Game-Changers

December 14th, 2009 by Kirk Skodis under Newsworthy, Predictions, Social Media
Two big things happened last week that will affect the way companies interact with their customers on the web.
1. Google launched real-time search, streaming tweets along with news above the normal results.
2. Facebook announced new privacy settings soon after striking deals with Google and Bing.
Both are game changers, but let’s start with Google’s real-time search as I think it will have a greater impact on brands starting NOW. We’ve long-argued that a company’s reputation will live forever in blog posts, news stories and user-reviews on Google. We’ve also argued that for Facebook and Twitter, the walled garden limitations in numbers was offset by the trusted message coming from a friend. Well, Google just tore down that garden wall and now brand managers must face the fact that a casual search for a product might open a deluge of negative tweets ABOVE the organic results.
Here at Trustworthy, we see this as a good thing because it forces companies to face the music. More resources will go towards making sure no customer gets to the digital-outburst point. Hopefully this will lead to better products, better customer service, and an intrinsically consumer-focused approach.
The new privacy tools on Facebook have caused more debate here, as we try to put a figure on the ratio of public vs. private profiles. We cannot find the data (yet), but can feel a not-so-subtle push from Facebook to make more content public since that is the value they provide to search engines like Google and Bing. My guess is that the percentage of public profiles is already much higher than we’d expect. The folks working these deals are no dummies and the slice of Facebook’s 350 million on the table must have some scale. Others here think the majority are already private and the thought of their status updates being blasted out in public search will cause more to go private.
Either way, if you’ve ever downplayed the impact of someone with a small network on Twitter or Facebook: This. Changes. Everything.
Real-time Google results for facebook privacy

Real-time Google results for "facebook privacy"

Two big things happened last week that will affect the way companies interact with their customers on the web.

1. Google launched real-time search, streaming tweets along with news above the normal results.
2. Facebook announced new privacy settings soon after striking deals with Google and Bing.

Both are game-changers, but let’s start with Google’s real-time search as I think it will have a greater impact on brands starting NOW. We’ve long-argued that a company’s reputation will live forever in blog posts, news stories and user-reviews on Google. We’ve also argued that for Facebook and Twitter, the walled garden limitations in numbers was offset by the trusted message coming from a friend. Well, Google just tore down that wall and now brand managers must face the fact that a casual search for a product might open a deluge of negative tweets ABOVE the organic results. Jennifer Leggio calls it a “wake-up call for brands” on ZDNet, using Starbucks as an example.

Here at Trustworthy, we see this as a good thing because it forces companies to face the music. More resources will go towards making sure no customer gets to the digital-outburst point. Hopefully this will lead to better products, better customer service, and an intrinsically consumer-focused approach.

The new privacy tools on Facebook have caused more debate here, as we try to put a figure on the ratio of public vs. private profiles. We cannot find the data (yet), but can feel a not-so-subtle push from Facebook to make more content public since that is the value they provide to search engines like Google and Bing. My guess is that the percentage of public profiles is already much higher than we’d expect. The folks working these deals are no dummies and the slice of Facebook’s 350 million on the table must have some scale. Others here think the majority are already private and the thought of their status updates being blasted out in public search will cause more to go private.

Either way, if you’ve ever downplayed the impact of someone with a small network on Twitter or Facebook: This. Changes. Everything.



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