Strategically Communicating

Ironfire Capital founder Eric Jackson is predicting that Facebook will see its demise by year 2020 as a result of the “continued emergence of the mobile web and Facebook’s struggle to adapt to that paradigm shift”. The argument is that Facebook is, in all reality, just a website and not a mobile app. The company also sees its ad-free mobile use of Facebook as a risk factor and will become more problematic for the success of the organization. Jackson views a new third generation of companies, whose sole goal is to leverage and monetize mobile users, as the subjugator of Facebook. He also predicts that Facebook will face the same challenges evolving in the mobile space that Google has had entering the social world.

So, what will this new third generation of mobile victors look like? And, how will other forms of technology, like the Kindle, adapt to these new social tools so they stay relevant to customer needs? And, the big question is, will Facebook ever die?

To read the entire article, visit http://www.kethu.org/2012/06/05/facebook-will-end-2020/

Shocking. Absolutely shocking.

OK, it isn’t, but I wish it were. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook is considering a plan that would allow children under the age of 13 to create a Facebook account. It would be linked to a parental account, and, at least theoretically, give the parents control over who the child friends, what apps they download, etc.

A study published by Mashable just about six weeks ago shows that as many as 38% of children under age 13 already have accounts. Viewed in the best light possible, this move could potentially make young kids’ online experience safer. If they are going to be on it anyway, make sure the parent is in the loop?

The alternate view, of course, is that Facebook sees millions of tiny little faces to add to its roster of potential sales targets. As they saying goes, hook them early and often?

What do you think Strat Commers? Good or bad?

http://mashable.com/2012/06/04/facebook-kids/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

I’m linking to a PR advice article that I think provides a valuable synthesis of our entire coursework this term while addressing PR’s proverbial elephant:  Are we Worthy?

This article provides practical and thoughtful advice, even citing a study about PR influence in US companies.

The author makes four suggestions for PR managers to prove their worth: (And I’ve rated them)

1. Meet with senior managers to understand their priorities and concerns (Easy)

2. Break through the silos (Moderately Difficult to Difficult)

3. Measure results, not activity (Easier said than done!)

4. Develop organizational influence (Complex: Reread K&P)

I was surprised to find that results of the study contradict our last reading on persuasion. Maybe some aspects of persuasion are different depending on career and management structures within companies.

According to Mashable.com, Facebook is in talks to purchase the facial recognition website Face.com for “tens of millions” of dollars. Some of the technology available from Face.com is already being used on Facebook.com in the form of the Photo Finder and the Photo Tagger. The Face.com software can also recognize emotion and is able to estimate gender and age. If the deal goes through, this could be the first major acquisition after the Facebook.com IPO.

These reports come just a week after speculation about a Facebook browser hit the internet. According to a previous Mashable.com article, Facebook was in talks with Opera Software, who is the maker of the Opera web browser. A Facebook browser would integrate apps and plug-ins into a user’s everyday browsing experience. This acquisition would fully integrate social with your regular online activities.

 These rumored acquisitions are important especially in light of Facebook’s relatively weak IPO. The purchases hint at Facebook’s strategy as a public company. Their current strategy seems to be to acquire any competitive technologies and to embed Facebook even farther into regular online activities.

I came across a blog post by Brian Solis who featured the Discovery Channel’s social media strategy. They have an impressive following and reported, as of April 2012 having 59 million likes across approximately 75 active Facebook pages; on Twitter they have 3.5 million followers across 21 accounts. They claim their Facebook presence increases by nearly two million likes a month and that growth has largely occurred organically with minimal directed ad buys aimed at building their social audience.

So, how do you they do it?

Following are four important key findings from Discovery Channel as being integral to their social media success:

1. Develop a multi-disciplinary social media strategy by a centralized team that is integrated with communications, marketing, digital media and many other internal teams.
2. Engage in early cross-functional brainstorming and strategy meetings to ensure that they are maximizing the potential of social media to support other teams’ strategies.
3. Engagement metrics are the numbers they are most focused on. Comments, shares, and likes measure the important relationship with audiences. The number of friends and followers is meaningless if they are not actually interacting with those fans.
4. Last but not least (actually probably of most importance), they do not underfund or understaff their social media teams.

To read the entire blog post, visit http://www.briansolis.com/2012/05/the-discovery-channel-discovers-the-meaning-of-like/