What has the Fall of The Roman Empire got to do with Social Media? Is this another of those weird analogies that “guru’s” like to throw around? Possibly, though I hope you will see the connection in the way I do. Over the past few years those of us who advise others on how to get the most from marketing through social media channels have agreed that the model which works best for all size businesses is the outpost model. I referred to it as the hub and spoke model others use different terms but we all mean the same thing.

The Collapse of The Social Media Outpost

One of the major contributing factors to the fall of the Roman Empire was its size. It became too big to be sustainable. The Roman’s had outposts at every point of the known world. Communication became harder and harder, supply become harder and the trade that was supposed to flow back to Rome started to diminish. So focused on their outposts were they that they ignored what was going on in their own Capital. In the end the model collapsed. Roman was over-run by hoardes that didn’t rely on developing large empires but instead existed in small groups that were more sustainable.

So how does this affect Social Media? The truth is that the model that so many of us have been promoting is about to collapse. There are just too many outposts. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google Plus, Pinterest, Tumblr, WordPress, Forums, Email, and endless other places to establish an outpost, all with the same end to drive traffic back to our Capital.

Retreating From Your Social Media Outpost

Look at your own statistics, how many of the various sites that you have established as an outpost is actually generating significant traffic? Why are you still there? The low numbers tell you that the people interested in you aren’t there, you are either doing a poor job of maintaining your outpost or you just aren’t providing the locals with what they want. Either way you need to get out before it becomes obvious that you can’t sustain that outpost.   In a recent post Chris Brogan says:

2012 is the year where social media oversaturation hits hard. We will scale back on our participation in social networks, and we will most certainly scale back who we choose to follow as sources.

He is right (he usually is), and if that is the case then that scaling back by users means that your content is going to get even less eyeballs at your outposts. Your empire is about to be over-run by hit and run hoardes who are better able to leverage those particular outposts than you are. So why wait for that to happen?

Deciding Which Social Media Outpost To Keep

I am not suggesting you abandon all your outposts, but take a good long hard look at all those outposts you have established and see how often you are posting – not automatically cross-posting from other places, but actually generating original content targeted at that particular audience. If the answer is “not much” then that outpost probably needs to be abandoned.

Just because new sites appear doesn’t mean you should immediately establish an outpost – try instead to see if there is a real fit for your business. Currently lots of people are trying to shoe-horn Pinterest into their marketing mix – for some this will become another cross-posting, under-supplied outpost that will die off in a few months. For others it will become a major driver of traffic, allowing them to remove other outposts that are not performing as well. But simply building an outpost for the sake of it is not a strategy for success.

Which Social Media Outposts can you let go of?

If you attend any conference that has any kind of social media component you will no doubt hear reference made to the savvy consumer. You will hear how they are demanding transparency and engagement and want to be included in the conversation. Most importantly you will hear that they don’t believe the lies of advertising anymore and that social is the way forward.

The Savvy Consumer – Mythical Being

The Savvy Consumer is not a new being. Contrary to what social media “guru’s” might tell you. Consumers have been savvy for decades. They have been discerning, they know a real deal when they see one and they know when they are being ripped off. The rise of social technologies like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus didn’t give rise to the Savvy Consumer. Consumers have been having the conversations over the garden fence, around the water cooler, on the phone and in the stores where they shop for as long as shops have existed.

The demand for transparency pre-dates social technologies by several decades – I don’t remember reading about Erin Brockovich using Twitter to demand transparency from Pacific Gas & Electric Company – though I have no doubt she would do so today. Consumers have always wanted to have transparency in their relationship with brands. So where does this idea of the sudden appearance of the Savvy Consumer come from?

The Savvy Consumer & Social Technologies

It is far more likely that social technologies like Facebook, Twitter, Google + and blogs have woken marketers to the depth of understanding that consumers have of their methods rather than those technologies giving rise to the Savvy Consumer. Marketers are being shown that Social Media allows them to follow and even join in conversations, as though these conversations were new. They are being sold on the idea that if they adopt these technologies that they might stand a chance of catching up and perhaps regaining the upper hand with the Savvy Consumer.

