Are We Getting Addicted to Social Media?

By Mark Evans in Social Media 6 Comments Tags: , , ,

Are you addicted to social media? Do you find yourself incapable of not checking Twitter at all hour of the day? Do you squirm when you’re not able to check-in with Foursquare?

If so, you’re probably a social media addict. The good news is you’re not alone. According to a study be Retrevo, social media addiction is becoming increasingly common. For example, the study found that many people are checking Facebook and Twitter after going to bed, and that 56% of social media users check Facebook at least once a day.

Anecdotally, the proliferation of smartphones with Internet access is driving social media (an e-mail) addiction because it encourages this activity everywhere at anytime. The number of people walking around with their heads buried in a screen seems to be growing all the time. People are checking while watching a movie, having dinner, playing with their kids, riding a bike/car, exercising, having drinks with friends, and during meetings.

In the process, we’re losing our ability to focus on one thing at a time. Sure, we live in a multi-tasking world but social media has added yet another elephant into the room – an elephant that’s getting bigger all the time.

And you know social media addiction is only going to get worse with devices such as the iPad emerging onto the scene because the mobile experience will become even better.

As much as social media makes us feel connected and part of a bigger community, it’s also a huge time-suck that kills productivity. It’s not that spending time on social media is bad, it’s that we seem incapable of controlling our social media appetite.

One of the problems is there’s always new stuff to do – first it was blogging, then Facebook, then Twitter and now FourSquare and group-buying services such as GroupOn. At some point, it may get to the point where we’re all consumed by social media because we’re consuming so much of it.

Not to suggest that I’m not enthusiastic about social media but there is too much of a good thing.

Note: If you want to check your social media addiction, take this test.

Twitter Ads Won’t Work

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing, Social Media 9 Comments Tags: , , ,

With some time to think about Twitter’s foray into the world of advertising, I’ve come to the conclusion that, at best, it’s going to be a modest success.

It may generate enough revenue to support Twitter’s operations but likely nowhere near the money needed to justify $150-million of venture capital.

This “thesis” is based on the belief that companies using Twitter are already advertising, and they’re being successful because consumers don’t see it as advertising – nor do they find it intrusive.

Take Starbucks, for example, which has signed on as one of Twitter’s initial ad partners. With a significant Twitter footprint, Starbucks is effectively leveraging Twitter to do sales and marketing. The 844, 647 people who follow Starbucks have opted-in to receive “advertisements”. The same goes for people who follow Dell’s @delloutlet, which has 1.56 million followers.

The difference between having an active, marketing-focused Twitter account that consumers find interesting, valuable and engaging, and advertising on Twitter is enormous. As wide is the gap between seeing Starbucks tweet about a new coffee promotion, and Starbucks insert a promotional tweet into your stream. The marketing efforts are one thing, advertising is another thing altogether.

Let’s me clear, Twitter will generate advertising revenue but it will be nowhere as successful as what Google has done because the relationship that people have with their Twitter streams is a lot more personal than seeing a sponsored box beside a search query.

Many companies realize that being active on Twitter and being a good citizen of the TwitterSphere is a lot more effective and less expensive than being an advertiser. If companies without a foothold on Twitter, advertising may offer  a short-cut but it won’t be as effective without a strong Twitter presence.

For more, here’s an article in the Washington Post’s Big Money, which points to Facebook’s struggles in attracting advertising as an illustration of “how hard it is to advertise against a social network”.

The Secret of Blogging Success

By Mark Evans in Blogs 6 Comments Tags: , ,

What makes a blog successful? Why do some blogs thrive while others struggle to attract any kind of readership?

If I knew the answers to these questions, Mark Evans Tech would be a TechCrunch or a Mashable as opposed to a modest little writing project that chugs along on enthusiasm, curiosity and early-morning coffee

My thoughts about blogging success versus blogging anonymity were sparked by a recent article in the Toronto Star about “1000 Awesome Things”, a blog devoted to putting the spotlight on life’s small pleasures – e.g. the smell of a bakery, catching food in your mouth or taking a spin on grocery cart.

The blog isn’t rocket science or amazing prose but, for whatever reason, it has resonated with people to the tune of 40,000 visits a day. Please don’t take my description as criticism because the writer, Neil Pasricha, has hit upon a wildly successful formula that has led to two Webby awards and a book, “The Book of Awesome”, that comes out this week.

The blog’s success is one of the reasons why blogging is so intriguing, exciting and mysterious. With no barriers to entry, the blogosphere welcomes with open arms anyone and everyone looking for a public platform. In theory, anyone has a shot at becoming a blogging superstar by simply having the right content at the right time that captures the imagination of lots of people.

Another great example of this phenomena is “Stuff White People Like”, which became all the rage by being different, quirky, irreverent and entertaining.

