Web Optimization Blog

I can recall speculation going back years, right after it was clear that email was the holy grail, about the prospect of this or that thing being the new category killer.  None has held up to the hype…til now.  Just this week several things crossed my screen about the social web that just SCREAM category killer.

First, Boone Pickens has turned to social media to get the word out about the Pickens Plan. If you want to get on board to help change our dependency on foreign oil, this site gives you a plethora of ways to get involved – from an RSS feed, to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and YouTube.   So here’s a guy that is about as opposite from the plugged-in-iphone-toting-twitter-mob-participating 20-something as there is.  No matter. Boone Pickens is a self-made man and he got where he is by figuring out what he wanted to accomplish and then marshalling the forces to get it done.  Nothing has changed; he’s just implemented some new tools.

Second, Webguild published an article about a recently released study by Sapient that can accurately be described as a call to arms to digital agencies.  Ninety percent of respondents agree that it is increasingly important for their agencies use “pull interactions”  – social networks and online communities, rather than “push campaigns”.  This same study found that “nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents have switched agencies (or plan to switch in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or have hired an additional digital specialist to handle their interactive campaigns”.  Whoa, think about it – what is the churn rate of agencies if 45% plan to switch.  If I was an agency CEO, first I’d be reaching for the Maalox. Second, I’d be learning everything there is to know about social media, and developing “best use” profiles for each one.

Third, social media has outstripped pornography as the most frequently searched topic on the web. According to Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise, surfing for porn has dropped from 20 percent a decade ago to about 10 percent of searches.  The hottest internet searches now are for social networking sites.  This is doubly interesting since pornographers use some really aggressive and shady techniques to gain visibility on search engines.  And despite it all, their numbers are falling. Of course, 10 percent of today’s searches is significantly larger in sheer numbers than 20 percent of  searched 10 years ago would have been.  Still, going from 20 percent to 10 percent is a significant loss.

But Wait, There’s More

Whether companies are aware of it or not,  their employees are out there networking all over the place, on blogs, LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube. New outlets are popping up like mushrooms after a big rain.  Some of them, like Yammer, are providing enterprise-specific social networking spaces.

Some companies – I’m fortunate enough to be employed by one of them – are embracing the notion of social media and looking for ways to enable employees to network, form communities, and work more seamlessly with their teams.  Very cool stuff.

What To Do Next

Companies can’t stop social media from intruding into their world, so it’s really time for executives to start getting their heads around how it will change their business and how it fits into their strategy.  Don’t wait for your agency to figure it out for you.  There are people in your own organization that are all over this- find them, engage them. listen to them.

What networks are you engaged in?  Is your company adopting social networking? Your experiences and observations welcome.

Related post: We’re Looking for the Mouse

Watch Clay Shirky’s presentation at Web 2.0 Expo 2008 San Francisco