social media

Social Commerce – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

by RobertKCole on June 30, 2011

Below is a copy of my presentation on Social Commerce for the June 29, 2011: “Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going” webinar sponsored by Tnooz & Amadeus IT Group. It was great to have over 600 people register for the event.

The panelists and the topics that were covered included:

The Moderator was Kevin May, Editor of Tnooz

Unfortunately due to a family emergency, Stephen Joyce, CEO, Rezgo and Chairman, OpenTravel Alliance was unable to present his perspective on Search, New players and New Horizons.

We wish Stephen and his family all the best and definitely missed his insights on all the topics covered.

My presentation is embedded below and is available for download by clicking the Slideshare link.

Social Commerce – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow


For those who did not attend the webinar, the point of selecting The Beatles notorious Butcher Cover for the opening slide was to highlight that the only certainty for the future of Social Commerce is that some big mistakes will be made along the way. The Beatles, undeniably the greatest social phenomena of its time 45 years ago, came very close to broadly distributing this cover image as a commentary on the Vietnam War for a US album release.

Travel organizations aspiring to be known as Social Commerce pioneers will undoubtedly attempt to break convention and venture into uncharted territory. As The Beatles learned, it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly where the “creepy line” lies until you have crossed it…

By the way, if you are interested in acquiring a rare 1st state copy of The Beatles Yesterday & Today with the Butcher Cover, one sold at auction for $4,800 in 2009.

My compliments to my fellow panelists on the content and insight provided by their presentations and to Mr. May for his typically exceptional job moderating. If you would like to learn more about Kevin’s fascinating background, please feel free to enter “Kevin May” into the Views from a Corner Suite Blog site search feature in the right sidebar – Sorry Kev, couldn’t resist… (maniacal laughter…)

Tagged as: innovation, insight, marketing, mobile, social media, strategy, technology, travel, trends

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Are Your Facebook Friends Revealing Secrets?

by RobertKCole on September 17, 2010

NOTE: This post has been updated in consideration of Matt McKeon’s desire to have only a single image posted from his infographic.

A lot has been made about Facebook’s flirting relationship with member privacy. Controls are much improved, but now the greatest challenge is users understanding of all those settings.

Social Megaphone
Creative Commons License photo credit: theparadigmshifter

“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” - Benjamin Franklin

This issue came to my attention while drafting an e-mail to an individual who I have never met that works on a different continent. I use Outlook 2010 for an e-mail client with the Outlook Social Connector plugin. Much to my surprise, the Outlook Social Connector status panel displayed all of this individual’s Facebook status updates, plus, as an added bonus, wall postings authored by others.

Could this person, holding a technical position with a large global travel technology company, be a complete moron when it comes to social network privacy practices?”

After a little research, I came to the stark realization that my own Facebook privacy settings were configured to provide this same degree of insecurity for my friends’ wall posts. Considering myself an enlightened, social media-aware, privacy-conscious geek, I had paid considerable attention to the security settings impacting my wall posts, but apparently paid considerably less attention to the privacy of wall posts made by others. continue reading →

Tagged as: facebook, privacy, security, social media

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Say Anything… Fast Times at Social Media High School

by RobertKCole on April 8, 2010

Relationships are the foundation of social networks, social media and ultimately, social marketing.

Travel organizations must realize that like interpersonal relationships, it also takes time to develop lasting customer relationships. Relevance, Engagement, Honesty & Trust are the four cornerstones when establishing an enduring social graph – the same factors that heavily influence who becomes friends during High School.

Engagement sometimes requires taking risks and occasional drastic measures

John Cusack in the 1989 film Say Anything... Showing relationships sometimes involve risks. Photo courtesy EW.com

In the five years since the dawn of Web 2.0, it seems social media has successfully passed through the turmoil of adolescence and is now determining what path it will follow when it finally grows up.

As Say Anything… is a seminal coming of age movie about the complexities of teenage relationships, it might be interesting to to see if any parallels can be drawn between the perspectives on relationships provided in the film and business-customer dynamics in social media relationships.

It turns out the parallels between the stages of education, development of personal relationships and the evolution of social media are significant.

