A couple of thoughts and comments on 'Social Influence', inspired by a post on Saara Bergstrom's blog. You can read her post here.
Saara writes about the importance of 'Relevance' when considering the impact an 'influencer' might have. A person may reach a large number of people (via a blog, podcast, broadcast, community group) and therefore have the potential to influence the opinions of others around them.
I began to wonder what role being able to 'stand out from the crowd' plays when considering social influence. Perhaps it's those people who are obsessed or consumed by a single activity or interest that are easy for us to identify and 'tag'.
A moment from the 2001 Ben Stiller movie 'Zoolander' springs to mind. In particular, the 'Slashie Award' for best actor 'slash' model. That's great, but what are you? Actor or model or ... ? Too many slashes and you start to fade into the background.
Perhaps based on the 'tags' we assign people and the degree of their 'obsession', influences our perception of the authority we believe a person has on a particular subject. When the person speaks on a subject that we feel they are qualified to talk about... we listen and might act.
This idea reminds me of a close friend who is a food and lifestyle writer obsessed with food and cafe culture. I soon found myself unable to even contemplate Sunday morning breakfast without a recommendation from her first. "Hi Jane, could you recommend a few places for me here in Helsinki?"
What will be the next 'killer' service on mobile?
The power of 'social' will continue to play a key role and for good reason. Arguably the names and numbers of our 'social circle' stored in our mobiles form the basis for making the pocket device 'personal' and a 'must carry' item.
It's in this mobile personal space that we have already seen hot competition from the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Skype. Each internet enabled social network trying to connect us with those closest in our 'social circle' via a different mobile application.
Therein lies the problem. Each of us have 'social circles' that are spread out across many networks. The task of bringing these networks together is the biggest 'social' application challenge that will require a BIG rethink on how mobiles are used to keep us connected.
Historical precedence exists and mobile manufacturers are in the best position to solve this problem. The ability to store 'Contacts' in a mobile has long been considered a basic feature. That feature needs to transform into a service that merges our 'social networks' into a 'social circle'.
A long time before the introduction of mobile phones we stored our 'social circle' as contacts in a small bound address book. Together with a mix of memory and special written 'marks' or 'words' alongside each contact, we managed our relationships inside this 'personal' book.
With the arrival of mobile telephony, the natural place to keep names and numbers was inside the same device used to make calls. The mobile has replaced for many the fixed landline and the need to carry an address book. Given that mobile companies have already been given the control and trust to manage our most personal contacts, it's surprising that our 'real friends' are managed still in such a limited and featureless way inside our mobile contact lists.
The ability to make calls or send a short text message from anywhere to anyone is convenient. Having all your contacts with you at that moment in the same place is necessary. Being able to find a contact and initiate a phone call or send a text message from the contact listing is smart. However, now we connect with each other in more ways than via one-to-one phone calls and short text messages. Having all the connections across many different networks managed via a single contact list; that's the new 'smart' needed in smartphones.
The new forms of connecting with our 'social circle' are not only driven by the new forms and implementations of technology but by the change in the content and context of the conversations we have. A photo shared with a friend may connect better than a potentially disruptive phone call. While it is possible to share photos with friends, using today's mobiles the most difficult question might be deciding which network to use. (MMS, facebook, flicker, email....) I just want to send the photo.
Contact lists have always been a way to arrange our social circle. A contact list as a 'service' will need to manage contacts, connection types regardless of network and be the place where the connection and conversation takes place. That's the challenge and the next 'killer' service.
- Paul
Today I got to thinking about 'Branded Music Videos', inspired by a post on Daniel Goodall's blog.
The question: "Can a music video that is funded by a brand be cool?"
In my opinion, it's more about the final product, target audience and context. For example, take the DragonFly Love video, mentioned in Daniel's post. On the one hand, given the correct context, it can be cool.
It was 'cool' to be included in a blog post that was discussing the topic of 'videos that have been paid for by a brand'. Another context perspective was created when I read that the entire video was shot with the Nokia N8. That was enough to capture my interest and distract me from the fact that it was paid for by Nokia, the story lacked substance and the music was not to my taste.
I might also have appreciated the video in the context of 'Vimeo' where the artistic nature of the story could be appreciated and discussed. Perhaps it may also encourage others to create their own N8 short films and discuss techniques, tips, tricks.(Insert N8 Producers and Vimeo NokiaHD links here.) Conversely, if I saw this video on MTV, I'd wonder where the band is and flick channels.
The 'Sellout' chant begins. How do bands try to avoid the potential of being branded as a 'sellout'?
Perhaps the biggest risk is created if brand and band try to hide the arrangement. That is NOT cool. Then with collaboration out in the open, brand and band can work towards 'cool' by focusing on content quality and correct context.
I feel that sometimes a product placement in a video can be so blatent that it actually becomes a shade of 'cool'. Let's take the Jay-Z comment: "I'm a business, man!" as referred to in Daniel's blog.
Picture the video clip -
It's all bling... club scene... cool people... partying Jay-Z style. They all just happen to have Nokia N8's, texting, filming each other. Jay-Z's doing his thing, surrounded by bling...then cut to him being handed a GIANT cheque with a huge NOKIA logo on it. (Oh and add a rain shower of money falling from the sky at the same time.)
After a quick look at Jay-Z's website, it's quite clear that he's happy to partner with brands.
A final comment: Did Nokia pay for this clip? If not, why not? Why not make more... now just waiting for the Kristiina Wheeler clip to show up here in Finland on MTV.
Daniel has replied that Nokia didn't pay for the Kristiina Wheeler clip and he's seen it on 'The Voice'. I'd better change channels.
Immediately after getting the first version of the website 'on' it took about 2 minutes before thinking, "It needs to be sexier!"
The basic idea behind the first version (can be viewed here) was to get the information up.
The re-design has two main purposes; 1) continue to showcase my ability and skill using web tools , 2) satisfy my own desire to have a site that I can proudly say... "yeah that looks good."
Now that the new design is done my attention will switch to content, content and content. Some more added functionality will also be added as required.
For the latest updates follow me via twitter: www.twitter.com/paulwarreneaton
Design, mobile apps and all things digital:
"It needs to be sexier!" - Paul Eaton
Online music:
"The best thing about an online music service is you can choose anything."
"The worst thing about an online music service is you have to choose everything." - Paul Eaton
Traditonal music channels:
"Traditonal music channels (such as FM/DAB/streaming radio) are great because you don't have to choose everything."
"However you don't get to choose anything." - Paul Eaton
© 2011 Paul Warren Eaton
