Closing Out Cows: Final Lessons From A Dead Network

Once upon a time there was an increasingly popular social media network that resembled Twitter. It had a memorable name. It had a lovable mascot. And its member base seemed to have a mission to make it a "Twitter killer."

Truth be told, very few network knock-offs, even with slightly enhanced services, ever have a chance of supplanting popularity. While it may change one day, numbers attract numbers. But even so, we had placed the network on a watch list because the application did have something that Twitter didn't. It had better multimedia functionality.

But then something happened. In September 2008, Utterz changed its name to Utterli. It traded in its mascot for something resembling a Sprite logo. And its members were surprised, and then disgusted, by the lack of communication about the change. It was a disaster and I had no problem calling it as such.

"As much as you might characterize it as a 'disaster,' our customer base has grown substantially since the change - and the growth rate is rising," said Michael Bayer, CEO of Utterli. "That's GREAT! I call that a success."

Bayer went on to say that I was fishing for attention. He said I insulted him. And he insisted that despite community feelings, it was his decision to make. Besides, he implied, my round-up of member feedback wasn't enough. I wasn't a member anyway.

After that, we tracked the steady visitation decline that followed in the six months after its claimed "successful" name change. We almost followed up on the post then too. But it didn't seem worthwhile to re-engage a defensive CEO. So I promptly forgot about it. So did everyone else.

In fact, I hadn't thought about Utterli again until reading Doug Haslam's post that Utterli was dead. In truth, it had died in September 2008. And, almost sadly, a short one-and-a-half years later, Utterli didn't even have time to say goodbye.

As for all those promises that Bayer made about enhancements that would carry the service forward? According to the ByteMonkey Chronicles (which is also credited with the image accompanying today's post), it was very much the opposite. ByteMonkey says even then there was an underlying feeling among the users that the company wasn't quite doing so well.

Lessons For Networks And Participants.

Networks. While seeing what could have been a successful service come and go is never pleasant, there are a few lessons that can be taken away. For network owners, it' simple. I've said it before. Unlike product companies, you are only as successful as your members. And without them, you're nothing.

So abrupt change is bad. Sure, Twitter and Facebook can get away with it nowadays because they've reached a critical mass of sorts with no clear alternatives that support the numbers. But in the case of a brand like Utterz, improper communication with the community is a killer. Never mind what Bayer said in response to my critique on his company's rebranding roll out, the truth was that they didn't do any of it (and if they did, then they did it all wrong).

Add to that knowledge that anything done for investment capital or with the hope of being sold is generally a bad idea until you have the cash in hand. And even then, the guidelines for operating a successful venture after a sale or infusion of cash doesn't replace the community commitment. There are scores of social networks that have failed. And, there are more that will eventually fail or fade away too.

Participants. If you continue to rely on network tactics alone, one day you may find yourself with nothing. As reported by ByteMonkey and Haslam, Utterli isn't just dead. All of the member content and contributions are dead too.

So too is any need for Utterz tips and Utterz tactics that are useless because that community is no more.

In other words, don't fall in love with any network unless you can back up your content. Case study closed.

Blending Content: The Next Step In Journalism

There is one simple reason you don't hear much talk about broadcast-Internet convergence anymore. While public adoption is moving forward at a steady pace, current technology and infrastructure suggest it already happened. Did you miss it?

Sure, there are a few kinks to be worked out, most notably a seamless transition between the content we already access on the computer and the television set (or smart phone) where we view it. But technically, that barrier doesn't exist either. The population as a whole just doesn't know how to make it work yet.

Blended Content In Beta.

If you have a hard time envisioning what the future will look like, there is a real life case study in the making. While it is still crude in its presentation, the future will largely consist of blended content — Web desintations with a combination of articles, blogs, photo galleries, and programming — managed by partnerships between media companies like NBC Digital Networks and major corporations like Procter & Gamble with the content provided by a mix of broadcasters, journalists, authors, experts, and social media personalities.

Can't envision it? Visit Life Goes Strong. While the name rings as weak as any picked-by-committee offering might, Life Goes Strong provides a phase one preview into targeted content. In this case, according to Procter & Gamble, baby boomers between the ages of 45 and 65 years of age. The content is organized in traditional vertical channels — family (www.familygoesstrong.com), style (www.stylegoesstrong.com) and technology (www.techgoesstrong.com) — with contributors ranging from a contributing editor at Newsweek to a former professional fashion buyer.

As mentioned, the initial foundation for the launch is rather crude. It looks very Web 2.0 with a remarkably weak organizational structure that makes fluff seem as interesting as real news content. Much of the content is short. Some of the content is as short as three graphs, leaving readers with the task of answering their own questions. (You can tell someone was convinced that short content was the way to go.) The photos are miserable. And while the release promised video content, it's difficult to find today.

