3. Web 2.0: online community and persona
Posted by Tom | Filed under 03. Web 2.0: online community and persona
We read in Mark Deuze’s Media Work, a quote from Alex Bogusky that ‘the future of advertising is that it doesn’t exist’. As he works for an ad agency, it follows that he is alluding to the huge sea change that has to happen for Marcoms to adapt to our new era of social web, rather than the literal end of all advertising.
Similarly Michael Nutley, Editor in Chief of New Media Age, gave the following advice to agencies or orgs trying to engage with social media for their own purposes:
…it bears repeating – social media users are generally cynical and media savvy. They’re on the lookout for people trying to hoodwink them, and if they find it happening, not only will they expose it ruthlessly; the technology enables them to do so with incredible speed.
- What are the specific differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 that create these challenges?
- Create a basic SWOT analysis based on those specific differences.
- Why do people engage with social media? Think about their(/your) motivation, what they receive from it, and how they want to use it.
Online communities started around older forms of technology like forums and chat rooms, usually where people went to discuss common interests. What do you think has replaced the common interest aspect of web communities?
Advertising on social networks is still in it’s infancy, with some notable successes and failures such as Skittles’ social networking homepage fiasco. These issues aren’t limited to business either, the third sector (charities, non-profits, etc) are also finding their way on these platforms, and face many of the same issues. UK government have even produced a 20 page guide for departments who want to use Twitter.
- So where do we go from here?
- What are the creative solutions to marketing via these social networks? Think of examples of successful campaigns that you have engaged with.
It’s well worth reading The Guardian’s list of some dos and don’ts of social media marketing. Also Wired wrote a good piece on the future of social media, which you should all read. How influential these technologies are can be seen in the usage stats, such as these from The Metric System. Check out some of the tools for monitoring Twitter like Twitterfall and Tweetmeme.
John Deighton in The Presentation of Self in the Information Age (2006) isolated the following types of engagement:
- Transitory
- Persistent
- Role-specific
- Self-expressive identification
Have a look at advertising with Facebook, and the parameters you can choose to target a specific audience. In the seminar, we’ll consider which demographics would be interested in a few examples based on the FB categories of: Location, Age, Gender, Keywords, Education, Workplace, Relationship Status, Relationship interests, Languages.
Here’s a useful table from Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing, and Consumers, Deighton & Kornfeld (2007):
| Behaviours | Web behaviour | Firm’s strategy | Digital media mart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thought tracing | People search the web for info & fun | Firms use search terms to target user | A market in search terms appears |
| Ubiquitous connectivity | People assume always-on computing | Firms look at proximity & geolocation data | Market in access to profiles and identity develops |
| Social exchanges | People build their identities on virtual communities | Firms sponsor, co-opt or create their own communities | A market in communities develops – exclusivity + functionality |
| Cultural exchanges | People participate in cultural exchanges | Firms offer cultural products or present themselves as ‘more global’ | ‘Buzz markets’ become focus of competition |
Related posts:
- Deighton and Kornfield – Digital Interactivity
- 3. Web 2.0: Online Community and Persona slides
- Why bother trying to access these tricky social media platforms?
- Remodelling marketing communications in an Internet environment – Jennifer Rowley
- Remodelling Marketing Communications in an Internet environment – Jennifer Rowley
druwulf on
January 25, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Interesting article, specially the part that talks about new technology and how that has influenced the way of working in the Advertising and PR world.
Internet is a great invention and has def change the way into how we look at things and how we work.
January 28, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Scary to realise that Facebook has become a huge database for marketers !
February 4, 2010 at 11:41 pm
I saw a programme in BBC 2 this week that you might be interested to watch too. It’s called The Virtual Revolution. It’ll be in i-player until the end of this week. Here is the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qn37q/The_Virtual_Revolution_The_Great_Levelling/
February 5, 2010 at 7:39 am
That looks really interesting Eva. One to watch over the weekend…
February 5, 2010 at 6:01 pm
It is only the beginning that social media is showing us what it can do… I’m sure we will be more suprised by it in the next X year.
February 16, 2010 at 9:35 am
Check this out: http://mashable.com/2010/02/08/ted-talks-social-meida/
February 16, 2010 at 10:04 am
That’s a really useful summary of Ted talks on social media Alix – thanks! Might turn that into a post by itself as it’s so handy.
Also note the URL. They misspelt media as ‘meida’, and by the time they corrected the title, the link must have already gone out on their RSS feed, etc, so they couldn’t change it. Always nice to see the ‘experts’ make mistakes too!