More than ever, hard numbers are necessary to demonstrate success; they are incontrovertible, easy to communicate, and can point out what is or is not working. For new media darling Twitter, marketers are finding more tools to help them understand how their efforts are performing.

There are five tools to consider, but first you have to know what to measure. Not all of the tools out there are going to be helpful. Some are introspective, looking at how the Twitter campaign is presented. Others are quantitative tools to analyze traffic, trends and follower count. First, make a measurement plan, noting what is important to the organization and how to justify the success of the campaign. What does success look like? What are the key things that need to happen? List these goals and then determine reliable tools to measure progress. 

Five Useful Tools for Tracking Twitter Success

• TwInfluence. Track not only how many listeners you have, but also how concentrated your audience is, and the rate at which your campaign is growing.
• TwitAlyzer. Measure your popularity, signal-to-noise ratio, and how many times you’re being cited. This is valuable if your aim is to become a thought leader. Twitalyzer also lets you tie into Google Analytics and collect information on site traffic coming from Twitter. This can provide insight into how the digital marketing channel is being influenced by a Twitter campaign.
• TwitterFriends. Get detailed insight on who you’re interacting with on Twitter. This includes everything from a map indicating where your followers are to the average length of a given tweet. This helps provide clarity on who is responding, how frequently and the nature of these interactions. This information can be useful in the planning stages of a Twitter campaign, as well as tracking once the work is in progress.
• Trendistic. Get an understanding of trends in Twitter. Enter a keyword and see how it is referenced in the space over time. It’s possible to see up to 180 days worth of information.
• TweetEffect. Find out how individuals are reacting to your posts. By entering the user ID and clicking search, you get a summary of recent changes, as well as adds or losses based on specific tweets. It’s an excellent way to see what is resonating with followers and what is not. 

As more users flock to Twitter, developers are coming up with tools that enable marketers to measure a multitude of interactions. While the information may not be 100% accurate, it is close enough to accurately capture trends in the space.

To demonstrate social network success, savvy brand marketers must identify what success means, and then understand how it can be tracked.

To justify spending and ensure budget for future projects, it is crucial that marketers can demonstrably prove the success of a given campaign. As the economy sputters, and the struggle for budget becomes increasingly more challenging, it becomes even more important. While the majority of digital marketing can provide highly quantifiable results, social media can prove challenging. These networks are nebulous webs of people friending one another and sharing select information, and they frequently can’t be measured in clickthroughs or conversions. This article will explore how to create a metrics program to track the success of a campaign, using examples from major brands to illustrate different approaches.

1. Determine what to measure
The first step is determining what to measure. Start by considering why social media is being used in a particular campaign, and then look for ways to measure the results. It is important to set the campaign up for success. Don’t track data that is hard to gather, but do set your sights on the low-hanging fruit that will yield meaningful results. For example, many sites offer a tool enabling users to post content to their Facebook or MySpace pages. By using a tool such as Omniture, it is possible to track the frequency with which users are posting, and which networks they are using. By tracking this information, meaningful insights into the resonance and value of material on the site can be gauged.

2. Take advantage of existing tools
Social networking sites recognize that they live or die by their user base, and they understand that advertisers on these sites want specific insights into who they are talking to and how the message is being received. By using Facebook’s sophisticated tool kit, it is possible to track specifically who is engaging, and what they are doing there.

Even if the numbers aren’t hard, it is still possible to use social networking to track brand perception and better service the consumer. Twitter is a platform where users post 140 character updates on what they are doing, either through a mobile interface or via the web. Unlike Facebook or MySpace, it’s not a forum for emailing or playing games and, as such, provides fewer hooks to a brand marketer seeking to promote a message unless they have a decent amount of followers. Yet, there are ways to integrate the platform onto the site (take a look at the Betty Crocker clip below, as an example). Using tools like TweetScan, it is possible to see how frequently the brand name is being referenced on the site, and to react to any kind of coverage.

3. Track how social networking impacts other channels
Tracking the number of daily users is a no-brainer, but mapping in-network interaction to external behaviors becomes much harder. There are, however, a few ways to skin the cat, given creativity and tenacity. If a brand creates its own social network, using a pre-existing platform such as Ning, in conjunction with metrics tools, it’s possible to track entry and exit points on the site. If a clear destination has been identified as a project goal, it’s possible to drive the user there and track the volume. If a social networking campaign launches, look outside the web to see if there is a correlation between sales and the viral growth on the networks. Bacon Salt, a purveyor of foods, launched on Facebook and MySpace. Within a few days, it had sold out of product.

Conclusion
Social networking is more than just a profile page on Facebook. The power of the consumer’s voice can be harnessed in multiple ways, to serve many goals. The information can be incredibly valuable to judge the value of content, track user opinion, and propagate a brand message.

