Social Networking: What’s Your Flavor?

As social networking has become all the rage, the list of networks to join has almost become endless. While I’ve been planning this blog post for over a week now, it became a little timelier with yesterday’s Mashable post informing readers that the number of social networking users has doubled since 2007. That’s pretty incredible if you think about it. According to a recent Forrester Research report as quoted by Mashable, 55.6 million adults visit social networks at least monthly, that equates to just under 1/3 of the population. In comparison, that was 17 percent of adults in 2007 and 18 percent in 2008. However, social networking use still pales in comparison to online shopping and email use among other things. We’ll see if the redirection of Twitter, from a focus on you the user to a focus on the entire world, encourages more adults to join and further increases this ever growing adult social networking usage trend.

With so many networks to choose from, I find myself having to limit which I belong to, mainly because there are only so many hours in the day. After 8+ hours of work, a trip to the gym, and any free time I might be able to scrounge up, I don’t find myself wanting to spend endless hours on the computer checking out the happenings on all of the networks I’m a part of. Don’t get me wrong, I like every other former college student used to lose hours of my life on Facebook, but I was only going to class, studying, pursing extracurriculars, and bar hopping. All of which allotted more free time to waste in such a manner. I would like to spend more time perusing the happenings and posts, but the real world just keeps me busier.

I currently belong to three networks, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and I used to be on MySpace back in college. I find my uses for each one very different. Twitter is my current favorite, mainly because it fulfills my news junkie quality. You can learn endless amounts of information on Twitter and you can share all kinds of information that you’ve learned or found interesting yourself. It’s fascinating. My use of Twitter is a mix between professional and personal. I follow all sorts of public relations, marketing, and advertising thought leaders. If these folks in my field are sharing their valuable opinions, knowledge, and experiences for free, how could I ever pass up not signing up to listen and interact? Not only am I hoping to, and already am, learning a lot from these folks, but I figure it can’t hurt future career aspirations to interact with industry professionals. Now, I feel like this means that I can’t go around tweeting worthless nonsense about my everyday happenings. This is fine with me though, I’d rather mainly share information than the ingredients of my breakfast. I also oversee and manage my employer’s Twitter account. I create tweet worthy content and interact with followers. It’s great to be able to apply all of the info I’ve learned from my favorite PR/marketing/social media thought leaders.

Next we come to Facebook. My use of Facebook has dropped dramatically from what it was back in college. While I used to seriously waste hours of time in one session, I now hop on for 10 minutes tops in most cases. Why has my usage changed? Well, partially for a lack of time like I mentioned before, but mainly because Facebook has changed so much over the past two years. Facebook is not Twitter, it never will be and it never should be. Original Facebook users like it because it’s Facebook. It’s a place where you can interact with friends, keep up with people you don’t talk to on a daily basis, and flip through a photo album to find out what’s going on in people’s lives. It’s a place where you can record your interests and your favorite things. But it’s changed so much I feel like I barely recognize it. Call me old, but I have trouble finding things on it, the status updates in the newsfeed irritate me, and I’d impossible to actually find the profile part my friends have recently updated. Other than creating content and assisting with my employer’s fan page, I don’t use my FB for professional interaction.

My LinkedIn usage is at the opposite end of the realm from that of FB. I use linked in solely for professional reasons. There I connect with other professionals, join professional groups, cover and elaborate on the tasks of my current job, list previous jobs, my skills, strengths, etc. LinkedIn for me is like one giant resume. It’s the least exciting of the networks I belong to, probably because I’ve just never really gotten into using it on a daily basis and navigating it easily. Its purpose however is fantastic and I need to learn to use it more, which I have been trying to do recently.

What social networks do you use? Myspace, Friendfeed, Friendster, if it still exists, others? And better yet, if you use multiple networks, do you use them in the same manner for the same purposes or different networks for different purposes?

Back to the days of the coffeehouse?

15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, Inspired by Starbucks. That’s the name of the new local community coffeehouse concept brought to us by global giant Starbucks. This brand extension has me thoroughly intrigued.

