Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

The Top Cats are in town and meeting again on the usual hot tin roof this week.

Each month I host a very exclusive invitation-only event with Robert Loch called Top Cats in London. The goal of the event is to forge stronger ties and greater collaboration between the internet start up, mobile, interactive marketing, TV and advertising communities.

Check out the cool venue and take a look at the 4 minute video that newspepper.com shot at the last event.

[Update, names marked with ** were added after the post was published]

- Alex Hoye, Chair, Faction/Buildersite
- Alexis d’Amecourt, Head of New Media, 19 Entertainment
- Andrew Doe, Founder, PCIQ
- Andrew Romans, General Partner, Georgetown Ventures
- Ann Jameson, Director, Pricejamieson - an Aquent company
- Aoife O’Sullivan, Partner, Gates & Partners
- Caspar Craven, Co-founder, Trovus
- Catherine Toole, MD Sticky, Content
- Cathy Grimes, Marketing Manager, Equifax Personal Solutions
- Charles Billot, Marketing Director, Soup
- Chris O’Rourke, Founder / MD, User Vision
- Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist, Vodafone Group **
- David Hart, Director, Codegent Ltd
- David King, Director, APCO Online
- Edward Charvet, Co-founder, Trovus
- Elizabeth Varley, Editorial Director, Online Content UK
- Ellie Kaye, Marketing Manager, Soup
- Felix Velarde, Founder, Underwired
- Giles Palmer, Managing Director, Magpie.net
- Grant Currie, MD , Inferno PR
- Gurpritpal Singh, Director, of Emerging Microsoft Technology Developer & Platform Group (DPE)
- Hugo Burge, COO, Cheapflights **
- Ian Wallis , Editor, Growing Business
- Jasmine Birtles, Founder / MD, Moneymagpie.com
- Jemima Kiss , New Media Reporter, Media Guardian
- Jon Watts, Founder, MTM London
- Justin Champney, Head of Brand Innovation, EMEA, McCann Worldgroup
- Justin Cooke, Founder / Fortune Cookie
- Mark McDermott, Director, Codegent Ltd
- Matthew O’Riordon, Founder, The Lemon Foundation
- Matthew Thomas, Editor, Startup.co.uk
- Mike Butcher, Editor, TechCrunch
- MT Rainey, MD, Horsesmouth
- Neil Hughston , Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive
- Neil Svensen , CEO, Rufus Leonard
- Nic Brisbourne, Partner, DFJ Esprit
- Nick Farnhill, Partner, POKE
- Oli Barrett
- Paul Birch, Founder, Cominded
- Richard O’Connor , Founder, Tablina
- Richard Titus, Acting Head of UX&D, BBC FM&T
- Rob Corradi, Founder, Preloaded
- Robin Howard, Client Services Director, BT
- Roger Thelwell, Founder / Operations, mook
- Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology Correspondent, BBC
- Simon Murdoch, Founder, friendsabroad **
- Stephanie Bouchet, Head of Marketing, Joost
- Steve Schlenker, Chief Investment Officer, DN Capital
- Syd Nadim, CEO, Clock
- Tom Holmes, Founder & Chairman, Creativebrief
- Tom Nixon Founder, Nixon, Mcinnes
- Will Jeffery, Managing Director, Maverick Media
- Will McInnes, MD, Nixon McInnes
- Yoyo Allalouf, Director, Allalouf Investment Group

Hosts

- Robert Loch, Founder, Internet People & Founder, That’s Useful
- Paul Walsh, Chair, BIMA & Founder, Segala

Thanks again to Soup for sponsoring this month’s gather of the Top Cats. Thanks to them, we’ll be nibbling on Sushi and drinking fine wine.

And the winner is… itweet

Today I asked my Twitter friends to recommend the best way to access Twitter on my new iPhone. The response was immediate and extremely helpful. Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

I’ve listed below each recommendation along with the people who rated them.

http://pockettweets.com - @mbites
http://hahlo.com - @laurenceveale @davidjrice @builtbydave
http://m.twitter.com @eoghanmccabe @christinelu
http://itweet.net @PaulMiller

To try these out, visit each Web site on your iPhone as you would with Twitter.com on your desktop. There’s no application to download.

