Social Media

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Facebook is loosing steam with the Millennials and Generation Z


Image Credit: Mashable.com

I just read an OPED on Mashable.com today, it’s title: “I’m 13 and None of My Friends Use Facebook”. Yep…things are changing. Let’s look at a few statements in the article that peaked my interest. This article is from the viewpoint of a 13 year old. Her name is Ruby Karp.

“Facebook is losing teens lately, and I think I know why.

Part of the reason Facebook is losing my generation’s attention is the fact that there are other networks now. When I was 10, I wasn’t old enough to have a Facebook. But a magical thing called Instagram had just come out … and our parents had no idea there was an age limit. Rapidly, all my friends got Instagrams.

Now, when we are old enough to get Facebook, we don’t want it. By the time we could have Facebooks, we were already obsessed with Instagram.”

Yes…and there are so many other reasons why teenagers are migrating away. None of their friends are using Facebook. Why? There is no community for this generation.

Ruby continues:  “This leads me into my next point: Although I do have a Facebook, none of my other friends do. My friends just thought it was a waste of time. I decided to get a Facebook just to see what it was all about. I soon discovered that Facebook is useless without friends. My only friend is, like, my grandma.”

Her next point peaks my interest. She beings to examine the idea of  surveillance. She explains parents spend so much time on Facebook, some of which to monitor what their children are doing. As a communication consultant, I remember having a Facebook training session for a group of hospital marketing/pr staff members. The main reason they attended, to figure out how to watch what their children were doing, with who, and where.

“Let’s say I get invited to a party, and there’s underage drinking. I’m not drinking, but someone pulls out a camera. Even if I’m not carrying a red Solo cup, I could be photographed behind a girl doing shots. Later that week, the dumb-dumb decides to post photos from that “amazing” party. If my mom saw I was at a party with drinking, even if I wasn’t participating, I’d be dead. This isn’t Facebook’s fault, but it happens there.”

So who is the average user on Facebook? Buffer’s blog shares some demographics. “According to the research, it’s a young, 25 year-old woman, living in a big city, with a college degree and a household income of more than $75k a year.”

Above are some interesting statistics from Pew Research Center surrounding the Landscape of Social Media Users. Once again, look at the breakdown of social users and their choice of social media outlets.

With all this said, I think there is a unique separation between the Generation Z (born after 2000) and the Millennials (Generation Y). The Millennials look like they might be last generation of Facebook diehards. But…these diehards, the supporters of this social network that brought them together are slowly departing. They are tired of the “drama” and being overly exposed to the world.

Here is an interesting commentary on YouTube between a group of young professionals. They fall into the Millennial generation.

At :37 seconds into the video, the young man says, “There is always going to be something new.” And this is point of this blog post. We as communicators have to understand that Facebook taught us to adapt from our “traditional” mode of marketing/pr communication. And once again, it is going to teach us that we have to continue to evolve and stay true our goals as practitioners. We are communication practitioners and not technicians.

The moment we put all our eggs into one communication basket, we will be taught once again that this communication paradigm is going to shift once again.

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Sustainability of the #Hashtag – Who Is Making Fun Now?

It is here…it works…and it is not going anywhere. I just received my latest edition of Fast Company magazine and I was reminded why this community technology is continually transforming the way we converse.

Even this article #UNPLUG surrounds the conversation of turning off electronics so we can “power back up.” An oxymoron that is using the hashtag technology to connect people and conversations meant to fuel the need to disconnect digitally. The irony…using hashtags to fuel conversations about disconnecting from the mere technology fuels connectivity.

That is my point…the hashtag platform is beyond flexible…it is now integrated across multiple social technologies.

It was Spring 2011 and I was meeting with one of my clients as we were planning a series community events. A part of the strategy to aggregate and engage conversation, I recommended using a branded hashtag to engage regular Twitter chats.

I remember sitting across the room from another vendor who was coordinating this event. Their statement…no one uses hashtags and it will not work. They actually made small chat with comments under there breathe making fun of the idea. Then…they looked at me and asked about my contract with the client. I guess they had not been watching all the #TEDxGVL events. This Greenville community was engaging in conversations during these TEDx events…chatting from the event on Twitter along with those watching from the live stream.

