Attentio Blog entries

Social Media and Search, Blogs, Forums, Twitter, casual gaming,

and social networking with Attentio

Booklet 2 of 5

Written while employed forAttentio SA23 Rue de FleursB-1000 Brussels, Belgium                          

Market intelligence. Real-time.

Contact: Linda MargaretPhone +32 479622347Linda.broughton@gmail.com                          

TM

1

Table of contents

1. Why is Twitter important? NetWork and NetSearch (bye bye ReSearch) 2009/04/10…………………………………………………………

p. 3-4

2. Does social media drive Search? 2009/03/05…….…………………p. 53. TwitScoops: how Twitter is changing

real time communication 2009/02/25 …….………………………..p. 64. How to type your tweets on Twitter 2009/02/05…….……………...p. 7-85. European Social Networks top

Google Global Searches 2008/12/15 …….………………………..p. 96. Monitoring conversation,

Measuring Buzz, and skipping Search 2008/09/10…….………..p. 10-117. Conversation about Casual Games 2008/08/15…………………….p. 12-138. How the West was won: Is search settling down? 2008/07/13…..p. 14-159. Culturing the online community 2008/04/16…………………………p. 1610. Superstar sightings (forums) 2008/02/11 …………………………..p. 1711. Infectious Ads (Vlogs) 2008/01/31 .…………………………………..p. 18-19

• Social Media and Search• Blogs• Forums• Twitter• General How to in Marketing

Why is Twitter important? NetWork and NetSearch (bye bye ReSearch) 2009/04/10

I used to research. Now I retweet. And I'm not alone.

Learn how I, and millions of others, make Social Media our new priority Search sources. And why you, as a marketer or Brand expert, should care.

I used to Search. And I used to NetWork.

Now I NetSearch.

Once upon a time, long ago, in times like 1995, we netizens began to research a topic via an online database. Then we began to research our topics via an online Search engine (and Google became a verb in several languages). Sometimes we netizens would even end up in a database, provoking a fit of nostalgia (Ah, JSTOR and my university days). Now the era of the database is, well, not past, but somewhat passé.

Students, my littlest bro, still in uni, tells me, still go to the database to find the citations to back up the ideas for essays that they've already written "on paper" (a.k.a., in a Microsoft Word document). Students search and cite as they write, switching between "windows", that is Windows' Word and online Search windows. I only wish my professors had permitted me to cite via hyperlink rather than footnote. I submit that hyperlink citations would make professors' jobs easier. They could clickthrough to check the source, rather than "Google scholar" the footnote. (Yes, beloved Profs, we know you use Search engines too. Libraries are just too time-consuming when you're on a deadline.)

Why is Twitter important? NetWork and NetSearch (bye bye ReSearch)

Now, students, marketers, and I don't need to research or Google Scholar or even just Google most of the time. I follow people on Twitter. The people that I follow tweet, I tweet, and we all retweet. And we decrease exponentially the time we once spent on Search, scholarly or otherwise. We don't have to Search--we "NetSearch" via our networks.

Twitter and Facebook are my personal favourites.

On Twitter, I follow many of the people who follow all the subjects that I need to know about. They follow the people that I can't or don't follow, and these people also follow the subjects that my followers and following want to know about. It's my Twitter NetSearch. Twhirl provides constant computer headlines giving me the latest, up-to-date "NetSearch" info in small bubbles found at the right-hand corner of my computer screen.Facebook I use to post the articles that I feel require small group discussion. I send an article to my Facebook friends who would, I think, want to discuss the article topic. They "send all" to reply with their thoughts. We Facebook Friends create our own little online mini-discussion groups.

I do the same thing via my personal blogs and favourite bloggers, responding to commentors who, in return, respond to commentors, who reply, who respond...These are people I "know", or we "know", people who, through time and NetSearching have come be sources that I, and the people who trust me, that is, we trust. We/they are content creators our online networks have verified and learned to value over time.This is no longer search or research. This is NetSearch.It's social, it's media, and it's online. This is the social search that makes up the buzz that Attentio's tools monitor and measure, making NetSearching easier for you and your Brand.

(Picture from Onemanandhisblog.com)

Does social media drive Search? 2009/03/05

Well, it definitely sustains it.

There is much debate brewing over the link between Search and Social Media. Some studies suggest social media can predict upcoming Search surges. Other marketeers think that the link between Search and Social is more entwined, with Search fueling social media discussion, and then Social Media discussion driving search.

