How did the website die? Well, it remained static. Even though its’ creators believed they were using a dynamic content driven technology, the result in the end is just the same. It died. Let me say this on the subject, it didn’t die suddenly, and yes, its’ death could have maybe been avoided. Technologies like smart-phones (think BlackBerry and iPhone) and tablets (iPad) created a world that didn’t rely upon websites. Instead they used apps. Very narrow focused apps. People like their apps. They work. It’s that simple.

Wait a second you say, “we just spent x number of thousands getting our new website up for our corporation”. That’s great. I am sure the programmers you employed made sure your website is 100% compliment with BlackBerry, Android and iPhone. Right? They did show you how well your site worked on these devices? They also did show you how well your site worked on a PlayStation 3, as well as the latest generation of “smart-televisions” which employ apps? They also explained how users of the Internet under the age of 25, tend not to use ANY web-browser if it can at all be avoided, right? Your back-end scripts written in .net do work on the BlackBerry Bold 9700 running BBOS 5, right? Your site doesn’t rely upon Flash, because we all know, any iPhone or iPad won’t support Flash.

Wait a second, NONE of this was explained to you before you signed the cheque and spent 6 months getting a new killer site designed, and deployed???? hrms…. I hope your bosses are very understanding individuals. Maybe there are that super-small percentage of people who don’t use a smart-phone or tablet or console or smart-TV. After all, there is always the chance that their wife/husband or children aren’t going to ask them why the new website doesn’t work on (name any device) the phone.

How does this happen? When did it happen? Why did it happen?

Well, tons has been written about all three questions. It happened over the last ten years. It happened because technology evolved. It happened because users got sick and tied of stuff on the web that just didn’t work correctly.

Still with me? Good, now I’ll do a semi-brief time-line which I hope explains this.

1994:

Sitting in Edmonton, AB with a fellow geek, we come up with the idea of trying to sell virtual mallspace to businesses. Gold-mine we figure. What we didn’t count on, is most people at this point had zero idea about the existence of the Internet, let alone the web.

In 1994 people use the phonebook to look up numbers and addresses as well as businesses. People use TV news or the newspaper to find out what’s happening and what the weather forecast is for the next 3 days. People use stereos which employ CDs, cassette tapes and records to play music on. In the most basic concepts, the idea of an app hasn’t been born yet, unless you’re an uber-geek using a UNIX desktop on a computer. Average home computer costs over $2000.00 to buy.

1995:

Netscape takes the buggy browser known as Mosaic and creates the first mass version of a web-browser. Computers start to come with CD-Rom players. Windows 95 is introduced and a monolithic corporation known as Microsoft does a complete 180 turn as Bill Gates see the potential of the Internet.

People still newspapers, phonebooks and TV for news and information.

2000:

The web has grown. The Dot.com era has come of age. Apple promises a new operating system which will change everything. Maybe 60% of people have cell-phones. PDAs (remember your Palm Pilot?) are the rage with geeks.

People now use the web to search for restaurants, locate used cars to buy, research MLS listings for houses for sale, find out about the weather forecast, and every major news channel on the planet has an almost real-time website for news. The phonebook companies take a beating as people stop paying for Yellow pages ads. Why? Why use paper when you can find it online?

2003:

First generation social media sites are up and running. Most people have a cell phone, some even have a smart-phone. Apple has released OS X which is the most reliable, easy to use, operating system ever created. You can order pizza online, book vacations online, trade stocks online, buy and sell used goods online, hell, you can even find your perfect man or woman online with the existing dating sites of the time. RSS feeds start to push news and information to people’s cellphones and desktops.

No one I know uses a phonebook anymore. No one I know pays for ads in the Yellow Pages anymore. If you’re a business and you’re not online, you might as well be dead.

2007:

Facebook is alive and well. Everyone I know has heard of it, and about 20% of people I know, are using it. The uber-geek crowd now tells one another to “Facebook me”. The university crowd uses FB for everything from dating, to studying, to finding a room-mate. People have smart-phones. Our personal privacy is being taken away form us, but none of us seem to sincerely care. Your every action can be photographed by strangers with pocket sized digital cameras or smart phones and those pics can be posted to the Internet via a wide selections of social media sites. People in North America are txting and BBMing one another via phones. VoIP has taken off around the globe. Craigslist and UsedEverywhere networks make it possible to buy anything new and used, via the net. Laptop sales start to over take desktop sales. Apple talks about a new tool called a widget, which will be in one of the next releases of OS X.