All in all, it's about two steps behind from what I proposed to interested parties three years ago. It didn't move forward for lack of funding. Yet, despite the problems with Life Goes Strong (including a low opinion of its target audience), it represents a very crude glimpse of the future. And it's more likely to supplant what we think of journalism today than my friend Ike Pigott's vision of an embedded journalist.

Moving Beyond Beta.

So what would make Life Goes Strong work beyond a better name and pandering to people who recognize Robert Scoble on the watered-down tech section? Here are five critical areas that need improvement...

• Life Goes Strong has no sense of community. Its old fashioned, soft news nugget presentation is as expected from mass media. You only need to look as far as Facebook to see that people like content.

• The short article format is better suited for a mobile introduction. In general, people want their questions answered in articles over sound bites. The summaries they present as articles are best left as content introductions and not content.

• The concept of blended content requires live video streams (like traditional programming), automatically archived for later video viewing (library), and articles that can be optionally accessed for more in-depth analysis and/or factual background.

• It's obvious too much is borrowed from their original joint venture at Petside.com. While Petside.com reaches 1.5 million people per month, it also relies on the passion people have for their pets. Long tail broad content models can be built on a niche model and expect to capture the same interest.

• Like many sites, the article-blog mushup leaves little to be desired. The future of blended content will require some obvious devisions, letting readers know which content is objective news gathering and which is opinion puff. Currently, this has become one of the number one problems at industry trade pubs like Adweek and AdAge. Sometimes you click on a link and get a well-written article. Sometimes you get five graphs from someone who thinks they know something.

But again, despite where it falls short, Life Goes Strong represents something. As it moves beyond beta, it means content convergence (video, photos, articles, blogs, etc. working together) and format convergence (assuming the content works with smart phones and iPads).

More importantly, it's something for communicators to watch. Even if it doesn't get off the ground with the financial backing of several deep-pocket companies, you can expect more Web desintations like this one. Only better. And that will likely mean that all those tactics you've been developing in the last few years to bypass media will be gone, right out the window.

Increasing Confidence: Three Surveys See Optimism

After months of economic uncertainty, most people have had enough. And while there is much more that needs to be done to grow out of the recession, the majority of companies are optimistic about sales in the near future. This is especially promising for advertising agencies and public relations firms with experience marketing to affluent and/or young consumers.

American CEOs Express Rising Optimism For Business.

According to the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), more than two-thirds of U.S. respondents expect sales increases by more than 10 percent over the next 12 months. Not surprisingly, small companies are among the most optimistic. Construction remains the least optimistic in the United States.

"The YPO survey shows a continuing trend of improving results and rising CEO confidence in the United States and globally," said Dave Maney, co-founder and chairman of Headwaters MB and former YPO international board member. "CEOs are more bullish about the prospect for higher sales."

Financial Advisors And Retirement Planners See Improvement.

USA Tax & Insurance Services conducted a survey with its affiliates and found 52 percent of financial advisors and retirement planners are cautiously optimistic about the business climate outlook over the next 12-18 months. Thirty-three percent are highly optimistic.

Part of the optimism is related to increasing client activity in the financial services industry. Joseph R. Karsner IV, president of USA Tax, attributes the increased client activity to consumers who are seeking out financial services in this confusing economic climate. People want to move forward, but are unsure how.

Workers' Confidence Increases In Personal Employment.

The SFN Group Employee Confidence Index, which measures measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, increased in April. According to Roy Krause, president and CEO of SFN Group, Inc., the confidence index has reached its highest level since November 2007. Highlights include:

• 31 percent of U.S. workers believe the economy is getting stronger, up 7 percentage points from March.
• 60 percent of workers surveyed believe there are fewer jobs available, down 3 points from March.
• 68 percent of workers report increased confidence in the future of their current employers.
• 72 percent said that they are unlikely to lose their jobs in the next year, decreasing one point.

What These Collective Surveys Mean For Marketers And Everybody.

Almost every survey suggests sales are slowly increasing as companies have found a new core of confident consumers, which predominately consist of younger workers (ages 18-34) and those who already earn more than $75,000 (generally affluent consumers and/or management). Middle and low income and older workers are slightly more optimistic than they were, but considerably less optimistic than younger employees and top wage earners.

Trends in optimism will likely increase over the long term, provided the optimistic core (young and/or affluent) are not derailed by over regulation or increased taxes. As a result, marketers working for companies that target either of those consumer groups will continue to see gains, helping spur the economy to inch forward. Companies that rely on lower to middle income consumers or older consumers will grow at a much slower pace if they can demonstrate a competitive value proposition.

The real hold up on the economy is jobs. While most companies predict increased sales, relatively few are planning to increase employees until the full impact of health care, new employment costs, and increasing federal debt are clearly understood. In essence, the uptick is the economy seems to have more to do with companies settling into a smaller consumer base.

