Financial markets and social media: adapt to adopt
October 29, 2009
Social media and social networks are a part of our daily lives. They’ve now been accepted as more than just entertainment. It’s taken a while but the world of business has now realised that it can no longer ignore them (or the web) as a channel of communication to reach its customers and interact with them. Businesses are all rushing to find a way to utilise Twitter and Facebook, some are doing it well others are failing, but most industries are at least trying. One industry who’s finding it more difficult though is financial services.
Financial services companies such as banks, analysts, brokers, traders and insurers all have a duty under various laws to keep copies of all communications with clients, customers and counterparties (particularly when it comes to discussions giving advice). This paper trail is required to ensure there’s no bias, insider dealing, dodgy advice or plain lying going on. The problem is, social networks like Twitter and Facebook don’t allow these companies to archive and store their communications making it very difficult for them to become meaningfully involved in actual two-way conversations.
This is a recognised issue now in the industry and even regulators recognise the potential benefits of being able to properly engage online. FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) in the U.S. has set up a Social Networking Task Force (discussed at their annual meeting recently) to explore how regulation can embrace these of technological advancements rather than hinder their adoption.
Now, while I can understand the need for due diligence, archiving, transparency and regulation around financial services, surely the industry needs to grow up and realise it’s time to ease these shackles and allow the conversation to flow. The conversation is happening anyway; in phone calls, cafes, restaurants and bars financial industry execs meet with clients, colleagues and competitors and discuss exactly the kind of issues that generally should be on the record (this has been happening for ever). At least if these types of conversations happen online they will be archived by Google if nothing else. Surely the regulators need to accept that their industry will be dragged kicking and screaming into the sociable world of online media whether they like it or not? Time to adapt in order to adopt modern methods of social business communication! The benefits of allowing the conversation to happen far outweigh the negatives.
Of course the other way this could play out is that Twitter and Facebook provide a way for these types of companies to engage through special accounts which allow for archiving and provide regulatory compliance. Personally I don’t think that would be a good thing as it would place restrictions on their interactions and mould financial services use of social media rather than letting it grow and adapt organically. I’ve had many conversations with people from financial services on just this topic and they agree, they don’t want to be restricted and want to use social media as any other business would.
Filed in social business, social media, social network
Tags: finance, financial services, social media
Do the socializers need an information diviner?
October 9, 2009
There’s an interesting post over on the Nielsen Wire blog from Jon Gibs (their VP Media Analytics) about the methods people are now using to discover content. Their findings show that a lot of surfers now make social media their starting point when trying to find information online. 18% of the people Nielsen quizzed said they start a search for new information using Wikipedia, blogs or social networks (such as Facebook or Twitter). That’s a pretty big percentage, especially when you consider that only 37% said they started their hunt on a search engine (which you’d traditionally think might be the starting point).
It’s not really a surprise to see web users learning to trust information that is recommended by their peers, or info that comes from within their sphere of influence on social networks. Recommendation is a powerful thing online and crowd sourced recommendations are a great way to answer certain queries. However, as networks are inherently distributed are they as likely to get an accurate answer to their more complex info needs as they would on a search engine?
In the same report 26% of respondents who identified themselves as socializers (the ones likely to start on a socnet) said that they feel ‘there is too much information online’. Perhaps this is what draws them to social networks for their information searching needs? Maybe the trust factor that someone has recommended some information to them gives them the confidence that they will drill through the dross and find the nugget they are looking for. However, if they feel overloaded now that is only going to get worse as networks grow.
Social network contacts are never going to be able to answer all the questions that intelligent use of a search engine would (unless your network includes some of the finest minds). If we, as web users, rely too much on social networks for finding information are we going to lose the ability to really search when we need to? Search can be a bit of an art form; some people struggle to get how to think laterally when searching for a niche topic, others can get there in one or two searches by using word combinations and booleans cleverly. Could reliance on social networks for the answers to questions destroy the art of searching or data mining that the web has historically been so good at encouraging? Social networks are great for recommendation and serendipitous discovery of content but how do they cater for people who just want their questions answered? Do they need to branch out more deeply into indexing and search or perhaps encourage search to begin on their networks by providing tools to do so?
I’m not offering any answers as this is a shift in habits which has been underway for a long time, but as more users become socializers (inevitable), and information becomes more and more realtime, someone needs to provide a way they can divine the realtime stream for the information they seek. Either that or search engines need to provide new, more social ways to search their indexes. What do you think?
