xoxoANP!

Previously: Intro; Summary

Whereas web surfers demanded free shipping, instant answers, and a good game of whack-o-mole from their 1.0 experience, today’s increasingly sophisticated web users seek spaces that allow them to amplify their sense of self. These activities of selfhood, as defined by Michael Barrett, Chief Revenue Officer at Fox Interactive Media, include self-expression, discovery, and interaction. Conn Fishburn, Director of Social Media Strategy at Yahoo!, described the thrust of today’s web user as: “I want to talk about me.” Whether that “me” wants to explore sports, cooking, pets, or a good game of whack-o-mole, Web Surfer 2.0 craves a platform that lets them be themselves –and, not just their “online self.” In fact, the supposed bifurcation between one’s offline self and online self is vanishing; younger generations find such a distinction puzzling at best.

So, how can social media platforms meet the needs of this evolved web user?

SMPs need to provide the tools that enable self-expression, discovery, and interaction. Tools for self-expression would include – but not, lest any of you readers moonlight as counsel, be limited to – customizable profiles, ability to upload user-created videos or music, blogs, and photo albums. These tools turn the SMP into an extension of the member’s living room, where his sofa, music, photo albums, and home videos are reflections of his personality. While some of us may find black leather couches, Barry White, and piles of photos of a red Iroc-Z distressingly obvious, the social media platform that helps the evolved web user express their tastes – no matter how un-evolved – will have met a basic requirement.

Often, the tools for self-expression dovetail neatly with tools of discovery, which include the profiles of other people, groups, forums, topical channels, events, job listings, and all the media generated by fellow social network members. This allows the user to get up from the couch of their own profile and start wandering around the living rooms of their friends, acquaintances, and even complete strangers. Depending on the social network, members may even be afforded an MTV Cribs-like opportunity to pilfer through the spaces of celebrities, rock stars, and public figures.

Proper tools for discovery then frame the interaction space, the final piece of the selfhood-fulfilling triumvirate. Comments on blogs and other UGC, setting up events, and adding new friends turn the atomized living rooms of the social network into the time-shifted dull roar of a vibrant, place-shifted community.

Within this framework of an active community, members now have access to the plethora of tools (video and photo-sharing, blogs, et cetera) that enable the velocity of all three aspects of selfhood. A member happens upon a video of a model tumbling on the catwalk, can express their sense of humor by posting this to their profile and/or sharing with their friends; their friends then watch the video and can interact and respond how they choose: chastising their friend’s insensitivity to the plight of a teenager in 4” platforms, or chuckle loudly and post the video on their own blog. The prevalence and ease of use of these tools means that content can pass hands quickly. No need for some poor soul to transcribe information for weeks with a quill onto bark before handing off to a man on a horse; within minutes the entire conversation outlined above can commence and complete, all within a social media platform.

Tools that hover above and across social networks aid in this velocity: Widgets, badges, and other viral syndication applications allow members to “grab it, send it, post it” with ease. When embedding widgets into your profile or as a comment on other media is as easy as copy-and-paste, the speed at which user-generated media passes hands is limited only by the ease in which one can hit CTRL-V.

The more SMP elements a user can tailor, the better. For example, developing a media player framework that allows customization empowers members with one more tool for self-expression. Letting members tweak the copy in the “invite friends” email is another way they can feel community ownership.

Given what we know about the kinds of tools and spaces that members need to enhance their sense of self, what does this mean for SMPs? From a functionality perspective, a platform needs to do what it can to enable to “momentum effect”, the velocity by which user-generated content is passed around to networks of friends. If a member sees a sponsored skin and adds it to their profile, the network needs to simplify the process for announcing this (bulletin board messages or mass messages to friends aid in the pass-along) and allowing the members’ friends to add the skin to their own profile. And then, domino-like, all the friends of friends are exposed to the skin. Think of it as the reverse containment approach.

Social networks can also tailor their offerings to align member interests with network interests. Active members are revenue-generating members. But how to drive activity? Contests that involve voting are a great way to do this. Contests for bands mean that friends tell their friends to vote, and on, and on.

