Facebook Changes Page Policy in 24 Hours
Posted on | May 21, 2010 | No Comments
Here’s a new one from Facebook and it is a great sign – Facebook listening to their users and actually caring about the people that make their site so great – their customers! That’s right I call them customers, not users, because we are all Facebook customers, whether we pay or not.
Yesterday, Samuelson’s Diamonds wrote a blog post about the fan page changes that Facebook made:
“… Facebook recently made a change requiring that Pages be authenticated before enabling the ability to set a landing tab beyond Wall or Info. To be eligible for authentication, a Page must have greater than 10k fans or the Page admin must work with their ads account manager…”
I thought about this change and although I understood why the change was being made, it upset me. It upset me because I have put a lot of time and money into our pages, most notably our “Diamonds” Page, which now boasts almost 350,000 fans. Not just Facebook ad money (we have spent a little) but actual jewelry prizes and a lot of TIME, which we paid our employees. And although we have way more than 10K fans, I do not have an account manager.
On top of that, our Samuelson’s Diamonds Fan Page, for our local retail store, is hovering around 1000 fans. And, although the Diamonds Fan Page has almost 350k fans, we consider our smaller page to be of great significance to our business. We’ve invested a great deal of time and effort in building its content and appeal. Facebook’s determination that a fan count should decide how user friendly the fan page could be just seemed wrong.
How about all of the marketers, big and small, who are building fan pages for other companies? In fact, we are about to launch a new service for the jewelry industry, giving independent retailers and manufacturers the ability to create a dynamic Facebook presence for under $500.
Well not long after this change a message popped up on the developer site:
Hello,
As of last night, we’ve removed the recently-added authentication requirement for setting custom landing tabs on Pages. The requirement was instituted as part of a Pages quality initiative, and we apologize for the inconvenience this caused to our developer and business community. We are re-investigating the situation, and will not make any further changes without first giving our community standard notice and lead-time.
Thanks for all your feedback,
Matt Trainer
You can follow this topic by clicking here.
I say it’s great and thank you Facebook for taking the first step in caring about your customers.
I firmly believe that your website is still very important, but don’t forget to use your Facebook page to increase your database and talk to your customers. Both can and should work together to make your brand a stronger one.
Tags: diamonds fan page > facebook > facebook fan page > facebook policy
Stevie Ray Vaughan – Tightrope
Posted on | May 15, 2010 | No Comments
All you can do is listen to this solo and smile because you’re watching one of the best to ever pick up a guitar. “Can’t catch a turtle in this rat race…”
The Smart Jewelry Show Chicago
Posted on | April 29, 2010 | 6 Comments
Just got back from a great trip to Chicago for the Smart Jewelry Show where I was honored to be a featured speaker on social media for jewelers. I also hosted a great party at the Billy Goat Tavern for the Facebook Jewelers Network. I’m happy to say that they both went very well. The talk was with my colleagues Dan Gordon and Donna Jolly. We had a packed room and an active Q & A after.
Smart Jewelry Show Chicago
The party was a ton of fun. I want to thank my new friend, Mario Macias, for choosing the venue. The Billy Goat Tavern is a Chicago landmark, made famous from the Bill Murray SNL skit Cheeseborger, Cheeseborger. When I first went there to check it out I admit that I was a little hesitant. I wasn’t really sure if a bunch of jewelers would be willing to go to a complete dive under a bridge like this one. Luckily, I was wrong and it went over well. Check out the video from the party and my wife enjoying their signature drink “The Horny Goat”…
Tags: bill murray > billy goat tavern > instore magazine > smart jewelry show > social media
Do You “Like” Facebook’s Changes?