The Savvy Consumer has decades on the newly sophisticated marketer. Social technologies will not make up for that gap. Social technologies are revealing the extent of the gap between marketers and the Savvy Consumer. Social technologies are providing the opportunity for the Savvy Consumer to organize around issues that matter to them faster and in a much more cohesive manner than ever before. The biggest revelation that social technologies has brought is not the existence of the Savvy Consumer but the existence of the unsophisticated marketer.

The Savvy Consumer and the Savvy Marketer

The Savvy Marketer is learning from the Savvy Consumers behavior. Learning to use the social technologies in the same way. Social technologies have brought back the need for artistry to marketing. Finesse rather than brute force in messaging has always been the core of great marketing. Perhaps this is the most important lesson marketers can learn from the Savvy Consumer, not that they don’t want marketing, not that they don’t want to be sold to, but rather that they want it to be done with style and grace.

I tell audiences, clients and anyone else who will listen that there are three main components to any successful marketing campaign that involves social technology. Fun, Repeatable and Shareable. To combine these three in one campaign is a difficult act and one that actually requires a lot more thought than many marketers are willing to give to their campaigns. The Savvy Consumer knows when they are being played, they also know when it serves their purposes to join in.

What are you learning from the Savvy Consumer?

Image used under CC license by Elsie

Google Plus is the newest social effort from the Google empire. I was never a fan of Google Wave or Buzz and felt that Google had missed the point of social completely with both of them. However, from what I have seen from the Google Plus demo this incarnation has real potential.

Google Plus – Why It’s a Threat to Twitter

A lot of posts and articles were published yesterday on why Google Plus will spell the end of Facebook – I disagree. Facebook’s hold on social networking is fairly unassailable. Certainly Google is unlikely to make much of an impact in the next year on Facebook’s position as the number one social networking platform. However, where I do see it making a clear impact is on Twitter. Twitter hasn’t evolved in the past 4 years since its appearance. Sure it has gotten bigger and added things like the Retweet feature and that is about it.

In the past four years Facebook has added and redefined features throughout the site, paying particular attention to both advertisers and brands that want to leverage the platform. They are making money from their modifications. While Twitter, who currently claims it has attracted 600 marketers to run “sponsored” tweets with them is not making money. In addition its lack of innovation and evolution is concerning. Add to this the fact that its creators, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and now Biz Stone have all left the company or at least greatly reduced their involvement and you have to question how much longer Twitter can limp along.

Google Plus Features

Let’s look at the feature set that Google Plus seems likely to launch with:

• Circles – think of this as being similar to Facebook lists or more importantly Twitter lists. Facebook lists, even by Zuckerberg’s own admission are only used by a small percentage of Facebook users (I happen to be one of them). Twitter lists however are what power Tweetdeck, Seesmic and Hootsuite – three top Twitter applications and what make the Twitter stream readable. Without them there would be no Twitter. Google Plus is coming out with these as a central feature, which immediately means that you can sort the noise from the signal.
• Hangouts – Facebook has nothing like this, but Twitter does – Hashtags/Twitterchats. Google Plus goes one better by including video. Every tablet, laptop and a lot of Desktops now ship with a webcam built in. I for one could definitely see standout Twitter chats switching to this medium and becoming much more engaging. For example Mack Collier‘s Sunday evening #blogchat with video would be an amazing show that would be hard to miss for anyone with an interest in blogging.
• Sparks – This is basically the incorporation of Google Reader into a social setting – think Twitter search/Hashtags. Tell Google Plus what you are interested in and it delivers it.
• Photos – Think of how many picture uploading sites there are on Twitter – YFrog, TwitPic and of course now Twitter has it’s own – Google Plus is launching with this feature included but goes one step further by allowing you to decide which Circle in your network can see the pictures. So perhaps you have a Circle of fellow foodies, you take a pic at your favorite restaurant and instead of slamming everyone’s stream you only share it with those people you know will be interested.

