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Today's New York Times has a great story on Aardvark and how it uses your social graph to help you find answers to questions. It works rather simply - you pose a question via email or IM and Aardvark channels the question to people in your social graph (currently that's just your social graph on Facebook) and then brings back the answers to you. Users who don't respond aren't exposed so there's no discomfort created. As a result no social capital is expended either.Currently, Aardvark works only with Facebook and pings your friends and their friends for volunteers to answer the question. So it take the question to ties that are once removed from you. But it just doesn't ping everyone automatically, using its proprietary technology it pings only those friends who are most likely to have the answer and to respond to the question. It also organizes the responses and determines when it has received enough feedback. If no one in your network answers, the question is extended to second and third generation ties.
Why is this special? Because it leverages human capital and algorithms to determine who are the most likely people to be able to answer a question as well as who will be most willing to do so. It makes your social influencers work for you. It's built fundamentally around the concept of strength in weak ties recognizing that people in your network (and maybe the weakest ties) are most likely to be able to answer the question and will probably bring back the most trusted answers.
Is it more of a decision engine than Bing? Time will tell but what is certain is that by applying an intelligent filter on my social graph it is making it far more meaningful to me beyond the obvious social, entertainment and networking purposes that the social graph serves. Check out Aardvark and ask yourself what else would you like filtered through your social graphs. Or ask Aardvark to ask that. Maybe which ads to watch....33Across and Media6Degrees are already exploring that territory. It is just a matter of time before we see the world through the lens of our social graphs. It'll make life easier but here's a warning - it may limit our outlook on everything too.
Can this be the Future of Advertising?Quite possibly but in my and in some sense the future is already here twitpic. My only question is how much is it going to displace traditional advertising. And is this advertising or just consumer behavior?
Grant Owens who's a friend of mine at Razorfish and a planner wrote a piece titled, "Looking for a Pulse Online in 2009." He's a planner who believes that there's a lot we can learn from radio. In his language, radio holds the pulse because unlike the iPods it keeps us alive, and connects us to our communities and the world around us. It's not a lonely device.
Interestingly, he explores that concept to put forth the notion that in 2009 it is technologies that have a pulse that will succeed. Those are technologies that are social but instantly reactive too. For him the technologies that have a pulse include activity feeds, micro-blogging, distributed sampling, live streaming media, data centric media devices and real time analytics. He asks companies to focus on pulse taking products this year.
I like the concept but what I find most interesting is that the first two technologies that he mentions are social applications - activity feeds and micro-blogging. Arguably, some of the others like distributed sampling also leverage crowd-sourcing an inherent social concept too. I feel that the most pulse taking technologies are the ones that are social - we're interested in each other pulses (to use that language). That's what drove the social media explosion. Something else for us to consider. Philosophies around social will take many different forms in 2009 and may not be instantly recognizable as being tied to social. That's a good thing too. What do you think?
For the other Slant articles that cover microblogging, cookies, online video advertising and email marketing click here.
We got a few nice shout outs over the last few week or so. The first of course was AdAge and AgencySpy picking up on the news that we won the Mercedes Benz Agency of Record pitch today. This is obviously very big news and we're very excited about it. Its going to be fun having Mercedes as a client here in New York.
Future Changes highlighted Going Social Now as a blog to watch in 2009. It was one of 15 blogs highlighted. Also included in the list was The App Gap, a group blog on social in the enterprise that I also contribute to.
The Buzz Bin ran a post on the 25 Signs that You've Got a Strong SM Consultant or Agency. The third item listed was that the agency looks at social in the context of broader marketing objectives. We were sited as an example of an agency doing that. It is nice to see that our philosophy about social media is being noticed).
Newsweek asked us how we'd help the Republican Party revitalize its brand with Gen Y audiences using social media. I worked with the office social media leads and the ad creative team to send some ideas their way. In support of print media, I'm no going to give the idea away here (hint its the iPhone app). Buy a copy of the magazine and see for yourself! <i>Follow up to the post - Newsweek has published the ideas only now. You can find them here.
I'm back from vacation now so expect regular blog updates once more. I hope you had a wonderful holidays.