My thoughts with my rating from 1 to 4

1. itweet is the site I’m going to use. It’s by far the easiest on the eye. User names and hyperlinks are easily identifiable with the use of high contrast colours.
2. PocketTweets was a close runner up. If first impression was to be my last, this would have been the winner with its slick UI. However, after 3 attempts to get a feel for each one, I felt the itweet was more pleasing on the eye and much easier to read.
3. halo does what it says on the tin. It’s simple to use, but pretty boring.
4. m.twitter is Twitter’s ‘mobile’ version. Don’t bother. It’s complete crap, boring and doesn’t even fit on the screen properly. Guys, what were you thinking?

Which one do you prefer? If you’ve already recommended a Twitter site, have you since changed your mind after seeing alternatives?

Before I ask the question, I’m 100% behind any initiative that supports open standards and best practices. Segala’s entire business model is based on it. I also support the idea of being able to port your data from one application/platform to another application/platform.

Ok, so now that I’ve got the disclaimer out of the way, what exactly, is the DataPortability group going to do?

I’ve noticed that the Web site provides hyperlinks which point to pages that say ‘contribute to the various standards communities’, but those pages just point to a list of links which point to wikipedia entries.

Then you have Robert Scoble’s video (opens in a different window) on the main index page. The explanatory title says ‘Watch Robert Scoble explain the DataPortability story’, but all I see is Robert talking about his removal from Facebook. It doesn’t tell me what the DataPortability group is going to deliver apart from goodwill.

I’m not against this group or the ideas they hold dear to their heart, but unless they actually put something more meaningful together, they’ll continue to have circular conversations that everyone is in agreement with. Getting organisations to agree to the concept isn’t good enough in my experience.

My recommendation

What I’d like to see, are some best practice guidelines which organisations can sign up to. Perhaps create a Trustmark (visual badge) to demonstrate their commitment and conformance to those guidelines. Otherwise it’s just a one-way conversation with no proof that organisations intend to permit the seamless portability of users’ data.

I still don’t want Facebook to change my email address to text as that’ll make it way too easy for companies like Plaxo to harvest and SPAM me. Please note that I’m not referring to Robert here. I believe he used a test account to demonstrate a point. Plaxo is in the wrong, Robert just made a silly mistake in my opinion.

Remember that Facebook is protecting users by not allowing people to easily port information, whether that was/is their motivation or not. If none of us have the answer, how can we expect Facebook to make such a massive change over night.

Protecting our privacy and enabling us to extract our data from an application are two entirely different things.

[Update. The TechLudd Web site to which this post refers no longer exists. The site and message I commentated on has since been replaced by a new professional one. The logo above was the original one used by the site. It's also worth pointing out that the new posts on TechCrunch and other blogs link to this post and the new TechLudd Web site, thereby taking the entire debate out of context.]

I love to see people spend their quality time trying to help others. I’m also fond of collaborating, networking and connecting people myself. But, I draw a line in the sand when helping to improve the ecosystem could potentially do more harm than good.

There’s a proposed initiative in Ireland called TechLudd which I think is likely to damage the Ireland Inc brand. On the surface and to an untrained eye, it looks like a great plan. Well, actually it is a great plan and there is nothing other than great intentions behind it. But the execution isn’t great.

According to the site

The aim of TechLudd is simple. It’s an attempt to seed some the hugely open and beneficial networking culture of the Silicon Valley here in “The Auld Sod”. The idea is to create a relaxed social environment where people can socialise with their peers make business contacts or both and hopefully see others demonstrate some cool technology too.

Who should come?

- Founders (of Tech Startups), Developers, Investors, Designers, Journalists, Students, Managers, Directors, Consultants, Marketers, PR, Lawyers, Salespeople, Recruiters, Office Workers, and Everyone Else who has an interest in new technology.