Breaking down the development of the Internet into five year periods enables the comparison of these stages to relative phases in educational and online technology maturation: continue reading →

Tagged as: customer relationship management, film, insight, marketing, social media, Web 2.0

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What a Skull Fracture Can Teach Us About Social Media

by RobertKCole on March 6, 2010

What does a skull fracture have to do with social media, social marketing and the travel industry? For me… Everything.

Fragile Relationships
Creative Commons License photo credit: Lif…

Like authentic human relationships, social media customer relationships can be very fragile

Eight weeks ago, my wife slipped on an ice patch and fell, Keystone Kops style, fracturing her skull. Our priorities were instantly reordered. Blogging was suspended and Twitter updates slowed. Content creation and curation were interrupted, but that’s only half the story.

Social media consumption was also disrupted. Real-time feeds from Twitter and Facebook became irrelevant. LinkedIn languished. All brand relationships were ignored; there was no interactive engagement – there was no engagement. I would be hard pressed to remember any traditional broadcast media messaging during the period – all were ignored.

Regardless of my favorable predisposition toward a travel brand, or timely exposure to highly compelling message, or amazing pricing for a trip that urgently required planning, no transaction resulted; the timing was bad.

The only relationships that mattered were authentic personal relationships. The top priority was a commitment made over a quarter-century ago when I married my wife – the “in sickness and in health” clause had kicked in.

It became clear that under challenging circumstances, priorities drive definitive action, and those actions trump even the best intentioned plans. continue reading →

Tagged as: marketing, social media, Social network, strategy, technology, travel

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New FTC Rule Helps Improve Social Media & Travel Reviews

by RobertKCole on October 5, 2009

UPDATED – Eliminates $11,000 per event penalty originally published and later retracted by The Associated Press.

The United States Federal Trade Commission has published new guidelines requiring much greater transparency regarding endorsements and testimonials. In the first updating of its rules since 1980, the new guides clearly define that that it is not acceptable to provide an endorsement or testimonial regarding a product or service without revealing “material connections” – i.e. payments or free products received in exchange for the endorsement. The new rules go into effect December 1, 2009.

Smoke and Mirrors
Creative Commons License photo credit: Alex Clark

New US trade rules will help clean up misleading travel & hotel reviews, blog posts and twitter updates by requiring disclosure of compensation.

These guidelines cover more traditional advertiser / celebrity endorsements, but also specifically include any testimonials made via social media. The FTC press release provides blogging as a example, stating: “the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

That example leaves very little to the imagination for those seeking a loophole.

The FTC’s intention is to protect consumers from being misled by individuals having a potential conflict of interest. If any relationship involving compensation exists, disclosure will be required. Additionally, it also protects against claims that would not be “reasonably expected” by a consumer using the product or service. The FTC has put some teeth into the new rules, with fines up to $11,000 per post for breaching the guidelines. continue reading →

Tagged as: ethics, hotel, reviews, social media, travel

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Change Your Thinking about Social Media

by RobertKCole on September 30, 2009

I have always disliked those inspirational viral e-mails that are circulated by friends. They always struck me as much too manipulative. I particularly despised the inclusion of superstitious taunts daring the receiver to forward the message, for example, “Forward this message to 10 friends within 24 hours” in order to a) receive unfathomable riches or b) avoid unimaginable despair…

Summer in the Valley
Creative Commons License photo credit: cordalth

The beauty of a window view is most enjoyed when shared.

A recent one, that was forwarded by my sister, stuck me as a bit different. It is included here not because the topic deals with a window view, or because the protagonists discussed vacations, but because it deals with the essence of communication.

In reading this parable, it occurred to me that hospitality companies interested in developing successful social media strategies need to focus more on the social and less on the media if they want to create authentic engagement with their audience.

Our story begins -

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window.

The other man was confined to spending all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. continue reading →

Tagged as: hospitality, insight, inspiration, social media, travel

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Socialnomics Should Not Be Voodoo Economics

August 27, 2009

Socialnomics runs into some fact checking issues with its video heralding the incredible growth of social media. The video inadvertently highlights the key issues most frequently cited by social media critics: First, not referencing its obvious creative source – the Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman “Did you Know” work. Additionally, the difficulty in measuring the impact of social media is amplified by several statistics turning out to be grossly inaccurate or based on unsubstantiated opinions.

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