It has undoubtedly been the most difficult Thanksgiving for me with the Mumbai terrorist attacks starting virtually the moment my holiday began (around 2:00pm EST on Wednesday). Having spent several years in Mumbai as a child, I know both the hotels that were attacked rather well. I used to visit them often and I would drive past the Oberoi on my way to school every morning. But closer to home an old friend of my parents (who incidentally was at my wedding this January) was dining at the Taj Hotel when the terrorists attacked. His wife was able to escape but he was marched up to the 18th floor of the hotel by the terrorists and later shot. Yesterday, my mother attended the funeral of a fellow journalist who also died. All in all a horrible, tragic few days. And I can't begin to imagine how it must be for the families who were directly affected.
Nevertheless, I've been impressed by the courageous citizen journalism that kept the world abreast about the crisis as it unfolded hour by hour and minute by minute. It was another example of ordinary people using social technologies to get the word out, give each other faith, provide needed information when the authorities weren't communicating and help save lives too. Twitter, Flickr, SMS and the blogs were just some of the social technologies used as people communicated with the hotel guests holed up in their rooms telling them when to escape out of the buildings. In fact, 80 messages were being sent to Twitter every five seconds about the attacks. Twitter also reported that there was still gunfire inside the Taj Mahal hotel long after the mainstream media had said it was finished.
Sure in some cases sensitive information may have been transmitted but the social technologies and social media more broadly once again proved how central and useful it can be in times of crisis. But to me the most important benefit is that social media allows our all our ordinary voices to be heard loud and clear. The most encouraging and dynamic response to the terrorist attacks that I've come across is that of the Mumbai Twitter users. They decided to meet for beer at Leopold Cafe (one of the targets) yesterday. Why? Because they wanted to stand up defiantly and show the terrorists that nothing will stop them from living their lives the way they want to. How were they able to organize this so quickly? By using Twitter.
Nothing is going to lessen the pain of the tragedy for anyone even remotely connected to it. But we can all draw strength from the courage of others and recognize that as ordinary individuals that may get caught in the midst of events that are well beyond our control, there are social technologies that can help today in ways that we never thought possible even fifteen years ago.
I was interviewed by Jennifer Jones at Marketing Voices on Social Influence Marketing recently. You can view the video clip below.
I delve into how marketers should best use peer influence to their advantage and where I have seen peer influencers have the greatest impact.
I delve into how marketers should best use peer influence to their advantage and where I have seen peer influencers have the greatest impact.
Over at The Atlantic Monthly, a provocative piece by Nicholas Carr titled "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?" discusses how the web has changed the way we interact with information. He argues that the hyper-multitasking of the Internet has made people less introspective, reflective and thoughtful. Rather than simply blame the Internet, Carr also argues that the way we use the technologies is having a profound affect on how we think and act.As usual, Carr is onto something. And I think this quote in the article describing a conversation that Nietzsche had with a friend about the use of a typewriter changing his writing, captures it perfectly.
“You are right,” Nietzsche replied, “our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts.” Under the sway of the machine, writes the German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler, Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”
But Carr also misses some important factors that should have been discussed in his article. Firstly, these changes aren't anything new. Each time a transformative piece of technology enters our lives, it influences our cognitive abilities in unusual ways. The discovery of the printing press changed the nature of knowledge forever (and us too) as did more recent and less dramatic inventions like the typewriter, the radio, the television and now the Internet. Is there something dramatically different about the Internet?
Well, I believe there is. It is not that we have immense amounts of information at our finger tips. Most people aren't journalists like Carr and that information doesn't matter as much. The difference is that we're connected with each other so much more. Our lives are a perpetual dinner party. We're in multiple conversations, continuously moving between circles of friends and the bar. Activity on the Internet resembles how we digest and exchange information when we mingle at parties.
The point being that it is a dinner party because we're connected to each other. Its not Google or the Internet that's making us stupid, it is the fact that we maybe spending more time at virtual dinner parties than we should.
Some of the more controversial responses to Carr's article include:
Don't let this opportunity to be a part of something incredibly special go by. Pangea Day is a special, global event to bring the world together through film on one day. The idea is to help people see themselves in others and in their stories. Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.
Participate online or better still through one of the community events. You won't regret it. You can also show your support on Facebook, MySpace or YouTube. I'm proud to say that Avenue A | Razorfish played a small role in the Pangea Day effort by designing and building the website. We talk a lot about social media and online communities, well there's nothing more special than showing we're part of a global community that cares.