Google Plus Intimacy

What I see dominating Google Plus is “intimacy”. Or at least the ability to create intimacy. A way to truly connect with people without having to reduce the size of your network. By A list comparison I have a fairly small Twitter network at just over 9,000 followers. I find it hard to keep up with all the great content that is sent my way through the network, I have 20 Twitter lists and numerous searches open in Seesmic all the time as a way of filtering that flow. Google Plus seems to recognize both the need and the desire by users for this type of filtering and I’m glad to see them building it into the beta.

I’m not suggesting you shut down your Twitter account just yet, but as soon as you are invited to the Google Plus beta I would make sure that you start to create an environment that allows you to transfer your activity there from Twitter should things pan out the way I think they will. What do you like about Google Plus?

Social Media Monitoring is a waste of time and money. There the cat is out of the bag. All those amazing tools that exist like Radian6, Visible Technologies, Lithium, ViralHeat, Social Mention and hundreds of others are a complete waste of your time and money. Let me explain why.

Social Media Monitoring Is Pointless

Full disclosure, my company offers Social Media Monitoring services – this is not a pitch. Here is why social media monitoring is pointless – because just seeing what social consumers are saying about you is meaningless unless there is an action plan that leads to follow up. Unfortunately most companies fail to realize that social media monitoring, whether done in house or by a third party doesn’t mean that the workload is reduced by the use of a tool.

There needs to be a strategy behind the results. That strategy has to be effective and include a plan for both good and bad mentions. I’ve seen quite a few examples in the past week of companies that are either not bothering to monitor their social media accounts as closely as they should or are only looking for amplification of their message. Therein lies one of the problems, just because your organization decides to use social media as a marketing tool, doesn’t mean that your consumers will see it as a marketing channel. If they find that you have a Twitter account for example, they are going to use that as a point of entry to your customer service process whether you created it for that purpose or not.

Social Media Monitoring – Good, Bad & Mediocre

I recently stayed at the Hotel Max in Seattle. I had a very good experience with them and decided to write a Yelp review of them. Within a day I had received a response from the team there thanking me for my review. I then noticed that they had in fact responded to every review – good and bad and where the reviewer had a less than optimum experience they had apologized and asked how they could fix the problem. The hotel has received 214 reviews – every one of them has received a response from the team at the hotel. That is good Social Media Monitoring.

On Twitter this weekend I saw a rather ironic event. Frank Eliason, who can quite possibly be credited with being the forefather of great customer service via social media during his time at ComCast, reached out to Audi to say that he wasn’t happy with the Audi roadside assistance, he was waiting for a service vehicle to come and get him. I noticed this and followed up with Frank to see if Audi ever contacted him as I couldn’t find a response on their stream. Audi didn’t. In fact they were completely silent that day, the following day their stream consists of chatting with “Fans”. This was definitely a failure to monitor and act accordingly.

Delta Airlines were equally silent when a video of American troops returning home from duty in Afghanistan hit the social media world. The troops had been charged after a confusion over extra baggage. The video – posted to YouTube and then reposted to Facebook and Twitter created a small storm among social media users. Delta responded on their Facebook wall and eventually on Twitter. I think they did somethings right and some things wrong. Firstly what they got wrong – silence. This is basic customer service – allowing customers to create the story and having no response is not the way to handle things. Respond immediately, even if your response is only – “We hear you and we are going to look into this”. What Delta did right was to fix the issue, they actually rewrote their policy based on this incident, which is great customer service, but they could have silenced their critics faster had they told people they were working on a solution.

Social Media Monitoring – Don’t Waste Your Time

The point of all this is, if you aren’t prepared to act, then don’t stroke your ego’s by simply monitoring to see how many “fans” you have out there. Sure it’s nice to know that people think highly of your brand and to be able to pull quotes from social media sources to include in your client/C-suite presentations, but those are meaningless if you are going to let the real opportunities slip pass.

Social Media Monitoring gives an organization the opportunity to not only respond but actually change the way they do business and make them more competitive. What are you using Social Media Monitoring for?

