The Power of the Social Graph

At this point, we are all familiar with the viral spread of information throughout the web. We blog, we tweet, we post links to Facebook or LinkedIn. The simple fact remains that Social Media has changed the way we interact with the web and this has never been more apparent to me personally than the spread of an Israeli producer's video called ThruYou.

The producer's name is Kutiman and he created a mashup of YouTube videos to make some pretty cool music. But first things first, if you haven't seen the video (http://thru-you.com/), then check it out. Okay, you impressed? Well so was I.

The interesting thing here is that I saw this link while purusing Mashable, then saw it on TechCrunch. The next thing you know, it was all over Facebook, Twitter, and just about every other network that I'm a part of. I even forwarded the link over to a lot of my friends for them to check it out.

Hundreds of thousands or even millions of views later, I'm now starting to realize the true power of the Social Graph. All of us that work in this industry know that you can only do so much to sway people to try your product/service, but it's the content itself that takes on a life of its own. Kutiman didn't know that this was going to be a world-wide phenomenon, but neither did each person that posted, forwarded, tweeted, or linked to the video that he created.

More and more with examples like this everyday, I start to feel like we are all a small part of the larger part we call Social. Pretty cool stuff huh?

Does anyone else have another example of a viral video or article that made them feel the same way?

Requests in Real Time

Imagine this situation: You're at work and you're eating lunch. You chip your tooth and you realize that you need to see a dentist immediately. What can you do if you don't have a dentist nearby that you can call?

Peerviders is an application that allows friends to review and recommend service providers to others that they know and trust. With that said, you can log into Facebook, open your Peerviders application and scan through your list of friends to see if anyone you know has a dentist that they would recommend. If they have one, great! Search, over.

What I'm more interested in is the situation when none of your friends has a dentist to recommend. Right now, the application allows for you to ask a friend that might be able to help, but there is a time-lag with regard to the amount of time it will take for your friend to respond.

Good news - Facebook just announced that applications can now include invites via the Facebook Chat feature. Check this article out - http://mashable.com/2009/03/05/facebook-chat-invites

We're starting to look into how this will work for Peerviders.

Now imagine you chip that tooth, log into Facebook, nobody has a dentist to recommend, but you look at your friends who are currently online. You will be able to send a Peerviders invite via chat and get that recommendation in real time. Pretty cool huh?

Keep your eye out for this new feature in the future, I know I'll use it. Will you?

Slander vs. Opinion

What do you think? A user writes an opinion about a doctor or a plumber they have used in the past. You would think that the review would be an honest depiction of what actually happened, or is it.

This is a case where a user's review on Yelp has come back around to bite them in the ass:

http://tinyurl.com/cg7cw9

Take a look and let me know if you agree that user's (and Yelp in this case) should be held accountable for what seems to be obvious misconceptions on both sides...

Getting back to our roots

The company here is a cool place to work. Not only is the internal culture fun, savvy, and cutting-edge, but we never forget where we came from. In fact, one line that always resonates with me is "get it out there and get to failure faster."

We collaborate, we listen and we welcome criticism. We feel it is the only way to get better and improve rather than resting on our laurels . I can continue to preach or just let you watch a video from our CEO that gives a good example of what we strive for - passionate transparency.

Check it out:

http://vimeo.com/2933786

And enjoy...

Andrew

Out with the old, In with the new

If you are a jazzed about yesterday's events as we are, they you'll really enjoy these pics:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

Now is a good time to think about what you want to change and how you can make an impact. We would love to hear what those changes may be. Feel free to comment and share some of the changes that you foresee.

Can user content bring down review sites?

Check this out:

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/01/why-a-single-yelp-user-could-bring-consumer-review-sites-to-their-knees.html

I came across this article while perusing my Reader and it brought up a very good point for discussion. Can negative reviews from a customer come back to bite them in the ass?

I think this is ironic because my initial thoughts on consumer review sites were this - you see reviews if the service was spectacular or terrible, but rarely do you get feedback if everything was just okay or even just good. I say that because consumer reviews are love/hate. There is very little gray area when a consumer who has made up their mind about whether they liked your service (or not).

This then begs the question of whether reviewers are just trying to be dramatic solely for the reason of appeasing their own sentiments about the provider. Do we do it because we want people to really hear what we are writing? The more enthusiasm or aggravation that is detected in the tone of the writing, the more people will pay attention to what you write, right?

The link above gives an example where a dissatisfied customer may have taken his review a little too far. Maybe you were ignored by the receptionist, but can you say that she emotionally abused you? Maybe a plumber farted while working on your kitchen sink, but should you say he assaulted you?

All in all, I think our app will be okay. You're able to read and write reviews within Peerviders, but those reviews will be seen by your friends, not strangers that may be salted by the wrong tone. Our thinking is that some reviews will be good, some will be bad, but all will be authentic and understood by peers within the context of a user's friendship with the reviewer. I for one said some pretty nasty things about the last provider that I felt had left me in a lurch, but my friends know who I am and they can interpret my review keeping all that in mind.

Oh, and my bad review did come back around...

A Social Society

Sitting here in the office, I had the pleasure of talking with a PR professional to discuss the multitude of media that is available when promoting yourself, a product, or a business. And to be completely honest, after an intense 40 minutes of back and forth about best practices, we arrived at one conclusion... it's best to just start somewhere.

We all know that there are too many social platforms to count, let alone being able to maintain an awareness of everything that is going on inside all of them at once. That's just an unavoidable reality of the social landscape (or for all you buzz-word types, the Social Graph). I'm more in line with the thinking that we all strive for the camaraderie that comes with being a part of a group. It's human nature and I'm totally cool with it.

Now what? How does a new business tap into markets that seem to be quicker to judge, adapt, or reject an idea quicker than ever before? How does the idea go from being just that (an idea) to something that is used, enjoyed, and gossiped about within a social circle.

I'm not going to sit here and say I have the answer. I'm letting everyone know that Peerviders is alive. The application is live in Facebook. Don't be surprised if you start to hear the buzz.

We're starting somewhere.