Millenial social media refusniks

Contrary to what you may have heard, not all members of the "new school" generation have been eager to adopt social media. In fact, there are enough of them holding out to earn them their own name: refusniks.

Refusniks are the 18 - 29-year-olds who eschew the practice of connecting and communicating on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Their reasons vary - some are fiercely protective of their privacy and others just simply hate typing.

Since Facebook just announced that it has 300 million members, it stands to reason that refusniks are coming under increasing pressure - and that they are bound to miss out on some important information along the way.

Read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com

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Fish out of water

If you're considering new revenue models, or new models of engagement, yet are concerned about being "a fish out of water," blogger Kaihan Krippendorff says you should remember that, "the fish out of water has no other fish to contend with."

In essence, if you discover a unique model that works, you won't have any competition - at least not until your competitors catch on and catch up.

Read this article to learn about how Rosetta Stone adopted an unorthodox approach to marketing their products, and what the results were.

Not sure how to uncover "fish out of water" opportunities? Krippendorff says to ask yourself the questions below:

1. What path are others fixated on because they assume it is the right one?



2. What ideas do I have to change that approach?



3. How can I make things better, faster and more efficient?



4. How can I research my ideas without spending a lot of money upfront?

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Taking opportunity inventory

While we're not out of the economic woods yet, the faint chatter of recovery can be heard in the distance. For most of us, day-to-day business is still about saving money, cutting costs, and increasing efficiencies.

The one thing we're all counting on, though, is that the economy will rebound and we will be able to switch our focus from a "do more with less" mentality to one of growth.

So how can we keep our eyes fixed firmly on the issues of the day and also look into the future? According to Rita McGrath, one way might be to create a special "growth group" within your organization. Growth groups take inventory of the opportunities for your organization, creating and managing a pipeline in support of the range of your functional or business lines.

In a recent article at Harvard Business Review, McGrath - author of, Discovery Driven Growth - discusses the purpose and characteristics of a growth group. Read the article here.

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Content is still king

Internet users are spending more time online with content than they are with communities or communications, according to the Online Publishers Association's (OPA)Internet Activity Index (IAI).

The IAI states that users spend the majority of their increasing time on content sites - up from 34% of total time spent in 2003 to 42% in 2009. According to the index, user time spent on content sites increased by 24% while the time they spent on communications and commerce decreased. The only area studied that enjoyed a greater increase was search, which accounted for 3% of users' time online in 2003, and 67% in 2009.

For a more through discussion, read this article at MarketingCharts.com

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Can you trust the wisdom of the crowds?

When you visit Amazon.com or IMDb.com and see a book or movie with a high customer review rating, it could mean that many people tried the product and voted on it, and that most of them gave their approval. Or, it could mean that a few zealous reviewers voted over and over again.

Niki Kittur is an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies user collaboration on Wikipedia. he says, "There are both intentional and unintentional sources of bias. In the end, what we really need [are] tools and transparency."

Read this article at TechnologyReview.com to learn more.

How much weight do you give to customer reviews? Have you found them to be trustworthy?

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How small businesses outperform the economy

Being small sometimes has its advantages - especially when it comes to surviving this tough economy.

Jeffrey M. Stibel is an entrepreneur and brain scientist, and he says that small businesses are engaging in the following approaches as a means to outperform the economy:

• Action


• Planning is important


• Innovative financing


• Give the people what they want

Read Jeff's article at HarvardBusiness.org

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

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Personal data as online currency

Chances are that if you want to read a really great article from a reliable source, you'll be asked to provide some personal data in order to gain access. Perhaps a form will pop up, asking for your name and email address. Maybe you'll also be asked to select your gender, profession, or even income level from a series of drop-down boxes.

From the user side, how far people are willing to go depends on how much they value the information you're providing. From a marketer's perspective, then, it is important to map what you're asking people to provide to a benefit they'll receive.

Jim Sterne, founder and director of Target Marketing (and former DigitalNow speaker) offers five levels of "one-to-one mapping between the data we gather and the benefit we provide, which may ultimately be the key to increasing consumer trust:

• Level One: No visitor data is gathered.
  
  Benefit provided: The visitor is granted access to marketing materials and can wander throughout your public website .

• Level Two: The visitor allows cookies and JavaScript tags.
  
  Benefit provided: The visitor has access to whitepapers, blogs, use of shopping carts, etc.

• Level Three: The visitor's email address is entered.
  
  Benefit provided: The visitor receives your newsletter, special deals, webinar invitations, RSS feeds, and anything else that can be communicated via email.


• Level Four: The visitor's postal address and preferences are collected.
  
  Benefit provided: If you go so far as to ask a visitor for a postal address, you must reciprocate with a higher level of value, such as sales notifications to the visitor's friends and family, special event invitations, members-only webinars, shipping products, etc.


• Level Five: The visitor supplies valuable information beyond a sign-up sheet, through participation in a survey or an advisory council.

Benefit provided: You lavish the visitor with appreciation and a nice gift, negotiated pricing, or a trip to Aruba."

Read Jim's entire article here. (Please note that you will be asked to provide your name and email address - but we think it's worth it.)

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Are you drawing conclusions?

The next time you need to collaborate on a problem, sell an idea, or understand a complicated issue, consider skipping the fancy tools and reach instead for a pen and a cocktail napkin.

According to Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin, about 75% of the neurons in the brain are devoted to visual processing, "... so why not communicate in a way that uses all of it?"

Read this article to learn more about Roam's ideas on visual thinking and how you can incorporate this practice into your work and life.

To demonstrate the method and to show you that you don't have to be an artist to relay an idea through sketches, we had one of our "artistically challenged" team members give it try (below):

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Classic CEO quotes

As you head into the weekend, we'd like to offer you these classic CEO quotes - from executives who have faced some of the same issues members of the DigitalNow community are facing today.

"You have to pretend you’re 100 percent sure. You have to take action; you can’t hesitate or hedge your bets. Anything less will condemn your efforts to failure."

Andrew Grove, former CEO, Intel

"When you innovate, you’ve got to be prepared for everyone telling you you’re nuts."

Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle

"A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets."

Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple

See Steve Tobak's list of 10 classic CEO quotes, along with his takeaway for applying them to today's economy.

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We all know that problem-solving is a key skill for effective leadership. But all too often, leaders aren't aware that something is a problem until after it causes damage to an organization, putting leaders and everyone else in reaction mode.

The best way to solve problems is to anticipate them, and diffuse them before they cause a crisis. Yet even though you may hold town meetings, listen to your staff, and reinforce an "open door" policy, chances are that you're still not close enough to the sources of potential problems to catch them in time.

Michael A. Roberto, Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island has written the book, Know What you Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen. Roberto says that the key is to hone your powers of observation. By engaging with people "on the front lines," observing customers directly, and getting their hands dirty, Roberto says that leaders will notice things that they simply could never see from the comfort of their offices.

To read a complete interview with Roberto, and to see his list of effective observations "dos and don'ts," visit Ivey Business Journal

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Registration now open for DigitalNow 2010 - April 7-10 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

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Contribute to the DigitalNow blog. Suggest a blog topic, or reference an article or other item you think would be of interest to the DigitalNow community. Drop us a line at DigitalNow@fusionproductions.com