It's a bit like the ocean, the waves follow each other so quickly that its hard to see which wave was bigger for which topics, Search or Social. But the point is that the waves keep coming. Search and Social are linked.Search is where clients and consumers go to research something that they don't know about, but they often know to Search for a topic BECAUSE they heard about it in Social Media.

At the same time, Social Media sites show up higher and higher in Search because more and more consumers access, trust and even engage in Social Media when Searching for information about a topic.As we discuss the cause and search for the link between Social Media and Search, we, like the rest of the online media world, drive the two closer together. The link, whatever its origin, grows stronger and shorter each day.

(Included Image found at PonderPlace.com, "Giving you one more excuse in avoiding your work.“)

TwitScoops: how Twitter is changing real time communication 2009/02/25

It may not be the most financially lucrative online service-yet-but Twitter is fast becoming the most loved.

Combined with Flickr, Twitter is making breaking news collaborative AND competitive.

Better than a wiki, these two media combine to enact what is more or less the "big bang" effect in online media.

An Event Happens, like the Mumbai bombings, a plane "landing" in the Hudson River in New York or the plane crash today at Schiphol Airport.BANG. Hundreds of media mavens descend in the form of eyewitnesses brandishing mobile phones, Twits monitoring news updates, professional reporters, aid workers, victims and survivors still capable of texting or clicking a camera, politicians or corporate PR personnel anxious to alert citizens or clients about what's going on and why, and families and relatives desperate to ascertain what happened and where their loved ones are.

The Event thus spins into a phalanx of galaxies, each of which is fed by its own sources of stories, ideas, blogs, forums, Tweets, Flikcrs, online videos, and press releases.

From the initial Flikcrs to the onslaught of tweets, stories unfold rewriting the event and offering any number of details, descriptions and personal stories. How does an individual or an organisation choose to follow credible sources or establish his or their own credibility?

That's our job. Attentio makes tracking and recording online media and its impact on information easy. Attentio knows social media, provides the tools, and monitors and measures what and who makes the buzz where and why.

It's your job to sift through the stories, photos, videos, and opinions and separate facts from fiction, and to choose the sources that will feed your galaxy. To be effective, you need social media tools that are global, reliable, and easy to use.

How to type your tweets on Twitter 2009/02/05

The buzz about Twitter is a triumph online. But what is the function of the application? Is it useful? Irritating? A waste of time or an innovative touchstone in social networking?

Well, it depends...

Twitter is a tool. Twitter is neutral. It's our job, as Twits and Twittettes, to give the tool purpose. We can use our tweets for everything from online Twirting (tweet flirting) to tweeting twips (tweet tips) about job opportunities or new studies. There seem to be four unofficial categories of Twits so far:The Professional Twit (ProTwit)The Professional Twit uses Twitter to make connections out of contacts. No longer is it enough to send the random email reminding your contacts that you work in the same field. If you are a ProTwit, you are proactive. You are in constant communication with a network. You share studies, data and info in real time on a rolling basis. You think that Twitter's great for creating a network of connections that you can trust. Your fellow Twits are tried and true and quick to twitter back.

The Social Twit (SocialTwite)If you're a bit of a globetrotter, then you may be a SocialTwite. You tweet about your daily activities, sharing your life with a network that may span continents in the offline world. As a SocialTwite, you are interested in the lives as well as the occupations of your fellow Twits. You share gossip, twitter about your frustrations and your fun, and sometimes even twirt.

The SoliciTwitThe SoliciTwit strikes temptation into the hardware of tantalised Twits everywhere. The SoliciTwit is often a marketer or a SalesTwit, but, as a SoliciTwit, you can also work in Human Resources. You tweet about limited time opportunities, special offers, and new releases. Followers of SoliciTwits want to take advantage of special opportunities before any non-Twits find out them about  through simple search or email. SoliciTwits can also tweet about possible jobs or investment opportunities. Most of us Twits include at least one SoliciTwit in our flock of followees.

The Total TwitAs a Total Twit, you combine all the Twit types in your online flocks. A Total Twit is not limited to Twitter, we hope—instead, as a Total Twit, you may find your Tweets are unlimited in type and interest. You mix business with pleasure and tweet about it all to your online flocks. Attentio tends to be a bit of a Total Twit, as does the Attentio team of Twits.

