Friday 22 June 2012

New Mexico CEU Conference on Gambling and Spirituality



New Mexico has many casinos. It seems like every Pueblo has one. And, the services provided to the people of the Pueblo seem to make it all worth it. But what about those who flock to the casinos and who are addicted to gambling. Well, there is now a conference to help social workers and counselors deal with this addiction.

The conference takes place at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel on August

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Why governments should not bet against Social Media?


Recently in my twitter bio (@socialmedimouth) I underlined something clearly about engagement. Social media is not should not be used to broadcast data, it is mainly to encourage participation, feedback or recommendations for instance. Social Media has to be a conversation, if you start a monologue you don't give any chance to your audience to converse with you. If you are still broadcasting info make sure that your monologue becomes an engaging dialogue.
In the Social world of Media, governments are encouraging participation and allowing their citizens or residents to connect with them. Below I'm going to answer some questions I was asked to tackle:

Why governments should be using social media?

- Promote transparency
- Encourage openness
- Inform people and form communities around common interests
- Encourage participation
- Strive to "humanize" the government by building an emotional connection with the "streetosphere"
- Keep a pulse on citizens and residents' needs

Why governments should use more than one social media channel?

It is critical to understand which target group uses which platform but it's also difficult. Indeed, if you use the 2 main attractions of social media city, namely Facebook and Twitter, you will end up missing the voice of part of your audience. By interacting on several social media outlets you allow information to move like a virus, through networks, walls, tweeps. The principle is simple, the more platforms you are on, the more visibility you get and that is what we call connectedness; governments connect to people, content and machines (that can relay the content to more people).

What governments should do with the data and how can they spur their audience to keep interacting with them?

 Let's start with a basic postulate, governments face political, security and infrastructure challenges, right? So data could be used for crisis management and fix issues (potholes, broken street lights...) using technology (apps) to develop better service delivery. The city of New York is a case in point and they succeeded by maximizing awareness of their mission to the public. The role of the government is to serve and protect the community so if you look closely it is the ultimate customer service department. It has to be a back and forth communication between the government and citizens to ensure consistent engagement and enable collaboration. Across the globe governments have different ways to operate so it is paramount to balance security and open communication carefully.

To answer the question, governments could:

- reward citizens for solving government issues, for instance ideas leading to  a reduction in waste, energy consumption, better community interactions.
- create better decisions by capturing the knowledge of the crowd, namely take advantage of the world's largest focus group.
- Increase capacity of the society to understand complex problems.
- Listen to the voice of their audience to detect early warnings and provide a real-time response.
 Social media has changed the way people socialize, communicate and even work. Governments have to adapt and use social media avenues to take citizens' feedback and ideas and putting them into action plans.

Policies & Guidelines:
 It is difficult to frame things when engaging in social media but like in every game we have to set the rules at the outset.

When using social media it is important to have the right mindset and understand that it is an iterative experimentation. We keep learning and after several successful forays into social media it will appear natural to the government that it is a credible channel and the fears will fade away.

Posting information on  weather or road work announcements will not engage your audience. Several government bodies are making remarkable strides in developing approaches and systems that work for them in their engagement efforts.

Social media is a tremendous vehicle so make sure you book your seat... 

Why governments should not bet against Social Media?


Recently in my twitter bio (@socialmedimouth) I underlined something clearly about engagement. Social media is not should not be used to broadcast data, it is mainly to encourage participation, feedback or recommendations for instance. Social Media has to be a conversation, if you start a monologue you don't give any chance to your audience to converse with you. If you are still broadcasting info make sure that your monologue becomes an engaging dialogue.
In the Social world of Media, governments are encouraging participation and allowing their citizens or residents to connect with them. Below I'm going to answer some questions I was asked to tackle:

Why governments should be using social media?

- Promote transparency
- Encourage openness
- Inform people and form communities around common interests
- Encourage participation
- Strive to "humanize" the government by building an emotional connection with the "streetosphere"
- Keep a pulse on citizens and residents' needs

Why governments should use more than one social media channel?

It is critical to understand which target group uses which platform but it's also difficult. Indeed, if you use the 2 main attractions of social media city, namely Facebook and Twitter, you will end up missing the voice of part of your audience. By interacting on several social media outlets you allow information to move like a virus, through networks, walls, tweeps. The principle is simple, the more platforms you are on, the more visibility you get and that is what we call connectedness; governments connect to people, content and machines (that can relay the content to more people).