Image used under CC license – anderscismo

You have a really interesting life. Apparently, at least according to some companies, our lives are now so amazing, so packed full of interesting information that cannot be missed at any cost, that we must have Social Media streamed to us wherever we are in case we miss something important.

Social Media Makes for an Interesting Life

As a marketing professional and one that spends a good amount of their day submerged in social media channels I like to stay on top of what is happening, trends, breaking news etc. I would however, be the first to admit, my life really isn’t that interesting, not exciting enough that I can’t afford to walk away from Facebook or Twitter or any of the other platforms that remain open on my desktop throughout my working day. Some even get scanned after the working day has finished, you know, just in case. But of course that is my personal addiction to social media, and I know its one shared by many. If I’m honest with myself and you, I don’t have that much of an interesting life.

Does social media really make our lives that much more interesting though? As I puruse my Facebook wall while writing this post I notice people celebrating their wedding anniversaries, announcing that its been a while since they have had a relationship, telling me about the amazing seminar they are hosting tomorrow, sharing quotes from unknown (and probably untraceable) sources or their latest technology find. Now some of this is quite interesting, a useful distraction while I’m writing and that’s great but can I live without it? Well of course the answer is yes, none of this information is essential to me, none of this information is going to change my life. We are being conditioned to believe however, that we can’t live without this constant stream of sharing in our lives. That if we disconnect, even for a few hours that we will somehow have missed essential information and will be behind the curve. This puts me in mind of people who find it impossible to take vacation from their job because they worry that the office will fall apart without them, what they really are worried about is that it won’t, that in fact nothing much will change. The inability to walk away from Twitter or Facebook or your distraction of choice because you might lose the connection with others or that you worry they won’t notice you are gone is increasing.

An Interesting Life As A Selling Point

Now manufacturers want to use this compulsion to sell us their products. Most notably car manufacturers, in the guise of being “hip and cool” are creating the socially aware vehicle. For example Chevy & OnStar ran a commercial during the Superbowl and since that shows a young man checking the Facebook stream of the girl he has just taken on a first date – video below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHDFafqykI

?t=14s

Mini has also got a similar feature allowing you to listen to your Facebook stream -

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zvp7D5KGtE

?t=57s

And if you actually get out of your car but still can’t stand to be away from the constant information stream of your interesting life, Fossil has a watch that connects via bluetooth to your smartphone so that you can check on what color nail polish your girlfriend just had her toes painted without taking your phone out of your pocket. This of course allows you to stay connected to your interesting life in front of others without making it look like you are complete loser, after all you are just checking the time.

Your Interesting Life – It Isn’t

All of this reminds me rather sadly of the 80′s and people who carried pagers everywhere because they wanted to give the impression that they had it “going on” – maybe they were surgeons or special forces who just had to be connected 24/7. Honestly if texting is now considered a distraction while driving and cities and states across the country are banning the act while driving, how much more distracting would it be to have your car, in all its cold, metallic, robotic, androgynous voice announce that your girlfriend just changed her relationship status to “single”?

While all this connectedness is fun from a geeky perspective, do we really need it? I think I’d rather see car manufacturers create vehicles that are safer rather than ones that  will read my Twitter stream to me, because, as much of a rockstar as  I might like to think of myself, I don’t have that much of an interesting life, do you?

Twitter No More

Today marks the third anniversary of me rejoining the ranks of Twitter. I had previously joined it and then gave it up, in fact I announced my leaving Twitter and my reasons why on my blog at the time in the follow post:

Today I Twittered my last Tweet having finally realized that micro-blogging sites, such as Twitter really have nothing to say.  Or rather the users that post a continual stream of consciousness to them have nothing to say.  After using the service for two months, I finally got tired of reading what people had for breakfast, the fact that they are just going to walk the dog, or that their air conditioning stopped working.
The idea behind Twitter was sound, a version of Citizen Journalism, in short form. Popularized at South by SouthWest (SXSW) in Austin,TX, it gave attendees the opportunity to write reviews of performers while they were at the performance.