How to type your tweets on Twitter 2009/02/05

The SoliciTwitThe SoliciTwit strikes temptation into the hardware of tantalised Twits everywhere. The SoliciTwit is often a marketer or a SalesTwit, but, as a SoliciTwit, you can also work in Human Resources. You tweet about limited time opportunities, special offers, and new releases. Followers of SoliciTwits want to take advantage of special opportunities before any non-Twits find out them about  through simple search or email. SoliciTwits can also tweet about possible jobs or investment opportunities. Most of us Twits include at least one SoliciTwit in our flock of followees.

The Total TwitAs a Total Twit, you combine all the Twit types in your online flocks. A Total Twit is not limited to Twitter, we hope—instead, as a Total Twit, you may find your Tweets are unlimited in type and interest. You mix business with pleasure and tweet about it all to your online flocks. Attentio tends to be a bit of a Total Twit, as does the Attentio team of Twits.

European Social Networks top Google Global Searches 2008/12/15

Out of the top global Google searches for 2008, four search terms are social networking sites. Three of these social networking sites are exclusively European. Two of these three are "invitation only" social networking sites.

Topping the list at no. 3 is Facebook login

No. 4 is Tuenti, a Madrid-based "invitation only" social networking site,

no. 7 is Nasza Klasa, a Polish "find old classmates" site initially frequented by older Polish persons, but attracting more and more youthful members

no. 8 is Wer Kennt Wen, a German "invitation only" social networking site that looks for "who knows who?“

Seems social networking has blossomed just as we have.

Our international team is pleased to see that we cover all the necessary languages-with native speakers. Time to set up a nice project to track what the forum and blog buzz is about these networks. We should probably do some back-in-time tracking. Do you think that three months back in time is enough?

Monitoring conversation, Measuring Buzz, and skipping Search 2008/09/10

My colleagues and I are social media analysts.I think that the purpose of this position should be explained so that our clients can take better advantage of our skills.

Social media monitoring is not Google. It is not search.Social media is conversation.

The way in which people, online or offline, discuss ideas is not the similar to the way in which people search for information. Search is personal. Social is, well, social.

Searchers look for official reports regarding the "efficacy" of a drug. Patients and people talk about how our pain medication "works". The concept, efficacy, is implied in the conversation.  The word, “efficacy”, itself is never mentioned in a social exchange.  A searcher, a Googler, would use "efficacy" and "aspirin", in a search. A social media analyst would investigate online conversation using a series of terms like "aspirin", "pain medication", "headache", "works", "useful", "relief", "relieves", etc. Social media analysts specialise in the investigation of discussion and conversation, not in search.

This can get complicated, especially in the European sphere of social media. Consider, as our Italian analyst notes, the gender of an Italian adjective. If something is good, then good can be buono or buona, dependent upon if the good thing is a feminine or masculine noun. Then, if the noun is plural, an "s" can be added to either adjective form.

German, our Austrian analyst observes, complicates conversation through demanding that words change their format dependent upon their position in the sentence. 

Monitoring conversation, Measuring Buzz, and skipping Search 2008/09/10

Our French-speaking analyst adds that there's also the issue of blogger/forum slang. She points to a USA MTV show now broadcast in France and Belgium that uses what might be "verlan" or Arabic French slang in its title. Slang in France has caused even the purist French authorities to reconsider the encroachment English and Arabic are having on the French language.

All this conversational nuance must be considered in creating a successful social media project to monitor and measure topics of interest to you or your client. The position of the analyst is also helpful in determining things likethe location of certain types of buzz (the British “Bobbies” are located in London, the “Garda” in Dublin, and the NYPD in New York…or the movies),the level of education embedded in the buzz demographic (kids discuss a “runny nose” and doctors blog about “excessive mucus”), andthe popularity of the blogger (how many people are quoting Perez Hilton in the social media gossip sphere?).

So before buying into the social media software with the complete confidence a semi-pro Googler, think about the information that you are looking to capture out of the online conversation.

Then consider a conversation with a social media analyst.

Conversation about Casual Games 2008/08/15

The casual gaming market reaped over 2.25 billion dollars in revenue in 2007. And this is just a bottom of the bottom line expected for this year’s casual gaming industry.

A casual game is “a stand alone entertainment software title that is digitally distributed by one or many ‘portals’, or independently owned Internet retail sites”. Like traditional board games, a casual game is picked up by a group of individuals. If they like it, they pass it on—through forums, through blogs, through Facebook or other social networks, and through on and offline conversation.

