While Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg attempted to defend the company’s privacy practices in an open editorial in the Washington Post, it lacked clarity in understanding the problem for the general user as well as long-term concerns for business.

Though Mr. Zuckerberg noted in a well-crafted statement the social media titan had “missed the mark” with its privacy controls and will be implementing changes to rectify the problem, it comes up far short in understanding the broader implications. Facebook, as he noted, “has evolved from a simple dorm-room project to a global social network connecting millions of people” and to control the flow of personal information might be impossible with commercial traffic.

Facebook, like the former giant of social media, Myspace, now relegated to being a punch line, has grown because of the super connectivity and the web of contacts with like interests. To pull those or at least place roadblocks on the network, starts the deck tumbling downward as it slowly dilutes the affiliations and ultimately business dealings are the coldest of cold calls.

In light of this recent turmoil and given the company is intended on a mega IPO within the next eighteen months, the company will “add privacy controls that are much simpler to use,” Mr. Zuckerberg claimed. While there is still a broad jump between statement and fact as the company say’s it will allow users to turn off third-party services, it quickly has the selling feature of sending out a bulletin on Myspace.  With the latter, it simply does not work and is merely an automated release that the overwhelming majority will ignore.

Regular users have seen this as since the halcyon days of 2005 to the now open door policy, the lack of privacy has gradually eroded the true connectivity to consumer. As the company chipped away at its privacy settings and saw a massive demographics shift it lacked a “cutting edge” and the organic relationship to user or for business, the consumer dissipated. With this lack of privacy, the ability to reach your consumer, without them feeling like they are under the looking glass is impossible, yet with it, new releases have the allure of a flyer at your doorway.

Though the jury is out on whether the company can rebuild its reputation with respects to privacy, there are significant questions ahead for business users. It must find a way to recapture its youthful exuberance that “Tumblr” exudes and the free flow of information the “Twitter” provides.

Yet on the broader horizon lays the message that business entities need to create their own self-sustaining campaign that invigorates customers to not simply enjoy the brand but become the brand. By creating a sense of a digital dialogue, the company not only allows its consumer to feel they are shaping its future but showing loyalty to the needs of core clientele. That reciprocal function sits at the root of a positive social media campaign.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved

On Tuesday, organizers of the upcoming London 2012 Olympics unveiled their mascots, two lovable characters “Wenlock and Mandeville“. As we would learn in the animated introduction that was reminiscent of the noted Children’s series “Thomas and Friends” from the 1980’s, they were forged from the last drops of steel used for the construction of the Olympic stadium and later re-tooled as a loving present by retiring worker, “George”, to his grandchildren.

A delightful tale, that went off the charts by any focus group of the intended viewers. Alas, poor “Wenlock and Mandeville” have not been treated so kind by the mainstream media but in an amusing turn of events, says a great deal of how far off course much of the business community is in understanding the present-day evolution in connectivity.

As per the Telegraph, Stephen Bayley, design critic firmly establishes the lack of touch with the present day as following his scathing review of the lovable duo, complains that they are, “appalling computerised Smurfs for the iPhone generation”.

While the “Smurfs” hit their heyday in the early 1980’s, with a modest revival in the following decade, making the notation a tagline for the generation looking to comfortable shoes and affordable prescriptions, comments such as these, sting with the inability to understand society is in the midst of the next phase of the Digital Revolution. Call it evolution or revolution but over the last decade the pace of change has pushed into top gear and those not realizing this, are left behind talking of, well pop culture icons thirty years past.

Equally, the “iPhone” generation comment is not only well off course in this situation but has the same residue that is fouling social media titan Facebook. With the latter, that now boasts its user base is growing exponentially; its largest growth demographic is women over the age of fifty-five. One very crucial point to remember in product launches, is should a new product get into the “wrong hands” and be associated outside of the intended market, it might never recover. While Facebook, whose success is based upon a pre 2005 paradigm, frets over public outcry on privacy that might be its greatest flaw. Facebook’s present demographics is a recipe to have your product, that tight new design, jettisoned into the wrong hands and killed off quickly before it ever gets a chance. With its now ever-present agricultural mayhem and other application’s it has lost its sex appeal fast and a product launch nightmare. With the power of the modern social media web, companies must now be wary that the wrong product placement will crush the launch straight out of the gate.

The evolution of the digital revolution is pushing quickly into an era, where product placement is at an entirely new level of visibility. The wrong move and your product could be associated out of its intended market and relegated to the discount aisle before it had a chance. The future of Social Media is reliant upon forward thinking and not rooted in the past and for that, the London Games have hit the target.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved

As the media has went from a modest simmer to near complete boiling over of Facebook’s change of privacy, founder Mark Zuckerberg is facing a sharp pendulum of public mistrust, a failure to recognize what made it successful and an aging corporate vision.

