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Facebook lost 5-6 Million members in the US in May 2011, mention of $100 Billion IPO comes same day.

Facebook Today

Facebook – what was a fun little site, the entire business world has turned into the Holy Grail. This is troubling, because it’s not the site that is amazing, but the new social comm technology that connects people.  I crunch some numbers here, and it’s obvious people aren’t interacting with brands on Facebook. Why are we losing sight of this? It’s just a platform, and membership does not attest to equity.  Equity is where the internet is happening, and the internet is not happening on Facebook.

Facebook might have a $100 Billion IPO, for Q1 2012.  Why would they let this ridiculous evaluation slip the same day it is announced that they also lost 6 Million people in May, via WebProNews.  Gizmodo says 5 Million. A Facebook insider says “nearly 6 million”.

It seems interesting, especially because one would hope that a whopping $100 billion would drown out the measly figure of 5-6 million members.  It’s notoriously difficult to cancel an account, so what’s going on?  Was the drop a culling of the notorious spam that poisons social media?  Is it businesses finally deleting their profile they built before the advent of pages? I know of a couple that have done so in the recent weeks. It’s a bigger, more frightening, trend than this.

The Social Media World watches as Groupon readies an insane IPO

I know LinkedIn. LinkedIn was a friend of mine. You are no LinkedIn.

I want to have a quick aside, and remind you that we all know Groupon is insolvent.  In fact, it’s safe to suggest that Facebook is aware that the social media darling is in crisis, having the market panic about feasibility as they approach an IPO.  An important IPO – one that tests the waters in a much deeper way than LinkedIn, a relatively conservative and successful no brainer in this 2.0 world.  It is also fair to acknowledge that whatever consumers do not know about Groupon, as Wall Street eyes Groupon’s likely failure as a business, other businesses are beginning to have a deep awareness of its flaws, which I documented here (with endless citation and evidence), but Techcrunch excellently explains it here.  Businesses wariness to sign up, coupled with Groupon’s balance sheet, makes that look like another disaster, and this is only valued at $20 Billion, one-fifth of the murmured Facebook IPO.  Do you think Facebook is watching Groupon’s “road-to-IPO” closely?

Facebook is failing, but it depends on how you want to define that.  At User Interface? At listening to consumers? At facilitating connection, communication, discussion? Helping create a consumer environment for our businesses?  This is something that is going to be defined by every individual angle – social media, individual people, business… but it’s safe to say they are failing everyone.

The Filter Bubble Problem

Mark's savvy with the Press knows no bounds.

Facebook has made made it so you can hide everything you dislike about the site.  You can hide people or pages, you can hide causes, games, specific api’s that post, specific phones, and more. These are the filters that Eli Pariser speaks about – the filter bubbles driving us apart, creating a homogenic environment, and limiting true connection and democratic discourse – and the resulting ethical issues involved.  These filters are meant to be a response to Facebook users’ dissatisfaction of the interface and lack of proper privacy controls. Users tire of mindless advertising and spam; being inundated with extraneous applications or attempts at monetizing the user base are finally wearing thin.  These filters are simply a way for you to shut down the site little by little, bit by bit. By developing these tools, Facebook has expressively admitted that the whole network is spam. I spoke about these hidden streams, overposting, and attention curation as equity, and you know that I do not consider Facebook a network in the traditional sense of the word.  If I don’t know who has hidden my business, then I don’t know who my network is, and therefore it is essentially defunct.

Could you imagine the statistics on overall users or pages hidden?  Have you ever hidden anything on Facebook?  I think it is completely unstable as a network, and assume Facebook will at some point have to unhide everything to fix some of the problems of “community”. I had hoped I wouldn’t have to post about Facebook again, but it isn’t just about narcissism and the challenge of pages.

Monetization

Facebook doesn't seem to work with dollar signs

Facebook is constantly altering their UI & architecture, so as to generate constant cash flow. These attempts at creation of revenue wholly disregard the individual users’ privacy & bungles the process constantly.  Beyond Zuckerberg’s slip ups, and horrid PR, Facebook adds confusing, unstable layers to a flawed structure/network that is based off of variably meaningful geo-connections. Social connections should *obviously* include *immediate* social circles, but the strongest online connections are based off interest, and do not necessarily involve family or educational institution, the latter which connects similar classmates across broad social, economic, and political backgrounds. Until Facebook figures this out, their dominance is tenuous. You cannot create a solid network based off of loose interests. Topics/Subject matter drive content creation, and content creation drives social networks.