What governments should do with the data and how can they spur their audience to keep interacting with them?

 Let's start with a basic postulate, governments face political, security and infrastructure challenges, right? So data could be used for crisis management and fix issues (potholes, broken street lights...) using technology (apps) to develop better service delivery. The city of New York is a case in point and they succeeded by maximizing awareness of their mission to the public. The role of the government is to serve and protect the community so if you look closely it is the ultimate customer service department. It has to be a back and forth communication between the government and citizens to ensure consistent engagement and enable collaboration. Across the globe governments have different ways to operate so it is paramount to balance security and open communication carefully.

To answer the question, governments could:

- reward citizens for solving government issues, for instance ideas leading to  a reduction in waste, energy consumption, better community interactions.
- create better decisions by capturing the knowledge of the crowd, namely take advantage of the world's largest focus group.
- Increase capacity of the society to understand complex problems.
- Listen to the voice of their audience to detect early warnings and provide a real-time response.
 Social media has changed the way people socialize, communicate and even work. Governments have to adapt and use social media avenues to take citizens' feedback and ideas and putting them into action plans.

Policies & Guidelines:
 It is difficult to frame things when engaging in social media but like in every game we have to set the rules at the outset.

When using social media it is important to have the right mindset and understand that it is an iterative experimentation. We keep learning and after several successful forays into social media it will appear natural to the government that it is a credible channel and the fears will fade away.

Posting information on  weather or road work announcements will not engage your audience. Several government bodies are making remarkable strides in developing approaches and systems that work for them in their engagement efforts.

Social media is a tremendous vehicle so make sure you book your seat... 

Saturday 2 June 2012

Generation C: The Connected Customer, Always clicking

Marketers, educators, parents, it seems that almost anyone in the Generation X or Boomer demographic is scratching their heads trying to figure out Generation Y aka the Millennial. After all, it’s the first generation to seemingly possess digital prowess as part of their DNA. And, it’s the first generation to receive both a birth certificate and a social profile or presence upon delivery into this world.

With every day that passes, Gen Y becomes far more important to the economy than we can realize. Yet the gap between how Gen Y communicates and connects and how businesses, educators, governments, et al. approach them is only widening. I often wonder whether or not we are simply trying to talk to ourselves in our approach when in reality, we are talking to strangers. This is important as without understanding what’s important to them and why, without learning their behavior or decision making cycles, or without empathy, we cannot reverse engineer nor create a meaningful and engaging journey. We cannot create bridges from where they are to us nor can we expect them to use them.
How well do you know Gen Y?
Here are some interesting points for discovery that get us thinking beyond what we think we know today:
59% update their social status in class.
29% find love through Facebook while 33% are dumped via TXT or Wall posts (SRS) – abbreviation for seriously
Millennials watch TV with two or more electronic devices
Only 11% define having a lot of money as a definition of success
Gen-Y will form 75% of the workforce by 2025 and are actively shaping corporate culture and expectations.
Only 7% of Gen-Y works for a Fortune 500 company as startups dominate the workforce for this demographic. Gen-Y expects larger organizations to hear their voice and recognize their contributions…increasing the need for an intrapreneurial culture.
Millennials trust strangers over friends and family. They lean on UGC for purchases.
They are 3x as likely to follow a brand over a family member in social networks
66% will look up a store if they see a friend check-in
73% have earned and used virtual currency
Gen-Y believes that other consumers care more about their opinions than companies do – that’s why they share their opinions online.
Gen-Y’ers are more connected on Facebook than average users managing a social graph of 696 Facebook friends versus 140.
If knowledge is the key to enlightenment, then perception and imagination are windows to engagement and relevance. We can learn all we want about Millennials, but if we can’t translate that into meaning or substance, we will continue to miss opportunities to build lasting relationships.

The gap isn’t just widening because of the growing pervasiveness of Millennials in our economy. As I introduced in The End of Business as Usual, anyone who places increasing emphasis on technology as part of their daily routine, in many ways, their behavior mimics that of Millennials and as a result, they prove elusive or immune to traditional marketing and service. In the book, I refer to this class of consumer as “the Connected Customer” and their behavior is noticeably dissimilar to that of their traditional counterparts. The connected customer is the stranger you must get to know as in comparison to the customers of the past, this group is only growing and it’s traversing demographics. As such, the connected customer becomes what we can or should now refer to as Generation C where the “C” represents connectedness.