The first store, 15th Ave… supposedly opened this week in Seattle. It will be followed by two more test stores, which will all have different names and be unbranded. This is to get at that local, one-of-a-kind coffee house feel that independent coffee shops seem to convey, and adopt a “community personality” as a company exec calls it. Not only will the new stores serve coffee, but they’ll also be adding beer, wine and live entertainment to their menu. Call me a coffeehouse novice, and maybe my polo shirt and boat shoe wearing personality deems me not crunchy enough to venture into authentic local coffeehouses, but I had no idea that they served beer and wine. The thoughts running through my head about this concept are endless, so I’ll try to only hit the highlights. (Read Huffington Post's take here.)

Starbucks Goes Back to its Roots with Café Concept -- That’s the title of the Ad Age article where I first read about these goings on. But can a business that owns 16,000 stores across the globe really turn back the clock to create the “local coffeehouse” or is the brand already too far beyond this? And in relation, does the unbranding and varying names of the coffeehouses fracture the brand leverage that comes with being affiliated with the Starbucks name? It is known all over the world after all. In applying a the concepts from the article Brand Leverage Power: The Critical Role of Brand Balance, by Vicki R. Lane, a brand extension article I read in my brand management course in grad school, I would consider Starbucks a “diamond” under the balanced brand category. In general, it has high consumer regard and familiarity, and thus has high leverage power. But I would assume in an extension situation they would leverage the brand name, not create a new unbranded product.

Enough people out there drink Starbucks because it’s Starbucks. If stores extend beyond Seattle are the 'Starbucks because it’s Starbucks' drinkers likely to hit up unaffiliated, unbranded stores, even if they are technically owned by Starbucks? These folks most likely aren’t the demographic being targeted by this extension, but they are avid Starbucks drinkers and fans, and probably the brand’s core consumer.

Just because you don’t call it Starbucks and offer more beverage options doesn’t mean it’s not Starbucks. This thought conjures up the “rose by any other name would smell as sweet” from Romeo and Juliet. Meaning it matters what something is, not what something is called. No they are not calling it Starbucks, but it’s still owned by Starbucks. Can they really create an environment so unique and intriguing to grab customers whether it has an unaffiliated coffeehouse name or not? With the news of this new venture all over the web it’s not like Starbucks can completely hide their brand affiliation with these new coffeehouses. Will someone seeking an authentic local coffeehouse venture into Starbucks’ take on such for Starbucks to effectively steal the consumers that frequent already established and authentic local coffeehouses? Notice this point could contradict the people drink Starbucks because it’s Starbucks point above, but will they still drink it if it doesn’t say Starbucks on the cup?

Or, will these stores become the next hit thing in coffee? If people drink Starbucks for the name, are they also likely to drink and sport 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea cups and merchandise because it’s Starbucks’ next hit thing? Thus, will these stores have enough of the Starbucks trendiness factor behind them for carry over and spur the next celeb hand accessory or runway prop?

As foreign the coffee and alcohol concept is to me, it apparently isn’t foreign to regions outside of Seattle and this company may have been beaten Starbucks to the punch. Café Caturra, whose motto is “Artisan coffee by day. Boutique wine by night. Simple, fresh food all day.” currently has three locations in and around Richmond, Virginia. Friends tell me it’s good; I will test it our for myself over the weekend and will report back with my take on a coffee/wine crossover establishment.

In my personal opinion, I’m not going to head to a Starbucks spin-off to grab a glass of wine or a beer, but I’m also the type of person to take my coffee on the run. Now, I wouldn’t mind taking a glass of wine on the run occasionally, but I’m pretty sure that’s not legal, or at least not legal in any place I’ve ever resided. I don’t sit and hangout at a Starbucks or any other coffee establishment for limited amounts of time. I might have used it as the occasional grad school/undergrad project meeting place, but I generally find the atmosphere too distracting to get anything of importance accomplished. Too much people watching to indulge in.

Those are my thoughts, questions, and opinions as they relate to Starbucks local coffeehouse venture. Maybe Starbucks will successfully blow a coffeehouse novice like me away with this concept. I am more of a daily Dunkin’ Donuts coffee girl after all.

What's Reading?

In addition to all of my fabulous hobbies, like running, going to the gym, surfing the interwebs, being a news junkie, drooling over JCrew merchandise, collecting shoes, self-educating with marketing and public relations blogs, tweeting, at least once daily visits to Dunkin' Donuts, and eating more fruit than the average person should consume (this happens only during the summer months), complaining about Boston and the not so fantastic weather, daydreaming about D.C. and Virginia, AND missing my Hokies, just to name a few, I also find time to read.

