The Millennium Marketer

I hate to say this, but I didn’t get to make it to Social Media Camp. And it’s really a transparency thing than anything else to admit it, since I promised I might write something. I watched a few tweets during the day from @marianne_m from wordpress, @chrisheuer (but of course!) and @Pistachio talking about some Tweetups for Blogher also happening this week.

Things got a little crazy today. I have to say though, I have my eye pointed towards the social media horizon and I am going to get my questions answered.

This is the height of geekdom.
I didn’t really know what I was signing up for when I registered. All I knew is that it was on Yahoo! Upcoming and it looked like it was happening on a good day.

The details:
BarCamp from Noon to 4 p.m. at Swedish American Hall.
On Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/859363/

I just realized that this is a BarCamp. If you don’t know what BarCamp is it is a gathering of people discussing a subject, and it’s unorganization at its best. People go, and they say, “What do you want to talk about?” and then the discussion begins. I had a taste of this at Web 2.0 Expo where there were Birds of a Feather and Web2Open sessions. They were about the same flavor: a bunch of people discussing something they were interested in.

I’m not really sure what it is that I am getting myself into, but it should be an interesting discussion and a deep dive into the social media fishbowl. Plus there is a party afterwards from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. with Mashable. I’m planning to asking a few folks there, “Why did you come here, what attracted you, etc” and I want to see exactly how “niche” the social media crowd is….is it birds of a feather flock together or rather people of different strokes learning from one another?

There have been some ongoing conversations this week where people are saying, “Should I join Plurk?” or “I joined Plurk…am figuring this out.”

I say, who cares? We’re so caught up in how many people are following us or how many people we are following. I’m bemused at my current follower to following ratio of 73% because I know it’s the high school instinct of “wanna be popular” kicking in every time I take a look at those numbers. Then again, there are a few “spammy” followers who want to say, “Hey I’m a company you should know about” or “I have a blog you should read.”

Followers like “CashGiftingPays”…I’ve now caught up to your games and I’m saying, dude that does not work. I’m getting over the excitement of having followers, so there!

Here is my personal policy on “following.” I think marketers have to pay attention to this because I’m not talking about simply advertising things. I am talking about engaging your consumers.

Let’s not forget that the value in any one of these tools is in the conversations that we have with one another. At least that is true for me. I look at the links that people attach to their brief 140 word bios to see if they are worth following. If you are a business trying to say, “Hey, I’m here, and I’m following you,” that doesn’t create any relevance.

I follow people I admire and also my due diligence in following others back as a thank you. These make up my group of peers and mentors. Then, there is a third group of people who are the most serendipitous: the ones I start having conversations with elsewhere. They make up mainly two groups of people
1) Co-workers, meaning people I work with on projects of interest
2) Fellow bloggers

The value in this is having conversations that lead to events, the discovery of new tools and new insights, and most importantly having a supporter or two in my daily life in a space that is still very elusive to most.

So, before you join Plurk and get all overexcited because you now have a new opportunity to be popular somewhere or follow social media gurus like a sheep following the herd, think it through. (I am guilty of both) but I think in the case of Twitter and sometimes FriendFeed, it was a good move. I am learning so much from everyone.

Do you really need a new app to manage and are you having solid authentic conversations right now? Make sure you have friends, fans or followers that you can trust and give them the quality time that they need. Find quality conversations instead of quality apps.

Also, if you are someone with a ton of followers, does it creep you out when you get a few more? For example, I follow people I respect and/or admire, but would you find this weird?

This in vague response to: Human3rror.com, What the Plurk?

Gas prices are at an all time high, vacation is going local, the housing market is facing bubble deflation, the war in Iraq hasn’t ended, but despite all of this, some pop music may suggest that there is still an overall optimism in the US. This is by no means a well researched conclusion, but simply a personal life observation.

This morning while at the DMV, I read a few case studies in the Li and Bernoff’s Groundswell (yes still reading it right now) about people who have successfully dissented against companies and organizations.

These seeds planted connected me to the suggestions made by a couple of popular songs on the alternative radio station, which targets a rough group of high schoolers to people in their mid 30s. It’s not the first time that pop culture dictates the zeitgeist. Take the Punk era of the 1970s and 80s, or the Beatles in the 60s.

Now, take a look at a ‘08 song called “Handlebars” by the Flobots, which suggests that the average person can do anything they choose to do with just a little imagination.

Look at me/Look at me/Just called to say that it’s good to be/ALIVE In such a small world/All curled up with a book to read/I can make money open up a thrift store/I can make a living off a magazine/I can design an engine sixty four/Miles to a gallon of gasoline/I can make new antibiotics/I can make computers survive aquatic conditions/I know how to run a business

Social media is really empowering the Groundswell way beyond the needs of marketers and consumers. It may be blatantly obvious, but it is influencing culture in subtle ways. Social media is creating decentralized organizations, promoting democratization where consumers will demand more services and have the need to feel in control. Beyond this, there is the ability to start a business and age is no barrier. Box.net founder, Aaron Levie, is 23, Sumaya Kazi is 25, Zuckerberg is the same age as my sister–24! (Edit: just because all these people are on the same line doesn’t mean they are alike. They are all entrepreneurs and all very different people!)

Also, there are many others like Trisha Okubo who stand on their soapboxes, and provide a community service answering the old question, “What should I wear?” This means it’s not companies and fashion shows dictating what “real people” should wear.

And most of all, if we are dissatisfied with a company or a product, we don’t like something we can “start a riot,” says a Three Days Grace song:

If you feel so empty/So used up, so let down/If you feel so angry/So ripped off so stepped on/You’re not the only one/Refusing to back down/You’re not the only one/So get up…Let’s start a riot

Organizations that are still operating on traditional business models where there are rules and restrictions and the need to control rather than empower your customers need to take heed. If this kind of mentality is pervasive in youth through traditional means of pop culture and music, your customers are going to demand that your organizations are transparent internally, and that you have a culture that they can admire.

Any other songs that you’ve noticed show this spirit of “I can do anything”? Feel free to comment! This could be the start of a new Muxtape called Social Media Zeitgeist!

(Picture source: Women 2.0 website)

Some time ago, when I went to Girl Geeks dinner, which Angi Chang organized in January for Women 2.0. You’ll remember this from a previous post. Well, unfortunately for everyone, I got your attention and did not offer a follow up on the Girl Geeks dinner, so here’s to making up to a super ADD audience. (fingers crossed)

This is what I wanted to know:

How do you deal with fear when you know you’re about to do something huge (like start your own company)?

All the ladies had some really great answers: you just have to get over your fears, use it as motivation and go forward. Well, after a few months, I put my fear aside to get what I really wanted and pressed Leah Culver with a few extra Q&A. Leah Culver is pretty cool. While entrepreneurs can seem superhuman, Leah is real, and transparency is important in social media.

If you’re curious about her thoughts on being a young company founder, look inside. Also, as I often ask, she’s got some good advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

(more…)