Introducing Gen-C

No longer can we blame it on the youth. We must blame, if anything, the disruption of technology. Nowadays, age ain’t nothing but a number. It is how people embrace technology, from social networks to smartphones to intelligent appliances, that contributes to the digital lifestyle that is now synonymous with Gen-C.

A recent study published by Nielsen brings Generation C into light. In just one image, we can begin to comprehend the disruption of digital revolution on society. Call it the social economy. Call it the mobile or the app economy. Call it the connected economy. Whatever we call it, this incredible transformation that we’re witnessing, is indeed nothing short of a digital revolution.
The Last 10 Years
274 million American have Internet Access, which is more than double that of 2000.
81 billion minutes spent on social networks and blogs
64% of all mobile phone time is spent on apps.
42% of tablet owners use them daily while watching TV.
For the first time, the numbers of laptops have surpassed desktops within TV homes.
Women Rule Gen-C
In 2009, I discovered that in social media, women rule. As you can see in Nielsen’s report, women too rule Gen-C.  Specifically, they rule social media and online video and TV viewership. With smartphones, men and women are tied in adoption. With tablets however, men rule.
Gen-C, By the Numbers
If you compare Nielsen’s graphic with that of IBM’s research on Social CRM, you can appreciate the full dimension of Gen-C as every demographic, in their own way, is adopting disruptive technology. And, it’s only becoming greater.
Platforms for Digital Access
Every digital experience has its springboard. Whether it’s a PC, tablet, smartphone, and soon, a connected TV, our ability to every platform unifies the 5-C’s of engagement, create, connect, consume, communicate, and contribute.
274.2 million Americans have Internet access
169.6 million visit social networks and blogs
165.9 million people watch video on a PC
70% of time using tablets is spent while at home versus 30% on the go
Content accessed on tablets is 1) News at 39%, 2) Sports at 34%, and Books at 31%
On smartphones, 117.6 million visit the Internet
App usage peaks at 5 p.m. among adults
Smartphones are used by 44% of all mobile subscribers in the U.S.
Video Continues to Kill the Radio Star: Engagement is Cross Platform
Nielsen found that consumers increased their online video consumption by 7% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011. As you can see in theimage below, online and mobile video consumption is significant.
Younger demographics watch less TV and watch video more online and on mobile devices.
With each generation, TV viewership rises with age.
Connected Customers are Multitaskers
Nielsen also shared the engagement habits and online activity of connected customers. As consumers watch a program, they are online with 1) 57% checking email, 2) 44% surfing the web, and 3) another 44% social networking.
When asked what they were doing while online during TV, some very interesting answers emerged. 29% looked up programming information related to the show. 19% looked up product information related to an ad. And, 16% looked up coupons or deals related to the ad.
The Top 5 Sites Visited While Watching TV
1. Facebook
2. Youtube
3. Zynga
4. Google
How Gen-C Spends their Connected Time
On PC’s and mobile devices, Gen-C is always on. Nielsen found that during October 2011, Youtube was the top destination for all online video content, accounting for nearly half (45%) of American’s total streaming time.
Social networking represents 21.3% of all time spent online using PCs.
Online gaming accounts for 7.7%
Email, in many ways still the largest social network in the world, represents 6.5%
55.8% of mobile phone time is spent in miscellaneous apps, with Angry Birds most likely accounting for a notable share of that time (just kidding).
Text messaging continues to test the limits of thumb dexterity and the ability to find new ways to abbreviate our vocabulary at 13.4%
Browser usage represents 11.1%
Social networking equals 5.5%
Interesting that email and IM are among the bottom of all mobile functions at 5.3%.
From e-commerce to Mobile Commerce
As Nielsen and so many other research reports herald, mobile commerce is influencing transactions and decisions. Mobile is just one of the many channels for emerging commerce including social, F-commerce, and more importantly, syndicated commerce. 29% of of mobile consumers use their phone for shopping-related activities and more than 50% visit daily deal sites daily.
Mobile shopping activities include:
38% compare prices online while in shopping in a store.
38% browse products through websites or apps.
32% read online reviews of products.
24% search for or use online coupons.
22% have purchased a product.
22% scan barcodes for product or price information.
18% use location-based services to find retail locations.
My favorite state isn’t related to what people are doing, but what they would do if businesses innovated in their approach to commerce.
27% of male and 22% of female consumers would use their mobile phone to make payments in restaurants and shops if they could.
This is an EmerGen-C
Connected customers or Gen-C is only becoming more pervasive in society and ultimately your economy. If you look back at the Gen-Y behavior list and replace the words “Millennial” or “Gen-Y” with “Connected Customer” or “Gen-C,” the similarities are uncanny. Now’s the time to recognize how your customer landscape is shifting and to what extent traditional and connected consumers discover and make decisions differently. The customer journey is far more complex than ever before, where new touchpoints not only emerge, they introduce a new customer journey.
With connected customers, decision making is no longer signified by a simple funnel, nor can business models support decision making before, during, and post transaction across these distributed, but connected platforms. This is a time for augmented engagement strategies to cater to different types of customers differently not only based on behavior, but also based on their expectations, needs, and also the platform they use to connect, communicate, and make decisions.
Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today…