Twitter and better writing

Writing compelling content in 140 characters or less is difficult and that should encourage good writing, but it doesn’t, instead people simply post what is on the tip of their fingers, with usually no more thought than adding to their total number of posts.  Posting for the joy of hearing the sound of their own keyboard!
I have seen posts where people clearly state that they are hoping to reach X number of followers today and thank people for getting others to follow them.  This is simply vacuous celebrity, just another manifestation of the “Me” generation.  Like reality TV before it, it had appeal when it first started but already it is losing its allure.  Do I really care that you had a Bran muffin for breakfast?  The downside of this is that people who have something genuinely interesting to say get lost in the clamour for this celebrity.
The “convergence of Social Media Networks” as cross-posting is sometimes referred to has become an excuse for people who lack a filter or any sense of marketing to utilize online tools for their own purposes.  Thus networks like Twitter become simply a stream of meaningless “life happenings”, Facebook is commandeered by people posting links to their company website because they updated their company blog with a post about… yes you guessed it Twitter.
The pressure facing marketing departments to use these tools because “everyone else is” has become over-whelming.  But just because these tools are there should they be used by everyone?  Has Twitter just become the Facebook for the over 35′s and if it has does it really have any business use?
A company posting to Twitter or any other network stands as much chance of damaging their reputation as it does of enhancing it, perhaps more so.  For unless the company has something compelling to say, and writes it in a way that adds value to the readers experience, should they post at all?  But wait, isn’t that the point of posting?  To add value in some form, provoke thought, bring new information to readers, perhaps even engage them and get them to take action?  If all the company has to say is “Buy our new widget” or “read our blog about our new widget” does this really add value?
Now, while it may seem from this post that I am completely against these networks, I am not. In fact I think that if they were used properly, they could be a radical new form of media, unfortunately, in their current state they are nothing more than AutoDialers for the web.  Would you really just grab the phone book, dial a few random people and tell them you are “just going to take the dog for a walk” and then hope that they will sit with baited breath by the phone for your next call ?
If someone can show me a truly innovative use for these networks, or in fact, a network that hasn’t been hijacked by “Celebrity 2.0″ crowd, I would love to use it.
Until then, I’ll Tweet no more.

It was interesting to re-read my reasons for leaving Twitter – has that much really changed? I came back to Twitter at the behest and persuasion of my friend Tawny Press, who convinced me to give it another try. While sometimes my opinion of Twitter goes back to my original view of it, I have much to be thankful for to the community of people that I interact with via Twitter. So I guess, while I haven’t seen an innovative use for it, I have certainly found it’s value.

What keeps you on Twitter?

image from Under Design

Everyone is wondering what the breakout will be at SXSWi this year. Location was very last year, with both Foursquare and Gowalla having huge impacts on the collective consciousness of those attending. But what will it be this year? Robert Scoble thinks it will be Hurricane Party and their app for tracking where the best parties are happening. I’m not so sure, after all if you need an app to find the best parties then by the time you get there that party is probably going to have become pretty lame.

Fun Will Be The Breakout at SXSW

My prediction for the breakout at SXSW is fun. There are a couple of games taking place during SXSW that I am involved with one very technology based, one much less so, both have the element of the scavenger hunt woven into them to make them interesting.

The first is the Meet-MeMe Scavenger Hunt – the concept is very simple, they have recruited a bunch of people who have been issued personalized trading cards. When you find one of those people you ask them for a card and then tweet that you have it. Collect one from each team and you get a set of your own. Collect them all and you can win a grand prize.  The individuals who have the trading cards are all pretty well known amongst the SXSW attendees and none of them could be described as wallflowers so they will be easy to spot.  More details here.

The second game going on during SXSW is very tech based. Called InfeKTD it is described by Alex Stivers, one of the co-creators as:

a “Mixed Reality Event”, which is essentially a game that can be played by hundreds or thousands of people over a certain amount of time. What makes it unique, is that the game combines mobile web & QR Code technology, location-based application, social media, and live action role playing/stunts to enhance interactivity with the players. All a player needs to participate is a Twitter account, a smartphone with a QR code reader app, and a game badge.

