with Lance , I want to highlight this kind kind of conversation with fans which Twitter now makes possible.

This is one of those things that has fueled the astonishing growth of Twitter and makes it a great tool for a wide variety of uses. Check out the tweets from Lance below.

You might also like to check out    Pro Cycling on Twitter: 48 People Who Aren’t Lance Armstrong