The End of Privacy and the Rise of the Attention Economy

by Kristie Conner

Welcome to Media 2.0 and The End of Control. Scary, you bet, especially for all of us control freaks, this statement might just be uncomfortable.  It sounds like the title of a Science Fiction novel and it is scary in more than a few ways and  just as exciting.  If you don’t like change you might want to turn ‘off’ all connections which is okay, but don’t be surprised if you slip into obscurity.  Well, that is what Pete Cashmore predicts and in his CNN column.  For those of you who do not know Pete Cashmore, he is the founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media.

The End of Privacy

He starts the article off by talking about a U.K. firm that is launching a camera (SenseCam)to capture every moment in a person’s life.  Imagine capturing e-v-e-r-y moment in your life.  I’ll let you think on that for a second.  At first thought and second it sounds like a horrible idea.  Sure, if you are Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, why not.  If we have not learned anything from the era of Super-Celebrities, it is that the consumer (us) likes everything the dirt especially when it comes to celebrities.  Who picks up a magazine with the headline “Brad and Angie Bake Cookies and Play Scrabble on Friday”.  In fact, this love affair has extended to reality shows and ‘airing’ dirty laundry.  It has become an American past-time.  Now, we have Facebook and Twitter so we can peek into the lives of our network, the more common folk.  So, as he says in his column, “you may reel at the privacy implications, I’d wager that the high price of not capturing and sharing every moment of our lives will soon dwarf the cost of our privacy.”

I Agree …

… with Mr. Cashmore.  It became very apparent to me that I was ‘not’ going to make the ranks of the elite bloggers and such when I read Tara Hunt’s book and realized I am just not that open, I valued my privacy a bit too much.  About six months ago when I was reading her book and read that she took pictures of her hair while at the Salon and sent it around to her network, my reaction was horror.  My hair in 100 foils, looking less than human are more like a Media 2.0 character had me uncomfortable.  I knew at that point I was lacking.  However, fast-forward a few months and I can totally stomach the idea.  I started my blog and named it Girls Talking Tech and when I tweet I rarely share personal information.  But, what I have learned is that when I do share personal information, I attract more followers.  The lesson here is that people can get information.  Information is not hard to find, but where they chose to find it will be defined by the ‘who’ and how they feel about the ‘who’.

Unknown and Unemployed

One example, Mr. Cashomore used really got me thinking.  You might be brilliant, but if nobody knows, you are likely not cashing in on your talent “Without industry connections or a valuable audience for your work, you aren’t even on the radar.“  How true.  He used the example of journalists.  It made me think of CNN and how each Rick Sanchez has increased his popularity using social media.  As one of the first to adopt and integrate social media into his show, he is now more than just a CNN contributor, he now has his own following and is more of an asset.

In the attention economy, privacy is obscurity … wow!  In the digital age, Information was the economy.  Now information is readily available to those who have connections (computers, Internet, mobile devices) now it is about who you want to listen to.  In his article Pete Cashmore states “those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look to set to capture the most value.”

I found his column really thought-provoking.  Over the next few weeks I am going to spend more time writing about this topic and the ramifications of the Attention Economy.  Look for new posts on what this means to small businesses.

The economy is still depressed or is that just me?

by Kristie Conner

I’m wondering why the wise and experimental pharmaceutical companies have not invented a drug for the economy.  Or, is that what the H1N1 pandemic is? A way to pump up the pharma revenues because who can possibly afford designer drugs?  Well, these are questions I will not answer with this blog post, but I have found a great site for finding some discounts – www.offers.com.

Tooling about Offers.com I found some good and average deals.  I like the 24-Hour Fitness coupons.  There is no better time than the present to get in shape.  Namely, a healthy body fights back disease, infection and depression a lot easier.  Number two, it is a place to go (after the membership is paid for) that doesn’t cost a lot.  I call that ‘free’ (sort of) entertainment.

