Challis Hodge’s UXblog

In a recent study, ‘A Glimpse of the Next Episode‘, Nokia predicts that 25% of all ‘entertainment’ will be created, edited, and disseminated within peer groups rather than traditional media outlets.

“From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call ‘Circular’. The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups - a form of collaborative social
media,” said Mark Selby, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia.

What I find questionable about this prediction is not whether the technology will support the activities but rather will the output be entertainment at all?  I can’t help but wonder if we’ll be applying new technologies to a stagnant pool of inbred creative assets?

It’s always fascinating to watch the evolution of technology and the ways in which people adapt and apply it in ways never imagined. I’m ready to be entertained in 2012 one way or another.

I somehow missed this first time around.

News Corp. is said to be talks to buy business social networking service LinkedIn, according to TechCrunch UK. If the deal were to happen, it would bring MySpace and LinkedIn under the same corporate roof. Full story here.

Mountain View based LinkedIn has approx. 12 million users and has taken $27.5 million over 3 rounds from investors including Sequoia, Greylock and Bessemer Venture Partners. The site has been faced with the rise of Facebook as an alternative business networking site, although as TechCrunch commenter’s enjoy pointing out: it’s not the same. LinkedIn is also an OpenSocial partner with Google.

I’m not yet tracking with the strategy here. I will say that I’m not too comfortable with Murdoch as a steward of that much personal information. How easy will it be for invested users to walk away?

More on this missed market opportunity with the so-called silver surfers. While reports show they are ramping up on Facebook and MySpace that may be largely due to the lack of alternatives!

Poak UK regulatory agency Ofcom released a report today that sheds more light on a market niche that is consistently ignored by Silicon Valley: The over-50 crowd. The report states, “‘Silver surfers’ also account for an increasing amount of internet use with nearly 30 percent of total time spent on the internet accounted for by over-50s …”

In fact it has been widely reported [1,2,3] that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder believes, “Young people are just smarter.”

Are online marketers and retailers missing this opportunity?

UPDATE!
comScore Numbers Unhinged from Facebook Reality

There is a big difference between the user demographic figures reported by Facebook (captured from their ad targeting system), and those tracked via comScore’s Media Metrix online measurement panel.

Looks like comScore’s extrapolated numbers are roughly 10 times larger than Facebook’s actual numbers. comScore reports 13.6 million US people age 35 or older using Facebook while Facebook reports 1.26 million — or less than 1/10th.

Social networking online is no longer the province of the young - more and more ’silver surfers’are joining in, Chris Stevens finds

Facebook, the social-networking website, has a reputation as the online space where hip young things hang out, swapping amusing anecdotes, ‘poking’one another, scrawling inappropriate messages on virtual walls, and posting embarrassing photos.

But increasing numbers of over-50s are muscling in on the social-networking arena, signing up to sites such as Facebook and its main competitor, MySpace in their droves. While some of the sites’ younger users are reacting as if dad just rolled up to the disco, the balance of power is shifting towards these so-called “silver surfers”.

Lots of juicy stuff in this May 2007 iProspect study conducted by JupiterResearch.

A few highlights:

• One out of three internet users turns to sites with user-generated content to help make a purchase decision.
• The majority of visitors to social networking sites (90%) don’t post comments on the sites they visit.
• 25% of internet users frequent popular social networking sites at least once a month (primarily arriving through direct navigation and bookmarking.
• 72% of YouTube visitors primarily seek entertainment, while 49% of FaceBook users and 35% of MySpace users primarily seek networking opportunities.
• 56% of TripAdvisor visitors, 39% of Yahoo! Answers visitors, 39% of Craigslist visitors, and 32% of iVillage visitors actively research products or services.

Check out the study there’s lots more to glean.

For some time marketers have recognized Influencers as experts who offer credible reach into niche audiences. Their challenge has been figuring out how to leverage those Influencers to meet marketing objectives.

A recent CNET Networks study “Understanding Influence, and Making it Work for You” sheds new light on the Influencer psyche. Far from supporting the ‘expert’ position, the research suggests that “influencers are individuals who gain self-worth by giving good advice.”

Influencers build large social networks and interact with 100 or more people each month. Moderately-connected individuals report connections with between 11 and 99 people each month, while less-connected individuals have 10 or fewer connections with close or casual friends, neighbors, family members, co-workers, and church or civic organization members. The study finds a correlation between network size and self-reported influence activity. Fewer than half the less-connected group is asked for opinions or advice, versus 75 percent of the highly-connected cohort.

The research shows a direct correlation between the size of the Influencer’s network and thew role of technology in their ability to stay connected. According to the report, “Technology enables the maintenance and frequency of connections…”

In this breakthrough video the “Girls Of Miller” are protesting the freezing of their pensions. This is the first I’ve seen of a social media site being used as a virtual union picket line. The video is dedicated to Norman Adami, CEO (SAB) Miller Brewing Company from the Union Women of Miller Beer. It’s not very well done by the message is clear. You go girls…and two guys!?

In his post Social Networking Users ≠ Marketing Bait my good friend Matt MacQueen shares some thoughts on Google’s recent purchase of YouTube. He writes:

“Social networking sites are not the place for marketers to be intrusive,” [MacQueen] said. “These communities are there for people to network for the common good, not to be marketing bait. They are not loyal to the social networking site, they are loyal to their friends.”

The attractiveness of YouTube is not that it’s a great place for marketers to serve up ads. YouTube is the marketing tool. The medium is the message.

“The old mass marketing model, which is pushing the message out to a passive group of sheep,” doesn’t work for these sites, MacQueen said. Rather, the marketing, like the interaction among users of the site, needs to be “more one-on-one,” he said.

“It’s user-centered marketing. You have to look at a customer need or problem, and then have the brand give the customer what he wants.”

I think the message here is that my sermons from 10 years ago have finally come to fruition. :) Control has shifted from business to consumer and as such consumers are demanding products and services that meet their specific needs. This isn’t marketing. It’s the cost of entry to offer a product or service in todays markets.

Matt also commented on Helio’s service allowing users to post pictures directly to myspace from their phone.

MacQueen said Helio, a mobile phone company, has the right idea.

“They are offering an experience that is unique. You can publish the photos you take with your phone right on your MySpace page,” he said. “Helio figured out that the social currency on MySpace is through sharing media with other friends.”

MacQueen called this marketing as a service, not pushing a product.

I agree with Matt’s assessment that helio is offering a service though I think it’s a stretch to define it as marketing. In my view marketing the means to an end. The end being a sale or some other desired outcome that provides value to a business or entity. Helio is simply giving consumers what they want and need.

If Helio plays its cards well it may see the day when its most powerful marketing tool is the very customer it serves. If Google’s bet on YouTube is correct, YouTube it may well be the next paradigm in online marketing–anyone for Google VideoSense?