The idea is to be as open to the needs of the various communities that are involved in the newtech community from “inventors to investors” so all your ideas for venues, speakers, covering the event, attendees, press, format, sponsors, and more will help keep the events fresh going forward.

The main thing that’s wrong here is the audience it’s trying to attract. It’s clear to me that the people behind this initiative don’t have experience running networking events and they certainly haven’t collaborated with people who do. I’d bet my house that people such as Fergus, Damien, Conor, James or Tom haven’t been consulted or asked for help prior to starting anything. You shouldn’t try to implement a community initiative without asking those already in that space, for help and advice.

You can’t possibly appeal to absolutely everyone who has an interest in new technology. It’s important to know your audience and then deliver content that’s contextual to them. Why on earth would a salesperson want to network with a coder?

The site goes onto say

First Event

The first event is in Dublin on the 24th but after that the plan is that it will move around the cities on the third thursday of the month. We’re open though so this may change if people prefer a different format.

If you’re interested in helping out in any way (even improving this website) please add your name and what you see yourself helping out with and jump on board - the more the better…

On the surface this looks ok. There’s no harm in providing a half-baked idea and then filling in the blanks as you learn more. Although I’d advise that this approach only be taken when you already have a name that’s respected by the community.

Moreover, you don’t invite people who live in faraway places to an event that’s missing 99% of the ingredients. According to the wiki and Facebook page, they don’t have a keynote speaker, they don’t know who’s going to pitch, they don’t know where it will be hosted and they don’t know who’s going to attend. So, why on earth would people like Loic Le Meur or Ajit Jaokar who have been invited, sign up to this event? I certainly wouldn’t.

This approach will do more damage than good because it may cast a shadow over any future event in Ireland. Ireland is such a small place that people may assume the same organisers are behind them all. I don’t run events in Ireland so I’m not putting myself in the mix.

This initiative was brought to my attention by someone who shall remain nameless as I’m not speaking on their behalf. What I will say, is that they are very well connected and run great events in Ireland. They hold the same opinion as me, but would articulate their thoughts differently. I tend to just say it as I see it without the diplomatic frills.

Another point of contention for me is the constant comparison that’s made between Ireland and the Valley. If it’s an Irish community initiative, it should be branded as such.

I think the logo sums it up nicely. What do you make of it? A caveman holding a club in front of a computer is hardly a good impression to give about Irish entrepreneurs. I certainly don’t want to be associated with it. I actually find it embarrassing and very insulting.

Summary

I think any type of initiative to bring people together is great. However, I’d like to advise the TechLudd guys to collaborate before starting a collaborative project like this. Speak to people like Damien, Fergus, Conor, James and Tom. Get their buyin, advice and help.

If I had my way, I’d scrap this initiative and run whatever they had in mind, under Web2Ireland.

Here’s the list of confirmed attendees for this month’s Top Cats. I’ll post a comprehensive list in the next day or so. Names marked with * have been added after this post was originally published.

Quick overview

Robert Loch and I host many different types of events and felt that something was missing. We felt something little different and exclusive to the real decision makers within the Industry was needed. So, Top Cats was born.

Read more…

I once wrote to all my LinkedIn connections informing them of my decision to no longer update my profile, whilst asking them to connect with me on Facebook if they genuinely wanted to connect.

So, here I am again with another social network to avoid. I’m no longer accepting invitation requests to connect on Plaxo, or any other social network for that matter. I simply don’t have the time to update profiles or maintain communications on each one. I only use Plaxo for backing up my contacts anyway, full stop.

As I’ve previously explained, Facebook is my shop window into which you can see who I am, who I know and what I stand for. You can also see what I look like dressed as a Chicken running down Oxford Circus at 12am. That is of course, assuming I’ve enabled you to see those comprimising pictures using the extremely granular privacy settings.

Until now, I’ve accepted connection requests only from people known to me or known to people I trust. However, in order to make BIMA, Segala and me more accessible, I’m now opening up my network to anyone who wishes to connect with me.