If there is good news for people in communication-related agencies and firms from this data, it seems likely that growth companies will eventually rely on outsourcing until they determine the feasibility of adding more employees. Expect companies with long-term vision to be among the strongest competitors. Many of those companies grew last year, disregarding recessionary pressures.

Being Right: Fresh Content

When we started the Fresh Content experiment several months ago, we established more than a dozen criteria for picking what the daily fresh content picks might look like. One of the criteria was simple enough. The authors had to be right.

I don't mean right as in "everybody agrees." I mean right in that their take on the subject transcends popularity and strikes at the truth. You see, topic popularity has very little to do with reality. For example, if you surveyed the masses to determine the shape of the planet several hundred years ago, the most common consensus would be that the Earth is flat. Um, it's not flat.

Best Fresh Content In Review, Week of April 26

• 4 Reasons PR Agencies Are Failing in Social Media.
Ever wonder why some public relations firms aren't finding peak performance with social media? Valeria Maltoni provides the four most common challenges facing public relations firms, including: too much reliance on the pitch, learning the client's business, measurement models, and ever-present reliance on media. As a fifth reason, Maltoni suggests that another problem is that many public relations firms believe social media always needs to be handled in house, by the client. She's right.

• Warning: Your Internet Marketing System Will Fail.
Ian Lurie suggests that most Internet marketing systems are developed using an invent-and-impose route rather than an observe-and-clarify route. What he means is that most professionals are launching a network presence, collect followers, and then yell at them until they submit. He's right and it does work. He suggests a different approach, attributed to Albert Einstein. Rather than impose an idea, he suggests understanding what exists and then clarifying a position. He's right.

• A Better Brain in Four Days.
Unless you missed several decades of marketing research, it's apparent that psychology and sociology play a leading role in communication study. But psychology and sociology aren't tools to simply be transposed upon audiences. Professional communicators can use them too. One recent standout example, backed by a study, comes from Roger Dooley. Remarkable new research shows that just four days of meditating for 20 minutes per day produced significant benefits as measured by a battery of tests of cognition. He's right.

• The Social Media News Release Isn’t Dead – The Audience Is.
Ike Pigott fails at staying out of the press release must die meme for the benefit of everyone. The debate is wrong, he says. The format of the communication is not as critical as the audience who is reading that communication and, probably, the quality of the information contained in that format. Given that we frequently find the best written releases — those that rely on news over pitch marketing nonsense — still have traction, we can't argue. He's right.

• More Proof The Echo Chamber And Reality Aren’t Related.
There have been many days that we've sat back and wondered if Jason Falls had fallen so deep into the echo chamber, we'd never get him back. And then within a single week, he surprised us not once but twice with posts that point to the most obvious conclusion: most social media experts believe things that are wrong. Edison Research, Arbitron, and Citibank are right. Social media is not the end all to communication. Far from it. It's only another beginning. Falls escapes the echo chamber and comes up right.

Rolling In Muck: Nevada Politics As Usual

In Nevada, mud slinging has fallen out of fashion. Nowadays, everyone would rather roll in the muck.

In one of the more ridiculous campaign moves in recent history, Gov. Jim Gibbons sent out a press release that attacked primary candidate Brian Sandoval for a comment he made eight years ago. Sure, the answer to the question asked was absurd. And it showed Sandoval's complete and utter ignorance about the Constitution. But to burp it out in a release in an attempt to make it a platform plank can only be described as novice or perhaps desperate.

A Brief Backgrounder On The Comment.

With Nevada still moving in the wrong direction of economic recovery (Las Vegas unemployment is over 13 percent), one might think the priority would be jobs. You'd be wrong. This week's issue is about an exchange between the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board and Sandoval, who was running as attorney general at the time.

According to the Las Vegas Sun's retelling of a Las Vegas Review-Journal story, it went like this ... Sandoval explained the AG is obligated to enforce any enactment of the Legislature, no matter how unconstitutional, columnist Vin Suprynowicz demanded: you’re saying that if the Legislature passed a law requiring all Jews to wear yellow Stars of David sewn on the outside of their clothing, you’d enforce it?

‘It’s my job to enforce it,’ said Sandoval.

This was the focus of the Gibbons release. You can read it in entirety here. Ironically but not surprisingly, the release misses two valid issues — it would be a vile breach of the Constitution and ignores basic fundamentals such as the balance of power between legislative, executive, and judicial branches — and attempts to build a case for anti-Semitism.

Reactions from Around The Race.

Sandoval kept his response short. "Jim Gibbons' statement today is so repugnant it is beneath the dignity of the office of Governor," opened his three sentence statement.