Facebook’s slapdash and immature attempts at monetizing a site with enormous architectural flaws have made it a broken network, and now they are bleeding users…. there are so many meaningful, topical driven sites, that people simply don’t need it anymore. With the rise of topical boards, Facebook is moot.  You can still check in on your grandkids, or your college ex-boyfriend’s family on Facebook, but most people seem to feel more comfortable generating content in like minded communities, which also includes Tumblr and Twitter.  Tumblr has stolen an entire generation of younger kids, Twitter has mid 30′s parents and professionals who don’t have the time for the vacuousness of Facebook, or the time to figure it out.  This is where Facebook’s content is being generated – elsewhere.  Everyone still has a Facebook account, but you may be interested to know where the internet is really happening.

Where The Internet Happens

No, not those kind of boards.

The internet happens in the open.  It happens in an unregulated environment that business has little interaction with.  Foodies have Chowhound or Eater to talk recipes, cuisine, and what’s hot.  Sports fans have their dream team forums or ESPN boards & an entire industry of social sites.  Movie fans engage in sites like IMDB, Netflix, and Rotten Tomatoes, all rabid posters writing shining reviews or debating camera angles.  Entertainment blogs have members on sites like TMZ or Gawker, where posters gab ad naseuom about the plastic world of their interest.  These people *might* share on Facebook, but often the people that you know in the real world aren’t interested in the same hobbies or activities.  Techies on Techcrunch or Engadget have devoted commenters espousing their applicable fanboydom.  Relevant social sites like Mashable or open forums like Yelp Talk cover a bevvy of topics and retain interest from users.  Traditional national and local newspapers cover the entire gamut of local events and allow a wide spectrum of commentators with insane devotion (sometimes literally).  This doesn’t cover the existence of any millions of hobby or enthusiast boards for everything from offroading (based off the specific make and model of your truck) to knitting clubs or book clubs on small blogs or local sites to large sites like Amazon or Ebay.  Even boards like 4chan create content and relevance that makes other sites pale in comparison.  All this is an indication that social media has blossomed in a way that makes Facebook completely irrelevant.  The walled garden, with too many privacy holes in the fence, leaves a lot to be desired, and users are finally leaving Facebook for greener, rolling pastures.  It’s an apt analogy.

For example, my business is travel and hospitality. My entire industry is suffering devastating groupthink – and every conference or social media mention is about Facebook, driving revenue, ROI. I wanted to mention them, but don’t want to damage the conference economy built around Facebook.  I will just say that I know there are those of you out there nodding your head (ed note: thank you for the emails).  Do you want to know how I can be so brazen about this, and why your company’s efforts on Facebook are misguided?  It’s painful to admit, but the real internet and real consumer isn’t on Facebook, and never planned to be.  As soon as they are on Facebook, they are a sister or a grandmother or a college chum.  But when those same people leave the site – they are consumers on flyertalk, tripadvisor, yelp, and any other consumer site referencing the interest they have at that moment.  Someone can be on Facebook loading vacation pics one moment, and that can have zero relevance to the fact they are a consumer searching reviews for a hotel on Tripadvisor, a moment later.  The two are not related.  ”Consumers” do not exist on Facebook, because when people are on Facebook, they shed the role of consumer (or at least they think they do, which is all it takes).  A friend told me to be patient, but he was speaking to me about being patient in the business realm, that the facebook user will eventually be “born” a consumer.  Well, I am not so sure the users have that sort of patience, and looking at their fickle migration patterns of the past, coupled with their distrust of Facebook management, I don’t think my patience will have anything to do with it.

Our Groupthink and What Your Business Needs to Ask

It's not pretty when it happens, and sometimes we can't see it.

The groupthink throughout industry is to talk about how to leverage Facebook, and not whether it’s truly worth the effort or has intrinsic value. Everyone is so self interested that they won’t admit that it’s not the wonder it appears to be. The general rule is that you have to be where people commune, but it doesn’t mean it has to be anything more than a landing page.  I went so far as to ask fans of some of our hotels what they thought of brands on Facebook. Informal test of 4 hotels was unanimous – everyone overposts, and it is tantamount to spam. The more you post, the more people hide you. Great… you got 5 comments!!! Then it’s likely, as 90% of people are lurkers, that even more hid you. You are losing attention every day with your Facebook pages.

Outside the US, along with Twitter, Facebook has been the only available tool with the reach to successfully organize people, and the result has been powerful and moving and undeniable.