Generation C: The Connected Customer, Always clicking

Marketers, educators, parents, it seems that almost anyone in the Generation X or Boomer demographic is scratching their heads trying to figure out Generation Y aka the Millennial. After all, it’s the first generation to seemingly possess digital prowess as part of their DNA. And, it’s the first generation to receive both a birth certificate and a social profile or presence upon delivery into this world.

With every day that passes, Gen Y becomes far more important to the economy than we can realize. Yet the gap between how Gen Y communicates and connects and how businesses, educators, governments, et al. approach them is only widening. I often wonder whether or not we are simply trying to talk to ourselves in our approach when in reality, we are talking to strangers. This is important as without understanding what’s important to them and why, without learning their behavior or decision making cycles, or without empathy, we cannot reverse engineer nor create a meaningful and engaging journey. We cannot create bridges from where they are to us nor can we expect them to use them.
How well do you know Gen Y?
Here are some interesting points for discovery that get us thinking beyond what we think we know today:
59% update their social status in class.
29% find love through Facebook while 33% are dumped via TXT or Wall posts (SRS) – abbreviation for seriously
Millennials watch TV with two or more electronic devices
Only 11% define having a lot of money as a definition of success
Gen-Y will form 75% of the workforce by 2025 and are actively shaping corporate culture and expectations.
Only 7% of Gen-Y works for a Fortune 500 company as startups dominate the workforce for this demographic. Gen-Y expects larger organizations to hear their voice and recognize their contributions…increasing the need for an intrapreneurial culture.
Millennials trust strangers over friends and family. They lean on UGC for purchases.
They are 3x as likely to follow a brand over a family member in social networks
66% will look up a store if they see a friend check-in
73% have earned and used virtual currency
Gen-Y believes that other consumers care more about their opinions than companies do – that’s why they share their opinions online.
Gen-Y’ers are more connected on Facebook than average users managing a social graph of 696 Facebook friends versus 140.
If knowledge is the key to enlightenment, then perception and imagination are windows to engagement and relevance. We can learn all we want about Millennials, but if we can’t translate that into meaning or substance, we will continue to miss opportunities to build lasting relationships.

The gap isn’t just widening because of the growing pervasiveness of Millennials in our economy. As I introduced in The End of Business as Usual, anyone who places increasing emphasis on technology as part of their daily routine, in many ways, their behavior mimics that of Millennials and as a result, they prove elusive or immune to traditional marketing and service. In the book, I refer to this class of consumer as “the Connected Customer” and their behavior is noticeably dissimilar to that of their traditional counterparts. The connected customer is the stranger you must get to know as in comparison to the customers of the past, this group is only growing and it’s traversing demographics. As such, the connected customer becomes what we can or should now refer to as Generation C where the “C” represents connectedness.

Introducing Gen-C

No longer can we blame it on the youth. We must blame, if anything, the disruption of technology. Nowadays, age ain’t nothing but a number. It is how people embrace technology, from social networks to smartphones to intelligent appliances, that contributes to the digital lifestyle that is now synonymous with Gen-C.