The other candidate vying for votes in the Republican primary, Mike Montandon, had even more fire. He called on Gov. Gibbons to apologize to Sandoval and the citizens of Nevada.

The outrage has been as irrelevant as the initial blunder. Political columnist Jon Ralston offered the better response for the two candidates. "How about a lack of respect for anyone with a triple-digit IQ, no matter his or her religion, with the use of a repulsive analogy that was neither on point nor relevant?" And Steve Selebius offered the better round up, overall.

At the same time, it seems nobody can leave it alone. The release and the comment has generated more media and blog headlines than any other story about the original comment and any other issue discussed in the entire race.

Some claim anyone who compares someone to anything close to a Nazi has lost the argument. If only that were true. Nazi is the word of the day in Arizona too. Dozens of people opposed to the recent law in Arizona, including Nevada Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid, are comparing it to a Nazi policy. Interestingly enough, the media doesn't slap that analogy away. Nowadays, it takes a sports writer to offer up some semblance of reasoning against the rash of boycott.

The Psychology Of Modern Politics.

All of this demonstrates an increased reliance on angry voters, with politicians and special interests throwing up diatribe bait on a regular basis to see what sticks. Generally, the media loves it too (despite selective denunciations) because diatribe means ratings. The more colorful the controversy, the more it is covered.

So what could have the politicians done instead?

• Gov. Gibbons had a legitimate complaint in that Sandoval once said he would surrender the Constitution in favor of a populous vote. The initial comment had nothing to do with anti-Semitism as much as it had to do with being ignorant about our country. Had Gibbons merely probed to see if Sandoval had reversed his opinion, the release might have worked.

• Sandoval could have used this opportunity to put the comment to rest. His response could have been a mix of Ralston's suggestion and an emphasis on the idea that he would not support an unconstitutional law as governor. He should just say he misspoke in 2002. The fact that he did not ought to trouble voters.

• Mike Montandon should have just stayed out of it, despite still coming up third in the polls. If there was an opportunity here, it would have been to change the subject. No such luck. He jumped right into the muck.

• Rory Reid was smart to stay out of it, especially given he jumped on the Gestapo comparison bandwagon too when talking about the Arizona law. Different puddle, same muck.

When you add it all up, all four candidates help clarify there is a continuing slide in state politics. Instead of mud slinging, it's all about muck rolling. It's simple to do, nowadays. Make a puddle of muck, invite the media, and every candidate will dive right in. They can't help themselves.

Saving Wildlife: Dawn Responds To Oil Spill Crisis

Although Procter & Gamble (P&G) has a Web site dedicated to the cause, it doesn't employ much push public relations to draw attention to its role in saving wildlife. Other people do it for them.

Brenda Swindle, a stylist at Hair Impressions salon in Alabama, is one of them. Bobbie Lowe, a patron at Harvey's Supermarkets in Georgia, is another. It was top of mind for rescuers from Delaware too.

Dawn Dish Soap Saves Wildlife.

The sudden surge of attention didn't start with a press release. It started with casual mentions by people who know. For 30 years, wildlife rescuers have used Dawn dishwashing liquid to gently remove oil and help save wildlife affected by oil spills.

It wasn't until the media began to draw upon Dawn dish soap as an example of how people can help that P&G responded. Since, it has communicated its increasing role as part of the solution in an oil spill that could eclipse the Exxon Valdez disaster. Since, the company has released news that it is stepping up production, clarified its efforts to raise money for conservation projects targeted at cleaning wildlife hurt by oil spills since last July, and how the company donates Dawn dish soap to the Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC), Marine Mammal Center, and other rehabilitation organizations.

In addition to its own fundraising efforts, P&G is asking fans of its program to make direct donations to the IBRRC and Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research center. They also direct would-be volunteers to contact the Unified Command Volunteer Request line at 1-866-448-5816 via its dedicated Dawn Save Wildlife Facebook page.

The description introducing the page says it all. "An Everyday Wildlife Champion views saving wildlife as an everyday thing."

You can find additional information about the company's efforts on its Dawn Save Wildlife Web site. Currently, the company has raised $385,091 of its $500,000 goal. The site also supports an interactive map, which identifies which states have contributed the most.

The $500,000 goal is in addition to all other fundraising efforts and direct support. The company has said it is just as happy (if not more than happy) for people to make direct donations.

What Public Relations Professionals Can Learn.

It is a good lesson for public relations practitioners. Sometimes the best public relations efforts are not what you can draw attention to or capitalize on, but rather a long-term investment of doing good and then being caught doing it.

In this case, Procter & Gamble demonstrates a perfect balance between being responsive to the attention without attention seeking as many companies did during the Haitian earthquake. The results speak for themselves. The effort is closely aligned to a product benefit and the company demonstrates what it means to be a good corporate citizen for others to emulate.