But in order to demonstrate success, the savvy brand marketer will create a thorough metrics campaign to measure the effort. The first key step is to identify what success means, and then understand how it can be tracked successfully.

Take advantage of the tools provided by the networks that are out there, see how the brand is fairing, and what can be done to get involved with the conversation. Try to track how the social networking campaign impacts other channels. Even if the numbers are not rock solid, there can be definite trends.

In our worsening economy, the concept of leapfrogging is very applicable in the marketing space today. Marketers must adapt, in some cases quite abruptly. But funds dry up, and dollars are scarce. This is where innovative thought becomes especially crucial to survival. The bad news is that the stakes are higher, the resources are scarce, and some will find themselves burdened with implacable constraints.

The good news is that innovative output is driven by creative thought, and leapfrogging is doable even in challenging circumstances. By exploring the creative process, marketers can use the tools they have at hand to succeed under even the most challenging circumstances.

Think small, in a big way
Often, consumers and marketers alike have trouble seeing beyond their current world, or adapting to things which are totally foreign. It’s not always about the epic change that blows their mind, but more about the smaller tweaks that can change everything. Think about online social networking. Social graphs are not new phenomena — they have been around for ages — and the Web has been commonplace for a decade. But new combinations of existing technologies and functionalities provided consumers with new opportunities to communicate, and new ways for brands to reach their constituencies.

Another example is rich internet applications; revolutionary applications like GoogleMaps leverage technologies that have een around for some time. But how does this translate for a marketer with a limited budget and a stressed executive team? In a few different ways.

For example, leveraging best practices from other fields can provide a competitive advantage when upgrading a web site or other digital promotion. Consider that insurance companies don’t have the best brand perception among consumers. People find them intimidating, and think that the service provider is out to get them. By adopting a rich interface more commonly seen in a retail site, insurance provider HumanaOne  surmounted these challenges and created an award winning experience.

Don’t win the game, change it
Innovation isn’t always about finding a solution to a particular challenge so much as changing the context of the problem. In this economic environment, risking a new approach may well prove to be more successful than embracing a known challenge. Think of gaming, for example.

Forced to compete with the consumer electronics giant Sony and the software behemoth Microsoft, Nintendo was faced with a costly, grueling deathmatch with no guarantee of success. Instead of running a risky approach to create costlier machines with better graphics and compelling gameplay for the typical console audience, it developed a platform with a different, kinetic style of play — the Nintendo Wii. By promoting console gaming in a whole new way, Nintendo managed to dominate market share and create a growing niche for itself.

Cut costs, not corners — track and react to digital users for free
In today’s environment, metrics become increasingly important to justify scarce resources. But in the perfect Catch-22, companies are spending less on marketing budgets, making it harder to track the success of their digital channel.   However, free tools are available that enable marketers to keep tabs on how their site is performing, and on the sorts of things that are being said about them across other digital media for free.

For example, Google Analytics provides tools for site owners to tag and track traffic, referrals, and segmentation data. A valuable tool for tracking competitors, Alexa provides demographic information on the end users visiting any site. Keep in mind though that these solutions aren’t perfect. While the suite is comprehensive and the price is unbeatable, Google has its shortcomings. It is important to note that Alexa relies on a subset of the Web’s user base, as the system relies on a voluntary end user install.

Gleaning free insights from the digital channel does not stop at the Web. It is possible to get a feel for how a brand is performing in blogger buzz through tools like Technorati or Blogpulse. While this isn’t the same as having a fully trained staff and all the tools in place, it is better than nothing and provides vital information that can frequently be actionable, or create better touchpoints with the client.

As Twitter gains in popularity, brands are beginning to use the tool to gauge consumer sentiment and respond quickly on an individual basis. Take JetBlue, which uses Tweetscan to keep an eye on when its name pops up in the streams, so they can interact with clients on an as-needed basis. This innovative tool helps JetBlue reinforce their friendly, approachable brand persona, and helps them leapfrog from the traditional image of a monolithic, unresponsive airline.

Analyze your approach
All too often, stakeholders focus on the end results — without thinking of the means to get there — or rigorously apply a strict methodolodgy with no analysis or forethought. Stop for a moment and think about the team, the goals, and the constraints. Chances are there are ways to inject creativity into the process, and inspire the team to foster ideas ranging from the very tactical to the highly strategic.

One useful tactic is to have participants in a brainstorming session write ideas instead of blurting them out. This approach not only encourages a greater number of responses, but minimizes the likelihood of stale groupthink. On a strategic level, changes can be made to the entire project process, to add more collaboration or open thinking into the process. At Molecular, we perform creative imagining sessions with key stakeholders and larger audiences to inspire great ideas and drive enthusiasm for a project. Carefully timed to coincide with the completion of data gathering, the output from this work leads clients to identify new opportunities and means to achieve success.

