Mom, are you on Facebook?

Ken — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:15:59 +0000

Social media isn’t just for the young anymore; it’s also for the young at heart. I have been noticing the rapid adoption of social media by those a generation or even two, older than me.

This past December, I was visiting my family for Christmas and my mother asks me “how do I get on facebook?” I quickly replied back “Mom, you don’t.” Perhaps for selfish reasons. I really didn’t know what to say. Here I am, approaching 30, and have been on myspace and facebook for quite a few years. What were once safe harbors for your college party pics and funny comments between friends, has now become a hub for your entire online life, viewable by every friend and family member alike. And the baby-boomers like my parents, they want in on the action too.

The reality of this adoption didn’t hit me personally until this week when I had different friends say their parents where on facebook. I quickly replied back, “so is my mom”. Being in the online marketing business I started to think more about it. I thought about the people that have “added me” as a friend in the last 6 months:

My Mom
Two of my Aunts
My great Aunt
My second & third cousins
My older brother
My older sister

I think it’s safe to say Social Media is not a “fad” and is probably here to spoil the online photo posting for high school and college students everywhere for generations to come. But also, giving us an unprecedented “in” with the boomer-generation that has been historically tougher to reach online.

How about you? Has your parents added you on facebook yet? If not, beware because it will happen sooner than you might think.

Here is an interesting article I came across today by Jennifer Martinez; an industry author on Online Marketing.

http://gigaom.com/2009/08/25/the-social-web-isnt-just-for-the-young-anymore/

What’s the Tweet all about?

Ken — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:35:40 +0000

It’s kind of ironic that I found this article today when I was catching up on my latest industry news. About a month ago myself and a few of the Lucid guys were talking about how social media seems to be the “cure-all” right now, and everybody wants it. Yet most people don’t know why they want it, or if it even makes sense for their business. Don’t get me wrong, I love facebook. Yet, social media marketing is tough, time consuming and really takes an understanding of the customer. It’s not just having a profile on Facebook, Myspace or Twitter, just to have one. We get clients coming to us all the time asking if we can setup a twitter or facebook campaign for them. Often, when we get down to brass tacks and figure out the business need, Twitter or Facebook isn’t the answer.

When you look at Twitter, keep in mind that only 10% of the users on Twitter make 90% of the “tweets”. This means that there are die hard twitter users that have a ton of followers and probably get something from their tweets because they are reaching a massive critical audience. The rest of the users, just get a little fun or find it interesting to see what other people are up to in real time.

Derek Harding, one of the writers over at Clickz [a marketing news website] poses some questions about the long term validity of Twitter and whether it will “implode under the weight of it’s hype”. Keep in mind Twitter still hasn’t found a long term revenue model. Derek Harding’s article can be seen here: http://www.clickz.com/3634038

Let me know what you think!

Ken

Lucid Agency» Facebook

Mom, are you on Facebook?

What’s the Tweet all about?