The Social Medium Influencer List 2011
Lists are what make the world go round, they make everything alright. How do you think the US pwns terrorism? List. Who the Murdoch’s know to pay off? List. It wasn’t the Arab Spring or Libyan rebels that brought down Qaddafi, yup, you got it it was a list. Hell, they even made a film about just how awesome (and dangerous) lists can be.
Lists are everywhere. They help us make sense of the world and bring order to chaos. Without them we would become a people confused. But with so many people making lists sometimes it is just so damn hard to keep track of them all. Introducing: the social medium influencer list 2011. This is the only way to find out what have been the most influential lists this year.
So without further hesitation i present to you….
The Social Medium Influential List of Influential Lists of Influential People 2011
1. The Social Medium Influential List of Influential Lists of Influential People 2011
No other list has tried to do the unthinkable and list the most influential lists. This truly is a crowning achievement which could only be honoured with the top spot
2. The Evening Standard Top 1000
Credit where credit is due, most lists are only about 100 people long but the Evening Standard recognises that there are many different types of influential people and they have all been duly represented here in a mega list of 1000 people. The Unicron of list making in London (forget elsewhere in the UK, they are just hobbits and elves etc).
3. New Media Age Social Influence Chart
The NMA SIC was one of my favourites of the year. No-one actually seems to know where it came from, what the criteria were and why it was never updated? It was clearly just a stunt to drive some traffic to NMA, who’d have thought it! The mother of all link bait.
4. The Next Web’s Top 25 most influential people tweeting about cloud computing
This list is pretty niche but thank god they used Peerindex. I can now follow the top 5 (after all, who is bothered with those at the bottom of the list) and know everything i need to know about the cloud. More please
5. The 2011 Time 100 List
This badboy is one of the most highly anticipated lists of the year. It’s a real premium list and not to be sniffed at. These guys are listophantics, they have a whole page of lists ranking ‘most popular natural disasters’ (not real) & ‘Top 10 Bad Teachers” (real). If you make this list you can pretty much retire from the list game, you’ve made it to the big time.
And as a bonus, don’t forget the Vanity Fair of tech AKA Wired and their Wired 100 list. It’s another brilliant list and unlike other lists it’s… ummm… oh, it’s just like all the other lists but this one has nicer pictures I’d say.
Until next year…
There Should be More Silence in Social Media
Groupon and Zynga – A Guide To Losing Money
Okay, so now that you have read that, it’s time to pick up your jaw from the floor and maybe have a quick recap, the numbers are staggering:
- In two and a half years, Groupon has grown from $0 to $645 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2011
- In 2010, Groupon spent $263 million on marketing and lost $456 million
- For Q1 2011, Groupon spent roughly $208 million on marketing (nearly the same amount as the whole of 2010) and lost $146.5 million
- That means, Groupon will lose roughly $585.2 million in 2011 – an increase in loss by 28% in a year
Now i frequently discuss with my peers Groupon’s business model & although i haven’t gone as far as to brand it a Ponzi scheme i do have serious doubts. Obviously i’m not the only one. The fact that they, and Zynga are creating their own metrics to demonstrate financial success shows what pressure they are under whether self-inflicted or not. They are probably under this pressure because without a public offering they may run out of investors money and go under. Badly.
But let me step back a little bit from my own opinion on the individual companies and perhaps look at the wider trend in the technology business scene. I think it can be traced back to the competition between MySpace and Facebook. Facebook lost a lot of money in the beginning and focused solely on the user experience, getting the data and growth. The last bragging right of MySpace was that even after Facebook overtook it to become the No.1 social network in the world it was still making more money. But it was making the money at the expense of the user experience and thus did not last as we all know. The Facebook model of business now seems to be the most commonly adopted – get talented engineers, get investment, spend money & work on growth, get more investment, worry about monetisation later. But there is a problem. You need to know what it is you are eventually going to use from all that growth to become profitable as a business. However, unlike companies like Groupon Facebook didn’t hire a lot of people (and still don’t) which kept costs down, it’s business was built around data collection in a way that was seamless to a users experience and is now incredibly profitable. Most importantly, it is still a private company.
So being a real business still seems to be the name of the game, the bubble doesn’t look big enough to burst with most replicable companies being weeded out as round B & C funding becomes harder to get and the IPO market dries up with companies now taking up to 10 years to go public as where in previous years it was more like 3.
For some, the IPO has now become the destination not the path. But without a sound business model, that destination seems to be increasingly seen only on the horizon. Good luck getting there.