But, inside the US, it has been co-opted by brands and marketing agents who attempt to exploit it and utilize it for business. This is all at the behest of Facebook, who is trying to monetize the hell out of the user base and define and reinforce the concept of “user equity”.  Of course, businesses haven’t taken the time to realize there is almost no ROI, and when there is – it’s rare and far between. Why did they lose 6 million people in May? Is that real people, or is Facebook flushing out the coffers of spammers that are littering every corner of that network? Outside of this loss of users, how many existing accounts of the 700 Million members are spammers or multiple accounts? Dead accounts? How do they measure usage?

Define a successful campaign on Facebook? Define a successful business situation in regards to Facebook? Is it about money? brand building? interactivity? I have heard minor successes on Facebook, but no consistent, overwhelming victories as you may have heard from sites like Twitter.  You know what would happen if any single hotel took their page off Facebook? Absolutely nothing.  Facebook is a pass through. They interact with your brand on other sites like user generated review and rating sites, or topical boards where they can get advice from like minded people with expertise enough to answer tough questions.  Uncle Harry or your high school prom date isn’t likely to be able to do that for you.  People “like” and move on in Facebook, it’s a throwaway, passive activity; otherwise people don’t “like” anything because they don’t see the point, or don’t trust the process, even if they actually like something.  It’s obvious there’s a flaw in this system as a trustworthy & equitable model for making business decisions.  Facebook’s compulsion to legitimize the ad model structure of their social business has marginalized the ability for people to meaningfully connect. This erodes trust, and now people are finding other places to commune meaningfully online.  People are still using Facebook in a personal manner, so they wear brands like fashion, for status. They aren’t interacting with the brand so much as showing it off as they might Gucci sunglasses or a Prada purse.  There isn’t the compulsion or awareness by normal Facebook users to create commerce, or interact with businesses as they would on a review site, or topical network.  The closed network based off random, extinct, geographical connections (school, etc) stifles ability to congregate and commune around brands or specific concepts. The groups and pages don’t work properly, because they were an afterthought to the original intent of Facebook.

Is what your organization puts into Facebook worth what is coming out of it?

The End of Facebook

Heaven's to Murgatroyd, Facebook may exit stage left, even.

So far it’s been difficult to cultivate a social network into a successful long term business.  You can’t build a social network, just ask Google. A small network goes viral, then that network spends years garnering users and destroying the site in the race to monetize it, until users move somewhere else. Facebook went viral overnight, but this doesn’t mean it’s a successful platform for business.  Until they can offer a meaningful way to show real return or effeciveness, we are wasting labor and marketing dollars on a black hole.  The reason they aren’t sharing any of their data regarding site usage is because they know it would hobble their $100 Billion IPO.  The data and trends obvious in their private data, coupled with the social world’s IPO craze, it’s seems obvious they know the time is now, while they are jumping the shark.  Their talk of IPO is nothing more than a cynical money grab.  As Groupon will start the beginning of the 2.0 bubble, Facebook is desperate to cash in before it’s too late.

The sad part is that all these social media conferences and advertising or PR firms, coupled with the rest of big business, have so mindlessly invested endless money and time into developing their presence, they won’t be able to see the forest for the trees….. there is an entire economy that exists around Facebook, and people will have too much self interest to admit it’s time is passing.  They will hold on dearly, for fear of having to make new presentation slides, or build yet another business profile on yet another network.  Consultants will be frightened of being exposed for how much money they charge for administering Facebook.  Operators won’t want to change a thing because they finally got the facebook action committee meeting in place, or the hierarchy of responsibility for posting and replies.

Many people are vested very deeply in Facebook’s success, and I fear that our inherent self interest will allow this IPO to happen without a hitch…. a massively inflated and dangerous number representing an inflated faux economy that could collapse harder than a previous bubble we all should know and remember.  In fact, it’s going to happen.  Groupon is the start of it.  All that conversation about Groupon’s insolvancy and filed IPO papers – Facebook knows this.  The collapse will bring greater scrutiny, deeper questions, and demand for much more reporting and numbers in regards to the site.  As for now, Facebook stats are piece-meal, unsubstantiated guesswork, and Facebook is very secretive with all their usage stats.  Once real data gets out, do you suppose that it will bolster the evaluation, or bring it back down to earth?

