I agree with you completely, Mary. Any company that thinks it's enough to be "un-boring" is likely to make some fatal errors. As we saw with GroupOn and Kenneth Cole's hideous and insensitive Tweeting, going out of one's way to stand out as not boring can very easily end up coming across as offensive. Companies also run the risk of running content that is totally irrelevant, something that leaves people scratching their heads. That doesn't work either. When it comes to the Web, everything is so fast-paced and instantaneous. That's not how one's thought process should be before hitting "post" though. Some real thought needs to go into what companies put out there. Hasty messages can end up in disaster.
Too true, Ariella. Sometimes going viral is really a matter that is out of the control of the advertiser. In other words, it's not guaranteed to happen and may depend on elements that are whimsical and elusive.
I have a client who tells me every once in a while that he wants a particular promotion for his compnay to "go viral" as if it's enough to wish it to make it so. You mentioned a number of things that did go viral, but not necessarily in a good way. Achieving viral status takes more than being un-boring, and even for a business that feels what is has to say is important and engaging, there is no guarantee that the audience out there will feel the same way and pass it on.
There's a trend underway to make employee performance reviews everyone's business – letting peers, customers, and direct reports in on rating people's daily doings. Mary gives this a thumbs down.
Famous musicians claim the Internet's ruining their royalties. But given time, signs indicate that the Internet will make peace with the music industry.
When it comes to Internet-related research, the gap between the real world and academia is widening. Indeed, a few boffins may be up so high in their ivory towers that Earth is invisible. Sadly, some of this research is probably costing the US government – and US citizens – real money.
Carol Bartz was the CEO of an international public company. But that didn't stop her from cursing a blue streak when she was fired last week. Here's why she should have kept her mouth shut.
No one likes to be left out of the loop when it comes to the latest news about family and friends. But Facebook makes it possible for us to feel just that way when we encounter postings that make us feel disregarded or dismissed.
Over 20 percent of Verizon's workforce is on strike, thanks to the company's efforts to make up for reduced wireline revenues by reducing the value of wireline union jobs. Given Verizon's current profitability, it's time for management to find a better solution.
The founder of 4chan, Christopher Poole, has become a VC darling now that he's started his own beta site, Canvas – proving that the troll's path can lead to entrepreneurial success in these strange days.
As enterprises leap into the Web 2.0 world of blogging, commenting, and social networking, just 'being there' won't deliver ROI. You may want a 'Web Evangelist' to systematically harvest the feedback in order to polish your product or service.
Facebook's Graph Search may face some profound challenges and risks, first, because Facebook users haven't been thinking of their posts as product reviews; and second, because Facebook will now have to contend with the social-network equivalent of SEO "gaming" of results.
Based on reactions in Nicole's Newsfeed, everyone hates this version of Facebook. This should matter to Facebook now that there's a real competitor on the scene named Google+.
Allowing users to share music and video on Facebook might sound like good news, but is this part of a coherent strategy, or is Facebook just stumbling from idea to idea?
While the publishing industry reels from the pressure of digital books and freely available content on the Web, one branch of the industry, the publishers of academic books and journals, remains above the fray. How is this possible and how long will it last?
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