Why anyone? Well, because if I’m not connected to an individual or company, it’s very likely I should be if they’ve come across me via a blog, twitter, event etc. Should some nut case end up in the circle of trust I’ll simply remove them. On Twitter I voiced my intention to which Paul Jacobson replied

@PaulWalsh If you open up to everyone then that means the rest of us aren’t special anymore … 05:37 PM September 18, 2007 from im in reply to PaulWalsh

I hope Paul doesn’t think this now that I’m opening up the small gates which hold back only a few unsuspecting Facebookers. The truth is, I’m connected to 469 people on Facebook. That doesn’t even come close to the number of people I know. I’m sure there must be a few people who know me but who are (until now I hope) unknown to me. The same applies to everyone, you can’t know everyone who knows you. So, maintaining my network is quite easy for me.

I’m pretty confident that either Facebook or a third party developer will enable us to build communities out of our network. For example, I’d like separate communities for BIMA, Segala, Jaipur, Digital, Events, Programmes I advise on, etc. There’s likely to be an overlap which is fine, but at least I’d have the ability to communicate with them separately.

I don’t think I’d create communities for business and personal because then you’re forcing yourself to say who’s a friend and who isn’t, which in my opinion, goes against the grain of the social graph.

It’s much easier to open up your network after studying it whilst closed, than it is to close it and end up kicking people out.

Read in-depth article about how I perceive and use Facebook.

So, if you wish to connect on Facebook, then feel free to to do so now.

I picked up a very cool quote from Hugh MacLeod on Twitter over the weekend. I liked it so much I thought I’d share it with you.

On blog consulting: “The people who need us, don’t get it. And the people who get it, don’t need us.”

Never a truer word be said with few exceptions.

I consult multinational brands on how to be more innovative with their marketing and I have to say, most of them don’t get it at the start. They just know they need to believe in what I like to call ‘the art of conversation’. That is, conversing with consumers about your products and services in the hope of soliciting their opinion, instead of telling them why they should like them.

Unfortunately I’m unable to share what I do with these brands so you’ll just have to take my word for it when I say I do a brilliant job

Where to have the conversation is moving

I believe that we’ve seen a peak for A-list ‘blogs’ such as those owned by Mike Arrington and Robert Scoble. They see such huge RSS subscriptions because they’re good at what they do. But they’ve also built such huge communities because blog software has enabled those same communities to commentate on each others’ opinion.

Note that I didn’t mention Richard MacManus or my mate Hugh MacLeod. That’s mainly because Richard was extremely smart by evolving his blog into a media company. Hugh isn’t actually a blogger in my opinion. He’s an expert in marketing who gets technology and people and who just happens to blog about it.

I’m certainly not a blogger. I just happen to blog about things and people which interest me, in the hope that it makes me and my businesses more accessible.

Facebook (as a new type of platform) now introduces new opportunities for non A-list bloggers who combined, have an even louder voice within the conversation. Facebook enables more people to commentate about brands, products and services more easily than blogs ever did. This isn’t just true from a technical perspective, it’s true from a social perspective too.

If one of my friends posts a note, or they comment about something which they’re particularly qualified in, I’m likely to pass comment. Furthermore, the people with whom I’m connected with also get to see my comment and who themselves may wish to voice their opinion.

I believe A-list bloggers need to evolve how they build and maintain their communities as people’s behavior changes. Forums are dying a death because most people now prefer to build a community around their blog as opposed to someone else’s Web site. Likewise I see more people blogging less in favour of using Facebook to communicate with their network. I sometimes receive more feedback via Facebook than my blog or twitter community.

So, the same can be said for brands. I’m not saying they should ’switch’ from one to another. I’m saying they should keep their finger on the pulse to ensure they know where the conversation is taking place. If you don’t know where the conversation is happening you can’t take part. If you can’t take part, you can’t influence.

What are your thoughts? As I always say, I don’t care where I have the conversation as long as I’m having it. Feel free to comment here, on my Twitter page, or on Facebook.

