Linked In. Changes and Tips.

LinkedIn just started pushing out to users their changes to the Contacts browser on LinkedIn.com.  It's a lot better than before.  Not that that was hard, because before (and possibly for some right now, until all the updates are pushed out) it was just an alpha listing with Name, Title, Company, that you could export.

They've moved to keep users doing their updating and notes ON the site now, with the ability to browse contacts, see essentially all of the address-book type of contact info so that you can now more easily use LinkedIn as a rolodex.

For anyone who syncs LinkedIn with Outlook, this is helpful, but already basically in place.  The web version does show the users photo (Thanks Bianca for being my guinea pig page example), so that's an improvement over Outlook, and the previous contact listing.

What should you be doing on LinkedIn?

--Have an updated profile picture that's your face, not your whole upper body-- these are small images and we can't zoom in.  (Dog pictures are cute but if you meet someone at a conference, they're trying to make sure it's you, and not someone else.)

--Is your contact info up to date?  If contacts are going to use this to get in touch (the whole point of LinkedIn) it better be the right number, email, etc.  Even better-- tell people how to get in touch with you.  Hate calls? Tell them to email you. Too much email? Have them call you at the office.

--Are you using a work email?  Dangerous, because when you're walked out of the c-suite, they typically take over your email.  It's a pain to try to change credentials after the fact. Get Gmail as a backup at least. You can add multiple email addresses to LinkedIn for just such an occasion.

--Import contacts from Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.  See who you already know and connect with them.

--Look at the connections of people you work with to find others you know or that you work with that are already on LinkedIn.

--If you secretly want to be head hunted make sure you can be found!  Include accurate, and keyword-rich summaries and descriptions of previous jobs. Make sure your headline says what you do, or what you're all about.

--Are you job hunting?  Check the Jobs section daily for new posts, or get feeds or alerts to let you know.  Follow company news for companies you're interested in.

--When you look at a profile on LinkedIn, that user (depending on your privacy settings) can see that you checked them out, and can see either your full name, etc or just title/industry.  Use this to your advantage and get on people's radar.  Scope out hiring managers, executives, friends of friends, etc in the area you're interested in and it may be that moment of luck that is the "right time at the right place" that get's you noticed.
 
--Not job hunting? Love your job?  Help your company!  Write recommendations for colleagues, suggest candidates from your network to your talent/recruiting team so they can check them out. Put your company website or other links in your profile to help spread the word.

--Keeping abreast of the situation in your industry?  You should find or create a group.  Like minds appreciate a place to ask questions, share events, etc.

--Questions and Answers. If you want to ask a question of your network, but don't want to bother anyone, post it, and see what answers you get.  Equally-- if you want to share your expertise, find leads, or just add to the conversation, try answering a few questions in your interest area or area of expertise.

Got more tips?  Share in the Comments.

Facebook streamlines gifts

 

Facebook has recently re-vamped their virtual gift platform, adding more choice, quality and interactivity in the lead-up to a full financial platform launch.

Facebook Credits have been around for a few years, but recently, Facebook announced changes to the credits platform and introduced more connectivity with Facebook Connect, used on over 80,000 popular sites and growing.  This new credits platform is essentially a direct competitor to Paypal.  By assuring your real identity, and with verification like mobile devices, PINs, emails, etc, Facebook Connect will soon become 'the way to pay' online. 

The virtual gifts on Facebook.com are just the appetizer to Facebook's $500mil+ revenue model, based mostly on socially-targeted ads. However as Facebook Connect becomes a flow-through conduit for currency internationally, they will rapidly become an everyday user's go-to payment platform. Why would someone like my mom create a new account with PayPal, go through the security and verification process, etc to make a payment on various sites around the web, when she can use credentials that she knows and trusts, via Facebook Connect.

As the Facebook Credits system permeates the web, and Facebook Connect becomes even more ubiquitous, I think we'll see many of the same things we saw PayPal struggle with 10 years ago breeze by for Facebook.  Even though Facebook appears to lack consumer-facing experience with e-commerce, the reality is that their platform for taking our money to create social-ads (for both large and small businesses) is quite robust.

I will also speculate that one of Facebook's upcoming acquisitions in 2010 or early 2011 will be Financial or Analytical.  A payments gateway, a startup with some new, great ecommerce wares... Something like that.

Human powered Sand Printer

Back in the day, I elaborated and enhanced an idea for printing on beach sand by designing and having built a giant tow-able device. The concept business I called Cleaner Parks, as the message was always going to be a sponsored "Don't Litter" impression.

Today I came across a human powered sand printer using a similar technique (how many ways are there to print sand anyway?) but this one is a slower but more engaging method. 

This weird printer of a wheel made by Zanadesign, a Spanish design consultancy specialised in conceptual design –and of non organic materials so it doesn’t have impact to the beach and heavy enough to be used by a child but not pushed by the wind- is actually being used to spread the message of the commemoration of the first constitution of Spain in 1812 proof of peace, freedom and democracy.

Why Twitter will never be Facebook

Twitter's growth has stalled. Many believed it to be the scrappy up-and-comer that was going to put all other 'complicated' social sites to shame, but in fact it serves a very specific purpose for a very specific audience.

