Making Money out of “Me”

Media
© Kieran O’Hea 2008

Introduction

10 March 2000 was the date the NASDAQ stock market crashed and within two years US$5 trillion was wiped
from the market value of technology companies. Many lost their money and their jobs, and still carry the scars.
So with Web 2.0 it’s surely a case of once bitten twice shy? Apparently not: in 2008 Microsoft paid US$240m
for a tiny 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook, valuing it at US$15bn, higher than the Ford Motor Company. 23,000
applications were launched by brands on Facebook last year.

This paper will investigate the relationship between two parties who have been reluctant bedfellows up to
now, namely the commercial sector and the users of social media. It will subsequently make recommendations
regarding the creation of profitable social media strategies by companies whose primary business is not social
media. For the purposes of this paper, social media includes blogging, social networking, community sites, RSS,
tagging, and podcasts.

People are content

Since 2000 we have seen a dramatic and increasing shift from ‘mass’ media to ‘me’ media. The web is now
populated by legions of empowered consumers. Today there is more content on YouTube than there was on
the entire Internet in 2000. If this generation of consumers had to choose, they would rather live without
television than the Internet. We have experienced profound change both in media consumption habits and in
receptivity to various types of advertising.

Consumers are looking to connect with others with similar interests. However they are willing to share
personal info – hobbies, lifestyles – in order to connect to brands. They would also pay attention to messages
aligned with their preferences. They will collaborate with and even evangelise about companies that make the
effort to establish a meaningful two way relationship. In millions of chats, blogs emails, phone calls, and social
networks, consumers are talking about products, companies and brands. Companies need to be able to catch
these “shouts and whispers” and social networks provide an excellent opportunity to do this.

In the light of new consumer perspectives, businesses must ask themselves some tough questions and get to
grips with a new range of social media metrics. If consumers who grew up digital look not only at content and
media differently, but advertising and brands, what does this mean to our company? Now that we are listening
to their conversations about our brands, what are we doing with this intelligence? How can we make their
input part of the DNA of our day-to-day operations? Is our culture and way of doing business open enough to
succeed in this collaborative world? If a good idea can come from anywhere, are we adequately tapped into
open-source networks?

Learning from customers

Some companies are trying harder than others to take their social networking customers seriously by providing
a natural forum for them to get involved with their business. Dell for example has made the following social
media observations about its customers:

1. Messages are co-created in the marketplace. What you announce is the start. The community completes
your message.
2. Customers don’t care about the line of business. They gravitate to their “community of passion”.
3. If you focus on English, you are not reaching 65% of the audience. Ten languages = global.
4. When one billion new people enter a market in 4-5 years, they change it…….get ready for change
5. Great companies will excel in transparency. Others will find you cannot hide.
6. Idea sourcing allows the customer to walk our hallways every day. Become their advocate.
7. Response to issues must happen in minutes and hours, not days and weeks.
8. Language is no longer a barrier for news to travel
9. Your digital experience should be similar at work and at home.
10. Gut feel and common sense matter more than ever, despite the overwhelming feeling that it is all about
technology

Dell has subsequently set up www.dell.com/ideastorm where customers can comment on products and
submit their own ideas.

Learning from Web 1.0

Dell’s efforts should be applauded as genuine attempt to connect with their customers online by giving them a
voice in product review and future product development. But Dell is a big company and it is very hard for the
likes of Dell to project the personal touch which is the foundation stone of social networking. Businesses
looking for insights into how to gain trust from social networking customers might find inspiration might be
interested to know that the spirit of social networking has its origins further back than 2000, in fact back to the
emergence of the web in 1993.

The web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in CERN to help nuclear researchers who were having problems
sharing information across different networks, computers, and countries. It was originally conceived in the
spirit of not-for-profit, user-generated content. It has subsequently been overwhelmed by the commercial
sector. The web has become the new corporate brochure. Social media have rekindled the original spirit of the
web and this time round the users may be more reluctant to see it opened up to commercial interests.

Learning from Non-Profits

There is also evidence that non-profit organisations gain acceptance more easily on social networking sites
than do their private sector counterparts. Facebook has a Causes section which allows users to advocate for
various issues, charities and political candidates which has had 2.5 million users since its launch a year ago.
Social networking is ideal for people who want to publicise a social issue that concerns them. It empowers
people to take action when something affects them, for example a famine or human rights abuses. The 4
Generations video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_am82KhI-c is a powerful example of this.

On the other hand, at least 50,000 Facebook users rebelled against the Beacon advertising system which was
designed to make their private purchases public on other websites without their explicit permission. Social
network users are getting overloaded with messages from people asking them to be their friends or tempting
them with new applications. Therefore non-profit campaigns need to be extremely innovative to succeed.
Apart from favourable acceptance levels from users, non-profits are lucky to be able to call on some of the
most creative people in the world to help them to develop viral campaigns, videos and on-line petitions.
Oxfam and Amnesty are leaders in this field.

Conclusions

There are definite opportunities for businesses that are willing to adopt a “Think Small” attitude to social
networking and take a personal approach that will allow them to find a natural fit with social media users.
Their role models must be the man in the street, the passionate entrepreneur, the citizen with a voice and the
NGO with a cause. Businesses must get this blend right if they are to make profitable business models using
social media.

Author

Kieran O’Hea was a member of the European Commission team that developed and implemented the first
funded programmes in online publishing, with a budget of €250m. He managed the development and
implementation of Tourism Ireland’s online strategy, delivering 28 web sites in 18 languages, Ireland’s biggest
web project. He also managed the development and implementation of the online strategy for Concern
Worldwide, an NGO and Ireland’s biggest charity with a presence in 30 countries.