I think the answer is all too obvious.  So Facebook is getting ready to cash in because they know they have peaked, and the other side of the mountain is a long way down.  It’s a precarious time for our economy as well as my personal hospitality and travel world.  Will we keep our heads down and keep espousing the genius of Facebook with empty stats and minor successes, or will we be big enough to move on, and realize that another time is passing?  I doubt we will be big enough.  But I hope this helps to create more of a dialogue that gets us there… ultimately one that protects the future of our economy.

Edit 16th June 2011:

A friend sent this article, “Older users likely to connect with businesses“. It is unfortunate that we are defining “connection” or interaction as something as passive as pressing a button. Users are tired of privacy issues, sure… but they are also tired of 90% of businesses doing Facebook wrong – not allowing user comments to appear on the wall, nor interacting and commenting on their posts.  It’s an RSS feed, and that’s spam, and it’s being hidden, and you have lost their attention.  When businesses realize the problems with Facebook, the lack of results, and the fact we burned most of bridges in trying to connect with users, ad sales will plummet, and the bottom will fall out.  We are still in front of the Groupon IPO, and lessons can be learnt from the Pandora debacle from today. Show’s over, says VentureBeat, as Pandora skids hard.  Stay vigil and stay aware, fight against groupthink, and engage your company with open-minded discussion regarding your next move.

UPDATE 30 Sept 2011:

Ed Note:  Google Plus’ Open social graph will quickly make Facebook’s walled garden irrelevent.  I quote  Terrence Lui:

“Those of you reading this right now should realize something. You have a fantastic lead. Everybody who depends on Google to run their business, and there are a lot of them, and is ignoring Google+ right now is a fool. You are in on the ground floor of something that will fundamentally change what is now the foundation of the internet.

So take advantage of it while you can. Stake out your place on the high ground. At some point very soon, the crowd will wake up to the fact that Google is serious about all of this and the flood will come.”

But I think the most compelling and damning evidence is this:  Twitter has seen more growth in the last 9 months than the past 5 years. It is vital to be aware of this fact.  Since May, Facebook user base growth in the U.S. has completely stalled, while these other networks are growing faster than ever.  I am basically done protecting my industry from the mindless groupthink.  Let’s let those who are listening gain the high ground.  Let’s let the vacuous & self interested, fall by the wayside.  Good luck out there guys.

First Step: Shout Out About It (even if others don't care)

People keep pontificating on the “check-in”, and what it means for most people, whether it will be relevent enough to stick around, or if it will fall into shadow like so many past “darlings of the moment”.  Well… I commented first *HERE*, and saw that consumers might think they are *not* a winning proposition here, and even Read Write Web claimed the death of the Check-In in 2011, and it was supposed to be a simple sentence.  In fact, I started by saying, “Here, I will make this simple…”, which is not only a bit grandiose, but sort of pompous as well.  I will try to relate my opinion with logic, instead of emotion… but it is still just an opinion.  I am just sharing a few thoughts on LBS (Location Based Services).  I would love to know what you think?

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Filter ethics.

This is the most important thing regarding Facebook & other online communities that very few people are talking about.  I note here (June 2010) that hidden streams destroy any legitimacy to this network, & eventually Facebook will have to change their practices.

Now, Move On’s Eli Pariser has written a book called “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You” -

“The Internet software that we use is getting smarter, and more tailored to our needs, all the time. The risk, Eli Pariser reveals, is that we increasingly won’t see other perspectives. In The Filter Bubble, he shows us how the trend could reinforce partisan and narrow mindsets, and points the way to a greater online diversity of perspective.”

We need to reinforce the wobbly foundation before it comes crashing down.

Here is his TED TALK.

Here is his talk from PDF 2010, as well – “Eli Pariser, the president of MoveOn.org, answered the PdF 2010 question “Can the Internet Fix Politics” with a warning about how the hidden personalization features of search and newsfeeds were subtly destroying the notion of a common public space.”

(more…)

No, it’s no vacation.  It’s the loud foot stomping of behind the door positioning in the travel vertical of the modern web wars!  In fact, the positioning is more like a game of Twister, and although I am not sure anyone is going to fall, someone is surely going to get tangled up.  Is that Expedia / Tripadvisor? Facebook?  Google?  What about ITA?  Maybe it will simply be Yelp.

Here we go!