A recent study published by Nielsen brings Generation C into light. In just one image, we can begin to comprehend the disruption of digital revolution on society. Call it the social economy. Call it the mobile or the app economy. Call it the connected economy. Whatever we call it, this incredible transformation that we’re witnessing, is indeed nothing short of a digital revolution.
The Last 10 Years
274 million American have Internet Access, which is more than double that of 2000.
81 billion minutes spent on social networks and blogs
64% of all mobile phone time is spent on apps.
42% of tablet owners use them daily while watching TV.
For the first time, the numbers of laptops have surpassed desktops within TV homes.
Women Rule Gen-C
In 2009, I discovered that in social media, women rule. As you can see in Nielsen’s report, women too rule Gen-C.  Specifically, they rule social media and online video and TV viewership. With smartphones, men and women are tied in adoption. With tablets however, men rule.
Gen-C, By the Numbers
If you compare Nielsen’s graphic with that of IBM’s research on Social CRM, you can appreciate the full dimension of Gen-C as every demographic, in their own way, is adopting disruptive technology. And, it’s only becoming greater.
Platforms for Digital Access
Every digital experience has its springboard. Whether it’s a PC, tablet, smartphone, and soon, a connected TV, our ability to every platform unifies the 5-C’s of engagement, create, connect, consume, communicate, and contribute.
274.2 million Americans have Internet access
169.6 million visit social networks and blogs
165.9 million people watch video on a PC
70% of time using tablets is spent while at home versus 30% on the go
Content accessed on tablets is 1) News at 39%, 2) Sports at 34%, and Books at 31%
On smartphones, 117.6 million visit the Internet
App usage peaks at 5 p.m. among adults
Smartphones are used by 44% of all mobile subscribers in the U.S.
Video Continues to Kill the Radio Star: Engagement is Cross Platform
Nielsen found that consumers increased their online video consumption by 7% from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011. As you can see in theimage below, online and mobile video consumption is significant.
Younger demographics watch less TV and watch video more online and on mobile devices.
With each generation, TV viewership rises with age.
Connected Customers are Multitaskers
Nielsen also shared the engagement habits and online activity of connected customers. As consumers watch a program, they are online with 1) 57% checking email, 2) 44% surfing the web, and 3) another 44% social networking.
When asked what they were doing while online during TV, some very interesting answers emerged. 29% looked up programming information related to the show. 19% looked up product information related to an ad. And, 16% looked up coupons or deals related to the ad.
The Top 5 Sites Visited While Watching TV
1. Facebook
2. Youtube
3. Zynga
4. Google
How Gen-C Spends their Connected Time
On PC’s and mobile devices, Gen-C is always on. Nielsen found that during October 2011, Youtube was the top destination for all online video content, accounting for nearly half (45%) of American’s total streaming time.
Social networking represents 21.3% of all time spent online using PCs.
Online gaming accounts for 7.7%
Email, in many ways still the largest social network in the world, represents 6.5%
55.8% of mobile phone time is spent in miscellaneous apps, with Angry Birds most likely accounting for a notable share of that time (just kidding).
Text messaging continues to test the limits of thumb dexterity and the ability to find new ways to abbreviate our vocabulary at 13.4%
Browser usage represents 11.1%
Social networking equals 5.5%
Interesting that email and IM are among the bottom of all mobile functions at 5.3%.
From e-commerce to Mobile Commerce
As Nielsen and so many other research reports herald, mobile commerce is influencing transactions and decisions. Mobile is just one of the many channels for emerging commerce including social, F-commerce, and more importantly, syndicated commerce. 29% of of mobile consumers use their phone for shopping-related activities and more than 50% visit daily deal sites daily.
Mobile shopping activities include:
38% compare prices online while in shopping in a store.
38% browse products through websites or apps.
32% read online reviews of products.
24% search for or use online coupons.
22% have purchased a product.
22% scan barcodes for product or price information.
18% use location-based services to find retail locations.
My favorite state isn’t related to what people are doing, but what they would do if businesses innovated in their approach to commerce.
27% of male and 22% of female consumers would use their mobile phone to make payments in restaurants and shops if they could.
This is an EmerGen-C
Connected customers or Gen-C is only becoming more pervasive in society and ultimately your economy. If you look back at the Gen-Y behavior list and replace the words “Millennial” or “Gen-Y” with “Connected Customer” or “Gen-C,” the similarities are uncanny. Now’s the time to recognize how your customer landscape is shifting and to what extent traditional and connected consumers discover and make decisions differently. The customer journey is far more complex than ever before, where new touchpoints not only emerge, they introduce a new customer journey.
With connected customers, decision making is no longer signified by a simple funnel, nor can business models support decision making before, during, and post transaction across these distributed, but connected platforms. This is a time for augmented engagement strategies to cater to different types of customers differently not only based on behavior, but also based on their expectations, needs, and also the platform they use to connect, communicate, and make decisions.
Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today…