Barcamp Hamburg 2008

This weekend I will visit the barcamp Hamburg 2008 – my first visit to a barcamp ever. Looking very much forward to it, curious to see what kind of session we’ll have. Not sure yet if and what I will present…

The venue is at Otto Versand, a German mail order company that moved heavily into e-commerce (of course) and seems to sponsor much of the whole event.

Well, more about that I will most likely blog live at my german blog, and yes, I will most likely blog it in German, too.

Linktip: 10 Social Media Myths

This is a great list of the 10 Social Media Myths. Quite a few I have heard myself, too:

1. Great Content Always Goes Hot
2. There are No Rules
3. You Can’t Build Quality Relationships Online
4. The More Friends, the Better
5. Social Media Marketing is Easy
6. Social Media Won’t Last
7. Social Media will Replace Traditional Marketing
8. Social Media is a Cure-All
9. Social Media is for Kids
10. Digg is All that Matters

Go to the site and read it, it’s great stuff!

Advertisers don’t belong on Facebook…

Advertisers don’t belong on Facebook, says Ted McConnell, Digital Guru at P&G.

Social networks may never find the ad dollars they’re hunting for because they don’t really have a right to them.

he continues. A provocative statement made to the Digital Non-Conference, a program by Cincinnati’s Digital Hub Initiative. His feeling is, that most social network activity is rather private in nature:

„I have a reaction to that as a consumer advocate and an advertiser,“ he said. „What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?“

These private conversations are, well, private. But these ads are just as obtrusive as all the advertising in the pub your spending your time with your friends at. We’re used to having social interactions in surroundings covered with advertising. We just don’t want to be interrupted or bothered by it. Most facebook advertising isn’t interrupting. It’s small banner ads on the side of the screen, which I, quite frankly, rarely notice.

And while we talk about moving into places that are largely made up of consumer generated media, he states:

Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.“

True, but I guess most marketers don’t want to buy regular adspace for the very reason that most people will not notice (nor click) it. So, if they could find more interesting, more effective ways to leverage these communities – e.g. by providing something of more added value, they would happily try it. Like the little ad supported postcards you get in most german pubs. They are widely accepted and people look forward to looking at them every time they pass by the little postcard rack on their way to the rest rooms.

These added value things could be, for example, small applications that enrich your social network profile:

He cited Facebook applications as a potentially valuable vehicle for advertisers, one in which they can create an environment that’s favorable for their brands and consumers alike.

Facebook Apps are just one things. Groups, product profiles, etc. are other possibilities. Imagination and social skills are key to finding these new value adders for social networks…

Links & News – Obama Social Media Special

Obama’s social and online media campaign were exemplary, indeed. Now we would obviously like to see the stats and results. Here is a short list of the first sites listing results or impressions of the Obama campaign:

Even more numbers on the online community of Obama.

A flickr photo set of various social media activity during the Obama campaign.

„Communities dominate Brands“ with an Obama Social Media Meltdown,

A simple Google count showing that Obama’s campaign achieved to a lot more Google links in the last few years, than George Bush in his 9 years of term.

Read/write web with a comparison of the activities of MacCain and Obama.