On the flipside, a blog that my brother, Sean, and I wrote for about a year called “Four Reasons Why” (which has disappeared into the digital ether) had very little success even though we thought it was creative, original and different.

Four Reasons Why offered four reasons about a wide variety of topics such as “Why Ketchup is Better than Mustard”, or “Why Thanksgiving is the Best Holiday of the Year”. It was a labour of love that eventually ran out of steam partly because the audience was so small.

1000 Awesome Thing’s success demonstrates one of the awesome things about blogging – the fact that anyone has a shot of making it..and making it big.

What do you think makes a blog successful? Are there any secrets?

More: Speaking of blogging and success, Tumblr has sort of rejected the idea of embracing advertising, according to the LA Times. “We’re pretty opposed to advertising,” said founder David Karp.

Free Ain’t Going Anywhere

By Mark Evans in Social Media, Uncategorized 3 Comments Tags: , ,

In the wake of Ning abruptly eliminating its ad-supported free networking service (and slashing 40% of its employees), there’s some chatter about the much-ballyhooed “free” falling out of favour.

It’s an expected reaction given Ning’s high profile and how its success in attracting users was so celebrated – some of it may have to do with the fact Marc Andreesssen of Netscape fame is an investor.

But the fact is free ain’t going anywhere any time soon.

As much start-ups need a way to make money other than counting on gettings lots of users that will attract advertisers, the idea of offering a free service is too easy, too compelling and has too much potential to discard.

There’s an inherent belief that free is just the way it is these days – a theory celebrated by books such as “Free” – and that consumers won’t pay to use online services. At the same time, a lot of people believe free has the ability to attract a critical mass of users that, in turn, will drive a start-up’s value from zero to 60.

Every entrepreneur and every investor believes this model is so compelling that to walk away from it would be idiotic. Just look at the growing number VC deals announced in recent months of free services.

As long as free is seen a high-octane growth engine (at least from a user perspective), it will continue to stay alive and well – buoyed by optimistic entrepreneurs and bullish investors.

That said, the upside of Ning’s decision is maybe it incites more discussion of the need to have a business beyond beyond just free. It could mean that freemium (a free basic service and a premium option for more features) will get more love and attention. Or it could mean that some online services – heaven forbid! – simply cost money to use.

Free ain’t going away but more people are discovering that the ugly, downside of free means it doesn’t generate any revenue to keep the lights on.

For more thoughts on how start-ups need to have a real business model, check out another one of my recent blog posts – “We’ll Figure it Out Later is Not a Business Model”.

Animated News Starts to Emerge

By Mark Evans in Media 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

A friend of mine, Mark Simon, was in town yesterday to talk about animated news, and how it is becoming increasingly popular with news organization as a way to tell stories in a different way.

For anyone not familiar with animated news, it involves the creation of video clips that depict events such as car accidents, crimes or natural disasters. Perhaps the most famous is the video of Tiger Woods’ now-infamous car accident last November.

Mark works for Next Media, which is owned by billionaire Jimmy Lai. Next Media operates a 197-person animated news production facility in Taipei, which produces eight videos a day. Its clients include the BBC and Reuters.

Animated news is already popular in Asia so it will be interesting to see if it catches on in North America.

Below is a video from Digital Journal of Mark talking about how Next Media got into the animated news business.

Blogging’s Back, Baby!

By Mark Evans in Blog Services 9 Comments Tags: , , ,

In a world dominated by tweets and updates, blogs don’t get as much love these days. No one sees blogs as sexy or overly interesting; they’re just a solid, if unspectacular, parts of the social media and online landscape.

What’s interesting, however, is I’m starting to see more interest in blogs from clients. Many of them are looking for ways to differentiate themselves and establish a stronger online presence so the idea of having a blog resonates for many reasons. This is a contrast to just a few months ago when Twitter and Facebook were viewed as the most attractive social media options, while blogging was seen as labour-intensive.

While Twitter and Facebook are still integral parts of the corporate social media arsenal, I think blogging is starting to regain some of its cache because a well-written blog can be a valuable way for companies to tell their stories – and at a time when there’s so much digital noise, the ability to tell a good story is more important than ever.

Another reason blogs are such a key part of a corporate social media program is they can be great content engines to support a company’s overall social media efforts by generating material for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

A good blog can be also used to support marketing and sales programs by serving as a living breathing entity that reflects a company’s thoughts, strategic positioning and new developments.

Truth be told, blogs are workhorses while Twitter and Facebook are the glamour twins. But for many companies, blogs are playing an important role by acting as the key pillar for their social media efforts. This is the big reason why blogs could make a comeback as companies see their value and have more resources to support them.

For more of my thoughts on blogging, check out this video by IT World Canada in which I explain some of the keys to successfully blogging.

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