MySpace is a hoodie

I was running a social media workshop last week to help a client create a strategy for getting involved in social media and one of the sessions revolved around describing the difference between the various channels. One of the guys in the workshop came up with an analogy that made me smile [so I'm stealing it].
He compared the five main social networks to types of clothing i.e. if Facebook were a piece of clothing what would it be? This is what we came up with:

1. If MySpace were a piece of clothing it would be a hoodie [we all pretty much agreed on that one]

2. YouTube would be a plain white T shirt, - mainly cos everyone has a white T shirt and it 'goes' with anything [apparently].

3. Bebo would be an overly long stripy polo shirt - a bit skater-y, but reasonably clean cut. maybe Penguin.

4. Facebook would be a casual cotton shirt from Gap, probably beige or washed blue.

5. Twitter would be a reasonably funky T shirt, probably with a Manga character on it, from Uniqlo.

The comparison isn't particularly scientific , but we found it useful.:)

House sale via social media

I came across this really clever idea via our local village website. To combat the downturn in the housing market a woman is selling her cottage via a competition see here: www.winacheshirecottage.com. She is limiting the number of entries to 14,000 and charging £20 per entry. In this way guaranteeing the sale price and giving entrants a reasonable chance of winning. She also gives 5% of the sale value to a charity of the winner's choice.

It is very well thought out: if she doesn't get enough entries she will extend the deadline and failing that, will give the money accumulated so far to the winner.

I'm seriously considering doing this for my ever depreciating flat in London.

Facebook new family tab

It looks like Facebook is tapping into it's fastest growing groups of new members - women over 50 - by introducing a new Family Functionality. This feature will be rolled out in the next few weeks [according to Facebook] and allows you to group family members into a Family Network on your profile.

Not sure if it will stop your mum seeing those embarrassing piccies of you, but might make it easier for advertisers to target whole families.

You can now comment on Facebook Page's Wall Posts

It looks like Facebook has turned on the feature that allows Page [now Public Profiles] admins to comment on Fans wall posts. Previously if a Fan of your Page posted on your wall you couldn't comment on it, but now you can. This is great if you run a Page for a brand as you can further engage in conversation with fans.

Google still rules

I've been trying to find a good twitter search tool for a while now. Twazzup is great and summize isn't bad, but I find them all difficult when it comes to finding twitter profiles of companies or people. They are great at finding conversations about things, people and brands, but not that good when I want to find a certain twitter profile.

For example, when I tried to find the Dominos Pizza twitter stream after all the hoo-haa a couple of weeks ago, I tried using the dedicated twitter search engines, but didn't get anywhere. So, I turned to my old trusty friend Google and immediately found the Dominos profile.

It could be of course that I'm using the dedicated twitter search engines incorrectly [if so, will someone please tell me so I stop being a numpty].

Google Profile threat to LinkedIn

Last week, Google Profiles started coming up in Google search results for a person's name. The results are displayed at the bottom of the page in a separate section.
Two implications leap to mind:

1. Company spokespeople should make sure their Google Profiles are up to date and accurate as I imagine journalists will find the new feature quite useful for looking people up.

2. Is this going to take the place of LinkedIn? I've heard a few people talk about it, but I'm not convinced. I think people will use the Profile search for a quick lookup, but it won't replace LinkedIn's networking function.

Plus, it could be handy for recruiters when researching candidates, but I'm not sure if you are allowed to base recruitment decisions on social network profiles [does a Google Profile count as a social network profile?].

My only niggle is that you can't see the profile search results unless you are logged into your Google account on your googlemail address when you search. I was told by a colleague that this is because Google feels that free non Google email accounts aren't as trust worthy.