Facebook vs Linkedin vs Twitter

Maybe you think that your target audience isn’t online. You’ve talked to a few of your colleagues and they all think the same thing. Well, maybe they aren’t. But I wouldn’t use my gut to consider if I should be doing more online.

For instance, I have a client that did a series of their target audience (engineers) and their distributors. There was some very insight findings. Their engineers used Google more than anything else to find new products whereas the distributors used Trade Magazines. And the predominant niche search, Global Spec, wasn’t used very often at all by either audience.

So where should be focus our marketing dollars. Trade magazines or Google? The client made the decision to pursue the target audience, engineers, via Google and communicate directly with his distributors dropping trade mags altogether (mainly due to expense).

Now, let’s take a glance at the rest of the world which could be your target audience.

Using Compete.com, Facebook has 91 million unique visitors, a 23% increase over last month, and a 195% over last year. Is your audience going there? BTW, ads aren’t the best way to reach people on Facebook. Being part of the conversation and allowing them to control it is a much better way to engage.
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One Thing You Need to Know about This Post:
Celebrities and mainstream media have ruined social networks in the past.

A More Detailed Exploration:
Oprah Winfrey has started using Twitter. Ashton Kucher became the first person to attract one million people to follow his tweets. Man, this reminds of two other great social media platforms ruined by celebrities and main stream media:

1861: Victorian Internet
For thirty years, Victorian geeks enjoyed their own social network trading weather reports, local gossip, and regional sports scores via the telegraph. Then, Abraham Lincoln comes along with his challenge to Jefferson Davis to see who could generate the most amount of ticker tape in one month. Of course, that led to the unfortunate telegram inadvertently sent to the South Carolina artillery commander outside Fort Sumter. Thus began the War Between the States/American Civil War.

1976: Citizens’ Band Radio
Undisturbed for decades, Citizens’ Band radio enthusiasts had created a language and culture of their own. With a national 55 MPH speed limit, citizens banded together to avoid speeding tickets. Then, C. W. McCall ruins Citizens’ Band (CB) with his mainstream media hit, Convoy. From then on, many purists never felt the urge “to put their ears on” again.

Remember Your History, People!
The next time someone complains how Twitter isn’t what it used to be, please remind them that this isn’t the first time. C’mon people. Let’s not forget our history.

Have I missed any other historical evidence where celebrities and mainstream media ruined a social network?

Find me on Twitter:
@scottyhendo

Find me on the Victorian Internet:
Chicago Northern R.R. Station #34

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Okay, so you might be wondering – why should I join @scottyhendo and @mitchmaxson at 7 pm on April 21 to hang out at Fado’s Irish Pub near the Chinatown Gate?

HERE ARE FIVE REASONS TO ATTEND (yes, I’m shouting): more

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I am in Ottawa, Ontario, this week working with the Canadian War Museum. It’s been an interesting first twelve hours, as I have been engaged non-stop since my arrival.

After leading a workshop with the staff from the War Museum, I caught a taxi to my hotel down from Parliament Hill. Blocking my path was a large protest of Tamil Canadians who have converged to demand action by the Canadian government to establish a cease-fire in the war between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers.

Between checking into my hotel and meeting friends for dinner, I walked up the hill and mingled with the protesters. It’s a peaceful demonstration with police redirecting traffic around the melange of ages, gender, and economic standing. With my iPhone camera and my Flip MinoHD, I captured sights and sounds of the daytime activities. After dinner, I returned for more and this time interviewed one of the student leaders involved.

Using the footage I took, I’ve pulled together this video to approximate my experience inside the protest:

In talking with the protesters, I was given the following website addresses. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information contained on them. In fact, I cannot even vouch for the facts and events the protesters shared with me about the current situation inside Sri Lanka.  I can just share what was shared with me, including these websites they wanted the world to visit:

www.tamilsagainstgenocide.com
www.tamilnation.org
www.tamilnet.com
UK Guardian News Article

As I burn the midnight oil to write this post, I am preparing my final thoughts for the lunch keynote I’m presenting in about 11 hours. It’s entitled “The Battle for the Human Mind: Hosting the Great Debates of History Online” and will be part of a day long historical conference. As the only non-professional historian presenting, I get to explore digital and social media’s role in historical understanding.

A major issue I will be exploring is the tension between Experts and Amateurs. Now that we walk around with mobile devices, cameras, and video cameras in our pocket, we all can become citizen journalists and can use the bright, shiny light of the Internet to bring awareness to specific events and causes.

This has great implications. As I prepare for the historical conference, I wonder about many things. Specifically, I wonder where is the line between reporting on news events and interpreting that news as history? How will this affect our perceptions of history? Can everyone become historians?

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