Where to find me on Facebook

Where to find me on Twitter

Thanks to Steve Clayton for the link on Twitter. I’ve always said that Facebook isn’t a social network like Bebo or MySpace. Facebook is more of a platform/technology which we use to connect with people we know within our network. We can then build communities using our social network.

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft Corp. is in talks with Facebook Inc. about making an investment in the social-networking startup that could value Facebook at $10 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter.

The talks set up another likely face-off between tech titans: Google Inc. has also expressed strong interest in a possible Facebook investment, said people familiar with the matter.

This is a brilliant opportunity for Facebook to expand it’s application development by taking advantage of Microsoft’s already huge partner network. Microsoft’s partners could also provide additional technology-savvy applications to help improve the overall functionality of Facebook within a short space of time.

So, it makes perfect sense for Microsoft to want to own part of Operating System 2.0, which also has Google on it’s toes! It also makes sense for Facebook to share a piece of the pie with Microsoft, in return for extra ad revenue and accelerated application/core platform development.

Read the original article on the Wall Street Journal Web site.

Could it be true? Does it make sense?

Robert Loch and I came up with the idea of getting top industry people together at a new exclusive event. So, BIMA and Internet People are coming together to host a new exclusive event called Top Cats, which is for top individuals from the UK’s Interactive sector.The goal of the event is to forge stronger ties and greater collaboration between the internet start up, mobile, interactive marketing, TV and advertising communities.Top Cats will be held every four to six weeks starting with the first event tonight from 7pm. The event is free of charge and drinks and nibbles are being provided.

The first Top Cats is exclusively sponsored by Podcast Voices who ‘were the UK’s first dedicated audio and video Podcast Production Company and have clients ranging from Lonely Planet to the NHS.’

Intruders.tv will be there to captures interview with top industry people.

Here’s a list of the Top Cats attending this evening.

1. Alastair Duncan, CEO, mrm Worldwide
2. Amit Shah, VP Business development, Openads
3. Andrew McFadyen, Technology Producer, ITN
4. Andy Evans, Founder / MD, Net Communities
5. Andy Oakes, Publisher, NMA
6. Avid Larizadeh, Associate, Accel Partners
7. Benjamin Cohen, Technology Correspondent, ITN
8. Carl Taylor, Director, Hutchison Whampoa Europe
9. Charles Astwood, Founder, London Eating
10. Chris Mooney, International Editor, FHM
11. Chris Seth, European CEO, Piczo
12. Chris Wood, CEO, Top Table
13. Daniel King, Director, Hitwise
14. David Lethbridge, Managing Director, Confetti
15. Dennis Greene, Head of E-business, Royal Mail
16. Ed Freyfogle, Co-founder, Nestoria
17. Giles Palmer, Managing director, Magpie.net
18. Hilary Birch, Safety Project Manager, Bebo
19. Ian Hayward, Founder / CEO, Glaxstar
20. James Brown, Creative Director, Podcast Voices
21. Justin Champney, Head of Brand Innovation EMEA, McCann Worldgroup
22. Ken Blakeslee, Founder, Web Mobility
23. Michael Collins, Director, i-Publishing Consultants (BIMA Executive)
24. Michael Nutley, Editor in Chief, NMA
25. Michelle Acton Bond, Head of Marketing, Wonga
26. Mustafa Mustafa, Publishing Director, IDG Communications
27. Nenad Marovac, Founder and managing partner, DN Capital
28. Paul Fisher, Venture Capitalist, Advent Ventures
29. Philip Wilkinson, Founder, Crowdstorm
30. Pietro Peligra, Associate, DN Capital
31. Richard Sedley, Director, cscape (unable to attend)
32. Richard Spalding, Founder, Kontraband
33. Ryan Carson, Founder, Carson Systems
34. Scott Rutherford, Product Architect, Cominded
35. Sean Seton-Rogers, Associate, Balderton Capital (aka Benchmark)
36. Simon Grice, Founder / CEO, Midentity
37. Sutha Kamal, CEO, planQ
38. Syd Nadim, CEO, Clock
39. Tom Adams, Founder / MD, mook
40. Tom Evans, Founder / Creative Director, mook
41. Tom Sacchi, Director, Unit9
42. Matthew Bagwell, Director, Conchango (BIMA Executive)
43. Steve Clayton, CTO, Microsoft Partnerships UK (BIMA Executive)
44. Tony Cocks, Solution Specialist: Unified Comms & Mobility, Microsoft
45. Roger Thelwell, Founder / Operations Director, mook
46. Robert Dirskovski, Head of Interactive Media, Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
47. Neil Hughston, Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive
48. Mark Fallons, Head of Interactive, McCann Europe
49. Julie Lane, Sales & Marketing Director, Lbi (BIMA Executive)
50. Sam Sethi, Founder / Publisher, Blognation
52. Andrew Romans, General Partner, Georgetown Ventures
53. Judith Clegg, Founder, Venturing Unlimited
54. Mike Butcher, Editor, Tbites.com
55. Cathy Grimes, Marketing Manager Personal Solutions, Equifax
56. Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist, Vodafone / Founder of Mobile Monday London
57. Jason Dunne, Publisher, “… for Dummies” and Capstone Business Books
58. Juliet Blackburn, Head of Digital, AAR (BIMA Executive)
59. Alistair Gammell, Managing Director, Map Media
60. Darren Gerry, Client Partner, Lbi
61 Peter Ward, Co-founder, WAYN
62. Craig Hill, Founder / Chairman, Digital Outlook
63. Anthony Robb-John, Managing Director, easyGroup IP Licensing
64. Jasmine Birtles, Founder / MD, moneymagpie.com
65. Felix Velarde, Founder / MD, Underwired
66. Dr Charles Wiles, Product Manager, Google
67. Robert Loch, Founder, Internet People (new startup in stealth mode)
68. Paul Walsh, Founder / CEO, Segala (BIMA Chair)