Conclusion
Economic times are rough, and marketers must respond to this situation quickly and decisively to stay on top of the challenges and changes. Innovation is core to survival, but funds are scarce. Fortunately, there are ways to make substantial progress without dropping a bundle of cash. Think about what innovation truly is — there is room for big change without redoing everything from the start. Look past the current business constraints and think about how to apply strengths in new places. Search for ways to lower overhead, such as free tools to track digital performance. Finally, remember that innovation happens from the very start to the very end of the project. Imbue the fabric of every day with room for creative thought, and plan the project to remove constraints and encourage creativity.

Many brands are eager to jump into social networking, after all, it’s relatively cheap, and it can be insanely successful. But there are many more failures than successes in the medium, and it’s important that brand managers pragmatically consider the risks and rewards for the business. It’s not all about building the perfect widget; it’s about careful homework, smart decisions, and thinking comprehensively. It requires an understanding of how social networking campaigns work, and if the campaign will fit in with larger business goals. Brand managers must justify the expenditure by setting goals, and minimize risk through research of users, networks, and the competitive landscape. This article will explore the critical strategic mistakes that brands must avoid on their road to social networking nirvana. Along the way, we’ll use some real world examples that illustrate the successes– and failures — of marquis brands.

Understand social networking, and what works for the business
Like many other business ventures, success in a social networking campaign revolves around using good information to drive smart decisions. Gather qualitative and quantitative information, and then use it to define project goals. An ill-defined project is substantially less likely to succeed. To get context, research what competitors are doing in the social networking space, and identify best practices relative to the specifics of the campaign. Perform research into the target demographic and determine how their interest in the campaign will help the enterprise. Define measurable success metrics and track them carefully through the life of the project. For a Facebook widget, it might be total number of active users. For a MySpace page, it could be the number of friends the brand has. If possible, identify hard numbers that can be pointed to that substantiate revenue or conversions. These are key steps on the business end of a social networking campaign. Without proper research, it is doubtful that the campaign will reach the intended audience. If success metrics are not defined at the very outset of the project, the project will lack focus, and you’ll be unable to identify what is or is not working. This makes it very hard to justify future expenditures on similar projects.

Make sure that the business is right for social networking
Social networks have inherent limitations, and certain brands will have a much harder time succeeding than others. In short, people share what is interesting, exciting, or funny with their friends. When users spread a message about a given brand on a social network, they are effectively co-branding themselves, and tend to be very particular about which messages they will propagate. A well-defined brand such as Puma, where users seek to identify themselves with the business, is more likely to succeed than other brands which lack the same levels of affinity. On the other hand, a brand such as ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ is going to be challenged. For the brand to succeed, the enterprise must have a relationship with the consumer that inspires and promotes co-branding. However, it becomes tricky; if brands are cool, people want to identify with them, and spread the message. If it becomes too cool, it begins to feel co-opted and people will shy away. While the team that produced this site took the right steps tactically, such as creating a poll which propagates interactions through the news feed, it’s unlikely that the page will ever have a huge number of fans.

Choose the right social network for the brand
Another possible mistake is to engage with the wrong social network. MySpace and Facebook are the two names everyone knows, but there are plenty of other platforms out there tailored to more specific demographics. Ending up on the wrong social network wastes time and money. For example, Bebo is very popular with a younger audience in the US looking at lifestyle related content, while Dogster is targeted at an older audience which dotes on their pets. Simple exploration of the sites, as well as some demographic research from free tools like Quantcast can help corroborate the conclusions reached. The key first step is to understand who is using these tools, how they interact, and why. Primary research can shed valuable information on how a particular audience interacts with their social networks. User interviews, surveys, and active participation in social networks are key first steps to understanding who, how, and why people use these tools. Secondary research such as competitive analysis and case studies shed light on what is happening in the field. There are some very big differences in who is using which tools, and what they are doing there. Use this information to guide decisions around which platforms to use, and the best approach to succeed.

Understanding why people might be using a particular network greatly influences the direction of a campaign. Think beyond what is happening on the Web, and reach out to platforms that resonate with the particular audience. For example, if a specific demographic contains a lot of mobile users, consider ruling out platforms that don’t offer a mobile interface.

Set up the technical platform to avoid charges or performance issues

Success in a social network is less about the number of individuals friending a certain page, and more about the creation and viral spread of brand-related content. It is crucial that the team behind the endeavor think about creating content users want to share, and being sure that the technical infrastructure is optimized for this sharing. For example, marketing groups might want to let users pull web content off of the company site and onto their social networks. Great videos are relatively easy to repurpose, and with a snippet of code, are available for the world at large. The good news is that it could be successful, and suddenly people everywhere are viewing the site. The bad news is that if it’s not set up properly, the content can be pulled off of the company’s servers, instead of the file itself propagating. In this case, there are considerable risks, such as drastically increased bandwidth charges from the hosting provider, or performance impacts as unprecedented numbers of users access their servers. The best bet is to work closely with the IT staff to make sure that the site is optimized for content sharing, or consider other alternatives. Uploading the content to YouTube minimizes the risks of inordinate traffic breaking the bank, or bending the backbone of the site. Another approach is to store content in a format that enables the easy sharing of content. A services oriented architecture (SOA) can facilitate the movement of content without causing the tech team to perform coding gymnastics to free data.

Embrace the limitations of the medium
Social networks are inherently constrained by the relationships they consist of. This is nothing enw, actually; research from Paul Lazarsfield and Elihu Katz in their book “Personal Influence”, penned in 1955, demonstrated that the bigger a user’s network grows, the smaller the influence of other members becomes, while the amount of noise on the site increases. If a user has a lot of friends on Facebook, and an application is trying to leverage the news feed to spit out messages, it’s unlikely that they will be paid anything more than scant attention. Social networking friends are not always close; they are cursory buddies who scan through vast fields of data looking for interesting tidbits. If a brand attempts to surmount these challenges through increasing the frequency of their messaging, they can be perceived as spammy. Repeat postings on a user’s news feed, especially if they are not solicited, will damage brand perception and leave the social networker wondering if they have a virus. Spraychel for President, while not the best brand for social networking, does make good use of the newsfeed, and ensures that it is not overdone. Ultimatley, for messages to propagate, they must stick out among all of the other data passing across the network, and be generated by the user, not the system.

Think Holisitcally

Frequently, in large enterprises, the left hand does not know what the right is doing. To ensure that brand voice stays consistent across all channels, is critical that the team think about what else is happening in the business, and how social networking can support other initiatives. Before starting a social networking (or any other) campaign, check with other groups and make sure there are no crossed wires. Also, be sure to educate upwards and outwards; teach executives about the risks and rewards of social networks, and solicit feedback from others in the firm. Not only is it a handy CYA move, but it also generates goodwill and invites valuable feedback. Prepare people for the negative feedback that might show up on in the public forum. Finally, think about the lifecycle of the campaign. Social networks put the brand in the hands of the consumer, so the marketer is relinquishing control, and might not have a say. If it’s truly successful, it will take care of itself. If it isn’t, however, it’s important to think of how to gracefully end the campaign if necessary. A little homework done on sites like http://www.mashable.com/ will provide valuable insights into what is going on in the world of social networking, and provide valuable data into what can happen in the world of the social web.

In Summary:

Social networking can be very tempting for brand marketers, but it can be very challenging for the enterprise. While there are new rules and new challenges in the space, some common sense business guidelines still apply. Start by doing extensive research, and define what success is and means for the project. Shore up support within the organization, and be ready to pull the plug if stakeholders are unwilling to embrace risk. Make sure that the brand is right for social networking; it’s very easy to get caught up in the fad without making sure it’s a good move. Don’t select a social network just because it’s the biggest, instead, look for the one that has the correct attributes for the selected demographic. Do research into everything that is happening within the organization, as leveraging synergies saves both time and money. Social networking is not right for all businesses. Good brand managers will do their homework, set their goals, and base their decisions on solid, justifiable business decisions.

Social networks such as MySpace and Facebook aren’t a US only phenomenon; they are being adopted and promoted all around the world. For a savvy brand manager to succeed, it is critical to consider the impact of culture on the essence of social networking: communication. Failing to understand how people interact in different places can lead from bad to catastrophe. This article will explore the global nature of social networking, and talk about some constraints imposed by language and culture. Then, by comparing Facebook to Poland’s popular Nasza-Klasa social networking site, we will discuss how cultural context shapes social networks, and a few key tools that can help global brands succeed when considering a campaign on social networks.

Social Networks are not just for English Speakers

In the beginning, Facebook and MySpace were developed for and delivered to, an English speaking audience. Given that the percentage of English speaking users on the web hovers around 30%, this clearly did not meet needs around the world. As the social networking buzz spread across the globe, entrepreneurs realized that there was profit to be made in creating these applications for other languages. Mixi, a Japanese site, was launched in 2004, and has an IPO valuation of just under $1billion US dollars. Cyworld, a hugely popular Korean social networking platform, has about 20M accounts in a country with a 50M population – 75% of all 18 to 25 year olds have an account! Facebook clones exist all around the world, from Germany to Turkey to Russia to India. Not all of these sites are targeted towards the youth demographic generally associated with social networking. For example, feierabend.de is intended for a much older audience, and boasts membership in the hundreds of thousands.