Steve Jobs RIP
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
No Jesus, No iPhone 5, No Thanks
First off, we need to offer an apology. We had previously predicted Jesus would return to launch the new iPhone. This clearly did not happen and we’re not quite sure why. The ONLY explanation is that there must have been a problem with our initial calculation. For those of you who sold your iPhone 4′s and donated your all your money to ad banners telling everyone else to do the same then, all we can say is… whoops. Maybe next year, yeah?
As hundreds descended upon the Apple Campus in eager anticipation to ‘talk iphone’ or more specifically ‘iPhone 5‘. Thousands more of us descended upon the internet to see what we could garner from those lucky enough to be at the table. Simultaneously in another (far less popular) world literally tens descended upon churches around the world eager to get a glimpse of his lordships coming and to fast-track to heaven and beat the queues. Some had even camped out over night to secure their place. There would be just one problem for all parties…
Disappointment. Massive Disappointment
Both groups are used to this feeling but it was especially hard on the iPhone fanboys who actually believe in evolution. Sure there was a bit of Siri voice control here and a dollop of 8 megapixel camera there but nothing of the spectacle either parties had envisioned. Overall Tim Cook did an okay job trying to sound like Steve Jobs and by introducing the new technology, new prices and those watch faces for iPod Shuffle with Micky Mouse on them but where was the stigmata? The flowing gown? The golden locks? The spotlight just couldn’t be filled & the moment fell on expectations.
If you want to find out everything there is no know then there are a gazillion blogs out there with the same content on or just try the apple site. In my opinion, overall this looks great for 3GS owners ready to renew their contract or those new to iPhone. For those already with an iPhone 4 i am sure the majority will stick it out until the summer when the iPhone 5 comes. iOS5 will run on either device so there is no need to jump ship just yet. As for the Jesus fanboys, who knows, some are holding out for a summer extravaganza whilst others are left wondering whether they should try another book? So for now, no thanks.
When Your Personal Data Becomes A Currency
You can’t login anywhere these days without coming across some new form of currency manipulation, whether it’s turning your mobile device into a credit card with services such as Google Wallet, peer-to-peer services like Bitcoin or just good old fashioned Facebook credits for buying virtual toilet roll. The thing with this is, you are still just taking real money (whatever that is anymore…) and transmogrifying it into a virtual currency. This process is nothing new and nothing more than a digital bureau de change. The difference is the thing that drives the monetisation of the Internet: data. Your data to be precise. Every action you take online is being recorded by someone, somewhere. Most people probably don’t think about this too much, but most people probably don’t like the idea either, that every little thing they type or click is given life. It’s not nothing. It’s data. And data is money.
Sites like Facebook & Google are ‘banks’. They offer a free service as long as we put in our deposits which means, in reality, it’s not free at all. The question you need to ask yourself is, do you feel the trade off is a fair one? But it’s a bit tricky to calculate – impossible even. So I’m going to make a prediction. Those who know they give away a lot of data (a growing number of people) and know how valuable it is are going to start to taking control back when they realise just what’s going on. So what might that mean? It means the creation of 3rd party data collecting societies that hold your data for you and then releases it upon payment to, for instance, future Facebook. Yes, I am really suggesting that in the future, Facebook could be paying you to use its service. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, and Facebook may not even be around by the time such a change occurs but it will happen.
I have come across an open source solution entitled The Locker Project which offers some APIs to help you to start gathering your data from around the web. Not being a developer myself this system is no good for me and is really only the beginning but it does show that people are thinking about it. It may be that the data that makes up your social profiles, your search preferences and your bookmarks are all stored on your hard drive (or the cloud) and then displayed online as and when needed. The websites would be the mask, the framework that only you could fill. It makes you wonder whether social networks will always be free, perhaps to compensate the landscape will change to a payed-for service?
Either way, you’re worth a lot more than you think. The question of “who wants to read me tweeting about what I had for lunch?” may seem less ridiculous than ever before.
Also, don’t forget to check yesterdays post on how to reclaim your Facebook data!
Social Media Consultant? A Case of Mistaken Identity
It doesn’t seem that long ago that i was writing a blog post entitled ‘The Start-Up of Me‘ after reading an article in the International Herald Tribune. I still have that newspaper, origamically folded to frame that article as a constant reminder. A constant reminder that i should question my own career, unpick and re-evaluate it all the time. As i started writing this post the word ‘pivot’ was springing to mind, as in a way that is what i may well be doing soon. However i quickly realised that this was in fact not entirely true. I wasn’t pivoting that much at all, instead i was being mistaken for a ‘Social Media Consultant’.
