Saturday, March 10, 2012

Social Media Metrics Between Worlds

I've been wondering about various social media metrics, more specifically fan growth and how they impact our public image - then a thought popped in saying "well, like currency, wouldn't the value of a fan vary from region to region, country to country?" I say yes, absolutely! I don't believe anyone else has confirmed or written about this already, but there needs to be a measurement criteria that differentiates what one fan in the US is worth vs. what a fan elsewhere, say in Pakistan, is worth.

I'm not talking about a $ value, but a unique value proportional to their social media saaviness, the exposure they have and how generally aware people in the region are. This may correlate directly with how successful a fan page for a brand will be in different countries. 

It's a simple thought - like a ratio. For example, if we took an example and said a US fan is to a Pakistani fan in ratio terms, I would say 100:1. That means, for every Pakistani fan on a brand's Facebook page, there are 100 fans on a US brand page (which can also be considered relatively global).

Facebook fan pages for Lady Gaga and Atif Aslam (Mar 10, 2012)
This is not an exact science, I'll figure the math out further on, or with someones help. However, 40 million coke fans from around the world, most of them based in the United States, that means a fan page in Pakistan with 400,000 fans (say Ufone) shows that correlation works, based on one of the most popular brand page in the US (and the world for that matter) compared with one of the most popular brand pages in Pakistan. 

However, when you take a music artist with the global popularity of, say 40 million fans, and another with 3.5 million (Lady Gaga vs. Atif Aslam - both of global fame, one more than the other), you have a significant variance in the ratio, which goes from 100:1 to 14:1.

What, then factors into how you can measure the worth of a fan? Is it just the combination of elements mentioned above? Can we say:

A fan's own social awareness + How active a brand is + fan page growth (per sec/min/hour/day)
DIVIDED BY
Regional social media awareness + brand fan page engagement

If you've read thus far, you know I am NOT a math guy at all. However, it suddenly occurs that math factors in as a critical component to assessing the factors for this formula. Not only is there a need to understand how you can quantify the factors, you also need to know where to create the values from.

The fundamental problem with this theory is that because of an unsettled and continuous shift in social media growth and activity in each region, quantifying it depends on some basics like internet penetration, computer or laptop penetration, restrictions or limitations to content access (UAE and Qatar don't allow pornography or torrents - which make up a bulk of bandwidth consumption), and lastly one's own interest in being online and social. Relatively ambiguous and near difficult to quantify, no?

About being online and social, if you read my last post, I gave the example of my wife, who is online (website and all), but not social. She had a Facebook account, but then decided to toss it with the whole privacy debacle that started. She's one of those netizen's who believes in the preservation of one's identity, personal attributes and overall way of life. We've become so entrenched in sharing our daily dose of activity with the world, we've forgotten the people who might be sitting on the sidelines, just watching us as we make fun of others, ourselves and everything else that isn't covered. From my fake-bald picture to your last taco roll, our philosophy remains "leave no stone un-turned".

So, if the formula is entirely dependent upon those variables (and how), then could this be an unquantifiable calculation? How then do I assess whether my brands 69,000 fans are equal or not equal to my industry peers in the US? Or could it be that my engagement levels (and their frequency) determine my brand's visibility and general awareness? If not, then perhaps whether there is even sufficient connectivity at the individual level for the awareness to spread?

Considering how viral content goes also factors in as a variant because it has a lot to do with how quickly information spreads between eyeball to eyeball. We all know about Obama, but how many know about Zardari? We all know about Lady Gaga, but how many know about Atif Aslam?

We'll save the twitter argument later, since their growth is only just beginning and we see no sign of 500 million twitterati slowing in their adoption.

To be concluded another time...for now, share your thoughts and consider the approach.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Ultimate Stalker Syndrome - Ode to Social Memoirs

Is it true, they say, that human's cannot live in isolation? Could it be that it is truly our nature to flock together like birds of a feather? If that's the case, then it explains a lot about the enormous growth social media has experienced in the last few years - especially with the jump in internet penetration worldwide.

However, the top of mind question beckons me to wonder if we are actually using social media as a means to an end...the grand end that is. Before you read on, know that this post is going to uncover some deathly insights that I possess and feel you should be abreast of, lest the Mayan's were right.

Social networking has becoming a fast evolving bacteria or living organism, that’s growing with your content for sustenance. In essence, a reflection of you, but the Spiderman and Venom kind of reflection. Remember, Venom still had a human side, which allowed him to differ from Carnage because he was able to feel pity and human emotion. He was the crossroad between Spiderman and Carnage – the ultimate devourer of everything, including its own reflection.

Are we going to go on like this every day, without looking at the bigger picture; the space outside of the cell walls, to see what’s up and how the weather is turning out for the rest us?

