THE SOCIAL CONSCIENCE // issue #1
WHAT IS THIS AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
simply put, this is a creative’s take on the world of social media through a few choice weekly articles. you don’t have to care, but it doesn’t hurt to keep abreast about the more under-the-radar thoughts about social media.
FAIR WARNING: this is all incredibly biased. i’ll be offering my opinion, so if you feel the need to fight it…well, that’s the point!
MY KLOUT SCORE IS 57. WHOOP DEE DOO.
klout has set the standard in evaluating your social media influence, but there’s more to liking, sharing, and tweeting your way to a high score than bragging rights. using it as the end-all, be-all scoring system is a double-edged sword.
klout has focused on the user, giving tangible value to their scores through perks. however, in our rush to be on the cutting edge of all things digital, we may jump on the boat too early for brands, improperly embracing this new phenomenon. from my point of view (and jesse eisenberg’s as mark zuckerberg), some things should just be allowed to be cool, and we can let it evolve before it becomes the next QR code of advertising.
TWINTERVIEWS: BREVITY IS THE SOUL OF WI
so, facebook is closing in on 1 billion members. congratulations, now you’ll have even more links and posts you never read. but when it comes to twitter, there is still a lot of creative area to play with. if you really think about it, the service hasn’t changed much since it’s inception, and neither has the regulation of it. the linked article talks about ways people have conducted interviews through twitter and how it forces us to reconsider the execution of a familiar process.
we should see the opportunity to approach our own creative campaigns by twisting an old favorite into a new medium. that way, we can allow people to be comfortable with what they know, but show them it in a new way.
PINTEREST IS UNCORRUPTED. LET’S CORRUPT IT.
pinterest allows people to share what they’re interested in. sounds simple enough. of course, when a bunch of people like something, brands need to step in and put their own stink on it. ok, ok. i might be a little cynical here. there is definitely a trend towards the proper use of various social media platforms, but for many corporate entities, it’s like shoving a square through a dollar-sign-shaped hole.
as we can see from how brands are embracing instagram, the right way to do it is to not expect anything back. no sales, no downloads, no nothing. just try to be normal. don’t make ads or contests or anything. put content up that’s interesting, unproduced, and gives your fans a look behind the scenes of the glitz and polish they’re deluged with every day. these untapped mediums are a place for honesty, and being genuine is becoming the most valuable characteristic of a brand.
SOON, FACEBOOK WILL BE A PART OF US ALL.
it will still be some time until facebook unveils timeline for brands. but, for the time being, brands are making the move towards embracing the “open graph” system set in place. the easy way to understand it is that you can do more than “like” things now, and they will appear in your timeline nicely organized (reference how spotify works in your timeline).
this means we need to explore this new medium in our own campaigns. no longer are we forced to do all things facebook on facebook itself. kristin could “be hydrating with a zico chocolate” when she buys online or “creating with a sony vaio” from a campaign microsite.
the point is, we can expand our horizons using this new system. “like” buttons are mobile, actions are customizable, and now they’re going to have their own pretty little spot on individuals’ timelines, for all to see. so, let’s make them worth it.