 

I don't think it's because twitter is about to imminently fail or anything like that, but I think that the world-wide market for a service like twitter is simply not as large as something like Facebook.

Twitter has a purpose, and my take on it is that Twitter will remain as a site showing the pulse of the real-time web, and will continue to generate trends like popular links, #hashtags, etc, but all for niche usage.  Even though Google has incorporated real-time search into many of their results, the relevancy of a comment from a stranger, versus Google's time-test algorithm as far as finding what's right for me at that moment just doesn't seem to be up to par.

Here's my prediction:  They have lots of VC money, so they're not going anywhere.  They will continue to evolve, and (for brands anyway) will end up being just another customer service channel.  "You want to complain to us?  Well, we're listening on Twitter."  Do I see e-commerce happening through twitter? Nope.  What about enhanced services like video or even photo sharing?  Only through third-parties like TwitPic, or YouTube... not on the site itself. Will brands pay for 'Premium' accounts?  There had better be some enhanced value as part of that... 

The place that Twitter can continue to dominate is making trends and real-time search relevant.  That's what something like (even Facebook) has yet to master, because people do not spend all day on Facebook updating their status-- yet from the beginning, that was the (mobile) point of Twitter; answering those questions like "What are you doing?"

Would I recommend future clients use Twitter as part of a corporate social media strategy?  Yes.  Why? Because that's where people are, and that's what people are talking about.  If this was 2006, I would be recommending a MySpace Page, because that's what everyone was doing.  That's the point:  It's emerging technology marketing, and the trick is to be nimble enough to market to people where there are, and in the channel they love.

My Last Hope for Rogers (updated)

[FINAL UPDATE: Rogers has swapped the defective device with a refurbished device of the same model. I've got everything back on the new Blackberry and all is well.  Thank you to @RogersMJ @RogersRob @RogersKeith for getting my problem to the right people in the office of the president who were able to provide me with the right service. ] 

My calls kept going to people with no power to affect change, so rather than keep explaining to people who could do nothing, I thought I would post my problem and see if the people who can affect change read it and want to make something happen.

I've been a Rogers Wireless customer for a while.  According to them, Fall 2007, but that was really just when I got the latest number.  Before that I had other numbers, work provided Blackberrys, as well as other services like Cable at various locations. 

The story begins with the RIM Blackberry Curve 8310.  It's a nice device when it works, but mine started to give me problems over a year ago.  I attempted to use the proper process, and called tech support and did arrive at a solution.  Wipe the device. Reload the OS. Hope for the Best.

My Device is now no longer in warranty.  According to RIM and Rogers, the device should only keep working until 1 year after it's turned on for the first time, after that, you as a customer, are on your own.  I disagree.  My device says Rogers on it.  It also says Blackberry.  Since RIM will not do exchanges, because of their agreement with the providers, it's up to Rogers to say "Yes, this is a known situation that RIM should handle Mr. Customer.  Here's a working device, and we'll handle the issues on the back end with RIM, as we likely do this all the time for other customers who are submitting their malfunctioning phones, and who are within their warranty period.

I'm not looking for a handout.  I'm looking for RIM and/or Rogers to take responsibility for this systemic and documented problem and simply replace the device.  They can both SAVE a customer and oil the squeaky wheel.

Nola, Don, Sarah, and others (though I'm pretty sure they use assigned fake names) were all (mostly) understanding to my dilemma, and empathetic to my situation, but they simply could not raise their hand to their boss or their bosses boss and say "Hey, we need to just give this guy another device, same as the old, but that works. That will shut him up."   Nobody can do that.

A few friends/colleagues have mentioned that if you escalate enough at Rogers, you'll eventually get to a magical 'really good' level of customer relations rumoured to be The Office of the President.  I think it's likely equivalent to emailing sjobs@apple.com and getting your problem solved, whether it's Nadir or not.  (Which we all know it's not.)

Now just the fact that I'm writing this on a blog, it's been indexed by Google already, I know the name of the CEO of the company, I'm referencing customer services terms and technical terms, and that I'm (for the most part) being pretty polite--- should sound the alarm bells.  How is Rogers going to react to this post?  Will I get another generic tweet back from @rogersrob saying " Try Live Support".  The Twitter team can direct and offer suggestions, but cannot affect change.  They're not looking up accounts (most likely) because it wouldn't make sense to give these people access to things based on what people tweet about.  That could be dangerous, so all they can really do is make sure that the right people find out about significant problems, customer service issues, and potential PR or legal questions...

I understand that a company is in business.  They are trying to make money.  If they give stuff away, then they can't make money-- however they didn't lose money on a device for me to become a customer, I'm not on a contract.  They get my money on time every month (because VISA deems it so...) and because of this, and my unwielding resolve, I've decided to provide an ultimatum (because they're always awesome):  Either something significant will happen on Rogers or RIM's part for this BROKEN PHONE-- REPLACE IT issue, or I will start shopping for a new service provider, port my number to Bell Canada or Telus, and likely get a new phone anyway.   RIM will not be the loser in this situation, because I will undoubtedly get another Blackberry-- however Rogers needs to evaluate the LTV of me as a customer and see if they still want me?  (See, more jargon, I'm worth paying attention to!)

