Whether good or bad, one of the things I hate doing in stores is asking technical questions of customer service people… especially in “big box” stores. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t saying that all of them don’t know the answer. I have just found that more often than not, they have a similar understanding that I do. This is why I LOVE the idea of social media customer service. Connecting to a person who has the entire Internet in-front of them as well as any number of technical service manuals or other helpful tools to answer my question at a moments notice. This past week in a few different interactions I was reminded of how far social media customer service has come as well as how far it has to go.
Something that I am always talking to my students about is how important it is to have a good, complete, and locked up social media presence when beginning their job searches. It is of course, not only critical that they be present on different platforms in different ways, but also the types of content and people they appear to be. Online Colleges recently released an infographic that helps to outline how job seekers and employers are connecting online as well as what those employers are looking for.
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I don’t generally trust free Internet services. While I use things like Google services and a lot of social media, I always plan for those services to change or be gone. Online storage services like Dropbox, iCloud, and even YouSendIt bring the whole privacy issue to a new level as you are not just consciously posting items that your friends or the public may see but you are posting actual files. These files could be personal. They could be client files for your business. Do you know what your privacy rights are under these services? Google Drive came out today and you might be surprised what the terms of use are.
For months now there have been rumors floating around that 2012 would be the year of the Facebook IPO (initial public offering). While many users and would-be investors are chomping at the bit for their chance to own part of one of the largest social networks on the planet, others (me included) are a little skeptical. This hesitation or “wait and see” attitude is caused in large by the disappointing IPOs for other companies like Pandora, Zynga, and Groupon in 2011.
Facebook and social media have been called tools of “mass distraction”. It is a common assumption that things like social media and the Internet distract people and students from the work they need to do. But is that true? A new study is out that could make you think otherwise!
Death is something that is somewhat a foreign concept to me. I have a fairly small family that isn’t really close to each other. Throughout my now 31 years of life when family members have died, I was never really affected because I frankly didn’t know them at all. Of all the funerals that I have been to in my life (a whole 6 or 7) only one was for a family member and I was too young to even process what was going on. The rest I have gone to in support a friend or my wife. Given this, I have a weird detachment from death and, depending on who you talk to, a very unconcerned or unemotional response to it. This is why I was really surprised today when I found myself genuinely sad when thinking about the death of Steve Jobs. Especially since I have never met or even seen him in person.
As I was trying to figure out why I ran through several possibilities. The biggest is that I am almost the quintessential Apple “fanboy”. I remember using Macintosh computers back in elementary and middle school. Typing my first class papers on them. I remember falling in love with Final Cut Pro back in April of 1999 and OS 9 later that year. I remember being super excited waiting for the UPS delivery guy when my first ever PowerMac was delivered in 2001 (a Quicksilver which still runs and is sitting on a shelf behind me). I remember being at NAB 2007 and dragging my co-workers to the Apple reveal of Final Cut Studio 2. I type this post using my iMac, Apple TrackPad, and wireless Apple keyboard. In a backpack next to me is my MacBook Pro and iPad. The network in my house is controlled by an Apple Airport and my wife is watching a video on her MacBook. There is not a day that doesn’t go by that I use an Apple device in some way, shape, or form. As I thought about it, though, this wasn’t the reason because while Steve Jobs gets the credit for Apple innovations, there are over 40,000 people that work for the company. There are many engineers, designers, and developers at Apple who are the true champions of these products. It was in this thought, though, where I realized why I was sad.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” ~ Steve Jobs
It is the job of a CEO to set the tone, direction, and vision for a company. It was Steve Jobs’ ideas, hopes, dreams, and vision that made Apple the company it was today. It was Steve Jobs’ dedication to outside-of-the-box thinking, consistent improvement, and the desire to change the world that allowed a corporate culture where amazing products were created. I am sad at the loss of Steve Jobs, not because I think of all the products his company made. I am sad at his death because someone that I looked up to as a visionary business leader, a dynamic speaker, and the type of passionate creative that I aspire to be is gone.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” ~ Steve Jobs
Mr. Jobs, I never had a chance to meet you, but I hope if I had, I would have been able to say thank you. Not thank you for the products your company has made, but thank you for being an inspiration. From your messages, quotes, and presentations, I have learned a lot. I hope that one day I will have an opportunity to be a visionary leader as you were and that I will always be able to summon the courage to live by the same motto you did, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Thank you, Steve Jobs, for the inspiration.