Posted on | April 22, 2010 | 1 Comment
Yesterday Facebook announced some major changes at it’s annual f8 developers conference. Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to talk about the “like” button roll out, not just on Facebook itself, but across the web. In Facebook, one major change is on fan pages. So now Fan Pages are just Pages, and your fans are connections who “like” your product or brand. Not a bad move – liking something is a lot less of a commitment than being an actual fan, so I think that this will increase the amount of users on each page. As far as the like button on the web, when you go to websites like CNN, Fandango and others, your friends that read or liked an article, band or movie will be displayed. So basically, Facebook’s plan is to make the web a more social space, rather than an information driven web. Facebook calls it the “Open Graph.” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called the shift “the most transformative thing we’ve ever done for the web.” This move also has major implications for ad targeting.
From the CNN article that I “liked”:
The announcement puts Facebook in further competition with other web companies like Google and Twitter, who are also trying to organize and make use of users’ preferences.
Facebook, which has more than 400 million members, says the Open Graph will make it easier for people to share information about their likes and dislikes all over the internet.
The social network will pull information about the websites a person visits, the news stories he or she likes and the music or athletes the person favors — and share all of that information with a person’s Facebook friends. That data will show up on Facebook.com and on other sites.
At Facebook’s f8 developers conference, WSJ’s Jessica Vascellaro gives Stacey Delo a post-game analysis of the social-networking company’s announcements, including news on its “like” button and what that means for ad targeting.
Of course, their big plan is to take over the web, and change the way people connect with one another. So far they are succeeding. Most experts that I have spoken to think it’s a smart move. What do you think? How is this going to affect the way you build your online presence/brand?
Tags: f8 developer conference > facebook > facebook fan pages > jessica vascellaro > like button > mark zuckerberg > open graph
The Band & Eric Clapton – Further On Up The Road
Posted on | April 8, 2010 | No Comments
This video is from The Last Waltz and it makes me smile every time I see it. Notice Eric Clapton’s guitar strap coming loose in the intro and Robbie Robertson picking up the solo without a hitch. Although Clapton dusts Robbie you gotta give him a “A” for effort!
The Grateful Dead Created Social Networking
Posted on | March 24, 2010 | 8 Comments
Now doesn’t this look like FACEBOOK BEFORE THERE WAS FACEBOOK?
Way before the internet, facebook, twitter, blogs, and the idea of “sharing content” across your network , The Grateful Dead were sharing their music with fans across the world through tapes, not computers. They were one of the first bands to allow and actually encourage taping of their live shows. How often did you go to a concert and see “No Cameras” on the ticket? Or even asked to stop recording or taping? Never at a Dead Show, where there was always a “Tapers Section” with tapers even receiving special tickets and passes to do their thing. I recently read an article titled “Management Secrets of The Grateful Dead” which discussed,
the Dead were visionary geniuses in the way they created “customer value,” promoted social networking, and did strategic business planning…Much of the talk about “Internet business models” presupposes that they are blindingly new and different. But the connection between the Internet and the Dead’s business model was made 15 years ago by the band’s lyricist, John Perry Barlow, who became an Internet guru. Writing in Wired in 1994, Barlow posited that in the information economy, “the best way to raise demand for your product is to give it away.” As Barlow explained to me: “What people today are beginning to realize is what became obvious to us back then—the important correlation is the one between familiarity and value, not scarcity and value. Adam Smith taught that the scarcer you make something, the more valuable it becomes. In the physical world, that works beautifully. But we couldn’t regulate [taping at] our shows, and you can’t online. The Internet doesn’t behave that way. But here’s the thing: if I give my song away to 20 people, and they give it to 20 people, pretty soon everybody knows me, and my value as a creator is dramatically enhanced. That was the value proposition with the Dead.” The Dead thrived for decades, in good times and bad. In a recession, Barnes says, strategic improvisation is more important then ever. “If you’re going to survive this economic downturn, you better be able to turn on a dime,” he says. “The Dead were exemplars.”
John Perry Barlow, lyricist for the Dead has a quote that really nails it and I’ll say it again, “the best way to raise demand for your product is to give it away.”
Now you can take a look on YouTube and see pretty much any band’s live show, and of course live concerts are taped on a regular basis. So next time you’re “Sharing With Your Network” you can thank the Grateful Dead for pioneering this idea!
