The Wall Street Journal’s “Selling You on Facebook,” examines the Facebook-based economy for gathering and selling personal information. Going forward, these companies–and Facebook–will have to weigh the importance of building trust with their customers against how aggressively they will pursue their revenue streams.
Wael Ghonim, the 29-year-old Google marketing executive who launched Egypt’s spring awakening in 2010, has just come out with a book about it.
“Revolution 2.0,” is not just a detailed look at the events that led to that astonishing event; it is, as reviewer Jose Antonio Vargas describes, “a book about social media for people who don’t think they care about social media.”
Early on Ghonim realized that “maintaining an informal, authentic tone was crucial to amassing allies.” He shares much more insight about how his careful use of social media launched a revolution — one he never dreamed of when he created a Facebook page out of anger, frustration and hope. It is as inspiring as it is instructive.
SmartBlog on Social Media is an excellent resource for businesses (and anyone) wanting to keep abreast of social media trends. If you prefer information delivered to you, SmartMedia editors hand-pick the most relevant and important social media news from all over, summarize it, link to the original sources and deliver it in a daily e-newsletter.
One example is a recent article about how Fortune 500 use of social media is slowing. According to “The 2011 Fortune 500 and Social Media Adoption: Have America’s Largest Companies Reached a Social Media Plateau?,” the use of blogging, Twitter, and Facebook among the nation’s largest companies has leveled off. The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts conducted the study. (more…)
Last week Chartis launched ReputationGuard, the newest sign that reputation management is becoming big business. ReputationGuard is an insurance policy that provides “cutting-edge coverage against publicity that puts reputation and brand image at stake.” Specifically, “executive scandals, questions about product safety, data breaches, litigation and other negative publicity that can become front page news and quickly impact reputation or brands.”
ReputationGuard gives policyholders access to a panel from PR firms Burson-Marsteller and Porter Novelli, which will provide strategic guidance and implementation support on critical issues when needed.
Last spring, Burson-Marsteller suffered a reputation issue when it was accused of attempting to instigate a smear campaign on behalf of its client, Facebook, against Google. (I blogged about the incident in May.) Chartis has its own experience with crisis management, having been part of AIG during that conglomerate’s meltdown. (Chartis renamed itself to distance itself from AIG, an effective tactic.)
The entrance of both firms into the reputation management industry after rebounding from their own crises can only enrich the field. Welcome.
The Gallup Management Journal has just released an article debunking popular myths of social media’s impact on consumer behavior. It might surprise you.
Here are the top three conclusions of authors Blaise James, Senior Practice Expert for Gallup, and Jim Asplund, Gallup’s Chief Scientist, Strengths-Based Development and Performance Impact Consulting.
• Social media initiatives do not drive customer loyalty and acquisition.
• Social networking predominately happens offline.
• People use social networks in very different ways— and for very different reasons.
Some time ago, Malcolm Gladwell was criticized for claiming that as social media’s use grows, the importance of personal relationships will rise.
Continuing that thought, the Gallup survey shows that key influencers on consumers’ choices of companies, brands, products and services are the opinions of the people they have the closest relationships to.
Gallup has a deep-seated reputation for delivering accurate research about what people are thinking. So this finding should resonate with companies experimenting with using social media platforms as brand ambassadors.
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