Timeline of social media

Love this infographic by David Foster!  It's awe-inspiring to think about how rapidly internet-sharing has evolved and become part of our daily lives.  One addition to this timeline would be the new Vine app -- the easy-to-use, six-second video sharing tool released Jan. 24 of 2013.

How to get your ideas to spread

I've been stuck on Seth Godin's ideas regarding getting ideas to spread throughout the past 2 weeks.  There are two instances I've come across since watching the TED talk that have really resonated with me:

1) The lone dancer (aka leader) at the 2009 Sasquatch music festival; both his attire (or lack there of) and dance moves are remarkable; as a result, an audience member begins to film the event; the barely-clothed man dances alone for more than 30 seconds before the first joiner begins dancing with him, but within 3 minutes, there are more than 200 other joiners; his idea spread because it was unique -- he's the only one dancing -- and because it was bold...those moves are impressive!

2) "Dress Day" at Lands' End; I'm the merchant for women's dresses at Lands' End and I recently set a date for our 2nd annual "Dress Day" -- a celebration of the dresses business success that I first initiated last year; I spoke with the right people internally and the idea has spread like wildfire throughout the company; we are now planning a Facebook campaign to coordinate with the idea and spread our internal excitement to customers; in addition, the men's merchants are planning their outfits (dresses...) and even planning to wax their legs to show their support for the women's business (how fun!); the idea has spread because it's unique and joyful -- something we need more of in our everyday

Week 4 learnings

Key learnings in week 4 were the impact of being unique and the ways which technology is changing traditional brick-and-mortar models (and vice versa).  Also this week, I read the "Patterns" chapters of the "Business Model Generation" book and "Business Models of News Web Sites" article.  Looking forward to building my first Canvas model at the end of this week.

1) Unique gets noticed

Warby Parker -- What's getting them noticed is that they're remarkable, a critical point made by Seth Godin in his TED talk titled "How to get your ideas to spread"; their eyeglass store (both online and new brick-and-mortar locations) have a different format than most: the online experience includes in-home try ons in a fancy package and free returns for purchases, and the retail experience includes a sleek store layout with easily accessible product and a quirky eye exam queue formatted like a train station sign; the innovation along with the cheap retail price is garnering attention from celebrities and investors

Dollar Shave Club -- This cheeky, vulgar YouTube video has generated more than 10.2 MILLION views... it features swear words, off-color jokes, a random mascot, and a very handsome spokesman; the key to the business success is that Mr. Dubin has listened to the customers needs (low price, easy access, desire for fresh blades) and cleverly plays into the needs through the video in a new/never-before-seen manner; Mr. Dubin's wit and innovative business model attracted a $9.8 million dollar investment from Venrock in Oct. and the company is expected to compete with industry leaders over time... a perfect example of marketing in the digital era!

2) Lines becoming blurry between online models and traditional brick-and-mortar 

Hointer -- Start-up company using new technology (QR codes scanned by personal smart phones) to change the traditional shopping experience; best of both worlds -- mobile shopping experience with the opportunity for physical product interaction and try-ons; executives listening to customer needs and retail qualms and solving the issues through technology: clean store environment (no digging through piles) due to inventory housed behind the scenes, low labor costs as result of machinery picking orders, short waiting lines, quick product delivery to dressing room (just 30 seconds!!)

Week 3 learnings

My favorite lecture from week 3 was the TED talk with Seth Godin titled "How to Get Your Ideas Spread." I completely agree with Seth Godin on this statement: "It's not always about the idea itself, it's about whether or not you can get the idea to spread." This statement rings true throughout my daily life, both at work and in personal interactions. Someone can have the most innovative/brilliant idea, but if they are unable to get buy-in from leadership and cross-functional partners (or friends/family), the idea goes nowhere. It's about selling the idea (differently for different audiences) and talking to the right people to generate excitement. The other points from the TED talk -- marketing to innovators and early adopters, and being "remarkable" -- also shifted my mindset regarding future marketing endeavors.

