UPDATE: I had originally planned to write thoughts on how our new President’s use of Twitter as his outlet for kneejerk infantile rage showed both the possibilities and extreme downside to the platform (that I still use, by the way), but I’ll just let this story about some of the National Parks and NASA accounts doing their own rogue Tweeting stand on its own.
Politics on Facebook: Here to Stay
Throughout the presidential campaign, through the election, and into the transition and the (in my opinion) surreal if not unexpected start tot the new administration, there has been a constant buzz from some social media quarters (largely Facebook): a desire to get away from politics, for people being nice.
Nah.
It’s not that we shouldn’t be nice to each other, or at least more tolerant of differences: however, we all have the power to shape what we see and engage in on social media.
https://www.facebook.com/doughaslam/posts/10158304135685105?pnref=story
More to the point: it’s clear that politics are here to stay: emotions are heightened, opinions are sharpened, and policies are at stake. Nothing is going away. Thinking as a marketer who works with brands on social media, the real issue is: is there a lower or higher bar for making political opinions known on Facebook when you may also be associated with a brand? Can we separate the association of personal brand from that of employers and clients? As someone who has commented on politics much more this year than in the past, I say we need to trust the ability of people to make those distinctions while still being more clear in drawing those lines. How we frame our commentary, and how we make use of social media (perhaps redrawing privacy garden walls, for instance), are things we have to consider if we want to say anything at all. I say it can be done. At times, issues are too important to be silent as an individual because we don’t want it to reflect on a larger brand.
Or, we can post goat videos. Goats are great.
LinkedIn Advertising
Every time news leaks that a social media is selling data to advertisers, people freak out. So it was last week when LinkedIn said it would be doing so. Freak out if you want, but I am more sanguine; LinkedIn is selling anonymous data, and if it’s done right we get better ads or more targeted services. If they do it wrong we get annoyed a little. If there is a data rupture of personal info getting out, that’s a different story, but it’s also not the design. So chill folks, if this helps Linkedin be more profitable then that’s probably a good thing.
Side note: I saw a friend, I forget who, wonder if anyone actually uses LinkedIn. My answer, and that of several others, was that it has become the default currency in careers these days. It hasn’t replaced the traditional resume but it is the substitute more and more often. It remains valuable, and LinkedIn will do well to keep it that way (I should add that I am a paid premium member).
Also of note: for this marketing data initiative, LinkedIn is using DataSift, which was last brought to my mind when Twitter cut them off in 2015:
Twitter Cuts Off DataSift To Step Up Its Own Big Data Business
Speaking of Ads…
I don’t blog about gadgets much, but I came to a decision point recently; my trusty but aging Google Nexus 7 tablet would need replacing at some point, and an accidental (I swear) toss down the stairs hastened my need. The problem is that the tablet market has been moribund: I have no interest in iPads, and only a few decent current models exist now. None of them are cheap, and I question how much I need them over the features of my very good phone.
I settled for a Kindle Fire HD 8. Why? Because the main thing I needed it for was the slightly larger screen to read (via Kindle App as well as the publication apps that were also available on this Android-based but Kindle-app environment) and to watch videos. There are times when good enough works in the gadget world, especially when taking tablets off my data plan means the device pays for itself. Plus, there are still some things that I don’t need a full-powered laptop to do.
If the tablet manufacturers can’t or don’t want to up their game, then “good enough”will reign and we will distribute our computing use in other ways- which is OK, I guess. It also means the early “tablets will replace our laptops completely” crowd was dead wrong, and I am not at all surprised.
Do you use tablets? What kind? Is it something that for you is fading away or do you want something new and exciting to use?