Facebook Comments Plugin: Sanity Now?

Network, Social Media No Responses »
Mar 032011

Facebook has announced major improvements and export agreements for its comment plugin and overall conversation tracking mechanisms.  This may spell very bad news for software providers specializing in reviews and comment threads, such as Bazaarvoice, Disqus, or Pluck.  However, it may actually be beneficial for the mainstream content providers such as newspapers, magazines, and other “wide audience” publications.  If you’ve ever tried to sort through the comments on something like Newsweek or Time or (FSM help you) USAToday or CNN, you’ll realize why: the current comment thread mechanisms aren’t worth a damn thing.

As I’ve discussed previously, when a topic is “too broad” or “too common”, the comment threads or other discussion mechanisms quickly break down into partisan hackery and senseless name-calling flamewars.  Godwin’s Law is in full effect here, but is preceded with an endless stream of poor grammar, juvenile goofs, and spambots.  This is especially true where any subjective topic is in play (which covers most news topics, and anything close to the entertainment industry).

So how might Facebook’s comment regime change things?  Well, for the simple fact that these people’s comments will (should or must, IMHO) be viewed by all of their friends on Facebook.  Would you write that screed against the [republicans/democrats/two party system] if you knew that all your friends would read your poorly worded rantings?  Would you still use all those cuss words?  For most of us, I hope not.  Sure, for some of the giftedly-miscreant juveniles, the ability to post a rant against shoegazers on MTV.com and Facebook simultaneously will only encourage such poor commenting behaviour, but we already know where those places are, and they get what they deserve.

I sincerely hope that more mainstream content sites will adopt the Facebook comment plugin, but only if they absolutely enforce the rule that all comments MUST also appear on the contributor’s facebook wall.  Let the peer-shaming begin!  (After all, tomorrow is National Grammar Day; so sharpen your knives and gerund phrases.)

Posted by Dave at 12:31 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

Selling out the guest list

ecommerce No Responses »
Jul 252010

I’ve often described social media as a cocktail party– there are various types and levels of interaction, and there are some basic rules of etiquette.  As host of the party, facebook has a tough balancing act: give out all that functionality for free while keeping the lights on. Well, it looks like they just sold the guest list.

We’ll see what effect this has, but I think it will be marked as an error after a while. I’ll have to think on this one some more: it’s a step toward a more connected intarwebs, but it also exposes the relationship between company and person. It all comes down to your personal delusion of privacy.

Thanks Harry for the link.

Posted by Dave at 9:54 am Tagged with: , ,

Online Community = Pub Topics

Social Media, ecommerce 4 Responses »
Jul 222010

Cocktail party by Mike Jones

When you’re at the pub, what do you talk about?  Your car? Your weekend?  Your golf game?  Your new tasty favorite indie band?  FSM help you if you talk about work– boring.  When you’re online, what do you chat/write/blog/tweet about?  Sure, we geeks talk about the biz and tools and sites and Steve Jobs gossip– but that’s part of our job.  If it really were free time, what would you really write about?  And where would you write it?

Watching the online online communities mature, I’ve noticed that people progress along a path:

  • First, they blabber anything just for the sake of blabbering.  This is really just experimenting with the toolset for most.
  • Second, they share everything they see and read and link, until they realize that everyone else is linking/sharing the exact same stuff.
  • Third, people settle into their “thing”: constant updates of their children, their home business, political rants, mindless blogospam.  Here’s where people’s idiosyncrasies start to show up.  To quote John Worfin, “Character is what you are in the dark.”
  • Eventually, people resort to the same topics they like in the pub: politics, their children’s sports, luxury vacations, and making up historical  facts.

That covers Facebook and twitter for most people (twitter is more gossip-y, but whatever).  But what about an online community based on a catalog ecommerce site, or a specifically-themed site?  The one thing all the visitors to that site is the stuff that’s for sale, so this becomes the dominant topic for the online community.  At some sites, this works, other sites bomb miserably.  Why?  What is the difference?  Where is that line?

Likely:

  • Woot.com – wins because all visitors are bargain hunters, and are happy to share juicy details on the deals.  We see this in real life where people brag about the coupons they clipped or the steals they got at Try-n-Save.
  • SteapandCheap.com – wins because of the same reasons that woot.com wins, but even better because these people all share a leisure activity: they ski (or snowboard or hike… er… they go outdoors)
  • Any catalog that is basically a technical sale: consumer electronics, exercise equipment, software, new cars, gardening tools.  If you think you’re the neighborhood expert, congratulations on becoming the new King of the Online Community.  Online dashboards are great for this.
  • Politico.com – wins because all those ranters who alienated their friends on facebook with their hatred of Presi-senato-gressman Blankenstien now have a home where they can win Free Internets with the other crazies (just like the bars in Dupont Circle)  Online dashboards are also great for this, but only to show who is the biggest d-bag.