Clearly, social networking is a phenomenon that enables brands to engage users in conversations all around the world, and all over the demographic map. There is ample opportunity here, but there is a significant challenge if the enterprise does not carefully consider that a social networking campaign is entirely dependent on it’s resonance with the end user. It’s much more than foisting a brand message onto every banner ad in reach, it’s about creating space for a dialogue that users will be willing to adopt and sustain. To do this, an intimate understanding of the constraints imposed by language and culture is a key requirement. Some of these considerations become clear when one compares Facebook, a popular US social networking site, with Nasza Klasa, Poland’s foremost social networking site, and one of the country’s most visited web properties.

Cultural context drives demographics

One important thing to understand is precisely who uses social networking sites, as it varies from country to country. The audience on Facebook skews towards a very young audience, with less representation in the older groups. These young adults are on the site to stay in contact with friends, play games, and make plans with friends in the area. The advertising tends to be consumer brands oriented towards this demographic set, with very little being offered from the likes of banking or insurance.

On the other hand, the Nasza-Klasa audience is coming from a very different background The user distribution, while weighted towards younger kids, is spread out much more evenly than Facebook. Accordingly, the site draws interest from slightly more utilitarian brands, such as Insurance.com or financial institutions. There is a whole section of the site devoted to banking offers. Savvy brand managers will not only research the current metrics of the social networking site they are targeting, but will also try to understand where the users are, and what is driving them to the application. By understanding who is coming to the site, brands can identify and act on appropriate co-branding or advertising opportunities.

Cultural context impacts churn on social networks

Age distribution can also impact usage statistics on social networking sites over the long term, depending on the culture in question. While performing primary research on social network users in the US, it became clear that younger users were happy on a platform until ‘uncool’ family members showed up. Siblings were a deal breaker, and heaven forbid mom gets an account. One user commented that “My little sister got onto MySpace, and I went to Facebook. Once she gets onto Facebook, I’ll go somewhere else.” To a large part of this audience, Facebook is perceived as a means to communicate with friends, not family. This portends ongoing churn within the social network, as new people join, and others leave as a result. In Poland, however, the culture is more family oriented, and Nasza-Klasa provides a mechanism to support this. Users of all ages actively communicate, share photos, and stay engaged with one another. While there are plenty of factors that drive churn within a social network, having the embarrassing mom show up is much less likely to drive it in Poland. The best way to predict what is going to happen, and how to leverage nascent opportunities is to perform in depth ethnographic research, to understand how the culture embraces technology, and what aspects of a given society might drive churn or other adverse behaviors.

Another factor which drives churn is the number of friends that one has on a network. Until friend lists are portable using a platform like open social, it’s very tough to change from one platform to another, unless everyone makes a mass migration. This is a risk for a longer term strategy involving outreach to a social networking platform in the US; in the next few years who knows which system will be the most popular one? However, for the polish audience, there is no other game in town, and it’s likely to remain relevant for quite some time. Identifying other social networking platforms in a given linguistic or cultural space is very important, as it will help round out any go to market strategies.

Social networking behaviors are driven by functionality and social context

Essentially, social networks all do the same thing – help people stay in touch with each other. This is driven, in part, by what the network allows its users to do. However, it also depends on the larger cultural context. What is driving people to remain in touch? What aspects of their lives do they wish to share? Facebook users perform a variety of tasks on the site, including posting photos, emailing friends, associating themselves with brands, and arranging for parties and events. Nasza-Klasa provides a subset of this functionality, but for different reasons. A substantially higher percentage of NK’s user population is expatriate, living all around the world. These people are seeking out old friends from as far back as elementary school, to catch up and see where they are now. One user of the polish site said that “Much of NK’s success stems from the fact that a lot of people left Poland a while ago, and are now seeking to get back in touch with their childhood friends.” Generally, the polish culture is much more about face to face communications, and posting photos can instigate lively debate within the entire family, and bring groups together who have been apart for years. By recognizing the larger context, brand managers can understand how to best engage each specific audience in a relevant dialogue, and provide tools to encourage conversations.

Different applications, different tools, different user needs.

Ultimately, it’s the social networking application that determines how sophisticated a campaign can be. Facebook provides ample tools for advertisers to create and run their own campaigns, on a self-serve basis. More than just the ability to create a static page, brand managers can also research demographics and target very specific audiences. Despite this great entry point for brands aspiring for social networking greatness, it’s crucial to remember one key cultural point.