I’m motivated to write this post because I don’t think the main message behind my previous Facebook post was understood by a few people. This is probably because my marketing oriented posts are sometimes being read by techies who assume I’m talking about technology. It’s very possible that I’m not great at expressing my opinion well enough for people to understand my madness. I’m certainly not saying that everyone with a different opinion to me didn’t get the point!
Whilst I referred to technology, I was in fact (in this instance anyway), talking about a discrete form of marketing using technology called Facebook.

One size doesn’t fit all

I’ll be more direct this time. Facebook can be used effectively as part of an integrated digital marketing campaign. That is, you can use it to talk about (promote) products, services or events alongside other more traditional tools such as email, newsletters, print, radio, TV, Web site and blogs. You may even use twitter if you’re an early adopter of new tools and techniques. This of course will only work when it’s contextual, done discretely and it’s un-intrusive. In fact, I’d say Facebook usage requires an even more delicate touch than blogs. In this context, Hugh MacLeod’s reference to people as ‘human social objects‘ is nothing short of brilliant. [Hugh has kindly accepted my invitation to speak at a future BIMA event, so watch this space.]

When running an integrated marketing campaign you tend to use more than one tool, hence the word ‘integrated’. So, it’s not a question of whether you use Facebook or the other more traditional marketing tools. For me, it’s not even a case of ‘what’s the next best thing’. Robert Scoble amongst others have the time to review and commentate on this and they have the ability to do a better job than me anyway. My conversations are more about the evolution of the Web and how it’s used, not the short-term revolution of specific fads.

Building connections with people who trust you and your opinion, enables you to have conversations surrounding your interests (aka products, services and events). Notice I didn’t say community, as you can build multiple communities with the same people.

Walled garden or fenced meadow?

I noticed on twitter over the weekend that a number of people are only now, talking about Facebook as if it’s a ‘walled garden’. How did it take them so long?!

So, what do I mean by a walled garden? Well, Jemima Kiss wrote a neat post which explains it well. In short, but not as articulate, when using Facebook, you can set your preferences to automatically import information from sources such as flickr, blogs and twitter. These are also Web sites where you may already have one or more community. However, it’s not possible to enable Web sites or social networks to automatically import any of your stuff from Facebook (today). That is, everything is held within the confines of Facebook’s ‘walled garden’.