Producers love casual games because they offer a number of ways to identify and engage with a consumer demographic. Put a casual game on a website to increase return traffic to the site. Play viral ad videos between game levels or while a game is downloading. Use a game to promote a product, display a potential service, or highlight a brand. Games let consumers practice and review a product, a brand, or service, giving producers insight into what their consumers like and dislike.

Users love casual games. Casual games offer users try-before-they-buy trials for bigger, more expensive games and applications. Users play games that let them interact with their favourite books, TV shows, and social networks. Users use casual games to improve time management skills, brain train, practice for offline games (from poker to chess), and generally waste time.

Conversation about Casual Games 2008/08/15

The newest demographic to either stimulate or exacerbate the casual game trend is the female user. Casual girl gamers have given games some of their best word of mouth. It’s about time that the big game companies took notice. And the industry is doing its best to attract the young ladies; games sporting cute ponies, puppies, and dancing abound in new releases.

Ubisoft is cashing in on the girl gamers transitioning from cute to college and even corporate, producing games like My SAT Coach, my Spanish Coach, and My Weight Loss Coach. Casual games generated around 25 percent of Ubisoft’s full revenue last year, five percent more than expected. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are jumping into the market, trying to cultivate a consumer base with women of all ages and interests.As the generation of girls that grew up with the Internet begins to raise daughters, the online gaming world is made up more and more of social entertainment networks.

The communities of online ladies dish about games, game sites, and game graphics. They talk about what makes a game worth the time it takes to download or play it. In forums, blogs, and discussion boards, women pass on sites and names, recommending their favourites and criticizing the games that could be better.

For example, Attentio’s software notes that French women fawn over word games, while many North American ladies want games that simulate office skills. Wives want games that they can play with their families and Moms want games that stimulate and hone their children’s academic abilities. Each network is a community, and each community cultivates its own network of games and online entertainment through online conversation—through buzz.

How the West was won: Is search settling down? 2008/07/13

Paul Dunay, the Director of the Global Field Marketing for BearingPoint in the United States, interviews Adam Lavelle, Chief Strategy Officer of iCrossing here. They discuss the pre-Search and post-Search society and its current transition. Lavelle and Dunay call traditional search engines “reputation management systems”. Lavelle predicts that methods of search for the average consumer are evolving from open-ended exploration to a more established collaborative sharing.

An online Search used to be the map that a searcher wrote herself. The virtual world was wide and uncharted. A self-motivated Searcher chose her terms and clickedthrough to her consequences. Then adwords rewrote the rules, subtly shifting the unchartered territory in favour of those communities with the best technology and technical know-how. But Search is no longer a lone spot of civilization on the online map. While we haven’t stopped expanding the virtual world, we’ve civilized the territory, erecting our online databases, networks, and communities.

We’ve established highways and byways that constrain but also simplify life for the online traveler.

But signposts have been (and are ever being) erected along the highways and byways of the information superhighways.

How the West was won: Is search settling down? 2008/07/13

These signposts are erected by social media. These signposts are the brands, products, services, and ideas that the original searchers carried with them from the real world to the virtual. These signposts now dot the online landscape. Communities cluster around them, discussing, buzzing and bickering about the brands that delight and bug the people back home.

This is what Lavelle refers to when he stresses the changes wrought by social media in the realm of search. Now communities want networks of shared experience to validate the expertise offered by the trailblazing technology of Search. Social media offers this combination of expertise validated by shared experience, making these conversations, this buzz, both authoritative and influential.

Tracking these communities is essential for any successful brand. Its new territory out there and you need to know where your brand stands (or rather, where it’s been stood).

Culturing the online community 2008/04/16

Things have been busy here at Attentio, limiting my time to blog. I've been reading blogs and forums, however, and I'm fascinated by the evolving cultures.

Blogs range from introspective to soapboxing--blogs are just more personal and thus more political. People blog to tell you something.People participate in forums to discover something. They exchange experiences, advice and information. People on forums share.

I'm researching more and more to the differenences in these online cultures. It's noticable more and more that online, expertise is not enough. People want experience to validate that expertise. Consumers today are suspicious of a news culture that vibrates between journalism and "churnalism", that is, journalists that spend hours reading public relations releases and "churning" the information presented into news stories. People turn to blogs and forums to find out which news to credit and which news to ignore.