Dustin Johnson, the Director of Engagement at Modernista!, offered specific tips for community building:

1. Make it easy at the start. What may seem like a minus if a platform can’t deliver certain features at launch may turn out to be a plus, as users orient themselves to your community and learn, over time, how to use the tools.
2. Find a passion. Polarizing characters lend themselves easily to passion. If there’s a controversial discussion taking place, or a member posts a potentially divisive journal entry, why not let it bubble to the “Most discussed” portion of your site, allow it even broader exposure, and then follow up over the next few days with a “Was it controversial to include this on the home page? Talk back …” article? Passion gets folks involved, and involved folks are active folks, and active folks drive revenue.
3. Don’t force it. The social network needs to be natural to existing community. If the community isn’t responding to your contest to upload user-generated video, stop asking them to upload user generated video every week. Listen to your members.
4. Plan for failure. Contingency plan, contingency plan, contingency plan. Just like any other line of business, you’ve got to assume the worst and design pre-emptive strategies to combat.
5. Learn to love the partners. Rarely do companies build social media platforms in a bubble; appreciation and respect for the myriad partners with whom one must work to achieve results is not only important business practice, but necessary for personal sanity. Can’t respect ‘em? At some point, it may be necessary to make the hard decision to cut your losses.
6. Don’t fear technology. Online marketers who can’t rip into source code and make some sense of it have always made me nervous. This is especially true in this world, where sixteen year olds regularly hack into code to “pimp out their profiles”. If your users understand the basics of the web better than you do, that’s a problem, and will greatly hamper your ability to creatively design solutions for whatever challenges may arise.
7. Pace yourself. Have a schedule of promotions and new stuff at the ready, but don’t make a candlelight dinner, go on a carriage ride, and send four dozen roses on your first date. (See also: tip #1.)
8. Try, fix, and try again. And in order to fix, you’ve gotta be listening to the needs of your advertisers and members while heeding (and / or addressing) the limitations of your platform.
9. Pray.

But what do social media platforms need to keep in mind as they fumble towards authenticity? As Jim Nail, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at TNS Media Intelligence / Cymfony noted, “The hardest thing for marketers to do is to be human.” But being open and direct with members is a good way to build trust and rapport, and helps the members feel like the community is their own. This is exactly the feeling a community wants to engender in its membership: “This town belongs to us!” not, “We’re stuck in our parents’ basement.” With a feeling of ownership comes community, and then you can start to do things like crowd-source support or create advertising platforms around user-generated content.

Since social media is, as Conn Fishburn described, a “conversation that happens among relative peers,” social media platform providers must remember a key differentiator of web 2.0 from 1.0: an improvement to the problem of democracy. The democratic web is one where any yokel with an Internet connection can post and respond to anything. It’s flat, it’s accessible, and it’s as easy as 1-2-3 to receive filthy emails in response to an innocuous Craigslist ad trying to sell a used bicycle. The democratic web makes it possible for anyone to connect with anyone, without accountability, and with anonymity. Turns out? Web-mediated democracy’s a mite yucky.

But as SMP members create their own network of friends, not only are they insulating themselves from the pesky problem of “We’re all anonymous and irresponsible friends here”, but they’re also creating built-in psychographic and demographic buckets. As I’ll discuss further in the next section, a social network that can take advantage of user-created sub-audiences will help advertisers deliver an exceptional experience, as they can reach the masses with a primary message and build niche messages or micro-sites for the more “sophisticated” users.

So what tools specific to user-centered enlightened despotism should the network provide? Basic ‘friending’ tools and the ability to determine how connected you are to any other member in the network help solve the Craigslist problem. In addition, the ability to block users and flag inappropriate content will further help users police the social network as a whole, as well as define their personal subdivision.

In sum: SMPs need to provide tools for self-expression, discovery, and interaction. Members need to be able to:

• Customize their individual profile
• Upload UGC
• Surf others’ profiles
• Join groups
• Comment on other members’ UGC
• Communicate with their friends and/or otherwise aide in pass-along and the momentum effect
• Define their own interaction space by limiting those they interact with
• Et cetera

What will the social media platform (SMP) that conducts a first-principles’ needs’ assessment – and then delivers – receive in return? SMPs that provide members with tools that enable selfhood will be rewarded with free stuff: free content, free media impressions, and real customer endorsements. UGC, mined appropriately, is also a treasure trove for research and development.

So this informs how members interact with their media platform. But how are they relating to commercial messages in this environment?

To be continued