I’d like Facebook to enable users to export information such as contacts, to their email client or other Web sites. This is something that LinkedIn does well. That said, I’ve sent messages via Facebook recently due to not having contacts added to my new email client. I didn’t feel restricted and I didn’t feel obliged to kick my blog gimp in frustration. I was thankful for having their details on Facebook with the ability to send them a message seamlessly with what I deem, a personal touch.

It’s a fenced meadow

Personally, I wouldn’t call Facebook a walled garden. I’d call it a ‘fenced meadow‘ with a stream of people with whom I like to connect. If they’re not in there, I’m constantly opening the gate and inviting them in. If they don’t come in, I’ll continue to talk with them via blog, email, twitter, phone and smoke signals. I will never have one method of communication that replaces all others. Facebook not only allows you to create content, it aggregates most of the aforementioned in a friendly environment.

It doesn’t bother me that I can’t export RSS feeds. You’ll be amazed by the number of people who don’t use that technology. If I want to solicited opinion, ask for help, promote events, or communicate what I’m thinking or doing, I’ll use Facebook, either directly or indirectly via other tools.

I ended up having a conversation with a few people via Facebook status today. Mike Butcher noticed this and asked ‘Sad or sophisticated?’ via his own status. The fact that Mike picked up on the conversation and got involved answered the question. My answer is, ‘it depends’. It depends on who I’m talking to and what comes out of the conversation.

Is Facebook a black hole?

Robert Scoble and others think it is. The answer is ‘yes’ if you ‘replace’ everything with Facebook, in which case you’re just following the next fad. Scoble actually stated that he no longer uses his email client in favour of Facebook messages. So, it’s hardly surprising that he thinks it’s a black hole. I’ve previously stated that I checked Facebook messages before opening my email client but that’s not the same thing.

For the same reasons mentioned above, I will continue to blog and twitter. They reach a wider and sometimes different audience anyway. I’ve previously written blog posts and received many responses via Facebook with few to no comments on the blog. Is this a bad thing? Some will say yes. Personally, I don’t care ‘how’ I have a conversation with people/companies, as long as it’s happening. I’m quite happy to twitter the fact that I’ve written this blog post, attract your attention and for you to respond by writing on my Facebook wall. The fact that it has happened demonstrates my point. We’re having a conversation and building a better understanding and appreciation for one another.

I’m amazed by the number of Facebook invites I received after one of my previous posts. I was flattered, but it did make me feel guilty because I only connect with people I know, or people who are known to people I know/trust.

Naturally I’ll connect with BIMA members because if I don’t know them, I should. I go out of my way to better understand what benefits members look for and if talking about it on Facebook instead of email works, then so what. There’s another plug for something I believe in (BIMA), all in a post about Facebook! As far as I’m concerned that’s perfectly fine because I did say that I use Facebook to discuss stuff that I’m interested in as well as parade myself in an informal environment where people can see that the Chair of the longest established association (est 1985) for the UK interactive industry doesn’t have to be an old git that doesn’t get Web 2.0.

If you’re a BIMA member and would like to connect, please let me know you’re a member in your message, thanks.

Use cases to demonstrate my point

I’ve promoted events on Facebook, Upcoming, email, my blog and twitter. The winner for registrations was Facebook with people signing up within minutes. However, I used my email, blog and twitter to generate the conversation, which is where many of my registrations originated. I linked from one to the other. Do I care that most signed up on Facebook where I’m unable to extract their email addresses? In short, no. If they prefer to communicate on Facebook and more likely to attend and event if invited by that means, who am I to start emailing them anyway?!

How about we call Facebook the new “widget for integrated marketing campaigns“, used to converse with “human social objects” (people)? It’s no longer just about direct marketing with dead in the water statements such as ‘use our product because we’re a leader in our field’. It’s about the conversation that will take place anyway and making sure you’re taking part.