Initial thoughts about Facebook Home, the #FacebookPhone:

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Earlier today, Facebook rolled out, “Home” their highly anticipated Facebook Phone. The app (available April 12) easily takes over your Android device, creating an operating system like feel powered by Facebook. Check out the video…


So all this got me thinking… and here are my first thoughts from the new Facebook Home release:

How do posts from Pages look? The presentation and conversation was framed around friends and interacting with people, but from a brand (and Facebook user) prospective, how will Page posts look in this new interface?

How is this going to change the way people use Facebook? According to a (relatively) recent study done by Morrison Foerster, the average Facebook user spends about 6.75 hours a month on Facebook. Folks that are likely to opt-in to the Home service are more frequent users. With a growing user base of Home over time, I’ll be curious to see how this

During the presentation, there was an example about how friends can interact with web content like an article in the New York Times. I’m excited to see how brands and content producers are able to work with those interactions to both surface new content and encourage engagement.

How will this affect data usage. Facebook Home is essentially constantly pulling down data. Paying for mobile data can be expensive. At&T is a partner for this release, but service providers like Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and crew all have wild pricing policies. Is it worth a $700 cell phone bill to like all the webs cat pictures?

How will this affect battery life? Pulling down data constantly from Facebook and continuously checking your phone will absolutely drain you phone’s battery. I’m wondering if device manufactures, including Facebook’s partner in this rollout, the HTC ‘First’ are considering the ramifications of this longterm/exhaustive phone usage. And how they’re building better and smarter phones for the future.

What does this mean for Google and Apple? On one hand this is a blessing for Android, as people may reconsider buying new Android devices or iPhone users switching to Android. But that only helps Android manufactures and not the Android platform itself. As for Apple, (aside from general functionality difference) I don’t think their black box of an operating system would ever lend itself to a takeover like this. It will be interesting to see what the next steps will be from Google/Apple

 

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SXSW 2013: The First-Timers’ Perspective

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urlThis year I was fortunate enough to attend South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas and it’s safe to say it was one of the best events I’ve ever attended. The event being summarized by one person as,” Mardi Gras with education and networking mixed in”, seemed like a perfect way to spend 9 days in the big state of Texas soaking up innovative technology, brand new music, professional connections, and lots of TexMex!

Drawing enthusiasts from technology, gaming, film, and music, for two weeks Austin becomes the hub of the entertainment world. I’ve always heard great things but was wondering what it would be like as a first time attendee. Luckily the event is growing in attendance and new faces. CNN reported that the Interactive portion of SXSW this year “swelled to an all-time high of 30,621, up some 25% from last year” of which more than 50% of attendees were first timers. With this in mind, lots of Korean BBQ Tacos and a sunburn, I headed back to Boston and began to reflect on my week at SXSW. Here’s what I found.

Community

As a Community Manager professional I absolutely loved seeing companies take their brands to the streets and engage with people at the event. Brands like Oreo offered free pedicab rides throughout the event. Chevy let conference attendees take rides in some of their new 2013 vehicles. Samsung was offering discounts and freebies throughout the city to folks who had Near Field Communication (NFC) technology built into their smart phone devices. The theme here was about building your brand offline, not always selling, and creating amazing experiences for attendees!

Network

Another amazing result of SXSW was the opportunity to connect with my online network in real life. Through social media you’re able to ‘meet’ and connect with a lot of folks from all over the the country and the world. Unfortunately, opportunities to meet and connect with these folks face to face are otherwise few and far between…. Except at SXSW! I was able to meet with friends on the west coast, some of my favorite Canadians, and lots of other great people!

Events

There are literally thousands of sessions, events, parties, meetups, shows and get togethers throughout SXSW. One important lesson to remember is to be realistic about what you can attend. My advice? Pick events and sessions you absolutely want to attend and make sure you get there for them early to ensure you avoid the lines, and get in! Other than that, I found one of the luxuries of the conference is the flexibility of being spontaneous, and being able to go with the flow and explore! It’s a great way to fully embrace all that SXSW has to offer.

Phone

Twitter, Foursquare and a plethora of other apps can really help you stay connected with what’s going with hot sessions, parties, and showing off your cool photos to your friends back home. That said,  I found it nice to ‘power down’ and really enjoy the moment. SXSW is possibly the most technologically stimulating events I have been a part of and it’s easy to get caught up in the online buzz rather than the real thing. Put the phone away and enjoy yourself… that Tweet can wait.