Tags: facebook > grateful dead > john perry barlow > share content > social networking > youtube
How Many Hats Can You Wear?
Posted on | March 12, 2010 | 2 Comments
I’ve been doing a lot of things lately business wise. Blogging, speaking, facebooking, tweeting, event planning, marketing, consulting and who knows what else. But the more I think about these things, it becomes very clear as to what I should do. I should be doing what I do best, and it’s crystal clear what that is – BUYING AND SELLING DIAMONDS AND JEWELRY! That’s it. Period.
Whether it’s here at Samuelson’s Diamonds, working on our startup, or our Facebook Fan page, the goal of my business, and our entire umbrella of companies, is finding ways to trade in diamonds. The other stuff is cool and I enjoy it, but I’m not gonna let it take me off my game. The more I can concentrate on what makes me real money and what I enjoy, the better off I’ll be.
But on the other hand, maybe this other stuff helps my diamond business. The other question is how much of this do we do ourselves and how much to we let outside professionals or a new employee do?
What do you think? Do you find yourself spending time on distractions that are not your business?
Rite Of Passage: Bad Yelp Review
Posted on | March 8, 2010 | 8 Comments
About a month ago, I wrote a blog post titled “Looking At Diamonds…And Myself” after an interesting customer experience. That experience, along with my reaction to this guy, landed me a negative Yelp review – click here to check it out.
I even ran across Inc Magazine’s article “You’ve Been Yelped” shortly after, which describes business owner’s struggles with this site in particular.
Everyone’s a critic. The cliché has long been a useful way to brush off a caustic remark or a biting comment. But now it’s true — and it’s driving entrepreneurs crazy.
Is it driving us crazy? No. Is it making us think before we react to a customer? Yes.
Now, Yelp does have some other issues, like kicking bad reviews to the bottom of certain user’s pages if they are advertisers. But that’s another issue.
The issue here is how do we, as business owners, treat customers and, better yet, deal with the fallout from negative (and very public) customer feedback? Back in the old days, my grandfather would not hesitate to show a customer the door if they were having a hard time “seeing eye to eye.” But the internet has empowered customers. If you don’t like the service, trash the waiter. If the food is subpar, throw the chef under the bus. And tell all your Facebook friends how that one brand of detergent makes your shirts smell like formaldehyde. So, times change and we always adapt to change around here. But how far do I have to go in dealing with an obnoxious, difficult or even offensive customer? Is the customer always right? Or do I take the chance that sometimes they’re just wrong and let the chips fall where they may? Food for thought I hope. Just please don’t give this “chef” a bad review 😉
Foursquare or Stalkersquare?
Posted on | March 3, 2010 | 16 Comments
Being in the social space is often pretty weird. The king of social networks, Facebook, has made it easy to check out everyone’s family pics, personal interests and hobbies, and everything else that you want to know (or not know) about someone. Often these people aren’t really “friends” but acquaintances at best. After all, do I really know 850 people? Twitter is #2 with a lot of people that I really don’t know and have never met spewing out all kinds of links, comments and other BS. The trick with Twitter is to try to find the good stuff among all the noise.
Now we have some new social networks that popped up – Gowalla, Foursquare, Brightkite, even Google Buzz. These are social networks that share your exact location, using GPS technology, to your friends on Facebook and Twitter. You can earn badges and points if you “check in” to more places, so it’s like an addicting game (if you buy into it). When I first saw a status update or tweet saying, “I’m at Starbucks” or “I’m at the Safeway on York Road” I thought to myself, “WHO CARES!” Why do I care if you’re at Starbucks, Safeway, or Shell Gas Station? What does that do for me?
Well, before I trashed this idea, I had to hop on Foursquare myself to see what it’s all about. After all, there are some pretty bright guys invested in this company, including Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey. I wanted to find out what’s there from a marketing standpoint. I assume that they will find a way to make money from this. Once you know where someone is, you can market to them through their mobile device in all kinds of creative ways.