So now that you know all of my hobbies, big and small, I thought it might be fun to keep a list of all of the books I'm reading and have read recently. If I can remember to, I'll even report on how they are going, my thoughts about them while reading, and my thoughts after finishing the book.

Now, here's my take on reading: it's good for you. That pretty much means I read almost anything and everything. Yes, that means I read mindless chic lit sometimes too. But if you put it in front on me chances are I'll read it, or at least give it a try. I have to disclose one thing when it comes to reading though. During a visit to the New Bedford, MA whaling museum a few summers ago my dad purchased me a copy of Moby Dick. I never had to read it in school, but apparently the rest of the world did. I gave old Moby one hell of a try, but after about 50 or so pages I gave up. I couldn't get into it and I just couldn't go on any further. Maybe one of these days I'll dig it out and try again.

Anyway... these are the following titles that I'm currently reading, and yes, I'm typically reading more than one book at a time as I try to balance pleasure reading with self-education reading.

1. Dreams from My Father, by the man himself, Barack Obama. First thing I have to say about this book is, it's not at all what I expected and I wish I'd started reading it at Christmas when I got it. Not only is Mr. Obama a fantastic writer, but I keep forgetting that this is actually a real story of someone's life and not just another fiction read. I'm only about a quarter of the way into it, but it pulls you in and I'd recommend it to anyone.

2. World Wide Rave, by David Meerman Scott. This is a book I'm reading for self-education/career field reasons. I'm trying to keep up on all of the emerging PR and marketing tactics. Like Dreams from My Father, I've been meaning to read this book for months as well. I only started the book Monday, but so far the book is fantastic with all kinds of advice, tips, and full of stories from PR/marketing folks who've successfully created WWRaves. Scott also wrote The News Rules of Marketing and PR, which in my opinion is a must read for every marketing/PR professional.

3. I just finished Quentins, by Maeve Binchy which I borrowed of our communal bookshelf down in my apartment's entry way. It was a decent book and I used to read a lot of her stuff back in high school. Always set in Ireland, I find her books give you a view of life outside of your current surroundings. The naivity of the main character annoyed me a little bit, but the book ended well and it was an enjoyable read.

4. In the spring I also finished Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss. It's a funny little book about punctuation. Good to read if you want to brush up on such.

I think that covers everything I'm reading at the current moment and the titles I can remember having finished recently. Up on the docket I have Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. Seeing the movie inspired me to reread the book. It was great the first time around and I'm excited to read it again. I've also have One Fifth Avenue, by Candace Bushnell, the author of Sex & The City, so obviously this one's going to be good! My next self-educating book is going to be Puting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge. It's about social media reinventing and changing PR. And last but I'm sure not least, I want to reread the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books. If my 59 year old dad read them, I figure it's ok for me to do so too!

Phew, so that's what I've got for now. If you can't find me at work or pursuing one of my hobbies, then you'll find me with my nose in a book.

Sunshine + Giant Daisies = Free Wifi from Prius

This post is a little behind the times since I first saw this Third-Generation Prius outdoor promotion last Monday, but nonetheless it's fun and noteworthy.

Outside of the Prudential Tower on Boylston Street in Boston, and a few other areas around the city, you can find a number of oversized solar flower structures that resemble giant daisies. Obviously not your typical field of daisies, especially since they're made of plastic, metal, solar panels, and whatever else, these daisies provide solar powered free Wi-Fi and charging and are part of Toyota's national marketing effort for the Third-Generation Prius. The flowers are aimed at advertising Toyota's a/c powering solar roof panels, optional on the Prius.

This is a great experiential marketing installment to support their "Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine" campaign. It's smart to tie a hybrid product to something useful, like hard to find outlets in the middle of a city powered by clean solar energy. The stunt also seems to clearly integrate the whole Earth loving, Earth friendly, happy, colorful vibe that the new line of Prius TV spots exude.

You can read more and see photos of the solar powered flowers on Boston.com.

Life without marketing

Life without marketing, well it would be different. So, score one more for the marketing profession.

Without marketing everyday life wouldn’t be the way we, especially Americans, know it today. For example, toilet paper might never have gotten off the ground and become the ‘can’t live without’ product that it is today. I suggest reading this entertaining Mental Floss article, ‘Why toilet paper belongs to America’ via CNN to understand the role marketing played in creating our appreciation for and usage of toilet paper today.

And thanks, marketing; I’ll take TP over a corncob any day.