Bank of America fails at social media.

As a thunderstorm pounds away this morning, I have to admit that I've not been to my Flickr account in sometime. I mostly share pictures on Facebook these days and Flickr was really not about business for me. Sure there are a few shots of business stuff, like travel. That said, it certainly wasn't designed to be a component of any particular event, just a visual representation of activities in my life and that of my family.

I frankly haven't had the time to express my passion for amateur photography lately. You know, the kind of shots you take early on a weekend morning when the lighting is just right and you have no other place to be at that moment in time.

That said, I was looking at how brands are using Flickr. I came across some interesting groups, one that struck me as orphaned was the Bank of America photostream. When you dig deeper you see that they've started a promotion to coincide with the Beijing Olympics called Americascheer.com. It's clear this is about getting people to sign-up for a high-interest Visa to support the team.

Now at first glance, one could argue that this is maybe a decent idea to many mainstream corporate types. Unfortunately from my perspective this needs to be chalked up as a miss. A clear lack of commitment and understanding, even down to the Flickr profile thumbnail icon being blank.

Here's where I think they're going wrong.

1. Clear lack of commitment overall - Their photostream is left for weeks at a time...the Olympics are just around the corner are they not? More activity, engagement and discussion is needed as part of a larger strategy online. This still feels like a big bank going "here you go little minions, have fun..." at least to me.
   
2. Who are the Bank of America customers brand evangelists online and are they involved in the campaign? It doesn't appear so to me.
3. Sure people are cheering for the U.S. team, but does anybody really "love" the Bank of America?
   

This is more about B-o-A pushing as a faceless corporation. The real human aspect of this frankly is the profile of the group's contact. Photo's of a happy family, NOT a faceless corporation allowed me to feel positive about something related to this discussion and it had little to do with the bank...that's the richness that the campaign is lacking in my opinion.

I believe Bank of America could have went further with a more complete overall strategy...that said it's probably a good thing they didn't since this small effort is dismal at best. Oh well, another case study to use and teach others with...

Is Guy Kawasaki/Alltop about "meaning" or "money?"

Back in February, Jeremiah Owyang updated (he called it an analysis, and as you'll read in his post, even Forrester Research analysts make mistakes like the rest of us) he had previously written about Guy Kawasaki's new (in his words - "gimmick" site) Alltop.com. The overall reviews from Owyang's twitter followers (follow me here) of Guy's site were mixed at best. Alltop.com was criticized for being a non-innovative "clone" of existing sites like popurls, originalsignal.com. Many did compliment Guy (including Owyang) on his ability to market the site (the Influence model). Citing for example his leveraging of existing "A-listers" in his ego topic section for example to garner attention for Alltop. Further, that "Techcrunch took the bait." Many concluded the attention was really more for Guy, than Alltop.

However, some time has passed now and we all recognize Guy's motivation here is to like most other sites make money. I know that many of you have seen Guy talk ( in person or on video) about his preference for sites or businesses that are about "making meaning "as their core purpose as being the ones that win over those who just want to grow and be acquired from the outset.

So my question to the readers of this post is. If you could only pick one answer: Do you think Alltop.com is about "making meaning" or "making money?"

A second question may be: Has Guy won you over with Alltop yet? It seems that if you search those who have made one of his various lists, that seems to be a proud moment for most... How about you "B-listers" out there...does making an Alltop topic list make a difference? Enquiring minds at fusedlogic want to know...

Distributed Social Networking

Here's a great article explaining something I personally believe cannot happen fast enough "distributed social networking"...being able to take your profile, contacts and information with you from one social network to another, something that really works for me...

Friendfeed is an aggregator, so is Ping.fm...more of these types of consolidation technologies will become more prevalent...there are people watching these sites and services closely and designing better ways to get the job done. Specifically, listening to the audiences and learning about the good and the bad of each service, there's a lot of these statements being made today on twitter, plurk, identi, friendfeed and elsewhere...usually that means that you and I win because competition breeds innovation.

The next three years will see this trend towards aggregation, mobility and being able to see entire personal social network connections at a glance continue to advance...I suspect that today's leaders in this space will be the hot acquisition targets with strong communities in the near future having finally worked out all the kinks...

Human nature at work on Twitter and Plurk

So as you can see to the right of this post I've added something called the "Plurk Timeline," this is in addition to my twitter account and Identi.ca account, I'm fusedlogic there too.

Anyway, this is part of my research on micro-blogging and how people use it. For example, Guy Kawasaki, provides regular updates regarding his site Alltop.com, the new topics he's added and requests for feeds to add from the twitter community. Such as his most recent question.

"I want to build the equivalent of twitterati.alltop.com for Friend
Feed. Does anyone have a good starting list?"

Others such as lead strategist Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester Research uses Twitter to keep people thinking about the social web in general. He directs people to new "lists" on his blog, new trends he sees happening, events he's attending and articles where he's quoted, typically in the San Francisco Gate...

Many others use twitter as a way to engage in conversations related to their business interests, some still just let us all know about their favorite foods and the activities they're doing at that very moment in time...