/Your Move. 

UPDATE:  I will post the resolution to this issue here.

UPDATE 2: To clarify, Rogers still sells the exact same model of Blackberry.

UPDATE 3: Got a phone call from The Office of the President today after work.  (I've put my SIM in a loaner phone so I don't lose my mind). So far it was more of the same. No offer to represent me to RIM to swap my defective device with a working (even refurbished) unit.  Lots of offers to have me sign up for a contract and get a really good deal on a brand new Blackberry. He was really dwelling on the fact that my device is out of Warranty. We all know that at this point. I get it, it's not going to be an easy switch.  Right now it's a case of Rogers wanting to keep me as a customer, but not wanting to do anything above and beyond to achieve that. He's going to call back with a follow up, so we'll see what the verdict is from the Office of the President.   Stay tuned.

UPDATE 4: (Friday 5:30pm) Emile just called back from the Office of the President with a resolution. Rogers has stepped up. They are going to swap the phone with a refurbished model of the same (The Blackberry Curve 8310).  I look forward to continuing to be a Rogers customer.

Does your brand need its own Community site?

These days? It depends.  Whether that's a forum or discussion board, or even with bells and whistles like image uploading, etc--- why not use an existing social network?

People loathe having multiple credentials, so if they can manage their own pictures on Flickr, and at the same time be a part of the 'Iams Dog Lovers' group to share stories and photos (I made that up), then why wouldn't they?  For the brand, it's less budget, less development, simpler management, easier promotion, greater traction, bigger audience, etc.  It just makes sense.

Facebook Fan pages are the obvious answer to brands looking to aggregate their fans in one place.  Content management, comment moderation, no development, no cost (clarify: no maintenance cost). Plus, everyone is already there.

What about if your brand is something very niche-- should you use Ning, or another platform to make an entire social network just for your niche group?  Afterall, naked cyclists (example) don't use Facebook, right? At the end of the day, pretty much anything you can think of, has an audience, and is represented on a major network. Whether they've been branded and aggregated--that's your job, but the audience is there.

What if you're Monsanto and you do great business with farmers (who are essentially end-users/consumers) and ag retailers all over the world, but a few pesky operations issues have generated some negative PR.  You may want your own community to talk about very specific industry things, possibly content that you don't want indexed by search, but that isn't necessarily secret, and of course, the ability to heavily moderate and track conversations. You may not want to discuss a new Soy variety on Facebook. A company like Monsanto may want their own community.

So where do we draw the line?  It think it's audience.  If you speak directly to consumers, you may as well be where the consumers are.  Nike, Dell, Air Miles, Shoppers Drug Mart, Canadian Tire.  If on the other hand, your company offers a service or product to businesses, then even though those same people are on Facebook, they, for work, may be the audience for a private community, or at the very least, a stand alone forum or discussion board. Monsanto, IBM, SAP. I draw the line at B2C vs. B2B.

There is however a middle ground that I would like to call the expertise sector.  Think of a key audience group like Microsoft .NET Developers.  They could (and probably do) have a Facebook page where they can get news, links to resources, etc.  But an expertise group like developers need a forum for discussion that would really bog down a Facebook Fan Page.  They need sub-topics, and moderators with expertise, and the ability to share more than just links, but maybe code or files---  this is all beyond what Facebook can really do.  So they're not B2B, but they are an audience that needs their own community.

When you're evaluating whether or not your brand or company needs to come up with a social network of some kind for your key audience, ask yourself this:  Can we use an existing platform?  If yes, then the likely answer is that your audience WANTS you to use an existing platform.

Body Scanners = Bad

I object to the knee-jerk million dollar reaction to the underwear bomber. I also object to the thought that since the TSA can't save them, and they are "deleted immediately", that the x-ray-like images of naked people will not show up on the internet immediately.  A simple 'invert image' function on photoshop will make the weird scanner image look almost pornographic, so Houston-- we have a problem.

Ok, first-- it's good technology.  Seeing people without their clothes is much better than shy security not doing the full crotch pat-down and letting through the bad people;  However, this is pretty invasive for most people, and still requires lots of personnel, training, and (as mentioned) expensive equipment.  If I manufactured these scanners, I would have set up the underwear bomber charade myself just to sell more units.

The scanner should be able to create an image that is just black and white blobs, with big red squares on anything deemed 'not good'.  The scanner has to interpret the data anyway, so make it show muppets for gods sake.  Have it show anything-- except naked people.

Google knows All. Pt. 2

I was about to enjoy a funny video on YouTube when I noticed something odd in the status bar:  Google was loading the video from a very geo-targeted location.

It knew that our ISP was Bell Canada, and that we were in Toronto (YYZ). I'm guessing (because I'm not a network expert) that the c.youtube.com means "Load this video from a Canadian host", so that it's quicker and cheaper for them, and ultimately better for my viewing experience.  But this new addition of ISP and City seems like they are really optimizing my download based on location.

Just thought I'd share that.