Facebook Timeline - A digital scrapbook for people and businesses

Last week during Facebook’s annual conference, the F8, Facebook announced a new profile, called the Timeline.

This profile aims to encourage users to document their entire lives on Facebook – from birth until death. From a personal perspective, I find this to be an enormous invasion of privacy – though how much privacy do we still have anyway?

However, from a business perspective, this could be what will guarantee Facebook’s future (and ubiquity). This is why: once people have their entire lives documented on Facebook, they’re unlikely to leave the social network. Obviously, in a way, a number of Facebook users have been documenting their lives on the social network for a while. But this goes a step further, as the Timeline will let users add information from before they were even on Facebook.

I see it as a way of Facebook future-proofing itself, by creating an even deeper emotional attachment to the brand. This means that they won’t go the way of MySpace or Bebo. At least, not any time soon.

For businesses, having a timeline of their achievements is fantastic. In fact, Mashable even did a story showing what Facebook Timeline would look like for businesses.

I am just left to wonder about the true longevity of Facebook, as in the digital age, brands seem to come and go very fast (remember pets.com?). Even with the Timeline, there is a chance that when something better comes along, our digital lives will become nomadic, always following the latest trend.

The rise of social media (and Twitter in particular) has forever changed the way that customers expect to interact with brands. To prove this, Nielsen published a report looking at the time Americans spend online. It found that e-mail’s share of time declined 28%, behind online gaming. Meanwhile, social networking climbed 43% and is the number one online activity in terms of time.

You can establish a successful Twitter presence in five simple steps:

1. Create your Twitter account, and start following people and businesses that interest you – When getting started with Twitter, a good way to get it right is to see what others are already doing on the network. This means that not only will you be able to contribute to the conversation that is already going on, but you will also know what topics work best with the followers you are targeting.

You can find your audience by searching for your brand name, your competitors and keywords related to your industry.

2. Find influencers relevant to your industry – Twitter has a wealth of people, from lurkers all the way to those who are known as influencers. Influencers are people who have an active and important voice in your industry. Their opinion is usually heard, and they’re also great amplifiers of your message. To find them, see which Twitter users are usually being re-tweeted by your followers. You can also search for a particular term related to your industry on Twitter, and see which people are contributing the most to the conversation. Of course, the higher their number of followers, the better their amplification chances are.

An example of an influencer is David Lebovitz, a chef in Paris,as more than 80,000 Twitter followers. He regularly tweets about food and restaurants, and his tweets are often repeated (re-tweeted) by many people following him. This means that if he were to tweet about your brand, the chances for amplification are enormous.

3. Participate actively – Having a Twitter presence does not mean simply opening an account, you need to keep it active. A good way to do this is to keep on top of the news in your industry and find interesting topics to discuss on a regular  basis. Just be careful, as too many updates can be seen as spam, especially if they don’t include any comments or opinion that are of value to your followers. Don’t simply share links, but provide insight into the latest issues.

4. Organize occasional ‘tweetups’ – Even in the social media age, it’s still important for brands to have a human face that they can show their audience when appropriate. This is why so many brands organize ‘tweetups’, which is the name given to meetings organized over Twitter. If you don’t want to organize your own tweetup, there are always a number of meetings for Twitter users taking place all over the globe. There is really no better way to get to know your audience.

5. Regularly measure your results – This is where you see whether you’re meeting your Twitter goals and find ways of improving your strategy to further strengthen your presence on the platform. Klout is a fantastic and simple tool for measuring online success on Twitter and it also measures, Facebook and LinkedIn. It looks at your number of followers, how many people are re-tweeting your messages and your overall level of engagement with followers.

Anyway, Gizmodo published a story called ‘Why 3D Will Never Work‘ and they explain that according to Roger Ebert, an acclaimed critic (and disliker of 3DTV), evolution is to blame for 3DTV’s eventual failure. While I can see his point, I think that 3DTV will fail much before we all even realize that evolution is against 3DTV.

My view is that what will really kill 3DTV in the more immediate future is the fact that these TVs are too expensive for the ‘Average Joe’ enthusiasts to buy – think about someone you know who is always eager to buy the newest thing (but not early enough that it would make them an early adopter, so to speak). The price of a 3DTV is simply not worth the minimal ‘coolness’ factor that they’ll gain from it.

My point is that even without plenty of 3D content, if 3DTVs cost as much as an HDTV, I bet that many people would buy them (knowing they’re fairly useless) just to get a leg up on the Joneses. This takes into account the American mentality of always having the newest and the best – remember that the US is still the biggest market for electronics.If 3DTV were to succeed in this market, it would more than likely have a very good fighting chance around the world.

With that adoption scenario in mind: as a result of the price drop in 3DTVs and its wider adoption, networks would start bringing in the content, and then people who bought a 3DTV would see that watching the news or Sex and the City and Two and a Half Men in 3D is pointless (who wants to get that close to Charlie Sheen nowadays?). This is the point when viewers and networks would come to a collective realization that the only programs worth watching in 3D are movies, certain documentaries and sports. So those who bought a 3DTV would use the power of word-of-mouth to say so to friends, family and colleagues – and word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire. At the suggestion of those they know and trust, people would spend their hard earned money in technologies that would give them more bang for their buck… like an iPad, which is much easier to show off at Starbucks anyway.

