one part truth, two parts mixer

Action man

The idea that we need to consider a "return on action" defined by quality of action was something that really stuck with me from Cindy's talk.

It's an interesting way of considering the value of engagement. We use the digital/social equivalents of mass awareness figures from the old world of advertising to measure success of campaigns in this space, i.e. likes, hits, fans. But always volume. The main problem with this is that apart from average time on site there arent' many metrics that meaningfully measure engagement unless an action is required.

Going to start thinking about building actions into the work I do. I feel like we've made a move in this direction with the work we've done on Parents for Playgrounds, but we could do so much more!

 

Census

My census form has been giving me accusing looks as I keep putting it in piles of things to do later. I'm wondering whether the Jedi-religion thing last time was a clever ploy by the Census people to make more young people fill it in.

#ads

In the future will we have to specify if we have a vested interest in the stuff we're promotion in our personal communications? Hashtag #ad or something.

The Dopplr effect

Remember the wonderful Dopplr annual report (I never travel anywhere, so mine is always a bit dull - but still a great idea)? I was wondering why gyms don't do this for their customers.

Maybe I've just answered my own question: because people would realise their membership is severely underused, bad value and cancel.

But seeing as they collect data about how often you go to the gym anyway, offering this service to your premier users would be great. Imagine if all the machines were RFID tagged and talked to your card? Next level.

Anyway, I hope they bring back the Dopplr annual report. I'd like to make sure I'm still travelling as fast as a duck.

Participation is not activism

"Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires." Malcolm Gladwell

Full article here. Via Nick

New privacy rules

Just thinking that I'm much more stringent about who I let see my information on Facebook* than on Twitter, but that I share much more personal and intimate information (well, the amount of cake I eat) on the latter.

*Although who knows how that's been compromised with the new privacy settings.

Webisode is a rubbish word

Just saw The Pedigree Adoption Drive on TIGS. Interested by the fact that the story episodes are released when the current episode reaches 25k views. Still hate dogs though.

Automatic updates

Just read about Last Night's Check-ins on Noah Brier's blog. It's a service that sends you a daily email summary of your Foursquare check-ins from the night before. It's a useful service, but only if you remember to check-in via Foursquare in the first place!

For me personally technology plays second fiddle to humans, and unless someone not present might need directions, my phone is generally hidden away and forgotten the minute I meet people. I like the idea of Foursquare, but to fully engage with it I need to create a new habit, and we all know how hard behavioural change is to implement. 

Could you build in an automatic update function, whereby if you're in the same place for 30 minutes your phone automatically lets Foursquare know where you are? Or how do I train myself to check-in?

I'mma let you finish

A lifetime ago, when #IPASocial was almost a trending topic, I spotted this comment by Crispin Heath's on Amelia's principle:

"One of the most interesting things I noted from the recent developers presentation of Google Wave was that they have built in functionality that allows you to start generating a response before the person you're communicating with has actually finished their reply.

This effectively replicates one of the least useful characteristics of human communication i.e. a speedy response rather than a considered one, that takes into account what has been communicated, not what you think is going to be communicated."

Reminded me of this quote that I really liked in Herd:

Just one of things that you never really thought about, but when someone points out creates a little spark.

Herds and wom

Since IPA Social, I've been thinking thinking a lot about how we are still trying to use social media to do broadcast marketing. Hell, I'll admit that I've (misguidedly) used the word 'advocate' in a presentation. Then I picked up Herd last night for the first time in weeks and realised that that Mark Earls had articulated what I was thinking about quite neatly: