Posts tagged as:

Real-Time Web

Are Customers High Maintenance?

by Daria Steigman on June 20, 2011

Business, Social Media, Customer Service, Independent Thinking, Steigman CommunicationsI read a LinkedIn question the other day that asked whether companies should spend more time focused on their core business–and less, perhaps, on social media. While I don’t think this is really an “either/or” question (you have to do both), I also think it’s pretty clear that if companies spent more time doing what they do best, there’d be less need to be reactive online.

Being reactive, of course, isn’t an invention of the digital age. It’s a challenge that typically arises from limited resources, organizational silos, and/or a failure of imagination. Just as you don’t need a survey to know what good customer service looks like, it shouldn’t take bad press to know cutting corners is a bad idea.

So what’s changed?

In The NOW Revolution, Jay Baer and Amber Naslund suggest that:

“Possessing the time and information required to make sound product, pricing, operations, and customer service decisions is a luxury–a luxury that’s facing extinction.”

Yes–and No. Companies today get rewarded for excellence–same as they always have. But companies that have been coasting can’t get away with it (as much) any more.

I’ve heard some people say that, in this age of the real-time Web, customers are increasingly high-maintenance. As a customer, I think we’re empowered.

As a business owner, I see this as a good thing.

What say you?

Photo by Katherine Johnson (Flickr).

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Libya, Liquor, and Comment Luv

by Daria Steigman on March 8, 2011

Social Media, Independent Thinking, Steigman CommunicationsI had real-time conversations about Libya, liquor (and European trade shows), and CommentLuv the other day without leaving my desk or picking up a phone. Mickey Mouse and Gumby too.

Maybe it was the randomness of the topics. Or the serendipity of the connections. Or the fact that I can today talk so easily with people scattered from Tripoli to The Big Easy.

Heck, we all can.

Usually I take this immediacy for granted. But every now and then I have to catch my breath. It really is pretty remarkable how all of this is changing the way we can see, hear, touch, and understand our world.

Would you agree?

Photo by Tony Moyoy (Flickr).

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Predicting the Future (of Marketing)

by Daria Steigman on December 7, 2010

Branding, Real Time, Marketing | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcWhat is the future of marketing?

That was the topic at a recent Thoughtlead online mini-conference. The premise: Select 60 smart people, ask them one big question, and give them each 60 seconds to make their case. The responses were sometimes predictable. More often, however, the speakers challenged themselves and us to think about what’s next–and why.

Here’s a sampling of my favorites:

  • Michael Stelzner pointed out that people don’t trust brands, so it’s important to focus your marketing on helping other people. He also talked about recognizing people who help you. “If you lift people up, they’ll lift you up.”
  • Steve Rubel said the biggest challenge for marketers going forward is “time and space, and the relationship between the two… Let’s talk about space. Online it’s infinite. We have as much choice as we want in terms of content. Time on the other hand is finite, and attention spans are fragmenting.”
  • David Meerman Scott talked about the need to focus on real-time (versus campaigns) and to look for things you can do right now. “The bottom line: social media are tools; real-time is a mindset.”
  • Frank Gruber talked about always being curious, and about letting your curiosity lead you to find new ideas and innovations.
  • Mitch Joel suggested that the future of marketing ”should, and will be all about anonymity.”
  • Alex Bogusky said that collaboration is the new competition, and becoming transparent is not a choice.” The only choice is: do you do it, or do you have it done to you?”
  • Todd Defren talked about putting relationships at the center of everything.
  • Gary Vaynerchuk suggested that the future of marketing is one-on-one engagement. “The humanization of business is upon us.”

You can read the entire transcript here.

Photo by Krikit (Flickr).

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Forget Streamtime: Preliminary Impressions of Twitter and the Real-Time Web

by Daria Steigman on August 3, 2010

I’ve been looking at my Twitterstream in real time since Thursday morning. Unlike the streamtime approach we’ve become used to, real time has no updates. It is a non-stop stream. Instant-ness. Immediacy.

In a blog post aptly titled Trialling Twitter at the Speed of Wow, TweetDeck opened up an experimental version of its desktop app to a handful of accounts. I was lucky to nab one, and so I thought I’d share my first (very preliminary) impressions.

1. Much as our brains have had to learn to process growing amounts of information in streamtime, real time will force us once again to readjust how we process information. I’m not sure yet whether this process will be iterative or require new systems and tools.

2. Without the “chunking” of tweets (via timed stream updates), it’s easier than ever to miss key information–so setting up TweetDeck notifications for mentions and DMs is more important than ever.

3. You can once again pull in replies to people you don’t follow from people you do. This is a huge step to restoring the ambient discovery Twitter took away 15 months ago.

4. We’re following a lot more people than we were 15 months ago, and somehow we’ve gotten accustomed to the quieted stream. I’ve been experimenting with the new functionality restored sometimes–and sometimes silenced when the volume of tweets streaming by gets overwhelming.

5. I’d like to see Twitter (or TweetDeck and other app developers) create a tool that lets me selectively follow the public replies of some people in my Twitterstream without having to pull in all of them. A list that I can shape and reshape to fit what matters to me over time.

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Jeff Pulver on Real Time, Rise of Voices

by Daria Steigman on June 15, 2010

Social Media, Rise of VoicesIt’s Digital Capital Week (DC Week), which means 10 days of amazing content and collaboration focused on technology, innovation, and all things digital. This morning’s Media 2.0 events included a fabulous panel on “old media’s” embrace of new media tools and a keynote by Jeff Pulver on the real-time Internet.

Pulver’s remarks resonated with me less for what he said than for how he framed the conversation: around a flatter world where individual voices can make a difference. Among his key points:

  • There is a “Me the People” Revolution going on. Pulver noted that science fiction is filled with heroes who don’t know they have great powers until they discover them (think Dune or, my personal favorite, Babylon 5). Similarly, the real-time Web, and the influence we have within it, puts the power in our hands to change the world. “It’s what we do with that attention that matters,” said Pulver.
  • Now Media Moments are the new It.  Pulver cited Susan Boyle’s rise to prominence and the galvanized support for Haiti relief as examples of Now Media moment.
  • Flash Money (via SMS technology) is changing the philanthropic landscape, as short code donations begin to change the way we give (and the way we can respond in an emergency).

Pulver used the analogy of ham radio to describe how social media offers opportunities for strangers to connect. He also talked about the “rise of voices,” and the fact that the real-time Web offers “an open frequency for each of us to connect and affect change.”

Because “sometimes it’s not the money but the voice that counts,” Pulver announced that he is launching a new online platform that gives users the opportunity to donate their tweets. Check out JustCoz, which is designed to raise awareness about good works. The early adopters include one of my favorite charitable organizations, Medicins Sans Frontieres.

Photo by Sub-Urban (Flickr).

Have you signed up to receive the Independent Thinking newsletter? Now’s the time! Once a month I’ll send you exclusive, subscriber-only content highlighting interesting articles I’ve found, as well as tips on marketing, social media, and how to grow your business. Sign up today!

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