This will drive down 3DTV sales, and networks will cease to invest in 3D content. So before evolution even really comes into play, 3DTV will already have died, because people will have long ago realized that its use is not in the home. 3D movies and sport events will exist and thrive, but because it’s a fun, occasional thing that requires minimum investment (the price of a ticket), versus the price of a full 3DTV.

Our main focus was on monthly page views per unique visitor. To compute these statistics we made use of traffic data from Google AD Planner, and finally sorted out a top list of page views per visitor. The results are pretty much expected, though still interesting.

More from TechReaders.com…

Aerial view of Lisbon

Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is an amazing city full of contrasts. Old buildings clash with modern constructions making for a beautiful city that is a real delight to explore.

Destroyed during an earthquake that took place in 1755, very few ancient constructions remain in the city. However, the city’s rebuilding efforts which were led by Marques de Pombal, created incredibly opulent structures that amaze both locals and visitors to this day.

Lisbon offers both world-class eating and shopping at much lower prices than other European cities. A delicious dinner for two at a restaurant in the neighborhood of Baixa-Chiado costs no more than 30 euros (house wine included).

I am now collecting my pictures and thoughts into a nicey organized city guide, which I will share shortly. So keep an eye out for that!

You can find the list here: http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/blog/2010/06/the-11-commandments-of-social-media

Enjoy!

For those of you who don’t know, it is common for stores to close for the month of August, and for people to completely leave the city, leaving a ghost town behind. Though it makes perfect sense, as Madrid in August is extremely hot and unpleasant.

Anyway, as part of my ‘getting-to-know-Madrid’ phase, I have been visiting various places recommended by friends and also guidebooks. This is how I have come upon Chocolateria San Gines, an absolutely fabulous little place that serves the best churros I have ever had.

The churros are nothing short of perfection… poerfectly crispy and hot, and served with mouth-wateringly fresh chocolate that is perfect for dipping. It isn’t too thick or bitter and it is perfectly tasty.The service at the place is lacking (but Spain isn’t exactly known for its brilliant customer service anywhere).

Apparently, it matters when you visit the chocolateria. During high tourist season and at night, it gets so crowded that there is a line outside. The quality of the churros also diminishes. Also, it is best to sit outside and people-watch. There are not too many tables, so if this is what you want to do, then I recommend you go in the mid-afternoon at around 3 p.m.

The nearest metro station is Sol. To find the chocolateria, you need to find the church of San Gines. Right next to it, there will be a little street where there is a store called Libreria San Gines (it is a book shop). Walk towards that book shop, and you will soon see the chocolateria. It looks like a rather old and simple establishment, and that’s because it’s been around for just over a century. Find yourself a seat and enjoy!

If you have been to Chocolateria San Gines, what did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Below are some of the ones that I think are worth mentioning.
Tuenti is a social networking website popular predominantly in Spain. It is an invitation-only private Beta, but it is quite similar to Facebook in features and functionality. According to its website, it is one of the largest invitation-only social networking sites in the world and has the most traffic of any Spanish website. Most users are aged between 14 and 25.Profiles are kept private and are only viewable to friends, and privacy settings are easy to set up.

Orkut is owned by Google. It is a very popular site in India and Brazil, although it is starting to lose out to Facebook in Brazil. When doing my research, I found that Orkut has many privacy problems, though little by little they are being fixed. However, too much private information is still easily accessible if users are not cautious. Also, Orkut divulges who is visiting your profile, and lets people know you have visited theirs. This setting can be turned off for additional privacy. I also find that the user interface is lacking, it is not as sleek as Facebook, for example.

Hyves is the most popular social networking website in The Netherlands. I find that compared to other social networks, Hyves looks very amateurish. However, the site does take privacy seriously and is working to improve it. While initially all user information is public, users can choose to share their details only with friends or friends of friends – this makes them invisible to the rest of the community, and also makes the community invisible to them.

Netlog is a Belgian social networking website, with an Europe-wide presence. It is the number one social network in Belgium, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey.  According to its website, it have over 69 million users. It reminds me a little of MySpace, but not as ‘cool’. It definitely looks like it has a younger audience though.

hi5 is a bit controversial in that it essentially used spam a while ago to attract new users. Nevertheless, it is a popular network in India, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica and Central Africa. It is also somewhat popular in Latin America (though not so much in Brazil). Profiles are visible to friends, friends of friends and their friends (so a third degree relationship). While profiles are not shared with the entire community, they are visible to many people. Functionality-wise, it is similar to Facebook although the interface could use some improvement.

I will keep looking into international social networks, and will update this post as and when I have new reviews.

However, having recently moved to Spain, I have noticed that many popular chains still do not allow customers to shop online. While I do understand that the culture of the country needs to be accounted for (here personal interactions are still highly valued), I have to wonder if a whole generation of digital natives who enjoy the convenience of online shopping is being ignored.

From a business standpoint, providing an online shopping facility makes sense. Online vendors can be open 24/7 (and so do business year-round non-stop), reach a worldwide audience and easily obtain customer feedback and information. For a popular brand, the costs of setting up an online store can be offset by the amount of people who will flock to its online store in the name of convenience.

For smaller brands, an e-commerce presence can help them establish a following and can also give them a wider reach.

Whatever business size, the lack of an online store can be a serious competitive disadvantage. After all, we are in a world where unfortunately our lives are getting too rushed and we no longer have time to browse through aisles of merchandise to find what we need. As a consumer, more often than not I will choose the online store over its brick-and-mortar equivalent simply due to convenience and I am sure many people agree with this.

The lesson is – give consumers what they want, and they will come.