PS. Just in case you think I mean divine in the Biblical sense, have a look at this.
Filed in realtime web, search, search engine, social media, social network, social networking
Rules of engagement (my personal social media policy)
September 23, 2009
I got inspired to write my own personal social media policy after reading various brands policies via this link on the Social Media Governance site (thanks to @jasonryan for sharing it on Twitter). Companies and brands feel the need to publicise the rules they expect their employees to follow when they use social media, or in reality if they choose to publish anything online. I see the benefits of having a policy and trying to keep some level of coherence in the conversations your brands ambassadors (yes, your employees are brand ambassadors), although most seem to be rules rather than guidelines and don’t actually encourage conversation at all. Social media policies or guidelines should encourage participation and conversation and be there to ensure brand values are upheld and continuity is upheld.
Anyway, this is a work in progress so liable to change and will end up on my ‘about’ page soon.
- I will engage
On Twitter, my blogs, by commenting on other blogs, on Facebook (although not that often anymore), on forums and anywhere else I feel the need I will engage and converse with those I want to engage with, who want to listen and want to converse with me. - I will share
On Delicious, Flickr, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Dopplr (where I am at least as fast as a duck) and many more places. I like to share stuff I find interesting and would love it if you share your interesting stuff with me too. Discovering other peoples interesting content is really important and a great way to find new information. - I will tell the truth
Everything you read/hear from me will be the truth, at least it will be the truth to me at the time I say it, should it become less true as facts emerge please don’t blame me I was only acting on the information at hand. At times I may say something that isn’t strictly true; usually, and if you are so skilled, you will be able to spot this as sarcasm or an attempt at humour. - I will not feed the trolls
Spam, troll comments, purveyors of hate and negativity; I will ignore and probably delete you where possible. - It’s my opinion
No one elses. Not my employers, nor my friends, nor my families. This is me, and you get the option to take me or leave me. If at any time I do broadcast someone else’s opinion I will be sure to let you know. - I will debate
At times I may disagree with you. That’s healthy, don’t be upset, I expect you’ll disagree with something I write at some point too. Discussion and debate is good! - I might follow you
If I find you particularly interesting I might elect to follow you around, subscribe to your feeds, check out the stuff you share or connect with you on professional networks. Don’t panic, I’m not a stalker it’s a compliment! - If you follow me
Please play nicely. I welcome all to follow me but please try to ensure we have at least something in common, it could be pretty futile trying to converse with me otherwise. This point goes mainly to brands and sales people; don’t spam me its a conversation I’m looking for not a barrage of brand heavy waffle or a sales pitch. - I might unfollow you
Don’t get offended. Chances are that you either haven’t got enough in common with my interests or that I can’t take the volume of content you produce. If you think neither of these is the case and you don’t spot something in number 8 that sets alarm bells ringing then try talking to me, perhaps I missed something or you never tried to really connect. - I may bore you
I reserve the right to be boring and mundane at times and there’s a good possibility that sometimes you might not like the content I produce. That’s fine, just move along, I won’t take offence.
Filed in social media, social network, social networking
Tags: guidelines, social media, social media policy, social networking
Social media expert = passionate web person?
August 19, 2009
Couldn’t agree more with this post (or as he says rant, though I think I sense some holding back) from @builtbydave today. Expert is a phrase used far too often in many fields, particularly in relation to social media. Being social is a skill in its own right, and one that far too many overlook.
People often use the term social media to describe online communities and blogging and seem to think they’re something new, where as anyone who remembers newsgroups would remember just how social they used to be (uk.music.rave anyone?). I used to work for a company who specialised in community portals in the mid to late 1990′s, the concept isn’t new, just the technology has moved on significantly. Campaigns have been built around places people congregate on the web for many years.
But there are people who are very good at building campaigns based around various community platforms, blogging, networks, forums etc and specialise in that as a discipline so we do need a word for what they do. Perhaps ‘social media’ is just the wrong one, is it trying to encompass too much?
It’s a hard thing to define though, and I’m not going to pretend I can do it, but I am going to pose a few questions. Do we need to define social media? Can you define it acceptably? Should we segment the skills into online PR, community building & management, blog media experts etc; would that make it more palatable? Or do we just need to accept that the best person for the job is one with an open mind, a sociable demeanour and a deep understanding & passion for the web as a whole? I tend to side with something an old boss of mine used to say before we interviewed ‘the best people are web people’.