Websites have evolved. Users now create content. Users contribute content, both plain and rich media. People are more connected with one another than any other point in history. The term “viral” is used when marketing gurus discuss success in business and online. SEO is now a phrase used in business and marketing. Newspapers, phonebooks and print advertising have all taken a brutal hit as people use the web and technology instead of the traditional tools. A generation has grown up digitally. Users are starting to realize they have serious consumer control. And users are fed up with websites that don’t work correctly.

2011:

A website dies. It has been replaced by specialized applications called, “apps” which people now use on their computers, their cellphones, their smart-TVs and their tablets. The phone companies have struck back, and users now download and install an app on their BlackBerry which allows them to search phonebooks around the globe. People check the weather with another app from The Weather Network. People can search for a used car with an app published by Auto Trader. I can book vacations, flights, car rentals, etc all from my smart-phone. My 11 year old daughter uses her iPad for everything from instant messaging, to checking email, to watching videos on YouTube. Her computer has collected dust since she got her iPad. Hell, her Sony PS3 has only been touched twice since she got her iPad for XMAS (and that’s over a month ago BTW).

For myself… I logon to Facebook, YouTube and maybe one or two more sites with my web-browser. Most of the time I use my trusty BlackBerry. I send emails to clients via my phone, compose quotes on my phone, review documents via my phone, edit presentations via my phone, instant message via my phone. I can all of this from pretty much anywhere. I am no longer tied to my desktop iMac, and I don’t have to carry around a bulky laptop with me wherever I go.

But guess what I don’t do much of my phone, even though it DOES have the ability to? I don’t surf the web with my phone.

And here’s the killer. Sign up with most cellphone companies on a three year term, and they give you the phone for free.

This morning while my girlfriend, room-mate and myself were having our morning coffee and tea, a local radio station 100.3 The Q, ran a story about a company in Whistler, BC which offers outdoor adventures. The company in question is Outdoor Adventures and how they had a staff member shoot 100 (yes, one-hundred) former sled-dogs, and how the former staff member has applied to the Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia for medical costs due to him suffering from Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD.

Now, regardless how we all might feel about this, there is a very important lesson in the power of social media in respect to this issue. This story broke on January 31, 2011. By three P.M. this afternoon I had had five people SMS/BBM me links to the story. At some point earlier in the day, someone had created a Facebook group about this called Boycotting Outdoor Adventures in BC, Whistler. I first saw a friend join the group in my Facebook newsfeed at roughly five P.M. PST. As I read the primary status which talks about the issue, I noted there were 999 members already in the group. I decided to join the group (Liked), and in the 4 or 5 seconds it took the page to reload in my browser, the member list had grown to 1013 members. Currently at 5:41 P.M. PST, there are 1,250 people who belong to this page/group.

So, I ask you the reader, “If this were your company, how do you handle the social media end of this?”

There is no quick answer or fix. I suspect that within 7 days the group in question will be over 100,000 members strong. Today the story is breaking in Victoria BC, Canada, but with social media it will be around the globe by tomorrow morning. To give you another view of this, by 5:48 P.M. there was an online petition regarding the subject, located at care2 which had been posted on the FB page.

There is an old saying in business which goes like this: “The customer is always right”. Myself, I tend not to agree with the statement because in my first hand experience the customer doesn’t really know what they want. It’s up to you to help educate them so that they make an informed buying choice. Regardless of my opinion on the subject, the fact is, clients will talk. The days of when a happy client might tell one person, and an unhappy client might tell ten, are gone. Today a happy client might tell ten people or post a positive review on their FB page or write a testimonial online. An unhappy client, if they are technologically savvy, can bring down your entire business.

So as I sign off for the day, think about this:

- The next time you think you don’t have the budget for intelligent/professional social media marketing, OR you think you don’t need to worry about having a proper social media campaign working for your business, think about what happened to this company.

The Internet has been evolving for a really long time, if you view the time-frame in computer time. Hell, a large percentage of those who use the web these days weren’t around when the Internet was born. How many Generation Y or Millennium Generation even know what Usenet, Archie or WAIS is?

Think about it for a moment. 1995. That was only sixteen years ago. A lot has changed in that time. Web 2.0 has come along. First generation “push technology” bombed. Facebook, MySpace, PlentyOfFish, Craigslist have all emerged in the past eleven years. In 1995 most people didn’t have cell phones. Now, just about everyone has a smartphone. In 1995 people who wanted to date, met at mixers or the local bar, or at a shared interest event. Now, more than one in five people meet online via dating sites or social media sites. In 1995 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) didn’t really exist. Now, corporations pay tens of thousands to get ranked on the first page of Google. Since 1995 the Dot.Com boom has come and busted. A generation of billionaires and millionaires was created via the Dot.Com era. Those people changed the face of business in western society. The use of diverse media to promote a company or a brand has evolved since 1995. End-users can now create content on the Internet, that can directly and indirectly impact a corporation’s profitability.

So, really, what does it mean to say “the web is dead”? The bigger questions to ask are, who cares and is it important to my business?

Technology evolves. And thank the gods for that. Can anyone old enough to remember the first generation Netscape browser, and those horrible pages from the mid-nineties, sincerely say they wished things hadn’t evolved? Can you sincerely say, if you are a smartphone user, that you don’t spend less time in front of a computer than when you didn’t have a smartphone? I know I can’t. I check four different email accounts, my Facebook, my LinkedIn, Twitter, Slashdot (and other tech related sites), Instant Message via AIM/MSN/FB-Chat all from my BlackBerry. This means I spend less time in front of a computer. I can be at the park with my daughter, and still get important emails and updates from peers/clients/friends via my phone. I’m sorry to all of you who are so tethered to your computer, but this to me is a wonderful step in the evolution of technology.

Technologies die. We all know this and we have all seen it. Innovate or die.

Coming next:

The Death of the Website

The Well allowed me as a member to connect with such people as Dr. Tim Leary, and Jerry Garcie. I connected with people from around the globe in a way I had never dreamed was possible with the local Bulletin-Board Systems (BBSs). And when Lambda came along it took everything to a new level. Neither of these place allowed rich content. There was no pictures, no audio, no music and of course no video. There was however text. The written word. And relationships were built based upon the words you typed. From 1989 until 1997 these two places were a part of my daily life. And in an era when most of my friends and peers thought the “internet thing” was a waste of time and a toy, I got to be part of something that was bigger then anything those of us in those days ever dreamed. In that era it was a new frontier out there and we all were a bunch of mavericks and by accident pioneers.

I created friendships in that era that have stood the test of time. I watched people meet in textual based rooms, start relationships, and fall in love. Some ended up getting married and those are some of the strongest relationships I have ever witnessed. We exchanged ideas, reviews on products, and helped one another out in anyway we could. In Lambda we developed a virtual world. When Pavel created Lambda that wasn’t his idea. But he gave birth to something bigger then us all, and we all benefited. Pavel didn’t do it for money. Pavel didn’t do it for fame. There was no cost to join either one of these sites other then the price of your monthly dial-up account.

So what’s the point of this. The beauty of that era was it was pure. We had no ads. There was no marketing hammer us from every angle. No banner ads. It was about connecting. Building relationship built upon mutual respect, trust and shared interests. As I said, it was pure.

There is a rumor that banner ads or some other form of ads will be coming to Twitter soon. This doesn’t bother me. I enjoy the service, and I don’t mind a smart ad. Facebook has ads, and yes, I do click through. What people tend to forget is these services take a huge amount of money to operate. Servers, network usage, IT security, skills & talent, etc all cost money. And we tend to forget that at times. Lambda was run by volunteers. It was sponsored by XEROX PARC in the beginning. But I don’t think any of use would have minded an ad here and there, just so long as it didn’t fsck too badly with out online experience.

Consumer control dictates we have the power. But in order for us to have that power, we must surrender a part of our privacy. If I don’t want ads for online sex-webcams on FB, I need to tailor what I do wish to have ads displayed for. By sharing my interests the powers that be can build a program that targets me and my interests. And this folks, is part of data mining. The real money or power behind FB is not the online ads, it’s ALL that data we place online. Take that data, run it through a few stats programs on a super computer and the corporations and/or government are able to build profiles based upon our lifestyles and interests. The question to ask, is this a good thing?

The vote is still out. Lambda and The Well never data mined, but I suppose they could have. What I think is important, is if Big Brother is going to track what we do online, do we really care? And are they going to be ethical with that data? Is the exchange of what I consider important in my life, who my friends and peers are really that valuable that I am not prepared to share that knowledge with corporations in order to connect with people around the globe?

Personally, I can live with that exchange. However for your business you may decide no. The internet is never gonna be the same. Online marketing now has as much if not more power then TV or radio. And the key to take away from this posting is that text has power. What you write and how it is written online can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Trust is important. The text we read online is the content we keep. And yet so many websites seem to miss this point. Personally I see the textual content of a site as having more value then the images or rich media they offer. So, young Jedi, be smart and make damn sure you have something of value in all those words upon your website. Twitter is all text. Facebook has rich content, but it’s the textual content that determines if I’ll view that video or not.

I suppose something haven’t changed. Twenty years later we are back to text. Yes, the pen is mightier then the sword.

The book also explains a little on why large corporations like Microsoft are throwing millions of dollars into social network sites like Facebook.

For many small businesses they see social networks and social media tools as mere toys or a waste of time. And they are so wrong, words can’t describe it.

An example.

Paul Colligan, whom I follow on Twitter recently posted updates about their experience with Orbitz. In his blog posting, Will Orbitz Rise to the Occasion Paul discusses how he used Twitter and his Blog to document his frustration with what his travel company had put his through. The story details the good, the bad, and the ugly. What’s important is that someone from Orbitz who had her own Twitter account stepped upto the plate to handle this problem, and Twitter played a key role in all of this. Now Paul has 3,082 people who follow his tweets on Twitter. And you can bet that each of those people have at least 10 people following them. Do the math. That’s an easy 30,820 people who have heard about how Orbitz first fscked up and later resolved the problem. How many follow Paul’s Blog, well only he can answer that question.
 

In marketing any exposure can be good. With a talented spin-doctor even a total cluster-fsck can be worked to one’s advantage. Hey, any press is better then no press, right? Wrong. When people share their experiences about your products or services they can help you gain sales, or loose sales. The era of “if you like something tell one friend, if you hate something tell ten friends” is over. Just like the Dinos, it is so dead. Today if I like something I can share that knowledge with a potential 100,000 people in under 10 days using social networks. And that’s if I like something. Think about what I might do, if I really don’t like something…

Consumer Control is about your clients having power of you. They don’t like the TV ad, they change the channel (hell with PVRs they can block commercials all together). They don’t like your Pop-Ups they use a Pop-up Blocker. They feel you ripped them off or they got bad service, and they start a XYZ Company Sucks Facebook Group. And in an era where trust relationship have HUGE value, your company suffers.

No the client isn’t always right. Hell, most of the time they don’t have a fscking clue. But they have the money in their pockets and they will decide how they will spend it. Think you have a monopoly on something? Guess what, I can find it online over seas and order from there if I don’t want you to have my business. Think testimonials aren’t worth the effort to gather and post online? Consider that another nail in the coffin.

Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace have change the face of business and marketing forever.

The question to ask yourself, is if you want to gain from this change, or be buried with the Dino’s in the past?

Twitter Related Links – pay attention before you screw up in front of 10 million people
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
40 Twitter Tips in 140 Characters or Less
The TwitterHandbook

Get the Book at Amazon
Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control

1. Should I have a Facebook group/page for my business?

A. Right off the top of my head, my answer is yes. Facebook is no longer just for the 16-25 crowd. I have more friends and peers using Facebook in the 30+ crowd then I do in the under 30 crowd. The marketplace on Facebook is free and you can advertise your products or services there. In addition, Facebook uses the concept of “trust” to enable people you don’t know to hear about you. For example, you email a friend on Facebook about your services. Because they are “your friend” they are much more likely to actually read that email, and look at the Facebook group page. They in turn can use the “Share” feature to let all their friends know. If properly executed, and with the proper branding, images, content, and media, it is possible to gain over 100,000 members in as little as 10 days. Those numbers can’t be bad for your business.

2. What is the value in using Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn?

A. The value is in what you do with these tools. And never forget, they are tools. You can meet new clients, develop professional friendships, locate sub-contractors, educate yourself, teach others, and leverage your brand. The secret in my honest opinion is to brand ALL of these site profiles to reflect your brand and yourself. There has been tons written on this subject. Check out the book, “Always On” by Christopher Vollmer to give you an idea of how Social Network have changed the ways companies do business. Soon to be published is the Twitter Handbook. ”Get your copy of the Twitter Handbook (Free if you sign up now) at http://TwitterHandbook.com“ 

3. Can Social Network marketing damage my bottom line?

A. Yes. Just like everything else in life, if you do it wrong it can cost you in the end. Don’t for example have pictures of yourself and personal friends slamming beer on your Facebook profile. Is that the image you would want to portray to potential clients? Also, I see a lot of people spinning their wheels (wasting time) because they don’t fully understand how to implement these tools. If you are not sure, or don’t know how, hire a consultant who does. It’s cheaper to pay a professional who can do it right, then to screw it up yourself and waste time “trying to do it on your own”.

4. If I get all this Social Network stuff happening, does my company still need a web site?

A. Yes, yes, and YES. The idea of “this stuff” is to drive business to your website. It’s about increasing your sales. Sales = Profit. Make damn sure your web site is ready for a Social Network marketing campaign.

5. How can I use this, AND still follow your idea of Punk Marketing?

A. This is easy. While raising awareness for your brand, you can also raise awareness for local grass-roots non-profits in your area. Create links to their web sites from your site and your profile pages. Maybe help them to create a Facebook page or group. Or if you want more advise, just email me.

6. My company is a non-profit, can these tools help us?

A. Yes. The United Way, Unicef, and a number of the other big non-profits are using Social Networks to prompt awareness for their causes. Virgin’s charity side is leading the pack with brilliant ideas.

******

Songs for the day:

1. The Little Things – Danny Elfman – Wanted Soundtrack

2. So Alive – Love and Rockets

3. If You Could See – Fastway – Trick or Treat Soundtrack

4. Walk Away – Dropkick Murphy’s – Blackout

5. Bringing on the Heartbreak – Def Leppard – High and Dry

*******

Help a kid have a chance in life.

Covenant House

http://www.covenanthouse.org/ http://www.covenanthouse.ca/

*******

Links:

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/

MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/

LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/

A long, long, long time ago, in a far, far, far away place called London (in the late 1960′s / early 70′s) a movement came out of the low-income social class called punk. Now since that time there has been some serious myth-conceptions about what punk really is, or was.

So, going beyond the media’s misunderstanding, and beyond the twisting the conservatives of the time published, punk was really simple: change. It was about change. Changing the situation. Changing how people thought and viewed things. True punk wasn’t about fighting, violence, hatred, or dropping out.  It was a direct result, a backlash if you will to the hippy movement at the time, which didn’t do much to actually change things. It was about simplicity. It’s music roots were in reggae and rock music. yes, it was fueled by the frustration of the youth at the time. And in my humble opinion John Lennon was the first punk icon. It was about sharing, and people getting along. It was against racism and institutional racism. It was about being socially conscious. It was about rebelling against what was wrong in politics, society, etc. It was a concept that had merit and still does.

The Problem began when the media glammed on (no pun intended) to the antics of bands like the Sex Pistols. The conservative governments of the time and organized religion saw it as a threat. And as they, the rest is history.

Punk Marketing.

I first began using the term with clients in the late 1990′s. My belief was and still is, is success demands that those who have the power and the money should make a real effort to help those who don’t. Yes, I can hear the capitalists screaming foul. But in an era where there exist corporations who have more money and worth the a large number of countries, especially third world countries, I find it depressing and disgusting that so many people go hungry daily. Movements like Make Poverty History are a good start, but they are not enough. Charity should start at home. Charity is not about publishing a news release stating how much you donated, or worse yet spending 70% of your budget advertising your charity and less then 30% on the actual charity. 

So I believe you can be a good corporate citizen and help others and that effort will be rewarded. For anyone who has ever worked with a non-profit organization (NPO), you know all to well how these socially vital organizations are under-staffed, under-skilled, and under-funded. Take a look at most of the grass-root NPOs in your area and you’ll quickly see how they lack branding, marketing and business development skills.

Long before viral marketing became a buzz-word, punks in the 70′s were employing the concepts to get the message out to others. Long before guerrilla marketing was coined as a term, people were being damn creative with no budget and promoting events, ideas and concepts. Social networks are the buzz these days, but for those of us old enough to remember and who were in any way a part of the “scene” we were doing everything social networks do today. People you didn’t know would show up in your city from around the globe and through the “network” know how to contact you, and you’d offer them a place to stay, food to eat, and show them around your city. People created distant friendships based upon reputation and mutual interests that were founded in trust.

So you see, punk marketing has been around a long time. maybe I’m just the geek who named it. Doubt it. But for now I’ll continue to use it and take the time to explain to clients how their success can have more meaning then just money. Significance has far more social value then cash. And the kid you enable to eat tonight, may one day be the next Steve Jobs.

A warning label will follow and I’m not responsible for what you do with knowledge gained here. This will be about marketing, technology and business. Social enterprise. Success. Changing your world. This may offend some, excite others, or be just bloody boring. It will however be interesting.

Next steps… locate a theme I like. Figure out how to integrate WP into iWeb OR find a handy tool for OS X 10.5. Actually, will create a theme.

Time for world domination to begin. Let go out and be safe…hrms… second thoughts, screw being safe, lets have fun.