I don’t really like chain letters, not only it clogs up my inbox but most of time, they are quite boring and useless. It requires my action for insignificant things, forward it onto 10 people (sometimes 20!!) and good things will happen, or a chance to win this and that. The only times I will read AND TAKE ACTION is when it’s from the friends I know they care about me and I know them enough to trust them. Do you react the same way?
As an Information Professional by training, when I conduct in-depth business research, I tend to look at the information others don’t notice, or can’t find. It is my job to tell business decision makers “Don’t Just Google It”, with all the SEO and PageRank today, quite often the search results you get on the first page is being manipulated. I am a strong advocate about share the worth sharing, verify accurate information from credible sources; whatever I share in the social space I make sure the link is alive AND it’s not rumor, unless said so.
My friend, Robert Lavigne (@rlavigne42) has this brilliant insight about Facebook vs. Google:
We are shifting from a search model to a discovery model. The very nature of this terrifies Google who have made their fortune on search. Facebook on the other hand is based entirely on the discovery model. The discovery model taps into the 3 degrees of connectivity (friend, friend of friend, … ). As such, it allows us to become aware of things that we didn’t know about in the first place. Yes you can search on it, once you hear about it for more details, but how does new knowledge get discovered in the first place? Via a social network based on the concept of weak ties and disconnected interests. In a world where content is become so readily available, the real value is in the semantics of the content. As such, content is free and context is where the value is. The discovery model allows us to use our social network to put not only context on the content being acquired, but also exposes our insight to that of others. Simply put search cannot compete with the discovery model as you need to know what you don’t know first before learning something new.
This is assuming you will take the initiative and look for that event and validate it. What if people don’t even Google anymore? What if people only Facebook it because it’s from their friends, their circle of trust, they’ll just spread the word automatically?
The famous Facebook cartoon character campaign. It started at the end of November, a week later the children’s charity, the NSPCC, claimed it had no involvement in it. You can read more here and here.
In my business, we Researchers have to be sleuthed. We piece puzzles together to solve mysteries and find meanings in unanswered questions, with analysis skills. 90,000 fans in just a week, enough buzz and hype for who ever created the fan page, smart marketing I must say, but somehow I felt the real value is missing. Is this how Brand or Marketer monitor, measure the campaign and the ROI? I am not sure. I’m not a marketer.
I didn’t change my profile picture, some people say I’m too rigid, just have fun. Do you react the same way?