What I like about this is that it has woven several technologies that are new to many, QR Codes, Location Sharing and blended it with role playing and Twitter, two concepts that might be a little more familiar to many who are not early adopters amongst the SXSW crowd.

Fun As The Breakout at SXSW

The reason both these games are important for SXSW is that through gameplay they are highlighting new ways of doing existing things. Roleplaying and trading cards on the surface might not seem to have much to do with an interactive conference, but the fact that they both incorporate elements like QR codes, location, twitter and challenge accepted rules such as the use of traditional business cards at conferences is what captures my interest.

Gameplay is an essential human trait, it is one of the ways we communicate and is an especially good way to communicate with large groups of individuals who don’t know each other.

I have been saying for a long time that marketers need to better understand game theory and game dynamics to enable them to create more engaging marketing campaigns that will appeal to the increasing number of social consumers. Marketers can learn a lot from watching how these two concepts play out.

Will you be joining in the games at SXSW?

Does having a face of social media matter? As companies wake up to the realization that Social Media, whether they like it or not, is playing an increasing role in the way they do business they are gradually embracing ways in which to use these new channels to communicate to their customers and potential customers. The problem is that, in my opinion, the focus for most organizations is on the technology. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc. not on the people.

What About The Face of Social Media?

Think about the large brands and agencies that are considered leaders in this field and think about something that they have that their competitors don’t. A face of Social Media. Edelman Digital has David Armano, Ogilvy has Rohit Bargharva, Ford has Scott Monty, GM has Chris Barger, WCG just gained Aaron Strout. These organizations are looked to for being leaders in the digital marketing/social media space they also have highly visible personalities that promote their efforts and raise awareness.

These individuals are real people, they go out to the places where they are accessible to their audiences and meet with them. Attend any conference of note on the topic of digital marketing, word of mouth marketing or social media and you will find a good selection of these individuals.

Why The Face of Social Media is Important

Surely if having a face in front of an audience is important it should be the CEO/President of the company, not some marketer? Other functions in my business don’t need a face, finance doesn’t have the CFO out there, why does marketing?  These and other very valid questions about the need for a face of social media within an organization come up a lot. The answer is very simple, social media is completely different and the expectations that there will be a real human being who is not only a face but is running point on the communication channels used in a organizations social media efforts are set by the audience and need to be met.

Many organizations fear that this person will become bigger than the brand itself. I have heard of company’s criticizing employees for building a personal social media that did nothing but elevate the brand because they didn’t talk about the brand often enough on their blog, or in their twitter stream – bear in mind these were personal accounts. The company’s observation was “why is it all about you?” – a classic example of missing the point. In the past employees built their name on the backs of the brand they were associated with. In the new paradigm it is, at the very least, a symbiotic relationship and is gradually moving toward, at least within the marketing communications/social media space a reversal where by a brand becomes known by the efforts of the face of social media that represents it.

Who is The Face of Social Media?

Selecting the right person to be the face of social media for an organization can be a tricky process. Sometimes that face just picks themselves. Take Frank Eliason who became the face of social media for comcast almost by accident because he took the initiative to utilize social media to benefit the company. In other cases the choice will become obvious, perhaps they have written a book on the subject, they might be an acknowledged speaker on the subject or they just have one of those personalities that means they are an excellent communicator.

However they are chosen, they must be chosen and soon. Organizations need to meet the expectation of their audience that they will have a face of social media.

image used under license by wokka

The past couple of weeks have had interesting stories of brands that have had their fingers burned by using less than straightforward online marketing tactics. Are brands getting so desperate that they will try anything to get their share of eyeballs?

Online Marketing Tactics: Kenneth Cole & JC Penney

Kenneth Cole was slammed for co-opting the revolution in Egypt as part of their introduction of their new spring line. The tweet that started it all was later deleted but the anti-Kenneth Cole postings on their Facebook wall and the discussions of their lack of taste continued for days afterwards. Probably not the result that they were looking for from this online marketing tactic.