Nasza-Klasa does not have this level of sophistication, and advertising is not as heavily integrated into the user experience. Brands cannot create group or fan pages, and the advertising is placed in traditional locations. There are, however, some fun, contextually relevant banners for the visiting user, for example, Olay presents one return user with an ad asking her by name if she would like to be the youngest looking one from her class. Note that Nasza-Klasa has also allowed Olay to set the background image on the user’s profile page, something that Facebook would not allow The best bet is to spend time on the network, looking at the feature set, and trying to observe what tools are used, and how. This should provide insight into how to best reach the consumer and stimulate interaction.

All around the world, users are logging on to social networks, and talking with their friends. It can be a great opportunity for a brand to propagate a message virally, reaching out to multiple audiences through well planned campaigns. There are risks, though. While all social networks are founded on the same basic principles, the cultural and linguistic contexts in which they operate will impact a number of important factors. Why users visit a social network will differ based on their social background, and sets context for which brands might be expected. Demographic bases will differ from place to place, which in turn can affect churn. Finally, platforms in different places will provide for different levels of interaction with the audience. Ultimately, there are plenty of places around the world where a brand might consider dabbling in social networking. Before a brand reaches into a new space, however, it is critical to consider who is on the site, what they are using it for, and how to best empower a dialogue that is relevant, positive, and authentic.

MySpace might have a bigger audience for the moment, but Facebook is certainly on a rapid growth trajectory, and it is currently the media darling of social networks.  One of the reasons for Facebook’s growing popularity is the ability to create applications which users share virally.  This particularly alluring feature provides companies with a unique opportunity to provide innovative and fun brand experiences that reach a large audience through trusted channels.  While a successful Facebook campaign is an exciting prospect, a misguided foray into social media marketing can leave a high profile and expensive blemish on the brand image, both with consumers as well as in the media. To succeed, it is crucial that brand managers consider a number of challenges, including technical constraints, usability hurdles, and the difficulties of creating a widget which lends itself  to viral replication.  This article will cover some of the critical challenges and constraints of developing a solid Facebook application, as well as review current Facebook applicationss to explore the success or failure of certain features and campaigns.

Keep it simple and fun

Facebook applications are, by and large, fun and fluffy mechanisms by which users communicate with their friends.  In order to remain fun and fluffy, and to promote adoption, applications must be intuitive or easy to pick up.  Simplicity is key, because as the head of user support at Facebook mentioned to me in an interview, “users don’t like to read.”  This should not shock anyone, after all, no user really does read, however, there are other facets to consider when developing an app for a social network.  Simplicity is crucial because it leads to adoption and viral spread.

Roshambull is a game put out by Red Bull which allows users to play rocks paper scissors with one another.  It’s a game that everyone knows, it’s simple, and it’s fun to play with other people.  The no-brainer aspect of this definitely helps viral spread, as, unlike other games, you don’t have to ponder your move.  Another example of this simplicity is Zombies.  Bite your friends and they too, turn into zombies.  Both games are extremely popular, and this is due in no small part to the fact that they are quick to pick up, and make it easy and fun to engage friends.

Make it viral, but don’t be sleazy

Facebook is pretty much built to be a conduit to inform friends of what is going on.  User actions show up in all their friends’ newsfeeds.  Mechanisms to promote viral propagation are built into the Facebook Toolkit.  The list goes on and on, but it’s important to remember not to abuse the power that this website gives you.  First of all, users are sensitive about what they send to their friends; nobody wants to be a spammer.  This is especially applicable on facebook, where a typical user has 300 contacts, and very few of them are good friends.   Secondly, privacy is a concern to users.  If an application leverages a viral tool without the user’s express consent and explicit understanding, it will be very poorly received. If the user does not understand what is happening, they will worry that their account has been compromised.  If the user realizes that the application is sending info without their permission, it won’t last long.  Most users have a small number of applications, certainly under 10, and there are always new ones coming along to compete.  So make the application viral, and help it spread within users social networks, but don’t over do it.

Design within the constraints of the Facebook Application

The applications that run within facebook are constrained by what the website will and will not allow. It is critical that the experience design team understands what is and is not possible within the limits imposed.  For example, a users’ profile page will not allow flash animations. As such, any flash based application should not be designed to run from there, even if it would be a great entry point. Also, the table structure on certain pages is very solidly defined, and cannot be changed.  This will greatly impact the page design.  Finally, certain processes, such as application installation, are run by the facebook app itself, and cannot be changed.  It’s important that the team is familiar with these limitations, and the technical underpinnings of the site.

Match the facebook toolkit

Any application, web or otherwise, is more usable if it’s consistent.  For example, users are more likely to click buttons when they are following a consistent visual treatment, and similar page layouts help task completion.  Facebook is no exception to this rule;  users expect that the applications running on the platform will behave in the same way. Ensure that the page layout is reminiscent of other facebook pages, such as the profile or homepage.  Check that buttons and page elements don’t contradict the larger facebook look and feel.   While this might seem like common sense, if can be very challenging to ensure that there is not too much of a variance as the application evolves. Periodic check ins, or frequent ad hoc user testing are great ways to ensure that the application remains usable and consistent with the facebook application.

