Simon U Ford – Social Media Emotional Blackmail

An age ago in the, “I wonder if there’s any money in this Twitter lark” I downloaded a PDF, I read it and thought it was okay.  Fine, the end of.  Didn’t hear anything for a little while and then last week started receiving emails from Simon U Ford (what does the ‘U’ stand for?)

The first email was like, yeah okay. Deleted it and didn’t think anything else.  The email I received yesterday annoyed me on several counts because I personally think it’s just plain wrong to do this.

From: Simon U Ford <support@socialtraffic.biz>

Subject: Thank’s for opening up Jason?

Date: 24 April 2010 13:30:13 GMT+01:00

To: Jason Bell

Hi Jason,

The other night, I woke up screaming. Nothing unusual about
that. Except, this night, I’m sweating and thinking about
you?

Really, me! We’ve never met and you know NOTHING ABOUT ME!

I wake up and call my assistant Abigale, she’s having lunch, on the other side of the world, in London….

I bet you didn’t….

Abigale, did you see Jason Bell opened my email, but I
don’t think he downloaded my new book?

Correct I didn’t download it as I wasn’t interested in reading anything else.

I did my best Jason, I labored over that email for hours.
I applied everything I know about email copy writing. I even
called the best darn editor on the planet, Andrew Williams, Jr.
I asked him to edit it for me.

NOW THIS REALLY ANNOYS ME……..

Do you have any idea how expensive he is Jason?

Did you not do your market research assuming that only less than 1% will click on your link? Your overheads are nothing to do with me and this tactic certainly isn’t working…

Why didn’t you download my book Jason? You have no idea
what clicking that link would have done for you Jason?

It’s my choice if I wish to download or read anything. I didn’t download it because I didn’t want to. Simple, get used to it. Don’t though, get the violins out thinking I’ll change my mind because I won’t.

I’m going to give you one more chance Jason. You
will be thanking me later, the minute you realize, just how
valuable downloading my new book turned out to be.

I’ll be thanking no one because it probably comes across as the same old rubbish that all the other social media “experts” keep touting about.

Thanks for clicking it Jason,

The only think I’m clicking is that unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email…..

Simon U Ford

–

This is marketing at it’s most annoying and very worst.  It’s obvious it’s generated ala Constant Contact (even though he didn’t use Constant Contact).  The thing that drove me nuts was the pitch of waking up in the middle of the night sweating, come on give me a break.  If I ever pitched like that I’d soon know about it and if I pitched like that face to face I’d be in hospital but not pressing charges.

Simon U Ford – Please get real for a second, this route does not work!

First the Dunbar Number, now The Bell Number

Unless you’ve had your head in books other than social media, the number of users within a network you can have a meaningful relationship with is 150.  Out of that number that number then drops to between 2 and 8 close relationships.  The key figure is 150, this is know as the Dunbar Number.

I’ve got a new one, The Bell Number, which is the average number of social network sites a human can meaningfully manage.  I think it’s four.

Okay here’s the list:

• Twitter
• Yammer
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Identi.ca
• Orkut
• Google Buzz
• FriendFeed
• Friendster
• Bebo
• Linkedin
• Ning (I’m with about six networks alone here).
• Friends Reunited
• Flickr
• Foursqaure
• Gowalla

Those are the ones I know off the top of my head.  Some have fallen by the wayside, some I use still.  But to have meaningful communication with the people on then I rely on the likes of Tweetdeck to manage the important ones.  After that everything else gets shut off from my browser and looked at once in a blue moon.

So in reality it’s:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Linkedin
• MySpace

The Bell Number (it’ll be in Wikipedia soon, just you watch ).

There’s a ton of books on social media….

… so let me condense and save you the bother.

• Six degrees of seperation is an average.  If Kevin Bacon isn’t mentioned the book is sure to become valuable.
• The Dunbar number is 150 and then you only have meaningful proper relationships with a number between 2 and 8 of those people.
• Throwing Sheep…. it’s not about Farmville.
• The 80/20 rule applies to pretty much everything from a customer/sales ratio to the number of users that create the bulk of microblogging messages.
• Social patterns in the first life also appear in virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft.
• There are far too many social media books covering the same ground.

I’ve read too many of these things. I’m reading no more.

You’re only as good as your network says you are.

I think it’s fair to say, in reflection, that 2009 was basically spent trying to find my centre of gravity. Towards November I was starting to sound like a bit of a personal pity party so something had to change.  Thanks to my network, finding out the technology landscape and talking to good people I could put myself in the right place at the right time.

There were a few things that happened that did help it along.

Open Coffee and other network meetings do work

You can’t beat face to face networking.  There was a time when I didn’t have to do this, the work was streaming in during the boom times.  Skills are plentiful and it’s a case of being able to sell yourself.  From Open Coffee I’ve managed to show my face once at XCake as well.  On the online side I keep up with Digital Circle and the usual stream of info on Twitter.

Speaking

I don’t think it does anyone any harm to publicly speak once in a while.  I loved doing Barcamp Derry last October.  Prospective customers, investors, employers and collaborators can instantly see what you are like and what drives you.  From the Barcamp experience I would really like to do some more speaking in 2010.

You’re friends

Considering that I moved to Northern Ireland in 2004 it’s taken a good five years to find my networking feet.  There’s a couple of factors in that, partially to do with the existence of technology like Twitter.  I always had a LinkedIn account but I did my searches by sector, not location.

Through the likes of Open Coffee I’ve met some great people.  Even better that most have them have become good friends and are on speed dial if I really need them.  The help, advice and provision that these people are willing to give is also available to you, all you have to do is to make yourself available and willing to show your face.

Write

I have an “articles” section on this site.  These aren’t articles that I just wrote for the fun of it, they are important networking tools to prove your knowledge.  The likes of Java Developer’s Journal, IBM developerWorks and the Belfast Telegraph have given me the opening to write articles on a wide range of technology subjects over the last nine years.

So, to summarise, with this mix of activities I’m just starting to shape and form what 2010 is going to look like, I’m really excited for 2010.  There’s some big things to happen.

Facebook’s 350 Million users.

One bow in the social media expert’s armoury is this notion that you have a potential audience of 350 million users.  I like numbers like this but I do ignore them.  First of all does your product, strartup or offering really have the ability to touch a truely global audience in one go?

They are few and far between in my opinion.

If you take a startup that’s concentrating on the UK market then you’re user segment is more like 19 million (nearly 6% of the total amount).  Then when you start slicing down the age segments you are in the less than 1% numbers.

Hopefully in 2010 we’ll start seeing social media experts starting to get real about the numbers of people that you can realistically reach.

For me in 2010 I’m not looking at the “what next”, I’m sure a gathering of technology folk are too.  This will be the year of getting real about what social media is, what is capable of and what you and I can really do with it.

Belfast Telegraph article on location based applications.

It’s my turn for the Belfast Telegraph web watch column, this month it’s on location base applications.  If you want to have a read you can visit the BT site here.

Social networking… well it isn’t, is it really?

I personally believe the that tipping point of social networking is upon us.  The fad of pushing our every whim, thought and party puking picture (always a hit with interview employers) is slowly coming to an end.  

It’s easy to pick on Facebook as it’s one of the largest providers.  The 350 million user claim, while impressive, doesn’t hit the real detail of those users. Are they active? Is it just registrations?  All the while these numbers are bandied about by marketers and social media “experts” (where were you in 2002?)

Ultimately these social networks aren’t social at all, in their human nature sense.  They are just a series of connections.  The quality of that connection is always questionable.  It’s easy to get 500 friends on Facebook but it’s always on one level.  Linkedin got it right from the start, the acquaintance linkage worked a treat.  If I wanted to connect to Bob but had could only do so via Sue and Ted then I had to state my case to them.  If they agreed then the connection was made.