Now, for those of you are starting your Christmas shopping early and do a lot of shipping.  This site is for you.  There are tons and tons of ‘free shipping’ offers.  I’m really not into Free Shipping as I don’t ship things.  I keep them until the holiday/birthday is way past due and then I have ‘items’ lying around.  Some I can use and others not so much.  With that said ‘free shipping’ might just be my thing.

Check out www.offers.com.  Who knows what you might find.

Twitter DM or @Reply

by Kristie Conner

I have a client who is quite inquisitive and pushes me before I start pestering   It is a good thing.  Today her question was about Twitter and how to respond to tweets.  She basically did a search of Twitter and found that she wanted to respond to some ‘tweets’.  This is the part that is brilliant.  She needed no pushing to start using Twitter in a way that will both promote her knowledge and provide a service … sharing intelligent information with interested parties.

So, how do you go about starting a conversation or sharing information (passively) with other people using Twitter.

Well, one thing that is important to do (IMHO) is to ‘follow’ people of interest and follow customers/clients.  This begins to build relationships and Twitter is about sharing not marketing.  If you are not following people it seems a bit ’snobbish’.  However, don’t follow ‘everyone’ in the hopes they’ll follow you. There are people/organizations that don’t follow anyone or very few and that is likely because they can get away with it.

Let’s say you do a search on something that you find interesting and you want to respond. What is the best way?  The best approach here is @reply. An @reply is pronounced at reply and must have the name of the Twitter user you are addressing.    @reply is a public response and will show up in public time line and could appear to your follower depending on how they have their accounts set-up.  This can start a conversation!

If you were to respond to one of my posts on Twitter this is how it would look @girlstalkintech thanks for the info! You can type it in or hover over the right-side of the tweet and you’ll have to actions available.  The little swoosh, if you click it, will automatically create the @reply.  (This is for the general Twitter interface).

Remember to keep to the 140-character limit.  I believe that the rule can be broken, but not consistently or frequently.  If someone likes what you have to say via the @reply they’ll respond and you’ll have a conversation going!

Another option is Direct Message (DM).  This is only available if the person you want to ‘converse’ with or chit-chat via Twitter is following you.  If they are following you you can send them a DM which only they will see.  Meaning, it is not going to show up on the public time line.  Let’s say you wanted to send me a DM via Twitter.  Go to Direct Messages and at the top of the screen there is the ability to select from your list of followers and send them a direct message.

If you are not sure how to interact a simple rule is this.  If it is a private conversation use a DM, but keep an open mind.  Twitter is about conversations so what you might consider a private conversation might not be private via Twitter.  Using @reply and starting conversations might just get you some new followers!

Next topic RT (re-tweet)!

Facebook Strategies For Growing Your Personal Brand

by Kristie Conner

This evening, because I have nothing better to do, I quickly scanned some of my favorite blogs/sites for information and came across “3 New Facebook Strategies for Building your Personal Brand“.  In all honesty, I am still not comfortable with the idea that I am a brand.  Musicians, actors, models — they are brands, but me, a brand?  If I don’t become comfortable with it soon I might just lose some amazing opportunities.  With social media we all have the potential to become a brand and in some cases we don’t have the choice.  To even set up a Fan Page for a business we need to have a personal page so by the very nature of the Facebook operation if we start a Fan Page we step into the world of personal brand.  I have clients who I advise on Facebook strategies and while it doesn’t often feel like work, nor do my small clients see it as ‘work’ I am advising them on this new world that is a mix of personal and professional.

My last post about OpenACircle hinted a this new world where business meets personal lives via Social Media.  The other day I was talking about some social media guru’s who ‘tell all’ about their lives via tweets, Facebook and their blogs.  I still have not hit that point where I can photograph the foils in my hair and send it out and then later send a picture of the final product to get opinions.  I actually can’t imagine anyone cares, but this open attitude is what works in social media.  While you might be able to hide your identity — you can’t hide the details, the very juicy details that resonate with the rest of the world.

So, if you are ready to start promoting your brand – YOU, this piece by Mashable is a great tool.  And, one very important point regardless of whether or not you are promoting your business or your own personal brand … you need a strategy.

Check it out — 3 New Facebook Strategies for Building Your Personal Brand.