The success of the company, built upon the template provided from the original form from the Phillips Exeter Academy yearbook, explicitly tapped into a youth market but from the subtle twist of the present day decorum. Key to its growth was a freshness that represented a youthful coming of age in 2005 but in many way’s, or at least it appears as such in hindsight, it was simply by accident. It was “here”, “now” and not your parent’s dowdy yearbook with the requisite photos of band and a pimply faced world but was uniquely successful because its content was inherently by its readership.

Facebook’s success came via endless strains of interoperability the connected its users but with an honest edge that was contingent upon privacy. Though it seems impossible to believe now, the site once had a “pulse”, which drew you into the allure of the “right now”. Those halcyon days are long gone as the portal has either forgotten its youth or simply aged from the corporate top down.

The gavel has not sounded yet on Facebook but far off in the distance the gallows are under construction. The youthful dalliances that turned Facebook into vibrant source has shifted to the polar opposite, as the fastest growing demographic is women over the age of fifty-five and the site rarely edges towards key market information, much less the sales close. Though the company is quick to point out that active users are surging, the backlash over lowering privacy is creating a storm of deactivation but equally a testament to its changing feel. The issue of deactivation and even privacy is a debatable point on a company ready to launch an IPO in the next eighteen months with a value estimated to be US $11 billion but what is a problem is its usefulness, its connection to the youth and recognition of growing trends.

In an era where information moves fast and businesses hit the “tipping point” in a blink, Facebook is looking very much like a company that grew in its youth but is now weighed down with age and a burgeoning waist-line, complete with old brown shoes. The once powerful informational stream of the 18-24 market is a faint heartbeat and replaced by agricultural daydreamers and applications with a debatable flow through to a business bottom line. The company’s engineers may be ushering in a series of changes to features but their connection to the youth seems long gone. Mirroring the errors of MySpace, where the endless spam of bot-driven sites made personal walls and bulletins useless, Facebook is nearing a point of return if does not regain its youth, it will become a very modest vehicle for savvy businesses.

This should come as no surprise because like all businesses they must maintain a timeliness and exist within the knowledge of the present day market and forward thinking. With one glance at the iPad and the variety of competitive tablets, along with assorted applications, it should be clear that the shot across the bow has been made. Someone has recognized trends and along with making them, staying neck and neck with a vision of tomorrow, today.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved

The swirling change of media has been in a constant storm for no less than half a century. With the backdrop of Marshall McLuhan’s notion of “global village” not only ringing true but also turning into overdrive, the modern media has become both the pulpit to deliver information in hyper-speed and a test of constant evolution. Delivery methods have gone through a series of changes with technologies improving, this trend will continue at an alarming pace.

For the broad media, this serves as both an opportunity and requirement to evolve, lest face obsolescence. What was once a simple process of delivering information within the bedrock of classic journalistic principles has both eroded into a series of highly questionable approaches turning the modern media into an “entertaining” and “interactive” experience but placing a enormous weight on shunting information into the public’s eyes. The now prophetic tone of Mr. McLuhan’s “medium is the message” is ringing true but the further question on the horizon is whether the modern media, as well as news providers, recognize the need to evolve in rapidly changing environments.

In the most base, simplistic review, it appears that the vast majority of decision makers are peering into the future with their foundation set in the past. The failing grade of media outlets faced with plummeting readership is moving towards paid subscription and serves as evidence that they have lost touch with the modern world of information moving freely. The revenue stream is not simply from the quality of content but how it is delivered through the portals of today. Successful media outlets must understand this crucial test and will continue to separate themselves from the flock should they do this, creating a new series of major “players”.

The foundation of media was virtually unchanged, or at least to some degree, for many decades but now is in constant flux. The vast horizon of Social Media has leapt to the forefront but unlike “conventional” media, its window of being timely is significantly shorter. Customer loyalty within the broad Social Media sector is a rare breed where the errors of MySpace last decade seem to be infiltrating Facebook in the present. While the latter readies for an IPO in the near term, its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, seems to have forgotten what made it a success during his teen years. Is it a matter of poor understanding of the foundation of success in the modern media or with the founder now twenty-six, has it lost touch with the grassroots of what turns Social Media? With Facebook’s shocking errors with culling privacy, it appears the latter and if they are not careful they will merely become a birthplace of the next major player in the media.

Modern media is on course for evolution of unforeseen levels and its present day look will be radically different by decades end. For the successful media outlet and marketing manager, the first key to success and growth is recognizing the inevitability of change and the vision to move boldly forward.

Prepared by J. Davies
©Helix World Media, 2010.
All rights reserved