Out of all of these various content entries, I most enjoy those that drive the conversation to innovate. Guy Kawasaki is looking for a list for his new topic on twitterati.alltop.com because of a suggestion made on twitter by Christine Lu, someone who has collaborated with Guy on China.alltop.com

Frankly, the twitter community in many ways is building Alltop.com, as Guy listens engages and asks questions...the "twitter crowd" is responding through ideas, traffic and objections from time to time...now Guy doesn't take every piece of advice or suggestion, that's not feasible and he's stated in an interview with Christine Lu that all he's looking to do is make $750K a year from Alltop.com and keep things simple...

That's obviously a great plan and there's no doubt that he'll easily achieve that.

In future posts I'll talk about how the "twitterati," or in other words (in many cases, not all but many...) the "unapproachable snobby elite," think very highly of themselves.

You can always tell who they are because when on twitter if you direct a comment or question to them they selectively decide whether you as a little twitter nobody deserve a direct response... This is an interesting experiment in watching human nature...sure we're all busy but some of us respect human beings and others....not so much.

As my Canadian social media strategy company fusedlogic continues its modest growth globally...I will always continue to approach business like "The Great One, Wayne Gretzky" treats others, fans, players etc... No matter how successful you are...one always needs to respect other human beings regardless of their status in life.

Enhanced Aboriginal Education

Here's a PR from one of long standing my clients today...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Randy Morse, CEO (250) 353-2011 (office); (503) 545-8930 (mobile)

ENHANCED ABORIGINAL EDUCATION - ABORIGINAL PUBLISHER RESPONDS TO THE CALL

Siksika First Nation, Siksika, Alberta, July 7, 2008 –

The Indigenous Learning Company (ILC) announced today that it is committing to assist British Columbia school districts, First Nations, and other Aboriginal groups in bridging the learning gap, promoting cultural and linguistic pride among Aboriginal students, and ensuring that B.C.’s non-Aboriginal students gain a positive new understanding of the histories, cultures and contributions of B.C.’s Aboriginal peoples.

To-date over 40 B.C. school districts have joined with B.C. First Nations and other Aboriginal groups, and the Ministry of Education in signing Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreements, designed to help the province’s Aboriginal students succeed academically, taking into account the importance of traditional languages and cultures in ensuring student success in the classroom. The Agreements also call for programs and materials that will assist B.C.’s non-Aboriginal students in better appreciating the cultures and contributions of the province’s Aboriginal peoples.

ILC is Canada’s first, and perhaps only, Aboriginally owned and operated, fully professional web-based educational publishing company. ILC intends to draw upon its extensive experience in working with indigenous communities and educators elsewhere in Canada and around the world to bear on the educational challenges facing all British Columbians. The company intends to work closely with B.C. First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations, school districts, and the Ministry to build unique Aboriginally-focused, web-based educational learning materials that fully support the educational and cultural goals of existing and future Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreements.

“B.C. can and should be a world leader in developing educationally rigorous, culturally appropriate, 21^st century learning solutions for its K-12 students – all its students, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike. The world will be increasingly focusing its attention on our province as 2010 approaches,” said ILC CEO Randy Morse. “We want to work with our Aboriginal and educational partners to showcase the advancements called for in the Education Enhancement Agreements by the start of the 2010 Winter Games, to the ultimate benefit of all British Columbians,” Morse concluded.

About ILC

The Indigenous Learning Company is a Canadian corporation, with offices on the Siksika First Nation, Alberta, in Kaslo, British Columbia, and in Airway Heights, on Kalispel Tribe of Indians land in Washington State. ILC’s purpose is to deliver leading edge, culturally appropriate, curriculum-specific, web-based K-12 learning materials to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students & teachers in B.C., across Canada, and around the world.

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When big brands miss, they miss big...

More and more large brands are taking on the social net and more and more brands are missing their targets...and some are winning and exceeding expectations, (low or cautious expectations I suspect).

When a large brand spends cash in the online world it's typically enough to buy a small country with a two-bit dictator. So missing the point in this arena hurts. Central to the problem is strategy or lack thereof and approach.

Complex organization + Old Marketing Attitude + New Social Media = Complex Expensive Failure

Understanding the social animals and online society or "creative class," "digital generation," "generation now" can be daunting. So seek first to listen, learn and participate by adding value...not ad dollars...

Using analytics to target demographics and audiences is fine to a point, but typically it doesn't tell the whole story. I think it's important to analyze online behaviors, living breathing trends, attitudes, needs...and combine that with understanding who's influencing the discussion. Having the proper strategy is absolutely key.

Just ask GM about whether they like Youtube or not...I talk about this in my presentations all the time...it's the core to everything else...

Does your brand actually matter?

So...does anyone actually care about your brand? What is the relevance of your brand? Could your brand change the world? If so, are you?

Is your brand growing in terms of reach? Sure you're spending all this time and money, how are you measuring your reach and success. Do you have a methodology for measuring this success? If so how accurate is it? How does your brand currently affect the hiring of top talent? In this age of the "creative class," is your brand communicating in the right language?

This is a common story today...these questions although common also are often overlooked...

That said, I mostly just wanted to ask brand questions today...

Why not hold a "listening lab" and go find out what your customers think of your brand...