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Another major issue about the accessibility of this network, the functionality. For people who really work, and own and operate their own businesses, etc – they are WAY too busy for this stuff. I am a hotel operator, and we all got pulled into the online conversation, listening, learning, etc via social reviewing and brand mentions on twitter, etc. I took it as a chance to jump off the 16 hour a day treadmill on property level of hotels… so now I do get a chance to watch these new tools work themselves out. But the earth shattering impact of this new communication hasn’t necessarily been comprehended yet… it’s still the “wild west” as everyone says… and I don’t think tools like FB or Twitter are there yet. Facebook is unfettered narcissism, and the point should be that it’s about everyone else… not one’s vacation or baby pics. These tools work best in forums like this… with interaction, etc. This is one of the few arenas of FB that I have seen with legitimate, bona-fide interaction. It’s fairly cool, and gives me a modicum of hope.

Everyone is banking on it, for some reason, when there is *ZERO* legitimate or demonstrable equity in it. Booking engines, reservation pages, etc…. where’s the ROI? Where’s the proof that it is anything other than brand building?? Do people use it as a marketplace? Is there an economy in Facebook?

I cannot speak negatively enough about FB. Beyond the fact it isn’t a real network (hidden streams erase nodes, so the network is not legitimately stable)…

But point being… I know chefs and general managers, etc that have heard of this thing “facebook”, but haven’t had a moment to check it out.

I always wonder *who* are all these people on FB that don’t have anything better to do. I am one of them, and surely excuse myself….. but I would love the demographics of this 500M.

Facebook “offers a gateway for hundreds of shallow relationships and emotionally detached communication.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont-help-facebooks-privacy-problems-2010-5

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don’t know why.
Zuck: They “trust me”
Zuck: Dumb fucks.

http://mashable.com/2010/05/23/facebook-ceo-mistakes/

http://arnab.org/blog/deceiving-users-facebook-button

Is it too late?  Is there any conceivable way I could move away from Facebook?  I stopped using it, but it amazes me how pervasive it is. With these new like buttons everywhere, it seems like it will be an unstoppable force.  I always assumed that something better would come along and knock it off it’s pedestal, but they are completely embedding themselves into the architecture of the internet.  What’s more, it seems like so many people use it that I am brought back to it for business a lot of the time.  Some people are using it more than Linked In.  I am sort of sad, in a sense…. it just feels like the capitalistic value of compeition is at work here, and it is more of a steam roll effect.

# – My rant: I wholeheartedly disagree – twitter inherently allows the user to opt out of privacy. 
# I voice constant concern about Facebook – is the conversation meaningful? Do they book?

You know I quit facebook.  Sort of.  I hadn’t been able to explain why… oh wait, I sort of can explain why.  Maybe not in my own words…  I have had some humble coming to terms lately.  I don’t wish to admit the social networks I use, but most people don’t know them… yelp talk, tribe.net, 4chan (I am not sure I have laughed that hard in awhile, but beware).  Even Buzz seems to be working for me right now, even if it isn’t fit for purpose.  I understand the dopamine receptor seeking out new information and how that DAMNED infernal inbox number keeps climbing… I have filters in place and self control at hand, so it doesn’t seem to be an issue.  I also note the amount of earnest, interesting, compelling information and discussion, quite literally, DESTROYS Facebook.  We have tech talk, travel talk, philosophy talk…. all engaging a wide range of people from all walks of life, belief systems and locations around the world.  Like twitter, you start and opt in aware of openness, and you benefit from being exposed to so many different opinions, thoughts, and connections.  Facebook seems *so* irrelevant to me, and you have seen me rail on it in the past for architectural or logical structural issues.  I never worried about privacy, my profile is wide open.  But for those that *DO* worry about privacy in that context (which blows my mind because who in the hell expects any level of privacy on the intetrnet? Seriously… if you post that picture of you half naked or drunk and holding an illicit substance… you can’t be upset when a potential employer asks you about it.

But I have wondered what the hell is going on, and precisely why Facebook is a big problem now.  Beyond not creating meaningful interaction due to passive connections (people being friends out of proximity to each others in school hallways rather than based off interest or relevant topical info like a hobby, etc), it is trying to root itself deeper and deeper into the infrastructure of the web.