Death is the only inevitable thing we know. Sorry to sound morbid, but it’s actually more factual than your human emotions give you credit for. It’s your Achilles heel, a crutch you’re born with and the fact that you cannot beat it is somehow demoralizing. So, we try and compensate with alternative means of ‘getting through it all’. Let’s face it, we are all afraid of it in one way or another, even if it’s with degrees of separation; we need to do the most we can in this life because, hey, I haven’t seen any postcards from either hell or heaven. Frankly, because I think people are free to believe what they will, while abiding by the common overlapping laws of all your major religions and faiths:

1.       Don’t steal
2.       Don’t kill
3.       Don’t sleep with your neighbors daughter, mother, wife, father, son, dog, whatever
4.       Don’t lie
5.       Don’t hoard
6.       Don’t overeat
7.       Give generously
8.       Live humbly
9.       Basically, try and be an all-round nice guy or girl or +1+

I think that it’s sort of like what I call the ‘Howard Stern Effect’. I hope no one else owns rights to that term because when you hear it, you’ll be pretty impressed too. If you’ve watched private parts, a movie that is Howard’s biography – up to before he became a space cadet with Syrius Satellite Radio (no offence guys – great work taking it up a notch), you’ll know where I’m heading. The movie leads to one simple question that explains it all, yet, still a question: “Why are his ratings going up?” The answer,  simple. You take a group of people who are exposed, learned, traveled, well cared for, etc., you get a bunch of people who are driven by curiosity. But, when you take another group that is conservative, doesn’t go out after 9, stays close to the neighborhood, teach their kids the good word of the Lord, are not good friends with change, and generally avoid any contact with sunlight or people, you get a bunch of people who are driven by curiosity. The only difference between the two (yes there is one) is that they are looking into the same peephole from opposite sides – both curious to find out more by either looking for it or hiding from it. Even to hide, you need to know what it is you’re hiding from, thus the need to seek out, even while hiding. Ironic. It’s because, everyone is curious to know what he’s going to do next.

Borrowed from Jay Dolan
Sounds a lot like my Spiderman carnage bullshit a few minutes ago, right? It is and the funny thing – totally unplanned. I mean talk about trailing thoughts that end up at the same place they start – only to have made a point while doing so.

We are going to die, and before doing so, need to ensure that we leave a mark on this world, this life of ours and the people we befriend, love, hate or just want to keep close by – simply because we don’t know when it’s going to happen. Funny – another synchronized effort by yours truly to make a point – we need to leave behind a legacy, a will, a saying or an action that will help the world remember us when we are gone.

I think that it’s actually sad, because we end up missing a lot of the basic point – social media is just another way for you and me to interact, communicate and essentially be comfortable around one another’s presence because it’s easier, no complications, no commitments and most importantly, it’s freaking free! Everyone loves free stuff, I know I do! But then when it’s free, how can we give it so much value? It’s like putting a price tag on air, except air has value because you need it. Nicotine – another great example of addiction and how it’s pretty bad for your health. I say this while smoking to my lung’s demise. It’s sad, I know…now get over it.

My wife is practical. I love my wife, she is awesome. She cooks me the most amazing meals, she works a full time job, she is a world-class artist and yet she makes all this time to take care of me. I don’t force her, heck I can’t. She’s stubborn as a mule, but that’s what I love most. She is unwavering and pretty much independent in decision making. This makes her among the most powerful humans alive; someone who is so in control of their destiny has mastered the art of living.

It’s our nirvana and here you all are trying so hard to find it. It’s right there dude; look around, inside, outside, over here. You’re living the dream baby, so wake up and, like the lady said, go smell the roses. Take a minute for yourself, and without needing to see how you’ll do. No one’s really keeping score and you probably would forget too, if you realized how insignificant it really is in the larger scheme of things.

She isn’t on social media. I mean, she was, still even has some presence, but could care two shits about what’s happening there, when she’s all the way here. She figured that since social media is exactly that thing cave men did before language was really born, and just oooh oooh aaah aaah’d their way to evolution. She only needs to focus on what she wants and that’s quite ample to be satiated by. How simplistic indeed. I need my social media like a fat kid needs a diet! Wait, that doesn’t make sense. It’s like a double negative. I meant skinny…never mind. The point is that I can’t get enough of my asynchronous personality on Facebook or twitter or Google plus or Orkut. Did I miss any of the big kahunas out? Probably, who cares – point is I’m uber connected. Go to my about.me page and you’ll see how much of an eager social beaver I am. This is my job, it pays my bills and I actually kind of love it. I smoke too, which means I have two addictions I think are good for me, but the question is…are they?

Ask yourself – how much of yourself are you willing to give to yourself to see more of yourself? And what marathon mission would you have accomplished in ending up the same as me 100 years from now? First thing is that you need to avoid comparing this like with everyone in history was important for us to get to where we are now. I completely agree! However, I also think that in this ‘time space continuum, we are actually just floating from one convenience, happenstance or action to another, while trying to make sense of it all.

We keep asking that question, how the hell did we really happen? Darwin? Big Bang? Space rejects from another planet? Or maybe it was a giant fart in space that reacted with all the darkness molecules. No not the big bang.

Don’t ask the question, answer it with your actions and stop worrying so much about the future or your fate. I sincerely believe that whatever happens, happens. Whether we can control it or not is all relative and personal. Since you can’t control it, you talk about it online and document your entire life saga in an immaterial, yet infinite moleskin notebook. I never kept a diary, but then my wife doesn’t smoke either, so there must be a correlation in there somewhere.

The only thing certain in life is change. Embrace it. Don’t hunt it or shy from it. 

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