As social networks become more and more entrenched in our culture, the number of users on these platforms will grow.  Facebook is a major player, and predicted by many to retain it’s predominance for years to come.  As such, brand managers will do well to explore the possibility of creating an application for the platform, but they must be mindful of challenges around experience design, technical constraints, and viral behaviors.  

Bacon is more than the smoky, salty, savory strips of deliciousness that garnish our breakfasts and more refined cocktails (the Mitch Morgan). It’s the subject of deep and meaningful philosophical debate (just ask Sir Francis Bacon or Thomas Bacon), the center of the acting universe (Kevin Bacon), and the bane of well meaning but conflicted vegetarians everywhere (A friend of mine in engineering and strict veggie calls it “the gateway meat”).  It is also an example of how a brand can actually succeed on a social network, using it to drive retail sales and build awareness.

Now, I’ll be honest.  I really have some questions about social networking as a brand platform – it’s not right for everyone, and in some cases is worse than a waste of money, it’s a public failure.  But, the makers of Bacon Salt, a line of seasoning salt that makes all food taste like bacon (and is kosher, to boot!), it was the cornerstone of their success.

They launched their business by finding users of MySpace and Facebook who said that they love bacon on their profiles.  There are at least 35,000 people who say that on MySpace, and the I love bacon group has almost 2500 members.  While some would scoff and say that’s not much, others would point out that 2500 is far better than the majority of branded fan pages do.   And in the case of Bacon Salt, it propelled them from zeros to heroes in no time.

“We basically launched the product on MySpace and Facebook… the week we launched, we had orders from everywhere” said Dave Lefkow, co-founder and bacon genius. So many orders, in fact, that they couldnt handle the volume of work.

Now, obviously, anything with bacon is going to succeed wildly. (possibly with the exception of the bacon flavored tuxedo available at archiemcphee.com).  What is interesting in this case, is how social networking helped this particular brand, and why. The only brands that will do well on a social network are those that people want to align themselves with.   Social networks are about branding oneself to friends, colleagues, and that ex-girl or boyfriend from college.  Bacon is not only universally adored, it’s a little campy and fun, and it’s something that people want to associate with.

So if you’re thinking about bringing your brand into the social networking space, dont just think about the costs, and risks.  Stop for a moment and think about if the brand is something people can relate to, and want to identify themselves with.  It might save you a lot of hassle, and give more time for the eating of delicious, hickory smoked bacon.

Thursday evenings, it’s Gray’s Anatomy. Our living room suddenly converts into a breathless waiting room, inhabitants imbibing each nuance of dialogue with rapt attention. Will the patient miraculously recover and whisk Katherine Heigl away (if so, o Lord, let me get sick in Seattle), or croak at the very end of the episode?

Unlike the drama at the Seattle Grace hospital, the prognosis for the cellphone is certain, and it’s not good. As phones get smarter, data plans become cheaper, and consumer experience improves, the demise of the cellphone grows ever closer. People will still have phones, absolutely and always, but phones will have morphed into something else entirely.

Instead of a tool designed to support voice communications, it will become a digital jackknife – a device that does everything you want portable electronic devices to do. Not only take pictures, and voice, and text, but a storage center for files that can access the internet. Or act as your GPS unit complete with driving directions. Or act like a credit/debit card. Basically, the sky is the limit so long as people want new and better toys, and the way we use these devices will fundamentally change.

While Apple’s debacle last week was a bit of a pooch, the release of the app store is going to be gasoline on the fire of phone OS development. With a huge array of applications at the user’s disposal, the iPhone will be used less and less for talking, and more and more for other things. The iPhone is a platform, not a product, and it’s direction is oriented more towards compting than yapping.

This change will extend to other phones and applications, as well. Google is working on the Android platform, along with a host of other investments into the mobile computing space, to force the carrier’s grip off of network content. The software available to users, and the things that the systems will perform will mirror the functionality of our current laptops, not cellphones.

It’s truly exciting to watch the changes sweeping the mobile space. Almost as exciting as watching Katherine Heigl and the patient, but hey, I have yet to see a cellphone in scrubs.

oops, commercial’s over. bbl.

I love words; as a guy who specializes in how people interact with technology, a big part of understanding these interactions is framed by the vocabularies that articulate what we’re doing, or how we’d do it. And it’s really fascinating to watch how words evolve to describe our reality, especially as the rate of change accelerates how our culture adapts, and what we’re doing. Some words are new, and become used in interesting colloquial ways as technologies are adopted and integrated with society. For example, it seems highly unlikely that people in the mid-1700s were saying that they focused on churning butter with a laser like intensity. Other words are old, but get dusted off as technology picks them up and finds new applications for them.