MeetPeople

There are thousands of people who attend SXSW every year. They’re all there for the same reason and that’s important to remember, because you never really know who you’re going to meet. As I mentioned above, spontaneity is the name of the game and going with the flow can really help to make or break your SXSW experience. My first day in Austin, I met up with a friend for coffee which led to dinner with his friends and friends of friends… one of which included the founder of one of my favorite websites! He downloaded Dailybreak’s new mobile app, we exchanged contact information and told me to check out their headquarters if I was ever in Southern California. An interaction like that wouldn’t have been possible without getting out of your comfort-zone and meeting new and interesting people.

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Want to hear more lessons learned, fun stories and insights from this year’s SXSW? Join me, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, as Fleishman-Hillard and the Community Roundtable host the 3rd Annual “Austin2Boston” with TheCR discussing  Lessons Learned from SXSWi 2013. Hear from myself,  Jeff Esposito Social Media Manager and recent Community Manager of the Year winner at Vistaprint, Eli Ingraham Head of Social Business at Aetna, Jessica Gioglio Social Media Manager at Dunkin’ Brands and Andrew Soucy VP of Digital and Social Media in the Boston office of Fleishman-Hillard. Sign-up here!

[This post was originally featured on the Dailybreak Team Blog]

GMail Tips #1: 3 Steps to Cleaning up your Inbox

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unnamedWhen it comes to email, organization is huge… No one can afford to lose an email! So what are you to do if you get lots of emails?

1. Become a labeling master.

2. Master Gmail search and shortcuts.

While I wish I could fall into the first category like the other two guys on my team (Dan and Jesse) I have to resort to latter.

My inbox is almost always at zero. Not because I’m the most efficient human being in the world, it’s because I have learned how to really use all the tips and tricks that are built into GMail.

One of my biggest pet peeves is an email account with hundreds, if not thousands of unread emails. I’ve worked and lived with people who don’t have any email management and it quickly gets out of hand.

So this first tip is for all those people with tons of unread emails and don’t know how to get the fresh start they need. Lots of unread emails? Have no fear!

Here is the quick and easy Three Step Plan to Cleaning up your Inbox.

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Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day, Boston! #CMAD

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This post was originally featured on Boston Innovation on January 28th, 2013

In 2010, Jeremiah Owyang (Partner at the Altimeter Group) kicked off the first-annual Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD). Celebrated annually on the 4th Monday of January, folks are asked to take a moment out of their busy days to thank and appreciate the people supporting the community for our favorite brands.

So what the heck is a Community Manager? Scholars maintain the definition was lost centuries ago, and there isn’t really an exact definition, but I’ll take a stab at explaining…

Community Managers are the men and women working behind the scenes that are managing your online communities day in and day out. They’re the people supporting users/customers, working with your internal teams to help deliver amazing experiences, and generally serve as the voice of brands. They monitor social networks, create content, cheerlead for your brand and users, and craft your user-facing messages. They’re on the front lines, listening to all your users’ feedback (both good and bad) and trying to take all those brand ‘likes’ and turn them into brand love.

Boston is no stranger to incredible community management. In fact, according to a recent study by Social Fresh, Boston boasts the greatest number of Community Managers per capita in the nation and is the third most popular city for community management. We’re hiring some of the best and brightest to help manage communities and setting a precedent for quality and exploring the future of the industry.

With a diverse collection of industries and organizations, both big and small, there seems to be a collective understanding in and around Boston that building community is important and plays an essential role in business. We’re home to companies like Communispace, who is helping to create communities for brands, The Community Roundtable, one of the most well respected community management organizations in the world and BostonCMGR the growing industry group which I am proud to lead to connect the city’s Community Managers.

And we’re ready to appreciate all that hard work!

Later this evening, with the help of the organizations above, Hailo Boston and Hootsuite, we’ve organized the Community Manager Appreciation Happy Hour. We’re recognizing and celebrating the tireless efforts of Community Managers throughout the Boston area. We will be celebrating and thanking with a few drinks, food and a lot of connections!

Can’t make the event but still want to show your appreciation? No problem! Just take a moment sometime today and thank the person at your company for all the work they do. Have a favorite brand or organization that’s always doing amazing work and engaging online? Drop them a note and say thanks.  No gifts are required… the purpose is to give a genuine thank you to the people who keep your communities moving!

Online community management is still a relatively new occupation and has a constantly evolving school of thought. With global efforts like Community Manager Appreciation Day and the amazing work happening here in Boston, I’m optimistic that building genuine relationships and community connections will play a vital role in the future of business. Thanks for reading and happy CMAD!