On that note, I'm glad to say that Attentio is once again teaming up with Emakina Academy, experts at mixing social media and PR with an impact, for another conference in Gent this Thursday. With Attentio's measurement and monitoring tools and Emakina's expertise, we're exploring the capacity for social media to create long-lasting and valuable relationships between consumers, brands, and products.

Superstar sightings 2008/02/11

All professional bloggers know that there is money to be made in creating controversial content that people flock to read. But what about forums?

Attentio just finished up a project in which it tracked a few popular posters (with their consent, of course--this is Europe). These posters initiated discussions, wove in and out of threads, and increased the traffic to some of their favourite links.

If athletes earn commission on the number of times they showcase a Brand name or product, why not let expert consumers introduce or promote a purchase? Rather than hiring the all-to-obvious fake poster to "create Buzz", find a poster that attracts Buzz. These posters are legion, and each has his or her own niche of expertise and attendent acolytes and followers.

Approach her, the way one might a popular blogger, and discuss product samples. These posters are professionals about their topics. They can assess a product objectively, and most have already built a reputation online doing just that. Merchandisers or marketers need only supply the access and incentive for the popular poster to explore and evaluate their product.

Blunt celebrity endorsements are on their way out, according to market experts. Ads are dividing between the subtle suggestion and the frank discussion. Forums are famous millions of frank discussions dissecting everything from eye liner to the rims on Audi models. Pick a winning poster and the next market-moving discussion could involve your product.

Infectious Ads 2008/01/31

The US Superbowl is this Sunday. Advocacy groups can't wait.

Last year, General Motors featured a suicidal robot in its 60 second 5 million dollar ad. The robot's portrayal of mental health offended a loud percentage of viewers. This prompted the huge corporation to publicly apologise to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for its distasteful machinations.

Snickers featured two masculine auto mechanics that shared a moment of physical intimacy over a candy bar. After realising their "mistake", they attempted to out-compete each other in displays of stereotypical masculinity. They pulled out their chest hair. This insensitive portrayal of chauvinistic male pride offended the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group. Mars sincerely apologised only days after the ad aired.Online viral videos--that is, user made or modified or just uploaded video content--generates huge audiences, and even its own content.

Note the viral videos spiraling through the blogosphere for Nike. The brand showcased commercials featuring the hip hop basketball free stylings of streetball unknowns. Students, B-ball fans, and online netizens flocked to the YouTube and the search video sites to watch the show again and again. There were no famous celebs, no hulking (highly-paid) professional athletes. Just a bunch of kids and a ball in nicely woven montages that generated more wall-paper/screen-saver madness than ever before seen. People commented on and tried to copy the videos using their own computer equipment and inspired skills.

Ads today aren't made for a small space of air time. Like the French ad art nouveau posters from the early 1900s, ads today are cultural icons. They are copied, modified and re-spun, carrying the Brand, Product, or Name along with them into the virtual homes, hearts, and minds of millions of online viewers. They elicit comment and commentary. Pundits mention the most memorable in news and spoofs, both on and offline. Marketeers can find themselves prolonging pain or profit through the creation of one noteworthy 30 second video spiel.

Infectious Ads 2008/01/31

On the other end of the spectrum of the GM debacle, in the 2007 Superbowl spectators gave Nationwide insurance an extra 24 million dollars into unpaid media exposure, according to USA Today estimates.

Nationwide featured the infamous Kevin Federline as a wannabe rapper working at a fast food restaurant. The National Restaurant Association trade group complained, but their bickering earned the general amusement of the public rather than supportive condemnation. What had been a short commercial in a long line-up of expensively packaged product teasers suddenly became a national sensation. Online, people posted the ad to their webpages. On YouTube, uploaded versions received over 600,000 views.

This year, family, female, and gay rights advocates are already stocking up on potato chips and broadband in anticipation of a new line up of expensive commercials. One isn't exactly sure what to expect. Sure, the Superbowl is a family event, but advertisers know its not the acceptable ads that generate the additional free revenue.

Advocate groups are equally aware that platforms for controversy are great marketing tools. As the two sides martial millions of spectators around the television, both may be hoping for a memorable post-season play-off.

Additional Booklets of Linda Margaret’s Attentio Blogs include:

1. Social Media and Traditional Marketing

2. Social Media and Search, Blogs, Forums,

Twitter, casual gaming, and social networking

3. Health 2.0 Marketing Online

4. Online Culture: the European Union and the

United States

5. Industry Examples