Other key learnings from week 3 are as follows:

• The meaning/effects of a "blog storm" (a term unknown by me until now) from "The New Influencers" - an event in which thousands of bloggers comment/post about 1 particular topic, which leads to the story being picked up by mainstream media

• Segmentation going away in favor of individual/customizable attention toward singular consumers (from "IBM's CEO on data, the death of segmentation and the 18-month deadline" 13 February 2013); this is relevant for me, as our company recently announced a shift from approx. 20 e-mail campaigns per day based on traditional segmentation to >1,000 e-mail campaigns per day (within next 6 months); e-mail content going-forward will be based on big data to customize content for each individual consumer; initial testing showed double-digit revenue growth per e-mail sent for individualized content!

• Twitter's attraction is communal experience -- live events are most popular; 140-character short format is ideal for hand-held devices, which majority of population has with them ALL the time; next step for Twitter is revenue generation, a crucial step in business longevity (from "The Point of Twitter" 23 April 2010)

• The 2005 Asian tsunami disaster in is credited as the "seminal moment" when blogs/social media became news; this situation allowed for the bottoms-up phenomenon of participatory journalism, and bloggers/social media users were able to better depict a portrait of the disaster before news teams arrived on the scene; PROS: participatory journalism, CONS: "circular mill" and the idea of "piling on" (from "James Surowiecki: When Social Media Became News")

The plan -- week 3

My learning goals for this week include the following:

Read: 

• "The Origins of Social Media" in The New Influencer
• "The Death of Segmentation" 
• "Making the Transition to the Social Web" in Marketing to the Social Web

Watch:

• "The Moment When Social Media Became News" with James Surowiecki
• TED talk regarding "How to Get Your Ideas Spread"... I love TED talks, so looking forward to this!

Listen:

• "Gil Frisbie and Frank Acito of Indiana University: The Long Tail"
• "The Point of Twitter" from NPR

My grandma joined Pinterest

My 84-year-old grandma joined Pinterest last week (in red in the photo above).  She'd been cooped up in a care facility mending a fractured hip, and I taught her to "pin" to help pass the time.  She joined on her iPad... go, Grandma!

For as long as I can remember, she's been clipping articles from newspapers and mailing them to relatives and friends.  I'm the lucky recipient of articles regarding MBA programs, art exhibitions, dating advice, and more!  For her, Pinterest is the modern update to her time-honored newspaper clipping tradition.  She can organize the clippings with a board for intended recipients, and she can file recipes and decor ideas online instead of in manilla folders.  Rather than sending articles via snail mail, she can send a link to a board or pin she's created.  She gets it!

Too often, I think, we forget this generation of users (grandparents) as it relates to rapidly changing technology.  They, too, have a need for social connectivity and driving directions / menus / phone numbers with the click of a button.  By including them in our idea of "users" we'll be able to capture a greater share of the market and in turn, increase revenue!

P.S.  Grandma Betty texts, too!

Week 2 learnings

I read both articles this week -- "Does the Internet Make You Dumber?" and "Does the Internet Make You Smarter?" -- and I see both sides of the argument.

DUMBER -- The availability of internet during every meeting, every conversation, every bathroom break, creates a division of focus.  There are meetings at my workplace where executives have been asked to place all handheld devices in the center of the table; the meetings were more effective with all partners engaged in the topic at hand (fewer distractions).  It's not the internet content itself making the population dumber, rather the distraction it causes and the behavior-change associated with having a plethora of information available at lightning speeds.  With information available anytime/anywhere, there is lesser need for individuals to remember information on their own.

SMARTER -- The transmission of knowledge across continents in this rapid way is really just developing.  The ability of the internet to join individuals around a common cause, including sufferers of Lou Gehrig's disease as explained in the article, will undoubtedly lead to increased collaboration and knowledge across the globe and across cultures.  Further, the access to information in developing countries, where people have been without access, will lead to entire populations gaining in knowledge.  These are very exciting times!