Not Likely:

  • VictoriasSecret.com – Who wants to brag about their lingerie?  TMI.  Questions & Answers generally wouldn’t work for personal apparel.  The most obvious question “will this fit me?” has the most obvious answer: “I have no idea who you are, so how the hell would I know?”
  • Vehix.com – mostly used cars, which means that deals are not repeatable– it does no use bragging about your good deal, no one cares. The same goes for any one-off item.
  • fandango.com – tickets to movies (which people _do_ discuss at length in pubs), but Fandango is a ticket site– nobody has seen these movies yet, and they certainly don’t want to hear the ending.  BTW, Inception is all inside Leo DeCaprio’s head because he’s insane!!

So, will your website be able to build a community successfully?  Will you really be able to plug it back in to increased user-generated content about your products?  I would suggest that the ‘tell’ is rather simple: would people talk about your goods in a pub?  Would they mention your stuff at a cocktail party?

Posted by Dave at 7:08 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Facebook should be nationalized

Network, United States 2 Responses »
Feb 202009

Nationalization protest marchThe haters are out, there is no profitability on the horizon.  Facebook is definitely well on it’s way to Stage 5 of the cocktail party: the cool kids are leaving, only the hucksters and sham artist are left.  This party is no longer cool.

At the same time, we have a new administration that owes its existence and success to a mass movement of online communities binding together around key issues.  That same administration is now trying to rally an even larger group– all 310 million of us– around key points of its agenda.   Back in the 50s, the Feds would have duped Jimmy Stewart into making a propaganda film.  That won’t work anymore.  Thanks to those hippies over at the ACLU, the government cannot invade our privacy.

If only there were some way to get down to a majority of the citizenry, and find out their known associates, their political and sexual preferences, and their GPS coordinates.  If only there were some network out there where people were ready to hand over all this information in exchange for some cheap games and zombie bites.

The federal government should nationalize Facebook.  It’s not seeing any profit, yet it is sitting on top of an incredible amount of personal information, all surrendered willingly.  The Obama administration could forward its plans at the grass roots level.  Anyone who doesn’t play ball could be outted to their friend list.  Together with Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates on terrorist threat levels and natural disasters, the Federal Government could finally achieve the true Jeffersonian democracy mass movement that has stood as an idealistic utopia since– well– Plato’s Republic.

Nationalize Facebook Now!

Posted by Dave at 5:30 pm Tagged with: , , ,

So, you’re on facebook– So what?

Network, United States 11 Responses »
Jan 122008

red_bull_at_x13_050807sk02.jpgSomeone I know is writing a book titled So You’re on Facebook, Now What? From what I can tell, it centers on how to build a commercial profile on facebook, and how to increase your visibility. Hmmm… I admit to having some doubts about this. We all make money on the stupid Intarweb in some way or another, but it seems to me that the social networks are like parties that progress through stages:

  • stage 1: not many people – this might be lame
  • stage 2: okay, some people are showing up – let’s stick around and see what happens
  • stage 3: wow– there’s some cool people here, and i’m a little drunk. Fun!
  • stage 4: rager! holy shit! look how many people are here! We can do anything! (let’s steal ketchup from the fridge and throw it into the street!!!)
  • stage 5: waaay too many people. The cops are gonna show up, and people are pushing and shoving, and i can’t hear anything you’re saying right now. This is lame.

MySpace progressed through to stage 5 rather quickly. Facebook is somewhere in stage 4. The problem I have with this book is the purposeful, driven, crass commercial intention of it. Just like that party, imagine the college friend of yours who comes through the crowds and pushes the Red Bull stickers and is trying to get you to buy pre-paid long distance cards. Meh– dork alert. Once the businesses are actively pushing their agendas on the crowd, the sponteneity, the fun interaction, the conversation, the party, begins it’s messy end. The cool kids head for a different darker smokey club, and the only ones left are the hucksters all trying to sell each other something.

I’ve already started to kill all the goofy apps from my facebook. I only check the thing once every 4 days or so now (down from my temp addiction of 2x/day last month). It’s nice to keep a line out to my old friends, and the moment I let it get past that, it’s no better than reality TV or mindless webtrash.

My advice? Be very very careful how you sell your shit on facebook– you may do more damage to your brand than you think.  If the social network angle makes sense (some sort of friend interaction like wish lists or music tastes), maybe.  If you’re just blabbing to the masses, get out.

Posted by Dave at 12:12 am Tagged with: , ,
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