These were on the wall of the ballroom where the Zuckerberg keynote was going on. Somehow they seemed far more interesting than the actual keynote. Find more on that at News.com I can't read the url for the second poster. If you know the author
please let me know. I'll update the post to include the link. Eyescience is behind the first one.
Here at Avenue A | Razorfish, we're doing our little bit to help the environment. Check out the entertaining Wild Snowman and do your bit too. The environment is ours, we all need to do something to protect it. The video clip ends with a list of environmentally friendly causes.
One small step for athletes, one giant leap for bloggers. That's what I thought upon reading about the IOC's decision to allow athletes to blog at the Beijing Olympics. Here's the rationale in the IOC's own words - "The IOC considers blogging...as a legitimate form of personal expression and not a form of journalism," the IOC said. However, they don't allow audio or video blogging and references to third parties is prohibited. Apparently, the IOC is eager to protect rights holders as Games broadcasting contracts are worth several billion euros.What's most interesting is how the IOC has separated blogging from journalism. The truth is that those lines have long since blurred. With prominent bloggers getting media credentials at conferences and them breaking stories as quickly and professionally as the mainstream press, they are very much bloggers today. And athletes blogging? If they're blogging authentically and have something to say, I would treat them as journalists too. I wonder what the Chinese government thinks of that.
I was invited me to participate in the "8 things you didn't know about me" party by Susan Scrupski. Thank you! The rules are fairly straightforward - 1. Link to your tagger and post these rules. 2. List EIGHT random facts about yourself. 3. Tag EIGHT people at the end of your post and list their names. 4. Let them know they've been tagged.
So here goes - first the eight random facts about me.
1. I'm getting married in barely a week's time. It's going to very large wedding (I'm Indian after all) and I'll probably know not more than a fifth of the guests personally. Fortunately, I don't have to pay for the wedding.
2. I have a day job and a night job. By day I work for Avenue A | Razorfish and have been with them for a number of years. But I also co-publish a wine magazine. It's India's first and only magazine dedicated to wine. And yes, India is both a producer and a consumer of wine.
3. I nearly didn't make it past two. Maybe that sounds dramatic but it is true. I was deathly ill and the doctors couldn't diagnose the illness. For months I was in hospital on life support. But then a new medicine hit the market and was tried on me. It made all the difference.
4. I've been a huge mac fan for quite a while. In fact, I own one of the 20th Anniversary limited edition macs which was bought when Apple wasn't that cool. Its a gorgeous machine and few come close to it. Today, I mostly use black MacBook and an iPhone.
5. I've lived on three continents and hope to live on a few others too at some point. I grew up mostly in India and the Middle East, studied and worked in both North America and Europe. I would absolutely love to spend a meaningful amount of time in South America or Australia next.
6. I travel a lot for work and pleasure. In the last 12 months I averaged an international flight practically every month. While I don't enjoy air travel anymore, I see it as a necessary evil. Fortunately, I can sleep easily on flights.
7. I adore books. I am a bibliophile. I definitely buy more books than I can read but that doesn't stop me from buying more. They're candy to me. A home isn't complete without lots of books.
8. I'm a politics junky. I follow American, British, Israeli and Indian politics closely. They have more in common than you would expect. All in all, I believe the parliamentary form of democracy is the strongest format.
So that's it eight facts on me. I'd like to ping David Deal, James Robertson, Jane McConnell, Peter Boggards, Andrew McAfee, Peter Kim, Mukund Mohan and Jeremiah Owyang.
At the IDEA 2007 summit, I heard the Director of Marketing for Blendtec talk about how an unknown brand getting phenomenal brand exposure thanks to one good idea, a digital camera, youtube and staying true to its brand. Blendtec launched the Will it blend campaign on YouTube a year ago to promote its blenders. These ads depicted the CEO (with all his quirkiness) demoing different products being blended. By products I mean cellphones, iphones, ipods, rakes and lots more. Millions of views later, there advertising budget is still very small but their sales have sky rocketed.
Will this work for everyone? Of course not. We don't have enough patience to watch more blending. Good ideas can only be used once or twice. But what matters is that there's a small cost to experimentation and when the experiment appears to be succeeding, that's when you shouldn't stop but keep doing more.
Will this work for everyone? Of course not. We don't have enough patience to watch more blending. Good ideas can only be used once or twice. But what matters is that there's a small cost to experimentation and when the experiment appears to be succeeding, that's when you shouldn't stop but keep doing more.