The Wrap Up: October 26

It’s Monday and after a hectic weekend it’s time for another wrap up of things I have come across out there, and which I thought merited a comment.

This time it’s about the lesson every entrepreneur should take from Twitter not being the new Google, the real issue for todays companies and marketeers as such and some useful tips for reaching out to your community.

Twitter the Next Google? No, The Next Netscape

A lot of people are fans of Twitter and believe it to be the biggest thing since the invention of the wheel. Well, even though if the concept is cool - I believe more and more in the format of microblogs and expressing yourself short and clearly (even though this blog is an obvious exception), I think less can do. And Twitter has one resounding problem: How to fight the giants (i.e. Google, Microsoft and others), when these decide that this is something THEY want to do.

In general I see a lot of potential for building new companies and businesses. But while it’s cheap today to start something compared to only a few years ago, the threat has never been bigger that if you’re succesful with what you do, somebody else might come and try to snatch it away from you. Just be mindful of that.

Media Models and the End of Broadcast Spend

Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Age has been giving free advice to the trade magazine AdAge about how they should get engaged into social media. In a follow up post, she focuses on one of the comments that post generated. It’s a comment by Barry Martin of Hypenotic, which I think completely and utterly nails the big challenge that companies, their products and their marketing machines have:

People will only share/evangelize/discuss/etc actually useful products/services — so agencies will be in the uncomfortable position of having to tell their clients when their products suck.

Amen to that! That is essentially the reality, we’re all facing. The opportunity to compensate for crappy products by just writing a big fat marketing check is dwindling - fast.

Reach Outside Your Fishbowl to Build Community

Chris Brogan has - as per usual - some excellent tips on how to actually engage relevant communities outside of your own new media domain. Now, is that important. Yes, it is. Because people are browsing more and more based on individual interests. And the thought of people just coming to you, because you yourself think you’re too cool for this place is such old industrial thinking that you and your company deserve if nobody cares about you at the end of the day and you go out of business.

If you need an example of what a really cool approach is check Jeremiah Owyang’s post on how Intel does outreach to the community. It’s stellar (Intel’s approach, that is).

Vad NU! is a consultancy company owned by Mads Kristensen and specialized in helping clients take advantage of the business opportunities created by new media. Click to learn how I can help you and your company.