That same year…that same month in 2011…regular chats from health care to blogging were powered by Hashtags connecting millions of people. From #BlogChat, #HealthCareChat, and even Major League Baseball’s #postseason chat…people were connecting, engaging, and sharing conversations.

Now...Google Plus is using Hashtags as a way to connect and engage conversations. Have you used Google Plus lately…well, I have and it is amazing the difference a few years has allowed this community platform to grow and innovate powerful conversations.

Take a look at Facebook’s announcement integrating hashtags into status updates, creating conversation portals.

Hashtracking.com has now moved out of beta and provides a powerful tool for monitoring and measuring the conversations during and after hashtag chats and conversations. They are placing metrics on the number of tweets, engagement, reach, most influential, and more.

I look at the hashtag as another technology connection people and providing a platform to record the documentary of the community conversation. We can now watch conversations evolve; see videos, pictures, and links shared based on a time stamp.

I wish I was back in that meeting from 2011…I would love to give the group of naysayers a simple lesson: don’t make fun of what you don’t understand.

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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite & Melissa Mayer in Socially Responsible Messaging

So when I first watched this commercial…I was first taken in by the little chit chat conversation between a guy and girl. Here the girl has the new Kindle Paperwhite and the guy right beside her had an iPad trying to read in the sun. Any of you iPad owners know…that is nearly impossible with the glare. I have one and I know. But…I am not going to take a device to the beach.

But as the commercial moves along, the little surprise in this commercial is the fact that a new Kindle was just released. The commercial claims the Kindle Paperwhite is smaller and easier to use outside than the iPad, especially in the sun. Yep…we have seen many of these Amazon commercials comparing the Kindle to the iPad, so nothing real new.

But underneath it all, we thought there might be some little conversation that might spark where a guy was using technology to “hit on the girl” beside him. But, our conscience would not allow us to consider the reality of that thought… especially since Amazon is about pushing products.

Guess again. They not only addressed the issue of this seemingly weird conversation where a guy hits on a girl…it turns to an acceptance of the other’s relationship getting them a drink. Both with husbands.

I think this is the first time I have seen a large company like Amazon address an openly controversial topic with such ease and matter of fact. This ad leaves us knowing that both gay and straight individuals are the center point of this new product launch.

From the Inquisitr.com:
“It’s no secret that Jeff Bezos and his wife are strong allies in the fight for marriage equality. Last year, according to Reuters, they donated $2.5 million to the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state. Referendum 74 was approved by voters in Washington last November.”

“It’s a bold move for Amazon to take such a big risk when pitching its Kindle PaperWhite to potential buyers, but clearly Amazon thinks the cause of Marriage Equality is worthy of that risk.”

This ad is about business and the commitment to their social responsibility. Amazon is a worldwide brand that serves numerous different communities including those who are gay and support marriage equality. This ad just makes sense especially given the fact that companies like Amazon have an opportunity to become leaders in this multilayered conversation.

From Amazon to Yahoo…these brands are tackling issues right in front of us everyday. From marriage equality to gender equity in the workplace…the conversation is in the forefront and it is time get with the program.

From Harvard Business Review Blog:
“Marissa Mayer is no fool. She didn’t take over as Yahoo’s CEO because the company was doing well; she came on board because the stumbling Internet enterprise was an underperforming underachiever that had lost its way.

“So when Mayer decrees seven months into the job that she wants people to, you know, physically show up at work instead of telecommuting — or else — I’m pretty confident this reflects a data-driven decision more than a cavalier command. In all likelihood, Mayer has taken good, hard looks at Yahoo’s top 250 performers and top 20 projects and come to her own conclusions about who’s creating real value — and how — in her company. She knows who her best people are.”

Whether you agree or disagree with Amazon and Yahoo…the fact of the matter  is they are making a statement. And they are leveraging the digital times….because now people are not only talking about these decisions over coffee, they are sharing their thoughts online, in social outlets, and blogs like this.

