Week 3: Microsegmentation and Social Media

Materials:

• Read “Origins of Social Media”
• Read “Death of Segmentation”
• Watch Seth Godin’s Ted Talk
• Read Community Relations 2.0
• Watch recorded Breeze session
• Listen to “The Long Tail” podcast
• Read “The Long Tail” article
• Read “The Point of Twitter”

Lots of learning objectives this week – I was travelling and there were more requirements than usual in terms of content, so I fell a bit behind in terms of my completed objectives. I will have a bit to catch up on this, but I did enjoy the content I was able to review, especially “The Long Tail” and “Point of Twitter” articles, which I found very interesting. 

Chapter 1 "The Long Tail," in The Long Tail, pp. 15-26

I enjoyed this article.  I have specific experience in the long tail.  I have an app in the App Store that isn't really niche, but for some reason it still manages to get daily downloads and in-app sales.  With the Apple App Store boasting nearly a million apps, it's nearly impossible to reach customers other than paying for advertising to fight into the top 100.  To compete, as a small developer, I must reach an audience that is looking for something 'different' from the mainstream.  With search keywords as one of the only free tools for advertising, I use keywords that are less searched for, but have considerably less competition.  These long-tail search terms put my app as the first result instead of being buried underneath hundreds of other apps.

The concept of niche products vs hit products being worth the same in net profit to an internet retailer is an intriguing idea.  I'll think more on this concept.

The Point of Twitter (from NPR "On the Media" program of April 23, 2010; 9 minutes)

I enjoyed listening to the NPR piece about Twitter very much. I had to laugh at John Stewart’s comments a couple of years ago – and admit that until quite recently, I felt the same way. To be really honest, I am still not sure I understand the point of Twitter from a consumer’s point of view as the technology becomes more widely adopted. As advertisers have begun to realize the potential gold mine of marketing that is Twitter, it has become more and more of a strictly advertising platform. Yes, there are still the tweets about Justin Beiber, or the newest Kardashian baby name, but increasingly, my feed is full of branded tweets from companies trying to interact with me. The point of Twitter (assuming I get it) is communication among people – and often about how they feel about a company or person or event, etc. I think the interesting thing will be to watch what happens and whether Twitter can balance the communication of its users with the advertising machines trying to communicate to its users. Personally – at some point, there is a magic ratio – I’m not sure what it is – but when my Twitter feed begins to resemble the home shopping network (nonstop commercials all the time) it’s probably time to re-assess whether it’s a tool that I really want to use.

Twitter Infographic: