let the people speak

Copyright © 2007 Molecular, Inc. | www.molecular.com | Linked by Isobar1

Steve Mulder

Let the People SpeakHow users are changing the Web


Meet Pete Blackshaw,new hybrid car owner


The promise: 50 MPG

The reality:


What is Web 2.0?Marketing buzzword


“We are witnessing the Web’s second coming.” The New York Times

“The Web has finally matured to the point where it can fulfill some of the outlandish

promises that we heard in the ‘90s.” Newsweek


Anything new

Anything cool

Anything marketing wants to sell

Anything someone wants Google or Yahoo to buy


“When people say to me it’s a Web 2.0 application, I want to puke.”

Venture Capitalist Guy Kawasaki


What is Web 2.0?Newish set of guiding philosophies

Ratings & reviews

Tags

Wikis

Behavior-driven info architecture

Blogs

Message boards

Social networking

Syndication (RSS feeds)

Open APIs

New content uses

Mashups

Instant feedback

Faster processes

More ways to interact

Direct manipulation

Differentiating experiences

Widgets

Browser extensions & toolbars

Virtual worlds

Mobile

Television & gaming platforms

User Contribution

OpennessRich

InterfacesNew DigitalInteractions


The spectrum of user contribution

To what degree do you feel the presence of users?

Site augmentation Site co-creation


User contribution:Message boards


User contribution:Blogs


User contribution:Ratings and reviews


Ratings and reviews: Opportunities

• Products

• Content

• Topics

• Features

• People

• Places

• Companies

• Events

• Be aware of external ratings/reviews about you


User contribution:Tags


Tags: Opportunities

• Works better for unstructured content – Articles

– Photos, videos, audio

– Discussions

– People

• Works better for content whose use and classification are constantly evolving

• Requires users to invest time


User contribution:Behavior-driven information architecture


Behavior-driven information architecture: Opportunities

• Surfacing content based on user actions– Most viewed

– Most sold

– Most saved

– Most emailed

– Most discussed

– Highest rated/voted for

• Finding relationships– Merchandising and cross-selling based on behavior

– Collaborative filtering


User contribution:User-generated content


Warner Brothers RecordsToyota Scion

American Apparel Starwood Hotels


User-generated content: Opportunities

• Item descriptions

• Showcase gallery

• Content for helping users make the right selection

• Instructions and applications

• Related content (historical, anecdotal, cross-industry, web links)

• Help content


User contribution:Social networking


The culture of participation

• The participatory, social nature of the personal Web (blogs, podcasts, photo sharing, social networking)is expected more and more on the business Web

• Collective intelligence is becoming more credible and useful– The work of the few impacts the many

– “The likes of Google, Amazon, and Ebay take the intelligence of all their users – and put it in the interface.” Tim O’Reilly


User contribution:A quick story


Dealing with negative contributions

“Early on we made the decision that if we were to hold this contest,…we would be summarily destroyed in the blogosphere if we censored the ads based on their viewpoint. So, we adopted a position of openness and transparency, and decided that we would welcome the debate….

The overwhelming majority of the 22,000 submissions thus far have been earnest attempts at creating positive advertisements….

Anyway, it sure got people talking about the Tahoe. Which was the whole idea, after all.”

Ed Peper, Chevrolet’s General Manager


Dealing with negative contributions

“By losing that control over the brand experience, Chevy actually brought more people into it.…

If you're going to participate as a marketer in the social computing arena, you’ve got to have thick skin and be ready to engage in the messy world of your customer’s opinions. Marketers that have the guts to turn over their brand to the public will in the end win over their customers.”

Charlene Li, Forrester Research


Myth: People contribute only when they’re negative

Molecular research: 60% of consumers contribute more positive than negative reviews, while only 1% contribute more negative than positive reviews

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Almost allare

negative

Most arenegative

Equalpositive /negative

Most arepositive

Almost allare

positive


User contribution:Implications


User contribution is happening

Companies have two choices…

Resist it and it will happen anyway elsewhere, outside of your influence

Support it, participate, and you can influence it and leverage it for extending your brand

1 2


We create platforms for experiences, not the experiences themselves


We create design containers for content

we cannot entirely imagine


evolve and flexible are that systems create We


To what degree are you ready to let go?

Steve [email protected]

let the people speak

Business

usergenerated content

spectrum of user contribution

user actions

gallery content

negative reviews

web links help content

positive reviews

negative contributions