Keenan 411

Jim Keenan is a Senior Sales Executive, Enterprise 2.0/Web 2.0 Connector, an Entrepreneur still trying to get it right, and a PSIA Certified Ski Instructor for Vail Resorts. Husband to Big E and father to four great kids. In a nut shell, I'm a Sales Guy. Life is good!

How Has Social Media Affected You?

Many of you know I’m writing a book with co-author Leslie Poston based on a post I wrote a while back; Online Presence – Asset of the Future: Why Your Social Graph Will be Worth as Much as Your Home

The web and social media are fundamentally changing the way we interact and connect as a community. Most notably it is changing how we network. Peoples network has been a valuable component of our lives for years. It has helped us get jobs, get movie recommendations and even set us up on blind dates. As social media grows and our presence online increases, our off-line network is quickly being replaced by an online network. This new online network is going to be far more influencial and life effecting than anything we’ve seen to date. Our online presence is quickly becoming the center of our world and will impact the most important and sensitive aspects of our lives.

Leslie and I have come across some amazing stories of how social media has impacted peoples lives. We have found compelling medical stories where peoples lives were saved and unnecessary surgery was avoided because of social media. There are those we’ve found who have met their soul mate. We’ve found stories where people have gotten their dream job. Then there are the stories of those who used social media to help others in need. We are coming across amazing stories, stories of average, everyday people whose lives have changed because of the power of social media. Some changed in monumental ways, others in small but impacting ways.

We are excited to share with you the powerful story unfolding in social media and the Internet. There are millions of people who are asking why? They are asking why do I care about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging and the rest. They are skeptical, they are hesitant, they don’t see what many already have and that is social media is changing the way we connect, and the way we network. Social media is quickly moving from being a nice to have to a must have and our book; Online Presence-Asset of the Future: Why Your Social Graph Will be Worth as Much Your Home is going to share how and why social media matters in our lives.

Tell us your story. We want to know how social media is changing how you think, work, share and engage. If you have some research you’d like to share or a great story send us an email to onlinepresence@assetofthefutre.com

Don’t be shy, we know there are more good stories out there. We’ve just begun to scratch the surface.

October 25, 2009 | Filed under: Asset of The Future | Comments |

We Are The New Book Covers

Auren Hoffman of Summation and Seth Godin had two very interesting posts in the last week. Seth’s, comes from the old school perspective. Aurens comes from a new school perspective.

Seth’s post, The Purpose of a Book Cover, describes the role a book cover has in selling a book. In it he writes:

“Tactically, the cover sells the back cover, the back cover sells the flap and by then you’ve sold the book.”

“Books are better at creating conversations than most products.”

“Some ways that a book cover can accomplish its mission:

* Noticeable across the room (you see that lots of other people own it, thus making it likely that you’ll want to know why)”

Understanding Seth’s point. Auren has an interesting observations in his blog post, Book Conversations and the Imposition of the Kindle. In the post Auren observes how Kindle’s limit the ability for people to see what your reading and therefore it stunts the conversation.

. . . as we all move to reading books on our devices, we wont know what people in our proximity are reading anymore and conversations between strangers will go down.

This inability to have a book “Noticeable across the room” will impact the value of the book cover. The Kindle is going to viciously maim book covers as a way to sell books. The new book cover will be you and me.

As more and more people buy books online through the Kindle we will be unable to look to book covers to sell us. We will look to our social networks. We will decide to buy based on Twitters, Facebook, and LinkedIN. More and more of us will use applications like ReadingList by Amazon to share with our social networks what we are reading. Future versions of the Kindle will have a sharing component that Twitters or shares the books you download every time you download a new one.

I think Auren had a great observation. We are moving away from a time where we could see what people were reading. This will create fewer opportunities for face to face offline conversations. It will provide less opportunities for the book cover to do it’s job of creating conversations. Even more than before, books will have to be good, because we are the new book covers and if the book is not good, it won’t matter what’s on the cover.

Seth is/was right book covers sell the book by “teeing up the reader so the book has maximum impact.” But that is changing. Moving forward it won’t be the book covers selling the book, it will be you and me. Tactically, their won’t be a cover to sell the back, to sell the flap to then have you buy the book. It will be; you see it on a friends Facebook status, it shows up in your Twitter stream 3 times, it’s in your mom’s Amazon Reading list, so you download a sample to your Kindle and then if you like what you read you buy the rest, all without ever really knowing what the book cover looked liked.

Book Covers are dead!

July 2, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking, What I Think! | Comments |

Utility in Social Media

I started cre8Buzz in 2006. cre8Buzz was about accelerating exposure for the little guy. We wanted to create a way for the content of the masses to be seen. A sort of long tail accelerator. cre8Buzz didn’t make it and we shut the doors in 2008. (you can read about the buzz here) Tons of social networks have come and gone in the last 3 years and I’m seeing a trend. Like everything else in our lives, social networks that provide utility are the ones that work. Regardless of their features and functions, Social Networks need to provide utility.

LinkedIn has become the leader in professional development and networking. It’s utility lies in connecting professionals with other professionals, in helping them find jobs and connect in groups around similar professions.

Facebook, is the personal site. Yes, many companies are using it for marketing, but the majority of users are connecting with H.S. friends, finding old acquaintances and staying connected with their current friends. Facebook, to me is about the personal relationship. I don’t have a lot friends or followers on Facebook, just good friends and acquaintances. I am creating a Facebook page for my larger online network of friends and followers.

Twitter is about branding (personal or corporate), broadcast messaging and realtime search. Twitter is a great online marketing tool. Providing people looking to distributed information or get information an easy way to do it. Twitter corrals the masses. With no intended recipient Twitters lob stuff out and see what happens. Twitter has created a platform for dynamic information flow and network building.

MySpace is declining in it’s numbers. They’ve laid off 400 people. Why? Because their utility is quickly becoming niche. Myspace is the place to find cool new bands. It’s the place to discover new music and talented musicians. It’s utility as a meeting place to hang out with friends is waning, they can thank Facebook for that. I think in a few years, Myspace’s value will be strictly for fans and bands to connect. It will be a music site.

As the use of social networks grows, we will become increasingly particular on how we use them. We are going to expect that they provide some sort of value. We will expect them to integrate into our lives. Social networks will not longer be a hobby or strictly entertainment but an integrated component of our lives that we rely on to accomplish things. Facebook may become our new contact manager or phonebook, where we dynamically manage our friends and family. Twitter may become our news channel and search engine. LinkedIn may replace resumes and cover letters and become a career development platform.

Social Networks are becoming increasingly utility driven. Users on them today, look to get specific value from those they use. People not on them are asking; “why?” They are looking for a reason to invest their time. They are looking for a return on that time. They’re looking for utility. I think we will see an increase in the utility we get from Social networks. As users are going to want more meat and less fluff.

I think this trend is only going to increase. It’s happening already. Have we seen the last of new social networks? I’m not sure. Although, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace to small degree have the key area’s covered. I think we will see them look for more ways to add value. I suspect they will create more hooks into our lives making them that much more integrated and that much more difficult to for us to unhook.

I see us looking at social networks through a lens of value. We are moving into a the next phase of social networking, and this phase is not about the cuteness or the fun, but the value. Users will relentlessly ask, what can you do for me today and the answer better be good . . . or their gone.

June 25, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking, What I Think! | Comments |

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