Filed in community, digital, social media, social network
Tags: blog, community management, online pr, social media
Will Facebook share the wealth they make from your social graph?
February 4, 2009
It’s one thing to make money from adverts served to and targeted at your audience based on their behavior and connections on your site. Most people accept that this is how sites like Facebook intend to kick start a revenue stream. We allow sites to serve us adverts based on our preferences, past behavior, groups we join, friends we have and interests we disclose under the knowledge that this is now happening across the web on most advertising funded websites.
Now we’re told (via the Telegraph) that Facebook has a new revenue model, by turning the platform into a tool corporates can use for market research. Facebook will (says the Telegraph) allow companies to selectively target Facebook users to research their new products. They say companies will be able to pose questions to selected members, using the social network as a kind of straw poll. That’s great for companies, it can take a long time to get the right people selected for a survey or focus group, but you can make the selection process much quicker when you have access to the kind of data Facebook has about users.
So, what incentive for the users? I don’t know about you, but if I start getting random questions popping up in Facebook from brands who want my opinion I’m unlikely to respond unless I feel there’s some value in me doing so. If brands are going to use me to improve their product offering; and out of that Facebook is going to make some money, then should they be paying users for their time and opinions?
Widget spend to grow
March 19, 2008
Widgets are gaining some serious traction! U.S. companies have spent approx $15m on widget based campaigns in 2007 and that is projected to grow to $40m in 2008.
That spend reflects only 2.5% of the total amount that is projected to be spent on social network advertising in the next year. Now that’s quite low, I believe this is because so many widget campaigns have been so poorly executed in the past year and corporates are having difficulty seeing the potential ROI in comparison to traditional banner advertising and more brand led efforts (such as sponsored pages and profiles).
I stick by my earlier prediction that 2008 will be the year of the widget; if portability, engagement and usefulness are all kept in mind then a widget campaign can serve both branding and conversion. For more on my thoughts on widgets see this post.
For more on widget spend visit eMarketer.
Blogging makes you more popular?
March 4, 2008
A study has come out which says that people who blog can feel less isolated and more satisfied with your friendships both online and in the real world. The two month study found those who blogged felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those in the study who didn’t.
Could this be because bloggers have a platform to vent frustration and express emotion? Or is it that we’re a bunch of egotists who like to think people want to read what we have to say 
712% year-on-year growth???
February 27, 2008
That’s Facebook for you! At the same time as everyone saying Facebook is facing an exodus figures come out showing that the audience is a massive 712% higher than this time last year.
Maybe there’s some jealousy leaking out in the recent stories… For my opinion on Facebooks traffic dip go here.
Facebooks dip; seaonal adjustment or something to worry about?
February 21, 2008
Another big news story today is the dip in Facebook users from the UK of 5% from December to January. Much is being made about this being the backlash to the poorly executed advertising projects or the natural move away as it becomes fad rather than fashion.
I have my own opinion… I think it’s purely the January blues. Think about it; December is a huge month for keeping up with friends, arranging events and parties and reconnecting with old acquaintances. Come January though, we’re all back at work, busy, tired, dieting, looking for holidays and generally keeping a lid on the credit card as we recover from the spending excess.
Now does a dip in January seem that unusual for a social network which basically encourages social interaction between friends?
Alright, I may be being a little blaise but I wouldn’t read too much into the dip and I certainly wouldn’t be talking about the demise of Facebook quite yet.
Tripit launches social features
January 22, 2008
I blogged about Tripit a while back. Since then it’s been gradually gaining momentum and receiving increasing interest from the travel industry and bloggers alike. Most are attracted by the simplicity of their offering and clever way they put together travel itineraries using your confirmation emails. Now they’ve announced another string to their bow.
Today, Tripit announced the addition of new ‘closeness alerts’ to their offering. The location based social ‘closeness’ alerts let you know who will be close to you by automatically alerting you to other travellers who’s plans will take them into your proximity. They’ve also added a feature (similar to WAYN’s) which lets you know who is coming to your hometown.
It’s all functionality that’s been done before (WAYN, Doppler etc etc) but Tripit is still a really nice service so adding these value add features even if they have been done before will entice more users to the service. It’s not attempting to be primarily a social network, rather it’s a travel tool which is adding social features.
Techcrunch have a screenshot of the new features here.