Since being on Foursquare, and even before joining, I saw a big problem with this concept. Then came the site that affirmed my paranoia called Please Rob Me. The site is basically a live stream from Twitter titled “Recent Empty Homes” and those people are labeled as “New Opportunities”. I am so glad that this site is out. Read what they say on their “why” page:
Hey, do you have a Twitter account? Have you ever noticed those messages in which people tell you where they are? Pretty annoying, eh. Well, they’re actually also potentially pretty dangerous. We’re about to tell you why.
Don’t get us wrong, we love the whole location-aware thing. The information is very interesting and can be used to create some pretty awesome applications. However, the way in which people are stimulated to participate in sharing this information, is less awesome. Services like Foursquare allow you to fulfill some primeval urge to colonize the planet. A part of that is letting everyone know you own that specific spot. You get to tell where you are and if you’re there first, it’s yours. O, and of course there’s badges..
The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home. It gets even worse if you have “friends” who want to colonize your house. That means they have to enter your address, to tell everyone where they are. Your address.. on the internet.. Now you know what to do when people reach for their phone as soon as they enter your home. That’s right, slap them across the face.
The goal of this website is to raise some awareness on this issue and have people think about how they use services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc. Because all this site is, is a dressed up Twitter search page. Everybody can get this information.
Foursquare and other similar sites fill the self-promoting way of the status update and tweet. People LOVE to say “I’m at the beach” or “I’m on vacation” so others can see how cool they are and what an exciting life they lead. These sites feed right into that need. I found myself doing it in New York City last week. It was sooo cool of me to be at Radio City Music Hall watching a concert while all of you were home watching The Bachelor. 🙂 Guess what? It’s stupid! My wife was home alone. In the jewelry business, it would be extra stupid for a salesperson to tell anyone where they are.
One other thought that is not addressed on Please Rob Me goes out to women who are telling us guys where they are all the time. Now, I’m a happily married man and a good person. But there are a lot of sick people out there! If you’re an attractive woman, do you really want every guy on Twitter to know where you are so they can happen to just show up to see you? Or even worse to hurt you?
Maybe I’ll eat my words and these sites will be the next Facebook, but remember that the internet is full of stalkers, criminals and psychopaths, so use some common sense here people!
What do you think of these sites? Are they game changers or a stalkers heaven?
Tags: brightkite > foursquare > google buzz > gowalla > please rob me > social media > social networking > twitter
Furthur Review – Radio City 2/24/10
Posted on | February 27, 2010 | 1 Comment
I had the pleasure of seeing Furthur up in NYC at Radio City with a buddy. Here’s the setlist:
02/24/10 (Wed) Radio City Music Hall – New York City, NY
Set 1: Jam, Truckin’, Dire Wolf, Mama Tried, Althea, Brown Eyed Women, Till the Morning Comes, Music Never Stopped, Touch of Grey
Set 2: Uncle John’s Band > Scarlet Begonias, Fire on the Mountain, Bird Song, St. Stephen, The Eleven Jam, St. Stephen, Born Cross Eyed Eyes of the World, Morning Dew, Playing in the Band (reprise) E: Brokedown Palace
What a venue and what a show. The new guitar player, John Kadlecik, is the real deal. A lot of die hard deadheads and guitar players are skeptical of him because they don’t want to hear a Jerry imitator. Hey, I get it but I never got that vibe. Most who have actually seen them will agree that this is a great band, hands down. Listen, Jerry is gone and there will never be another so let’s move on to the present. John is the right guy. He knows every song, doesn’t make mistakes and adds exactly what the band needs. The bottom line for me is that if I still get the chills from it, and still enjoy the music, then I’m there. Warren Haynes was not the right fit for this band as I discussed in this blog post, Warren Haynes is Better with The Allman Brothers.
Another comment on this show is that I really never heard The Eleven Jam – somehow I missed that one. Anyway, they will be on tour this summer and I’ll be there. I got some decent video so check out this Scarlett Begonias and enjoy!
Tags: bob weir > futhur > grateful dead > joe russo > john kadlecik > new york > phil lesh > radio city
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