yet another new social media theory

I've got a new theory on social media. I came up with it while sat in the audience at the media140 conference I spoke at the other day.

It goes like this... The metaphor is television, traditional advertising is pre-produced broadcasts and social media is live broadcasts. Simple enough really, kind of makes sense as social media is being touted as a live/ real time media.

Take the old Saturday morning kids programme Going Live for example. Before this all Saturday morning kids telly was pre-recorded. The fact that Going Live was 'live' however brought a new dynamic to Saturday morning telly, a new excitement (social media comparisons here).

It also brought new opportunities but also risks, anything could happen basically. As five star and Eliot show us below. Thanks very much Eliot.

So we've got another new metaphor, now what? Well my point is that I'm not buying into all these 'there's been a paradigm shift' / 'it's all about the conversation now' / 'consumers are demanding transparent and live dialogue with brands' sound bites. There are some instances of this of course, but it's not the absolute, we're back to making massive sweeping statements.

What I do believe however is that (back to the television metaphor) there'll always be a mix of live and pre-produced content out there. A mix of social media and traditional media. And, in my opinion, the majority of it will stay as traditional pre-produced content. Purely because the quality is better with pre-produced. Think about it, not everything on telly is live, you'll never see a live period drama on ITV on Sunday night (Kiera Knightley can't pout for that long without taking a break for one thing). Other than the Honda sky diving advert all commercials are also pre-recorder for the same quality reasons. In actual fact looking at a typical days telly programming only a fraction of the total broadcast is live (highlighted in pink below).

So there we have it. Social Media equals the new live television. Full of holes as a theory I accept but beats the hell out of this 'consumers are demanding transparent and live dailogues with brands' bollox. I'm a consumer and I haven't demanded anything from any of the brands I've spent real life money on in the last two months. Have you?

another nudge

'Tipping is sexy' as seen at Climpson & Sons.

Apparently their tips have doubled since the sign went up. Seems people want to be sexy.

 

traction

What gives one instance of something traction and another not? I'd love to know, or know that you can't know. I'm sure there are theory's and best practice on how to make stuff light the touch paper but it can't be that easy can it. What was it about that London Underground rant video/ story that made it take off? You can literally see the traction it got in the original blog's stats below (from low thousands to tens of thousands in 48 hours).

I can't work out if it's a case of throwing as much interesting stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks, or whether it's possible to identify a slicker & defined route to success. Creativity is probably the pursuit of the former and marketing the pursuit of the later. I'm still tending towards the former. 

Vaguely related post: attention spikes & 48 hour campaigning

transient broadcasting

I went to Frieze Art Fair today and came across this really interesting piece. It was basically a £3 disposable radio that is tuned into a short term on-site broadcast for the duration of the fair.

Reminded me of my previous things on 48 hour campaigning and transient site specific event based marketing. Some times stuff is better in short sharp shocks.

even more nudging

TFL are doing some platform work at Stepney Green station at the minute which makes for an interesting nudging case study in progress. It's all about getting people to stand back from the platform edge without knowing it.

A bit of the platform has no marks next to the platform edge, people go really close as a result.

Another bit has the yellow line, people go less close.

And the newest bit has yellow line plus texture surface stuff. People stay the furthest back of all.

All pretty much without even knowing it. 

nudge, nudge

I'm reading the book Nudge at the minute, I've mentioned that before. It's a fascinating read that makes you re-look at communications in a new way within the eye of nudges. I'm constantly seeing examples of nudges now. Probably because most communications are nudges of some sort. 

Here's a good example of a random nudge. The local primary school next to innocent recently moved it's main entrance and had the task of re-routing a potentially difficult audience; mums on the habitual school run. How did they solve it? A bloody big red nudge you can't argue with.

I just can't make up my mind if this is just the blindingly obvious, or if there is something more in it.

hello london

Thank you Open House.

micro economics

There seems to be a right amount of chat around twitter and the use business's can put it to at the minute. There's even whole conferences dedicated to the holy grail of finding a realistic ROI in twitter for brands. Very few business's seem to be cracking it though.

To me it's a micro media so hence the returns are going to be based in a micro economy. The small stuff that money can't normally buy. A great example of this for me was when I arrived at Do the first people I met were the wash up volunteers (above), it quickly became apparent that they'd all got their jobs via twitter and answering this post. As did the wonderful Ben, Do second assistant extraordinaire (below). Now there's a return on investment; lots of smart and motivated people who are there for the right reasons without a hint of a recruitment agent.

Another great example is Lucky Voice's twitter feed. With under 2,000 followers they're not going to win any awards for reach. But every time they go opportunist, and fill karaoke rooms that would otherwise be empty, they're picking up on micro economics one transaction at a time.

a nudge in the right direction

There's an interesting thread of thought on the RSA design & behaviour blog about nudges and resourcefulness (in the context of us becoming an infantilised society). I'm reading Nudge at the minute, and getting pretty interested in this whole behavioural economics thing. So I got really interested when Mr Vagabond spoke about a sign at Ayers Rock (at the Do Lectures last week) that prompts tourists not to climb the rock in respect for Aboriginal beliefs. 

It got me thinking about well placed nudges that can help us to stop and question our values & beliefs before making decisions (whilst still allowing people to be resourceful and make their own decisions). Another example being the Radiohead pay as much as you like album, which urged the consumer to question their own values to resourcefully decide on the albums worth to them individually. I think we could do with a few more nudges that make us think, especially around real ethical everyday decisions that would otherwise see us just follow the heard.

i need a new boss

I need a new boss. Someone to take over where Shrimp, Bullock and Dan left off. Someone to be our communications and media expert at innocent. I'll work hard, tell you all about what brands can learn from Colin/ attack submarines/ coal mining, and make sure we do loads of really interesting stuff. And you'll help me to make the stuff I do at the minute even bigger and better, teach me loads of new things (that I'll probably put on this blog and pretend were my idea) all while working in one of the most inspiring brands and team of smart people in the country. It'll be great, trust me. 

If you fancy it go here then here. Opportunities like this don't come around that often so be quick, applications close on Sept 25th.

Bandanas optional.