By the way, the Kindle Paperwhite video was published on YouTube on February 20, 2013 and on March 4, 2012 (12 days later) the video has over 583,000 views. They are not only making a product statement, they are making a social statement and people are consuming.

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Social Media Is Getting Boring…Yawning Again

Yep…I said it. It is getting so boring and overused. How is it overused…well, let me put it this way…it is overused as a marketing/pr strategy that we have forgotten the social core.

Social Media is all around us and has become such a common place that the innovation that pushed us to today’s technology is no longer pushing for something more. Yes, there are new technology spin offs from the current platforms emerging each day…but it is the same stuff on a different day.

I walk into more and more meetings and the idea of social has been lost in the social media. We are using Facebook as a pure marketing outlet, sometimes the only social media solution in the bag of tricks. We are designing cover photos like billboards with branded messages…no social messages.

What is social about a logo and a tagline on a cover photo, nothing. It is just the same ole thing moved from our interstate highways to our information highways and is probably just as equally effective, maybe…yawn. Time for some coffee.

We are putting together spiffier quarterly and annual reports, including metrics from our corporate social outlets. We include engagement numbers, clicks, traffic increase percentages, etc…and why…because we can and it makes us feel good. We have successfully transferred our marketing accountability efforts to tracking social outlets like websites. This is the same thing as trying to take the broadcast news industry and transfer it into a website, just the same thing in a different delivery method.

What is so fun about that? We have bought into the routine, the routine we had before these social technologies began to emerge and excite us. We were excited because it was a new way to engage in new conversations. Now it is just routine because we are trying to track, react, and code engagement so we can justify our resources.

Why can we not just look at the social of the media and just accept it for what it is…it is a place have online conversations. Why can we not just find new ways to have richer conversations whether public or private and not worry so much about accountability? Oh yeah…the bean counters again. Yeah…traditional bean counters. Yawn again.

Where is the new innovative, executive leadership?

We are stagnant…we have become boring…and we are not giving our communities any other reason to engage in conversations other than getting our updates based on a daily metric.

Even the communities, the people truly using these outlets are getting used to the proliferation of marketing messages on these social outlets. We do not fuss as much anymore when we see sponsored messages come across our timelines. We just scroll by them like they did not exist. Why…because we are tired of fussing about it. Maybe we do not see them anymore. Or maybe they are working and we are actually clicking on them.

The social media innovators are stagnant as well…they now have to make money and focus less on the innovation that drove the social adoption. I meet more and more people either dropping their social outlets *or* they accepting the fact that this where they get their news and information. Is that social? Is it social just because it provides news updates that we now depend on?

It is time to take off our marketing hats, our pr hats, our community manager hats, and remind ourselves why we used social outlets in the first place. Because we wanted to connect with new people, find new ideas, engage in new conversations…not just market our widget or share our latest news item.

Time to break away from our new reality. Time to be social again and not marketers and pr professionals.

*Image from ADW.org’s blog: http://bbr.tw/13J20Mb 

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“Media” can connect us in times of divisive communication.

I was sitting in a church service the Sunday morning after the Newtown massacre, and like many churches that day…the topic of discussion surrounded the events of this tragic shooting. Here we are over a few weeks removed and the discussion is still in full force…we are trying to seek answers.

We are asking ourselves lots of questions. We are wondering why these images of the children are being shared all over the television screens, websites, and social media platforms.

A quote that resonated with me that Sunday morning…something Pastor Johnny Mckinney shared, “During this time, we must lean in as a community of faith.” As I replay this thought, this quote, this statement…I think of the image where first responders from Friday morning’s shooting were huddled together. They were leaning in together, consoling each other, comforting each other especially those who had to witness those horrific images from inside the school.

Many have debated whether the media coverage of these events have blatantly crossed the lines…from numerous angles. Whether it may be questioning the intentions of journalists trying to question children witnesses right after the events *or* spending too much time in this small town compiling continuing coverage…many believe that “media” has created a division in public discourse. I am thinking through this idea of overall access to media including the news media and coverage of topical items. “Media” brings us access to frontline discussions.

