NO TIME TO BLOG

I received my login this morning for Yahoo's new social media site Meme 'It is your place to share with the world whatever you find interesting.' Their words not mine.

So basically is is their cutesy (probably Nintendo Wii inspired) Twitter/Facebook etc... ripoff. Is it any good, yes, it has a nice clean layout and is easy to use. Will it take off, no! Why would it, what possible reason would anyone use it? Where is the innovation? What does it offer that Twitter and Facebook does not?

If Yahoo Wanted Twitter So Much They Should Have Bought It. And that is what surprises me about the whole strategy, when they wanted a photo sharing application they bought Flickr.

Meme will fail - innovate please Yahoo.

MySpace was the first serious social network, the first that everyone spoke about but Facebook and Bebo came along and swept everyone up. The reason it happened is because MySpace was a great idea poorly implemented and this wounded them.

Over the last couple of years MySpace has continued to justify its existence by copying all the best Facebook ideas and implementing them badly. First notable copy was the Facebook status, this micro blogging feature was added to MySpace, badly, all it shows is a list of the bands I like and what they are up to? Where are all my friends? They are on Facebook.

I just noticed when logging back in now they have added the chat functionality, but where are all my friends? They are on Facebook. The problem is when Facebook Says Jump MySpace Says How High but by the time they have answered another group of their users have gone.

When planning a digital strategy most clients tend to ask the same questions, how do we use Facebook? What is our Twitter strategy etc... The first question to ask is, Are You Doing The Simple Things Right? Yes there is a big opportunity with social media but it is an acquisition tool not conversion.

There are few examples of companies driving significant revenue from a social strategy yet there are many good case studies of companies driving revenue from traditional web and email channels. So remember although this channel is important within your digital communications mix you should first ensure that you Do The Simple Things Right first:

1. Website - is your website maximising the opportunity to convert people?
2. Email - does your email strategy follow standard practice?
3. Search - are you optimised for Google?
4. Measurement - are you measuring your digital stragegy, do you know where your traffic is coming from?

Do The Simple Things Right then have fun with the latest fad.