Who Owns Your Peeps – pt 2
Who Owns Your Peeps -part 2 (see part 1)
The matter of who owns the followers on a social media account is under question in the case of PhoneDog v Noah Kravitz and it is certain to set the tone for how companies do business, or don’t, on social media in the future. We’ve been following this case, since last month where we learned that @phonedog_noah was changed to @noahkravitz, when he left the company in 2010, which led to a lawsuit in July of 2011.
Case of Mistaken Identity-Retention?
The case is convoluted as there were apparently no specific guidelines, nor contractual obligations, as to how Mr. Kravitz was expected to build the account; and worse yet, apparently no specific guidelines as to who owned the followers when he left the company. The lawsuit allegedly claims that PhoneDog believed the Twitter account was to be retained by PhoneDog – yet they apparently had no succession plan in place to take control of the credentials when Mr. K left the firm. Indeed, since the lawsuit was only filed in July 2011, it seems that PhoneDog didn’t even notice the impact of Mr. K changing the name and taking the account with him, until well after he had left.
Not Social Business
In the dynamic world of business and information, buzzwords can be annoying as the “latest fad”. Many speak out in frustration or disagreement at calling everything “social” these days. At Social Gillie we’re focused on prioritizing the relationships that make your business a success if managed well (or a failure if not). And that goes way beyond marketing. Its not “Social Business” or “Social Media” or “Social Marketing”. It’s much more: Business Relationship Engineering.
Let’s drop the “Social media” buzz words but not forget that these are relationship platforms, tools that offer new ways for people to do what they have always wanted to do: relate to their world in a way that matters. Relationships matter, as the slogan goes; But there are so many types of relationships that matter! And it’s okay because effective relationships are also profitable.
The New “Trust” Economy
Making our case for us
Providing one more piece of evidence to our recent point that the new economic virtue is “trust”, the automobile insurer Esurance has completely revamped their advertising/marketing campaign around the concept of Trust and Trustworthiness. Good for them. We hope they live up to it and that the campaign succeeds hugely.
The Social Media revolution is about developing trust through interactive dialogue. People want to get things that work and they want to know that when they buy something that doesn’t work, that there is a policy of fixing it – a way to get answers and solutions from the manufacturer. No company is immune to the new tone of scrutiny.
What do you do?
FAQ1:
The question most frequently asked of us. What do you guys do?
We help businesses, ministries, non-profits, individuals and campaigns effectively use Business Relationship Engineering.
What you sell, who you hire, who your leaders are, who supplies and the general public are all dependent on the number, nature and quality of the relationships you maintain and how you communicate in them.
Business relationship engineering is the integration of systems, hardware, and people to create a collaborative environment fostering every business relationship.
We provide assessments, planning, training, implementation and fulfillment specializing in digital, mobile and social communications programs.
We are your foremost resource for comprehensive real-time and Interactive communications consulting services. Use the right tools, be on the forefront of public awareness.
The Hardest Part
When it comes to developing good social media programs, the hardest part for many companies is just getting started. Most business people today know that there are many valuable ways to use social in their business – but they don’t know how. We’ve all seen it used, we may have even participated in Social Media, but many find it difficult to get started. There’s a wall of inertia holding them back.
For most business leaders, talking is not our first priority and it seems like an uncomfortable stretch to have open dialogue with the market place; It almost becomes “stage fright”. Yet, it wasn’t always like this. In times past, the business leader was accessible – whether the corner drugstore owner or the head of a department store chain. If you wanted to lodge a complaint, or make a suggestion, you could reach the owner. It seems those times are long gone, right?
Perceptions and, of, or Reality
One of the most significant challenges to maintaining positive and productive relationships is what your counterpart (and you) perceive and what is actual reality.
There once was a manager who operated exclusively on a premise that “perception is reality”. Unfortunately this made her too malleable and indecisive. Rather than building cohesion in her organization she was perceived by her subordinates, peers and executives as a wishy washy climber. This was not her intent nor her personality. She was a hard working professional who cared about people. Her insistence on behaving to adhere to her GUESS as to how others perceived things caused her own philosophy to be disproven.
A recent political candidate was driven out of a race because public perception was manipulated by media and others. Another, with demonstrated character challenges in his past is going strong. Another example of giving credibility to a perception and not to a proven reality is a harmful approach.
We must acknowledge the perceptions of others by inquiring. We must measure reality in business so that mis-perceptions can be shown in a non-threatening and productive fashion. Learn to monitor what others are saying about you and learn to communicate and demonstrate your positive realities. This is an integral part of Business Relationship Engineering.
Social Gillie can help you do that.
Proving that Social Continues to Flourish
Facebook’s Open Graph API is slamming online news outlets with new traffic. Even Yahoo! News, which seemed to be doomed to irrelevence not too long ago has seen a 600% increase from Facebook, of all places. In this brief article by FastGush, we see two important facts revealed:
- News Outlets have a new shot in the arm, driving traffic from folks who may have been ignoring the news elsewhere.
- Many social media users are unaware of the implications and risks of their usage of these emerging tools.
Find the tools that let you talk
Many people believe that they can’t participate in the social media milieu due to the fact that they don’t have adequate tools or knowledge in order to feel like they are actually getting something from the experience. Whether they are intimidated by the interfaces available on twitter Facebook various blog platforms or whatever method a person chooses to use, we can help.
A good example is how I’m writing this post. I’m not actually “writing”, this article, I’m speaking it.
I’m using something called Dragon dictation. Microsoft and Google and any big player that you come across will probably be deeply involved in voice recognition technology. Another solution is to use a composite tool or something that will aggregate all of your social traffic into and understandable interface. There are a lot of players out there. Some you may have heard of some you may have not, similarly the social network cloud is crowded with people trying to get your attention.
With Social Gillie you get a clear roadmap of the confusing wilderness of social media and more effectively communicating with your employees, your supply chain, dependent organizations, partners and of course, your customers or constituents. We’ll show you the tools you need and help you develop the most effective process for using them. Our custom solutions are cost-effective and can leave very little footprint on your organization or can effectively supplement any aspect of your social media management that may be missing.
Contact us today