Social Networks Are / Social Networks Are Not
Posted by Brent Dixon on March 24th, 2008
I thought it’d be nice to start the week off with a rant inspired by three things:
- Jim Bruene’s recent post about the scrappy usage (his word: ‘anemic’) of financial apps in Facebook.
- My disagreement with this quote from the CUES Nexus blog (sorry, Lisa):
If you want to reach Gen Y, why not be where they are? The more than 68 million Facebook users (many of them young people) spend an average of 20 minutes a day on the site. And about 250,000 new users sign on every day. Some CUs are already there, waiting to greet them.
- That there are still high-fives given for credit union MySpace pages.
Social networks…
Are Not:
Real estate. If you look at online communities as an opportunity to park your caboose and head people off at the pass, you’re missing the point. Go buy a TV spot, pop up or newspaper ad – stick to the proven, tried and true methods of interrupting and annoying people.
To brands who treat conversations like billboards: you’re not just old marketers, you’re also posers. (And I should note that I’m not talking about Lisa here at all.)
There are 140 Facebook apps added every day. This is Noise 2.0. The apps that are the most successful are those that help Facebook users do what they came to Facebook to do rather than react to the fact that they happen to be there. More on that in a second.
Are:
Communities. If you bust in on that without immersing, participating, understanding, you are a door to door salesman. If you show up, you and your toothy grin, you’d better be adding value to the community by helping them interact, grow, and have a deeper connection with each other (that’s why they’re all there in the first place). The Cluetrain Manifesto said communites are groups “of people who care about each other more than they should.” And each community/platform is unique, but also interwoven. Engaging the Facebook community looks different from engaging the Second Life community looks different from engaging the Twitter community.
For Example:
Why is Facebook’s iLike so successful (361,568 daily active users, $15.8 million in funding…for a Facebook app)? Because people use Facebook to communicate themselves, learn about and connect with people. iLike enables that and, as a result, enhances Facebook for its users.
This is shown across the board in the numbers too. According to Adanomics data (made sense of by Asi Sharabi) the most widely used apps (44%) are “Identity Formation / Social Comparison.”
Why do I think Fiserve’s MyMoney will not succeed as it is right now? Because, frankly, who cares that you can access your account within Facebook? It is not that difficult or time consuming to open a new window or tab and get to my online banking login. Thank you for saving me three clicks, but until MyMoney brings more to the table I’d rather keep my applications clean.
What if you could use MyMoney to visualize your progress as you saved for a vacation, a new toy, or the secret to time travel. What if a few trusted friends and I could use Facebook’s social tools to build a cross-FI collective overdraft protection account that auto transfers cash in a time of need, notifies each person on the account, and in doing so: 1) saves me fees and 2) builds in the obligation to replace that money as soon as I can?
By the same token, Financially Fun Island™ (not a real thing, but almost a real thing) in Second Life will, at best, attract a lot of industry insiders who are interested in this “innovative new tactic.” But the citizens have better things to do than go to your island and play money games. They’re building an active economy. However, a financial institution that offers home, land, and small business loans in Second Life for Second Life is enriching the in-world experience…not just capitalizing on it.
I’d much rather be enabled than greeted.
Alright, that’s all I’ve got. You can yell at me now.
Brent, I agree. What about using Facebook to market though? Both their ad engine and Google AdWords allow you to do some pretty awesome stuff.
Christopher -
Sure, passing along relevant recommendations through targeted marketing is better than the blitzkrieg approach. But targeted utility trumps targeted messaging every time.
@Brent – spot on as usual. Got me thinking about another aspect of social networking that we don’t need: More social networks. I wrote so much, I put it over here: http://everythingcu.wordpress.com/2008/03/24/not-another-social-network/
@Christopher – I’m working on writing up a whitepaper on Facebook as Marketing Engine. I’m going to see if I can get that finished before BarCampBankSF this coming weekend. And I think that advertising has little to do with the power of Facebook as Marketing Engine. It’s all in the social, baby.
Brent -
I agree with several of your points. I get to look at social media from two perspectives. I am the typical Gen Y individual. And I am a CU professional, and want to figure out the best way for my CU to jump into social media.
I struggle with the same concept as you present above. What good is a FaceBook or MySpace page, if it doesn’t offer something to those who visit it? Otherwise the only purpose it serves is that it allows the CU to claim to be in Social Media. These same struggles come with blogs. A blog has to have personal expression and individual thoughts. It cannot be another median for PR. The CU blogs that have found the most success understand this. Even if there are several authors, each has their own voice.
Using social media for Target Marketing can be useful, but that is completely distinct from actually participating in Social Media. And if a CU wants to participate and be acknowledges in one of the many distinct communities, it must express authentic individualism and not be a platform for PR.
Unfortunately it seems that this will have to be a lesson learned for many CUs. Just dive in and find your way through. There really isn’t a better way to become a part of one of the social media communities.