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. … They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs
In case you have been hiding under a rock, you most likely heard that Apple released the new iPhone 4S yesterday. To some it is a huge announcement, to others that were expecting the release of the iPhone 5 it was disappointing. To me, a long time Sprint and Mac customer, it was amazing news as for the first time the iPhone is now available on the network. The most shocking part about it, is that one of the biggest announcements for Sprint in 2011 but if you look at Sprint’s digital platforms, you’d never know it. Talk about a HUGE missed marketing opportunity.
As of about 36 hours after the media announcement, all that Sprint’s digital platforms had to offer were a couple of tweets from the @sprint account promising that information was coming soon.
@Sprint Twitter account only promising news 36 hours after the media event
Sprint news page without any iPhone information
Sprint homepage advertising a different phone 36 hours after the media announcement
As a Sprint customer for over 10 years (with a one year break while working outside the US) and a die-hard Mac “fanboy” since 1999, this was the announcement that I was waiting for. The second it was announced in the Apple media event, I was loading up Sprint.com…. nothing. Went back an hour later with “early upgrade” money burning a hole in my pocket… nothing. Checked today (over 24 hours later)… nothing. Now being that every computer and media device I own is made by Apple and I’m not ditching Sprint, chances are whenever they finally get around to releasing the info, I’ll eventually upgrade. But what about all the customers they’ll need to conquest to meet their contractual obligations with Apple? Chances are many of them already have iPhones and both Verizon and AT&T are already talking about the new phone and offering pre-orders. Sprint’s marketing team… big time #fail.
Verizon Wireless' Homepage
Product development, Public Relations, Corporate Communications, and Marketing need to collaborate
I have worked for and with several large companies throughout my career and one thing that I find most often is that communicating internally across these four critical tiers is one of the most dysfunctional processes these companies have. In the end though, all marketing (especially digital) will only be successful when these areas are synced up. Imagine if Sprint’s digital marketing team had product pages and upgrade information ready to roll out the second Apple announced the partnership? Well I’d have my iPhone 4S pre-ordered and I’m sure there are a lot of other customers that would have done the same. In the end, there should have at least been some kind of messaging placed up digitally say in the event there were web technical issues. Twitter, while unreliable, is still up and so is Facebook and PR Newswire.
Sprint, I truly hope you find a way to generate some real excitement as, from what I understand, you’ve “bet the farm” on this deal and I’d really hate to see a rollout fluke like this bring the demise of my favorite wireless company.
As many of you probably heard yesterday, Facebook and Skype have paired up and now you can not only chat with friends on Facebook, you can also have video calls with them!
Eager to test it out, I downloaded the software/plugin via Chrome on my Mac and my wife did the same. When we tested it out, no dice. We both received an error saying the other didn’t have a webcam setup. This, of course was wrong as we both have built-in iSight cameras in our Mac computers. After tinkering with it for a bit, I found a solution that worked for us. So if you’re having problems with your built-in Mac iSight camera and Facebook video calling, try this out:
Update software and OS
The first thing you’ll need to do is update all your Mac software. This includes running Software Update to make sure the OS is updated as well as the browser that you’re using (Safari will update with the Apple Software Update tool). Second, head over to get.adobe.com/flashplayer to make sure you’re running the latest Flash Player. Once you’re done updating, I suggest you reboot or at least restart the browser.
Setup Permission
The next thing to do is set up Flash and Facebook permission to access your built-in iSight camera for the video call. To do this, go back out to your news feed or profile and click on Video like you were going to share a video with your friends and then click on Record Video.
Next you’ll need to give Flash permission to use your built-in iSight camera. If the options box shown below doesn’t show up automatically, right-click or CTRL click on the video window and select Settings.
In the settings box, click on the second tab (Privacy), and select Allow, check Remember, and then click on Close.
At this point, your video might come alive. If not, try reloading Facebook or restarting your computer. Hopefully though, after setting the privacy settings, you should be good to go!
Enjoy chatting with friends and family with Facebook Video Calls!
Totally agree with Shel Holtz on a lot of his points. Don’t much see Google+ as a “Facebook Killer”… then again, it is still early. Biggest problem, I agree with is that there are over 750 million people using Facebook. I’m using Google+ because I work in the biz, but the idea of reestablishing social connections on another platform when I’ve already done it on Facebook (and manage connections with lists) is really tiresome and I don’t see casual users doing it…heck I don’t want to do it. Then again… it is stil early. So will it move beyond just a Internet Marketing/early adopter hang out? Time will tell.
PR and Communications Implications of Google+ (and Other Observations)