Me -> Ted -> Sue -> Bob

The day Linkedin pretty much dropped this feature is the day that Linkedin died for me.  I do still use it, don’t get me wrong.  The very heart of it’s core was lost.

True social networking is connected via the acquaintance.  I only xyz from my knowing abc, not everyone has a true direct connection to everyone else.

Social media’s twisting of the language.

Facebook’s general twisting on the way we live our lives begins to turn sour with me. Fan pages…. there’s tons of them, which is fine, but what is starting to annoy me is the “inviting” me to become a fan.  With MySpace the issue was simple, either I followed you or I didn’t.  

Dictionary.com’s definition (among many) of the word “fan” is:
an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity, etc.: a baseball fan; a great fan of Charlie Chaplin.

Most of the things I get invites to be fans of are things that I’d never get involved in.  What it does do is just increase the ego and it’s becoming tiresome.  Don’t get me wrong I don’t mind friends sending me these invitations, it’s the nature of the invitation that bothers me.

Social networking is not a numbers game, it’s about relationships.  If I don’t know the person, company or organisation then what makes you think that I’m ready to be a fan?

So, looking forward.  Perhaps it’s time that Facebook lost its title of “social network” because it’s losing the social factor.  It has become a big directory of linkage, a connected town with it’s own rules.  

Looking for real social networks, I’m looking at the true social nature of things like Dopplr and Locle. Real people, real locations and real life.

The separation of social.

There was a time, in days gone by, when we Tweeted a bit, checked our Facebook and then did some serious work with LinkedIn.  The race seems to be to merge three (and many more) separate mediums into one platform of information.

Personally I’m doing a good job of keeping them as separate as I can.  First of all you have to define who you really are and for me that causes some interesting crossovers.

• In York folk really know me as a musician and a software developer.
• In Limavady folk know me as a photographer and then a musician.
• In Belfast everyone knows me as a software developer.
• In Derry everyone knows me as a software developer.

So, where to start.  LinkedIn is for my professional work connections, I’m still less than amused that LinkedIn introduced status updates I rarely use them because I feel that potential contacts aren’t that bothered about what I am doing right this second, more they are interested in what I have done in the last week, month, year etc.

Twitter is Twitter and if you ask ten people what it is to them you’ll more that likely get ten different and valid answers.  For me it’s a broadcast medium for those who really want to listen.  My network on Twitter is generally NI based and geared on software development.  No worries if you are a photog or a muso, you can still listen.

Facebook….. more social than anything else.  I certainly don’t spend most of my time trying to get any business links through it.  It’s for friends (and one member of the family).

What from all this data?

Okay: here’s a basic list of the things I’m signed up to.

Blogger, Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flickr, my Amazon account for something to read etc. Keep in mind I have over ten blogs on various topics, a handful of Twitter accounts and most of my likes/dislikes listed in Facebook and MySpace, and finally my work and professional connections on Linkedin.

Here’s a senario I’d like to see over the next couple of years.

I book a plane ticket. London to New York for arguments sake.

i) As soon as the ticket is booked an email arrives with a few reading suggestions – linked to my Amazon account. Even better, I’m paying a few hundred pounds for my ticket – the airline can pay for a couple of books for me
ii) From the existing booking list it can see which of my business contacts on Linkedin I’d be travelling with and gives me the option to either network with them at the airport or during the flight.
iii) Be able to figure out what interesting blogs and websites I’d like to see when I’m flying.
iv) Be able to figure out an in flight listening (from last.fm feeds) based on my Facebook/MySpace details and music likes etc.
v) Do I have an iTunes account? Nah, so there’s a good chance that I might like to buy an iPod duty free.

A lot of this can be sourced from one point of contact, an email address. Yeah it’s a bit freaky, perhaps limit it to premium customers. The technology is there….. perhaps I should create a company.