Admittedly this is a self-inflicted case of mistaken identity, I’ll the the first to put my hand up to that. I left MySpace to work as a consultant because i knew the social media landscape had moved on and i wanted to work with businesses willing to embrace the changes that were coming. The obvious title to adopt at the time was indeed ‘Social Media Consultant’ (I’m pretty sure they were much rarer in 2009). I stuck with this title until i started working with Microsoft Xbox in 2010 when i switched to ‘Social Business Consultant’. The reason for this was mainly because i was now thinking about how social worked both outside and inside the business (Marketing/Comms/External Product & Analytics/Social Enterprise Solutions/Open Leadership models). It also had the benefit of being a differentiator in a market now flooded with self-proclaimed social media experts. Then earlier in the year i was given the title ‘Creative Technologist‘ as a way of truly trying to sum up what i knew and did. I scoffed at the title initially but then slowly came round to it. But i reached a new dilemma, I’d now gone from the over simplistic to the truly cryptic! Often when asked (i always was) I stated it was my job to bring art & science together in perfect harmony.
You may be wondering why a job title matters so much? Well it comes down to first impressions. As where ‘Social Media Consultant’ (SMC) was relevant and fresh in 2009 it’s now jaded and carves out your very own pigeon hole. If you’re a SMC then preconception states that you know how to market a brand on Facebook and Twitter with a bit of influencer PR thrown in for good luck. That’s it. For me, that represents a mere sliver of knowledge & interest. It’s basic stuff that can be picked up at any 1 day ‘social media training’ session. I now see what the pitfalls are when it comes to picking a job title and that in hindsight i was jumping straight down them each and every single time.
After reading a post entitled ‘Knowing you are a product manager makes all the difference‘ over on MindTheProduct i figured it was time to re-address my dilemma and add some points on what to think of when changing your title:
- 1. Don’t dumb down what it is that you know & do unless you are dead set on a specific career path
- 2. Write down the areas of expertise that you have and think about a title that encompasses everything and best represents you (easier said than done i know)
- 3. Don’t be too cryptic
- 4. Accept that if you are using a new & uncommon job title then people may be confused & may effect your ability when looking for your next job
- 5. NEVER use words like ‘Guru’ or ‘Ninja’, no-one will take you seriously. Hopefully.
I did just this and have now changed my title to what i think best represents me. It may not be perfect but it’s an attempt at getting my identity back. I would recommend reading my post Social Media should be renamed User Experience and then heading over to my linkedin to see what i changed it to.
Interested to hear your thoughts…
How much does Facebook know about you? Find out!
Have you ever seen this before? Most likely not and especially not if you live in the United States. In short the US champions the business and in Europe we champion the user – which is great (unless you’re starting a business). Here in Europe, there is a lot of that always formidable red tape to get through to free up your users information if you’re a business. Interestingly, us Europeans seem to allow our government a lot more access to us and our corporations very little (relatively speaking) while in the US they’re doing just the opposite. We don’t like the idea of corporations taking our data and we definitely don’t believe them when they ‘promise’ not to use it. Just ask Germany. But we’re giving away a lot more than we’ve been realising. But now, the penny is starting to drop.
This form is what you need to fill in if you want to find out what Facebook knows about you. That may sound a bit strange. Obviously I know what Facebook knows…I voluntarily gave it that information. I think.
I have often found myself amazed at the volumes of information websites can pull from us without us ever thinking about it. So…do I really know what Facebook knows? Well this is how I find out. After you request your information, Facebook has to supply a hard copy of your data within 40 days. However, upon submitting your request you are currently likely to receive an email stating that there will be a delay and according to Europe VS Facebook they are in no rush to stay within the boundaries of the law either. Facebook, it seems, believes that YOUR information about what you’ve done on their site is THEIR property. Right.
There is a non-law enforcing way to export your data via facebook.com/download with the option at the bottom of the menu. However, I did this about a week ago and am yet to receive anything. From personal experience it would seem Facebook is keen to advertise a willingness to show me my data but in actual fact it’s all smoke and mirrors and they have no intention of sharing. This I do not ‘like’. Now, it could be coincidence and perhaps Facebook is overloaded with requests but I think if people really knew how much information Facebook had on them they would reconsider how they use the service. I’ve always said, if facebookageddon (formally known as MySpaceageddon) was ever going to happen then it would have to be something big, and it would have something to do with privacy. Perhaps they are delaying and denying because this could really scare people.
We’re submitting a request and we’d recommend you do to, take ownership of your own data – it’s going to be really important someday soon.
CLICK HERE TO RECLAIM YOUR DATA FROM FACEBOOK