The word ‘Haptic’ is a great example of this. From the Greek haptesthai, meaning ‘to touch,’ it made it’s debut circa 1890 describing the psychology of the sense of touch. Over time, it has come to include all things touch related. And now, as mobile technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, it is starting to be used as a new marketing term to describe phones that respond not only visually and aurally, but with some kind of touch response as well.

For example, I get in trouble with my girlfriend. Because I’m in low-to-mid trouble, I can get out of it by being kind of cute. So I might MMS her a little heart icon, and as the heart beats, the phone vibrates. Now, she’s probably not thinking “awwww, he sent me a little haptic message that alerts my sense of touch!’, she is hopefully thinking ‘awww he’s thinking about me and this is cute!’ (Disclaimer: I don’t actually know if haptic MMSing will get a guy out of trouble, and don’t plan to test. Don’t take unnecessary risks and rely on technology to get out of them) Another example would be a blackberry vibrating as it rings. Not terribly sophisticated, and not terribly sexy, but you get the idea.

It’s not the behavior of the iPhone; while multitouch is a revolutionary feature, the user still poking an inert screen with no response. But what the iPhone has done is raise the awareness with the consumer of a truly portable touch screen, and raise the bar for Apple’s competitors. These two forces will combine to accelerate development of truly haptic interfaces. Many iPhone users lament the fact that their phone is tough to use, and would prefer a more sophisticated typing experience. It’s certainly an area where competitors can hope to compete with the incredible design of the device, through creating an interface that actually reacts to the user pressing on the keyboard.

Enter Nokia. After more than 10 years of development, they have introduced a prototype device that makes touching a screen feel like clicking a keyboard. The N770 internet tablet provides the user with a true sensory experience, complete with downward movement, resistance, clicking, and an upward movement. It makes typing feel “incredibly responsive” and simplifies the task greatly. Apparently, they will ship the technology with the S60 touchphone, as well, and are working on haptic interactions for scrolling and painting applications.

When these applications reach the US market, and as the technology cascades down in cost and up in availability, terms like “haptic” will worm their way more and more into common usage. As the technology moves from the realm of research, to phone geeks, to mainstream, the word haptic will become more and more commonly used. While I don’t think it will capture the public imagination like the acronym LASER did in the past, it will become a feature that people expect, and marketing touts, until it’s taken for granted as a feature set on future devices. And hopefully, by that time, there will be a reliable technology that gets guys out of trouble – sort of the electronic equivalent of roses and chocolate. Lord knows I’m waiting for that one.

Otis, my dog, has learned to wait at the top of the stairs when we leave the house for a walk.  This is because Otis is a smart dog, and he knows that I’ve likely forgotten one of The Critical Three – cellphone, wallet, and keys, and will have to rush up the stairs, grumbling, to get whatever it is that’s sitting on the kitchen table.

But it seems like we’re getting closer to the day when I will only have to worry about the cellphone and the keys – mPayment, or the ability to use a mobile phone like a swipeable credit card, is taking strides towards reality.  Already in use in Japan and Korea, this technology allows the consumer to go into a store, grab their items off the shelf, and pay for them by waving their phone at the cash register.  Like many other mobile initiatives, this work is hampered here by a lack of standards, multiple carriers and device manufacturers angling for dominance in a rapidly changing market, and a relative lack of awareness on the part of US consumers.

However, there have been a few noteworthy changes in the past few months.   The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) announced on June 5th that they will be working to explore different technology models used to support mobile payments, and make recommendations on approaches to facilitate interoperable mobile payments in the future.  25 industry players, including large banks,  wireless carriers, and technology providers, are collaborating to research the baseline by which this important technology might become a reality in the not too distant future.  In April, Sprint and PayPal inked a deal to enable person to person mobile payments.   MyMoneyManager enables Sprint customers with PayPal to transfer funds to other users.   When the transaction is completed, they get a voicemail or text message alert.    Phone manufacturer Motorola invested in Vivotech late last year.  Vivotech makes units which can interact with cellphones in a number of places, includingstores, movie theaters, taxis, and vending machines.

The financial vertical, overall, is seen to be a great place for mobile to flex it’s muscles and show consumers how useful the third screen will be.   It’s an exciting time, and hopefully, as the system matures and evolves, will be widely adopted and provide our clients with a great opportunity to reach out and provide value to, our customers.  And best of all, Otis will only have to wait at the top of the stairs for The Critical Two – the wallet can stay safely on the kitchen table while the keys and the phone come with me.