Media is defined as “tools used to store and deliver information or data”. (From Wikipedia).

Oxford Dictionary defines media, “The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense ‘the material or form used by an artist” 

“The Media” is also defined by Oxford Dictionary as “(the media) [treated as singular or plural] the main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively.”

“Media” provides access to information, bridging divides by allowing individuals to share information. We are connected via media through the contextual understanding of events. From images of the events in Newtown to the editorial dialogues of the news media that bring us context from the “inside” of the story.

Stories come in many forms. We see them from the televisions from inside our living rooms. We hear them on the radio and through podcasts. We share them through our connections as we talk amongst each other, either in person or online.

“The Media” or journalists provide this frontline access to these stories as they unfold, painting the picture for us to see, hear, smell, and relive in our daily lives. Technology is the connection point to these stories…these thoughts, these moments in time where we feel so connected. As time moves along in linear fashion…we will shed tears even as those events venture further and further in the past.

We not only “lean in” to the stories that bring us context, but to the people who share and bring to us to the front-lines each and every time. Think…how many times did you share your thoughts about Newtown, shed a tear, then maybe hugged someone. “Media” can connect us in more ways than just interacting online.

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Social Media: Are We Disclosing Our Relationships?

I am starting to notice more and more friends in my social space marketing more and more products and services. Specifically, products and services some they represent either by contract or full time employment. Above is one of many updates that have been showing up in my Facebook feed after Christmas. I looked and looked, and there is no disclosure of her relationship to Visalus? Should I care? Does it matter? Do I like to get these updates in Facebook along with all the other advertisements?

Now…I know we all want to share when we are excited about a product or service. But, are we sharing because we are excited or are we marketing a product or service just to market to a sphere of influence? If it is the latter, are we disclosing the relationship (our material connection)?

I am not opposed to individuals using their sphere’s of influence to share products and services that they are excited about.

What speaks to me and calls me to question motives are a few things:
1) Individuals who have built a core sphere of influence online and have switched the sharing focus from personal to business updates. This is especially apparent in more private, closed social outlets like Facebook.

I have a few friends that have switched from complete personal posting on Facebook to a heavy mixture of pushing products and personal updating.

2) Individuals do not disclose their relationships with the products and services we are marketing in our social spaces.

We all should spend a few minutes and refresh our marketing memories with these simple guidelines shared by the FTC and WOMMA. Even I should go through and remind myself when I am sharing content from organizations I represent.

This guidelines are covered in the WOMMA Social Media Disclosure Guide as it relates to the FTC’s “material connections”:

Material Connections
The FTC explains “material connections” as any connection between a blogger and an advertiser/marketer that might materially affect the credibility consumers give to that blogger’s statements. Important examples of “material connections” include:
1) Consideration (benefits or incentives such as monetary compensation, loaner products, free services, in-kind gifts, special access privileges) provided by an advertiser/marketer to a blogger; and
2) A relationship between an advertiser/marketer and a blogger (such as an employment relationship).

Responsibility of Advocates
Advocates also have a responsibility to ensure their relationship to a marketer is adequately disclosed. An advocate must disclose his or her relationship to a marketer when making statements or providing reviews about that marketer’s product or service, or a competitor’s, as part of a marketing program or initiative in effect at the time of review or statement. Finally, an advocate must comply with stated social media or blogging policies.

Clear and Prominent Disclosure
No matter which platform is used, adequate disclosures must be clear and prominent. Language should be easily understood and unambiguous. Placement of the disclosure must be easily viewed and not hidden deep in the text or deep on the page. All disclosures should appear in a reasonable font size and color that is both readable and noticeable to consumers.

Does it bother you more and more people are using their social spaces to market products and services? Maybe or maybe not? Or maybe it is the same thing as marketing blogs like this in my status updates? Do people realize who I am representing or connected to virtually?

So in full disclosure…this is who I work with and represent professionally. Here is my client list…https://rettewcreative.com/clients

To download the WOMMA Social Media Disclosure Guide, CLICK HERE.

I used this link for information:
http://www.fanscape.com/about/WOMMAFTC_Disclosure_Guide/