JC Penney was recently outed by the New York Times for allegedly buying inbound links that put them on page one of Google search results for their best selling products. In response JC Penney immediately fired their SEO company. They are also working with Google to remove the links and try and reclaim their reputation with Google.

Both these examples demonstrate how even large brands can lose control of their Online Marketing tactics and how that can lead to much bigger problems than the ones they were trying to solve with those tactics.

Tough Times Produce Dubious Online Marketing Tactics

Can some of these online marketing tactics be blamed on the economy? Black Hat SEO has been around for as long as we have had search engines, so I don’t think the tactic itself can be blamed on the economy but its use by a major brand, if indeed they did use this or their SEO company did on their behalf may well be blamed on the economy. Marketers are faced with increasing demands from above to produce results for their efforts. Results that can be directly tracked to the bottom line. In the case of Kenneth Cole, it was the CEO himself that tweeted the dubious message. Perhaps he just thought it was an interesting spin, but after all someone has to show how Twitter can impact the revenue needle.

Results At Any Price Will Negatively Affect Online Marketing Tactics

Social Media is still seen as a silver bullet and somewhat magical. It is free and viral and instant. These myths persist. Just as with SEO, Social Media takes time, it takes effort and it takes persistence. But companies that, at best think in financial quarters, and are facing increasing economic pressures are being tempted to try whatever online marketing tactics they can get away with to produce results. I don’t think this is the last of these incidents we will see come to light.

I completely understand the pressure to try these online marketing tactics. When you have a client, internal or external demanding instant results it can be only too tempting to yield to that pressure, especially when an account or a paycheck is on the line. However, as we have already seen, those that do give in will ultimately find themselves facing much bigger issues. Have you faced pressure to use less than honest online marketing tactics?

There has been an interesting discussion on Twitter over the past week or so. It was led by Rachel Levy who was wondering what the point of the Daily Paper.Li tweets were and whether anyone actually bothered to read them and if they did who got the credit.

Rachel conducted a poll and then wrote a post about the results and her thoughts on the Paper.Li experience. Overall she finds little value in them, nor does she see any value for anyone else whose posts or links might be included in them.

I disagree. Firstly, let’s look at what these papers are. Paper.Li aggregates links based on a Twitter list, user name or hashtag chosen by whoever sets up the edition. I have three editions that I set up. The Simon Salt Daily, which is a generic edition pulled from my entire user base. The Austin Daily which is pulled from my Twitter list of Austin people and The Dallas Social Daily which is pulled from my Twitter list of Dallas Social Media people.

What goes into these “papers” are the abstracts and links to blog posts, interesting online articles, meeting invites and a dozen other things that people in these lists post.

To Rachel’s point does anyone actually read these things, here are the statistics for my three papers:

Simon Salt Daily – 3018 views & 4 subscribers

Austin Daily – 1762 view & 3 subscribers

Dallas Daily – 1017 views & 3 subscribers

These numbers are all for 13th December and are fairly representative of the daily number of views that each gets. So across three papers I have 5797 views and 10 subscribers, which I think by any measure is pretty good. So what does this actually mean for me and for the people whose posts appear in the paper? Firstly, my blog receives traffic from all three papers on a daily basis, how much varies from day to day but Paper.li is in the top 5 of referring sites every day. In addition, where my blog shows up in other peoples papers I get referral traffic from that, for example last week one of my posts appeared at the top of the Edelman Digital Daily, I received a considerable amount of traffic from that.

Personally I see the Paper.li movement as a more sophisticated version of Follow Friday. At least with the Paper.Li dailies there is actually a reason to follow someone. In addition to the traffic to the blog I also get new followers from the papers and they are a constant source of retweets.  On average each of the papers I tweet out (which is done automatically) is retweeted at least three times. As someone building a personal brand that is good news.

So is Paper.Li for everyone, no of course not, I don’t know of anything in Social Media that is. Can I see why for some people like Rachel Levy they are little more than an addition to the noise already prevalent in Social Media, absolutely, but that is the beauty of Social Media, it is such a vast expanse of communication that while not everything is for everyone there is in fact something for everyone.

Are you a user or reader of Paper.Li’s?