Brent, Isn’t the most meaningful question “Social Networks – What Will They Become?” After all, we’ve seen these entities transform themselves from places for people of a like mind to cluster into highly valued (e.g., BeBo/AOL and $850 million) exchanges. As the new owners attempt to wring out a modicum of return on the premiums paid, can’t we expect to see network-generated content, money-saving ways to consume, wealth gathering score cards, or maybe even new (or adapted) forms of payment? Put another way, if the financial services industry and others don’t heed your advice by generating network-transforming applications, the networks will be forced to do it themselves if for no other reason than to preserve their social and financial relevance.
@John
Personally, I think part of the allure of some of these social network sites is their non-commercial nature. The actual network of people is being formed, but who says it can’t be nomadic? As MySpace became too commercialized, people moved on. If the same happens to Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., I believe you will see mass exodus after mass exodus. We are a fickle people. We are an anti-marketing people. Social Media sites cannot take their audiences for granted, neither should their suitors.
Did you see this in News Now today?
http://www.cuna.org/newsnow/08/system032408-2.html?ref=hed
CUs reach younger members through MyMoney on FacebookReprinting an exchange I had with Ron Shevlin on this. For the original post, see: http://www.cutomorrow.org/?p=37
One major reason to build a shiny branch on a bustling [virtual] corner (especially if you’re a lesser-known credit union) is simply so people know you’re there. They may not see your CD specials in the paper; they may not watch the local news that tells them you were robbed last week, but they still drive around, and if they can see you, you exist. If they can’t, you don’t. Allowing folks to transact in Facebook fulfills a basically utilitarian member need. Allowing their friends to see that you transact in Facebook fulfills a higher marketing need.
There’s also [another], admittedly remote, level. If Facebook continues on its its current trajectory, it could become not just a site among many, but the basic organizing structure in which people interact with the Internet, fulfilling a role similar to the browser or Google today. In this scenario, the Internet’s novelty has worn off. While you always maintain the ability to go “off the grid” in search of new or different information, Facebook (or whoever wins this theoretical get-everybody-on-my-site war) is the calm, well organized, convenient place to do all of my day-to-day communication, transactions and entertainment. Is the possibility indeed remote? Yes, and I personally think it won’t happen.
But writers much smarter than I are suggesting it: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200710/facebook
@ Brent – I whole heartedly agree with your assessment of some of the Facebook apps, Second Life sites currently out there…
Just as a note: We’ve had limited success with Facebook ads, particularly targeted to specific college groups – and relevent event listings (seminars – articularly on credit topics). We’ll keep experimenting!
Well said. I recently read a great blog entry on banking facebook applications and how they are all failing. Perhaps people don’t want to think about their finances when they’re visiting facebook. :-)
Here’s the article: http://www.netbanker.com/2008/03/facebook_financial_banking_applications_have_263_users.html
@ Morriss: Thanks for your comment. Let me know when you’re done with your Whitepaper, I’d love to check it out. Also, I hope your birthday was awesome.
@ Kent: Word up. Although, I do think there are smart and less-than-smart ways of “diving in” to social media. The best way to enter initially, if you’re not sure you’re ready become a content producer, is to use social media to listen and learn. Which is precept of good conversation that all of our moms taught us anyway: think before you speak.
@ John: Great points. “Network-transforming applications” is a great way to phrase it. Colin Henderson made a point that is right inline with yours in his Bankwatch article “Google finds value chains and industries in deep strategy decay.” His basic point: If CUs and banks don’t start innovating (and I think online especially) someone will, and that someone will hijack their industry and relevance.
@ CU Warrior: I kind of hope through tools like network aggregators and social network portability, we might not be forced from exodus to exodus…if we can keep it all in the same place. Fingers crossed.
@ Christopher: Thanks for that article. I do have to say that Christian Financial’s iSwitchkit that allows members to join through Facebook could be very cool, given some innovation on the social + transactional side of things.
@ Ben: I can see your point. I think we’re saying the same thing – if they’re just doing it so people “know they exist”...it’s just another way of going about mass marketing. Which, in my opinion, degrades communities. By finding ways to enhance communities, you can still increase visibility (much more so), while simultaneously demonstrating why I should care.
To your second point, I agree with Charlene Li’s thought that in the future, “Social Networks Will Be Like Air”. Meaning, I expect social networks will find ways to intermingle and break down silos before one overtakes the whole lot of them. Either way, you’re right that credit unions are at least exploring integration. If MyMoney is only step one, then I think it is awesome. I hope that’s the case.
@ V: Are your Facebook ads targeted buys in the news feed, or graphic ads on the side of the page? Where’ve you been, anyway? We’ve missed you.
@ Ed: Thanks for your comment. As I’ve said before, I don’t know how Jim over at Netbanker always knows everything about everything. But he tends to.
@ Brent – Just graphic ads on the side of the page so far. And now experimenting with event posts (promoting seminars)... But some of those Facebook geographic networks are really just spam boards as far as I can tell…
Nice to be missed! :)