Brian Feener

I’m not even going to comment on how many times there was gratuitous product placement.  I get it. (”This pizza moment was brought to you by DiGiornio!”)

Not concerned with how many times they referred people to Twitter, even though I think that for corporate entities, the Twitter world is never going to be a cash cow.

I’m not even worried that there is a category called “Favorite Web Celeb.” (Samberg was robbed!!)

I’m just shocked that News Corp still cares about MySpace. They bought up space on every award winner’s super.  So that now I know not to go to the official Twilight site but myspace.com/twilight.

To me, this just confirms that MySpace is now an entity that’s more like YouTube than it is Facebook.  MySpace is a content management system with some profile features.  That’s it.  And with the full-blown corporate integration, my question is “why cheapen yourselves?”

Aren’t we at a point that the public can handle an “official site?”  Is it that hard to develop a widget to take comments on the official site?  What is MySpace giving people that can’t be found elsewhere?  It’s not a great social networking site (at least in U.S. terms).  It’s  not a great layout.  It’s not very friendly after you get more than 200 spammy comments…

The answer: It’s cheap and easy.  And we know what happens to things that are cheap and easy….

(Want a social network?  Get Ning. For all the controversy that surrounds him, 50 Cent uses this site for his ThisIs50 site and does a great job.)

There’s no easy solution to making a successful marketing campaign, but setting a goal of “generating buzz” isn’t going to guarantee any sort of victory in the end.   Buzz isn’t worth anything anymore.  There are too many things buzzing at the same time.

The Beatles had buzz in the 60’s.  There were three television channels.

The Vines had buzz in 2007.  And they’re not exactly tearing up the radio  right now.

In the end, the goal has to be converting to sales (registrations, whatever).  MySpace, Twitter, Facebook are nothing but the salesman knocking on the door to sell the vacuum.  Or a call from the telemarketer.   Sure, there may be an answer here and there, and a sale here and there, but is it really worth it?

There’s a reason that MySpace won… and then Facebook won… and now Twitter is winning.  This space is too hard to monetize on a consistent basis.  Attention is too short.  Things that were cool start being lame.  Tastes change.

Maybe I’m wrong.  Use the comments.

Bold prediction: Facebook is 24 months away from being as relevant as MySpace is in 2009.

The more stuff like Facebook Connect pushes every single action/comment power users do on the web into the site, the less people are going to use it. Tech companies are regularly recommending integrating it, and, while potentially good for the clients, it’s going to be tech like this that’s going to DESTROY Facebook.

It’s more fun to have an exclusive party than go to one where everyone has to stand in line at the bar. Facebook stopped being a cool secret.

Plus, Zuckerberg is obsessed with Twitter. … He turns over the home page of the site every 6 months. … He had a terrible time selling Beacon to the public and clearly had some hubris issues in the planning phase (though kudos for taking it behind the woodshed as quickly as he did). … People I talk to are calling it boring and the novelty of status the updates has worn off. It’s got a fantastic photo application but more and more people I know are “untagging” everything. The core group of users who started using it first came out in college are getting older and, from a technology standpoint, the new group of users are from a different generation (both way younger and way older). Kids don’t use AIM- they text instead. I never had texts in high school. …. Parents are starting to get profiles to get back in touch with old high school classmates and reconnect with old flames. (The site is being cited in divorce cases on a regular basis: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6857918/Facebook-fuelling-divorce-research-claims.html ).

It’s a different set of people doing considerably more (or considerably less) than the site was originally built to do. Twitter came out and people can bullshit with each other easier and faster. MySpace was supposed to last forever right? AOL?

…and from a revenue standpoint, the site has never been in a better position. It’s going to pass MySapce for social networking ad revenue. So why stop the train while the dough is rolling in?

24 months.

Update:

Unprompted, I found this on my news feed….

So you can add that to the reasons above: too many mobile alerts that just get annoying after a while.

I think we’re all trying to figure out if Twitter is working. It seems to be by these stats (Jul 1 Through Aug 22) that the the social networking is as effective as any other type of marketing when looking at the quality of traffic. So if you were hesitant to join Facebook or MySpace or Twitter… now you have a reason to.

Those Channing Frye people need to stop and smell the roses!

What can you do with a facebook group?  How can you turn it into something tangible?

We’re going to find out…

Hey all -

The American Marketing Society hasn’t spoken to me in a while (not that I know exactly what they do) and I got a little fed up with it. I thought that for a marketing society, they’d be able to find me. (A little ironic if you ask me.)

So, I’m not one to wait around - I’ve started a group on Facebook called the Society of Progressive Marketers. (For the record - no, I’m not anchored to that name; yes - I am being serious.)

This is and will always be a membership that costs $0.00 to join and who’s sole purpose is to make you a better marketer. That’s it. Nothing fancy, just some quality PBS-style broadcasting.

You’re all welcome to join. The more people involved, the better it’ll be. I’ll make sure of it.

Update: A Google group for those who don’t register for Facebook.  This will be for the newsletter ONLY.  All discussions will take place on the Facebook page (unless, of course I get critical mass).

What’s your worst fear when you go to a social networking site? (Use the comments.)

Mine is that all my information gets uploaded to this internet and I say “goodbye” to anything I wanted to keep private.

Well, thank you, Quetchup (NO! I’m not doing you the service of linking to you!) for making all of those fears come true. From Mashable.com:

The issue lies with their “check for friends” form: during signup you’re asked to enter your email address and password to see whether any of your friends are already on the service. Enter the password, however, and it will proceed to mail all your contacts without asking permission.

Ugh. I am disheartened every time there is a “service” to help people and all it does is take a giant step backwards in terms of social responsibility. With so many options out there, you can’t screw up once. When you do, it’s lights out and good night.

Quechup… we hardly knew ye. R.I.P.

External Link:
Are You Getting Quechup Spammed?