From the monthly archives:

August 2009

Why Social Media Demands Professional Ethics

by Jason Falls · August 31, 2009

I received an email not too long ago from a professional colleague. It was a private email asking me to do them a favor. It was written rather tersely and almost demanded that I adhere to their request. The more I thought about it, the more it saddened me that their outward persona via their blog, Twitter channel and so on was upstanding and respectable, but just a ruse to disguise someone so manipulative and greedy.

Undecided by bertiemabootoo on Flickr

Undecided by bertiemabootoo on Flickr

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54 comments

Aardvark Makes Crowdsourcing Your Social Graph Easy

by Jason Falls · August 28, 2009

Bing has made quite a splash branding itself as a decision engine. You type in a question or topic, you get results that are, at least in my limited experience, more closely related to what you’re looking for than other search engines. But where Bing might miss by casting such a wide net, a tool that has been around a few months called Aardvark is trying to capitalize on with a small, very purposed one.

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15 comments

Social Media ROI? Traditional Is Still More Accepted.

by Jason Falls · August 26, 2009

The return on investment for social media marketing is not an easy thing to determine. It’s not easy to measure. It’s not easy to argue. It’s not easy to prove.

Kool-Aid Logo
Image via Wikipedia

I’ll pause while the Kool-Aid drinkers curse at the screen and jump to the comments to call me names before reading the rest of the post.

For more on my thoughts, please revisit this post and conversation with Katie Payne from PRSA International last year.

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57 comments

Brands Are People

by Jason Falls · August 25, 2009

I received a wonderful email over the weekend. All I wanted to do today is share it with you:

Jason -

This email is to affirm what you already know.

A friend of mine – a WW2 fighter pilot who worked in the Advertising Industry’s Golden Age said it best – “It seems we got into the idea that ads were a lot easier than relationships.”

I’m not quite so sure that “social marketing” in its present, technology-driven flame will last,  but the concept that Brands are People (not words, images or experiences) is timeless.

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9 comments

How Social Media Is Changing The World

by Jason Falls · August 24, 2009

Esra’a Al Shafei put it all in perspective Saturday. Speaking via Skype from her home in Bahrain, the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, showed the crowd gathered at Social South the true power of social media, the internet and the idea of freedom. Al Shafei was denied a visa by her country to attend the event, which was the least of her concerns.

Her grassroots organization of young people around the world to fight against oppressive regimes, civil injustice and even genocide puts the 20-something young woman in constant danger. If the governments of any number of countries she travels to routinely discovered who she was, she would be imprisoned or, more likely, executed. Her actions put her in a state where she should constantly fear for her life.

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13 comments

The Ethics, Or Lack Thereof, Of Ghost Blogging

by Jason Falls · August 21, 2009

Blogging for Cats
Image by Vicki’s Pics via Flickr

“What do you think about ghost blogging?”

It was a simple question from someone in the crowd for a recent talk I gave. I answered honestly, but carefully. It didn’t matter. I was essentially speaking to a room which included 10-20 people who currently get paid to blog for people or companies as those people or companies. Unless I said I have no problem with it, I was doomed.

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124 comments

Exploring Sponsored Conversations With IZEA’s Ted Murphy

by Jason Falls · August 19, 2009

I had the pleasure of connecting with Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA, the sponsored conversations company, last week. We talked via ooVoo, a video chat software, for an episode of Social Media Explorer TV.

Talking Sponsored Conversations With IZEA’s Ted Murphy from Jason Falls on Vimeo.

Sponsored conversations touches on some controversy because the purists in social media believe that advertising and marketers have no place in the social media space. Social media as a gathering place for people emerged largely because people grew tired of thousands of marketing messages per day being thrown at them from all directions. The online space offers technology that allows people to manage their media environment and avoid interruption-type advertising if they want. So, those true to The Cluetrain Manifesto-esque principals of social media say ads don’t belong and what IZEA is doing is antithetical to what social media is about.

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37 comments

The Five Ws of Social Media Listening

by Jason Falls · August 18, 2009

Listening Post
Image by Fenchurch! via Flickr

Note: The following is a guest post from Chuck Hemann, the research manager at Dix & Eaton, an agency in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the first in what I hope becomes a series of guest posts from social media thinkers working in agencies and firms around the world. Perspective from the front lines, if you will. It is 100-percent inspired by Chuck’s persistence in pitching the idea of the five Ws of social media listening concept to me. I finally just said, “Why don’t you write it?” He did. Here it is.

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60 comments

You’re Going To Hear A Lot About This Book

by Jason Falls · August 17, 2009

Chris Brogan & Julien Smith

Image by jdlasica via Flickr

I read “Trust Agents” this weekend. Before you read further, please know that both authors, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, are people I consider friends. Their publisher sent me a free copy of the book to read and review. I’m not unbiased here, nor do I intend to fake it.

But you can trust me when I tell you that even if these two guys weren’t my friends, this book is well worth reading. In fact, it’s well worth buying a few copies to give to friends, business associates, clients or potential clients and so on.

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