http://tbottle.com/tb/2010/04/30/facebook-vs-google-isnt-about-social-vs-search/

7 things to stop doing on FB. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/june/electronics-computers/social-insecurity/7-things-to-stop-doing-on-facebook/index.htm

http://www.google.com/buzz/chris.messina/G8w8jUVDfZW/Understanding-the-Open-Graph-Protocol
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/openlike_all-start_team_to_challenge_to_facebooks.php
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_centralization.php
http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/identity-in-the-browser-firefox/
http://gigaom.com/2010/04/21/facebook-makes-itself-a-central-point-of-failure-for-the-web/
http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2009/09/14/the-web-at-a-new-crossroads/
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/04/23/privacy-issues-google-engineers-leaving-facebook-in-droves/
http://netgrowthgroup.com/blog/social-media/18-places-in-your-facebook-profile-where-your-privacy-may-be-at-risk/
http://searchengineland.com/matt-cutts-deactivates-facebook-account-40543?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+searchengineland+%28Search+Engine+Land%29
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/logins-for-sale-be-wary-of-facebook-friends-in-need.ars
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362967,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03079TX1K0000585
http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2010/04/23/what-i-like-about-facebooks-openness/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+factoryjoe+%28Chris+Messina+-+FactoryCity+Blog%29
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Resistance+futile+Facebook+assimilation/2946372/story.html
http://topnews.us/content/217973-facebook-privacy-joke
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36755138/ns/technology_and_science/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/194866/facebooks_new_features_and_your_privacy_what_you_need_to_know.html
http://mashable.com/2010/04/23/hacker-facebook/
http://www.fastcompany.com/1624745/time-to-audit-your-facebook-privacy-settings
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/23/exodus-movement-of-g-people-from-facebook-after-f8/

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16163396

http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16167766

Also shows why FB is super duper dysfunctional:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/White-pepper/60807926519?ref=search&sid=1211590808.3584311691..1&v=wall

83 people liked white peppercorns. Massive conversation ensues.

Oh wait…. massive mindless clicking LIKE and zero participation is more like it.  Bout time for FB to publish info on TRUE interaction.

What Facebook got wrong is that friendship no longer needs to be relevant to geographic proximity. That’s archaic.
Using the FB HTML app I know how to alter tabs on pages… so I could easily add a booking tab or gift shop…. but powering it is something different. I don’t develop apps.  thoughts?

—————————–

What does it all mean? (that link is a funny Youtube clip, as a palette cleanser).

Depending on how this one goes, I think this is my second to last or last post *ever* haranguing on, or thinking this deeply about, Facebook.  Blue in the Face makes one look crazy, especially if no one is listening… and beyond the simple fact that I may be wrong, and happily eat humble crow as I become more aware….. I do see some meaningful interaction on Facebook.  It takes some time, and for me it took *opening* my network.  This concept of a “closed” network seems bizarre to me, and it limited real, meaningful interaction, the likes of which I remember from IRC or topical boards.

You have seen me talk about this in regards to Hospitality Brand’s respective Facebook Pages, and the lack of real interaction… even when they are done well. When it comes down to it, there are some problems with the way Facebook Pages work.  This post is, to some degree, a slapdash missive of a rebuttal to this post about the Top Ten Facebook Brand Pages.  There are 100′s of those (more…)

I plan to take this blog in some new directions (I might even gussy up the design a bit, in the future). But, I want it more dynamic with real conversation about the state of Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality as it becomes more highly integrated with social media and Travel Tech.  It’s obviously changing our industry, and it’s really time to start connecting each other with peers and professionals, so we can brainstorm and communicate about how to best utilize these impressive, and overwhelming, tools. Instead of my (more…)

Revelation!  I love it.

I don’t always have stuff hit me, but it hit me today.

So I hadn’t figured out why Tripadvisor’s Restaurant Reviews had recently, so vigorously, taken off.  For those of us in hospitality who are aware of our brands online, it was hard to miss.  It is vital to stay on top of all conversation, reviews, and mentions, and whether through Google Alerts, or a random internet search… you noticed restaurants began to get reviews on Tripadvisor. It’s not really a surprise, and it is a completely natural direction for a travel site like TA.  But, where there wasn’t even an option to review or add (more…)

Unfortunately, Twitter and user generated review sites seem to have a lot more ROI, interaction, and traction than Facebook — which is only unfortunate because it seems they get less attention than Facebook.  Unlucky FB users, on the other hand, are stuck in the loop of hating Facebook, while being completely incapable of escaping it. People are already asking if Facebook actually has a monopoly, and whether it should be managed as a utility.  I don’t like that conversation, because it’s like we are giving up on the obvious fact – there could be something better.  Until then, we need to stay on top of this poorly conceived, and inherently damaged, network.

There is a big discussion going on about the equity of attention in social media, and that curating attention is more important than posting information.  Curation is a fine line, and studies have (more…)