Photo cred: "h.koppdelaney"

Today, we are experiencing a revolution in human interaction.

The “online” world has come full circle, with more and more websites and apps focused on reconnecting people with the real world around them, and the people in it.

It’s amazing how technology is making it possible for us to connect with people again.  I’m not talking about connecting with usernames and avatars.  I mean real people, with real names in real places.

With the growth of “collaborative consumption” sites and applications like Airbnb, Ebay, Zimride, Sittercity, Snapgoods, ThredUp, Zipcar, Zaarly and the list goes on, people are connecting with each other in a whole new way.  Complete strangers are turned into trusted neighbors.

But why are they trusted?  Solely because they use the same site as you?  Clearly, that’s not enough.  Trust and reputation have to be build into these products.  Users have to earn their trust.  They have to build credibility.  We want these platforms to be safe.

At Zaarly, we’re focused on building what we call a “well-lit” marketplace.  A community where you can clearly see everything that’s going on, who’s around you and feel totally comfortable.

The part that sucks is that every time you join a new site, you have to rebuild trust.  It never carries over.

There’s a huge opportunity for someone to build a solution here…

Now understandably, some aspects of a user’s reputation will be specific to that community.  But usually, there are aspects of reputation on one site that could apply to another site.

There are two different kinds of reputation that are important in online marketplaces:

1. Earned: Providing a positive experience for other users.  Do you ship on time as a seller?  Do you pay on time as a buyer?  Are the items or services you provide “as described”?
2. Existing: Who are you?  What do your friends have to say about you?  Do you have a criminal history?

Earned reputation isn’t always applicable in multiple marketplaces, but there’s definitely a case for it.  If someone has a 99% positive rating after 12,000 transactions on eBay, and the majority of their written reviews are positive, wouldn’t that be relevant to me if I’m considering staying at their place through airbnb?

For existing reputation, there are many applications that can be used on multiple platforms:

• Verification: Verifying your social accounts, email, phone number, etc.
• Referrals: If someone vouches that you’re trustworthy on one site, you should be able to display that on other sites.
• Background checks:  Some sites require them.  Some of them offer them as an option.  Usually, the user has to pay for them.  So if someone gets a background check for one site, should they not be able to use it for another?

So then the question is, will there soon be a “standard of reputation” on the web?  I guarantee you there will be.  It’s just a question of who’s going to build it.  Will it be a third party solution?  Or will one company build something in house, make it available via an API, and create the standard or reputation.

Here are just a few of the companies working towards some form of standard for reputation on the web:

• mixtent
• Honestly
• Klout (does influence translate to trust?)
• PeerIndex
• trustmob (did they disappear?)

I just got access to Twitters revolutionary new design…

And was quickly reminded of the old school MySpace design…

Uncanny isn’t it?

Photo cred: Amato Luis

Originally posted on TCM

A very important distinction for a community builder (or someone looking to hire one) to make is whether they’re focused on building internal communities or external communities.

The way I see it, you can build an internal community within your existing userbase, customers or audience.

or

You can build external communities which aren’t part of your internal audience.

Still confused?

Here’s a simple example:

Say there is a company that sells sports equipment.  There are two ways they can approach community management.

1. They can work to connect their customers with each other online and offline through their online platforms and by hosting live events offline. This is internal community building because they’re connecting people around their brand and vision. This community is tied directly to the company.

or

2. They can build existing communities.  Perhaps they can host a weekly happy hour for sports fans, or create a fan page for recreational athletes.  This is external community building because they’re connecting people through a common interest, not the brand. This community is loosely tied to the company, but really focused on a common interest.

Internal and external communities are both valuable.

Internal communities are valuable because:

1. A strong internal community is your support system.  It’s a group of people who believe in your brand, and will defend you.

2. Your community members can drive their own networks to your community, resulting in more customers or users.

3. You can call on your internal community members for feedback on your product, testimonials and ideas.

Internal communities can be built into your product in some circumstances, if your product includes a conversation platform.

Turntable.fm is a great example.  People can chat within turntable.fm and so users can connect and interact with each other.  When you create the right dynamic within your product, internal communities develop on their own.

Twitter is another good example.  Conversations take place within the twitter platform, so internal user communities develop on their own.

External communities are valuable because:

1. You can create awareness and leads.  In the case of the example I gave before about a sports equipment company, by connecting people with each other through their love for sports, those people will relate that back to the company because the company facilitated the relationships.  They’ll then become more aware and confident in the brand.

2. You can learn a lot.  Sometimes it’s really important to get feedback from people who haven’t already used your product.  You can pick up on trends, and identify new opportunities by talking to people in external communities.

3. They’re less work to maintain.  Really, if you’ve done a good job, the community will be self-sustainable.  The community members will drive discussions, and bring their own networks into the community.

You can also engage with existing external communities instead of building them from scratch.

There could always be overlap. The people in these external communities may also be part of your internal community.  The goal is really to convert external community members who are loosely tied to your brand into internal community members, who are closely tied to your brand.

With external communities you don’t want to inject your brand into it too much.  You don’t want to be forceful.  Build the community around a common interest, and because it was your brand that brought those people together, they will naturally relate the experience back to your brand.

With internal communities, the people are already connected to your brand, so focus on enhancing that relationship.  Make the power users and best customers feel special.  If you do this properly, they’ll help you build your community further.

Are you building an internal community or an external community?  Which one do you think is more important?

Turntable.fm is taking over the ear drums of social music listeners everywhere.

If you haven’t tried it out yet, turntable is a site where you can create a room, name it whatever you want, and start to DJ.

You can have up to 5 DJs at a time, and everyone else is in the audience.  You can rate songs as “awesome” or “lame”.

Pretty simple… and they’re definitely not the first to create a social music listening platform.  Many others have done really well like blip.fm, spotify, last.fm and more.

There’s something unique about turntable.  Something that has launched it to over 140,000 users in the first month.

What is it that turntable did so well?

Gamification

They got the gaming aspect down right.  If you can do that, the rest (social share, WOM, user retention) all thrive.

They nailed the gaming interface on two levels.

1. Real time recognition

Being a DJ on turntable in a popular room is scary!  Will people like the songs I play?  I like indie music, but there are a lot of indie snobs out there.

But we do it because we want to be perceived as a great music curator.  We want people to know that we know the best songs out there.

We do this in real life naturally. Think about when people come in your car and you play your favorite, relatively unknown band, and everyone loves it.  Think about when people DJ at house parties.

The thing is, in real life, you don’t have these passive aggressive “awesome” and “lame” buttons for people to judge you.

So turntable works really well in real time.  You want to impress the other people in your room.

2. Long term recognition

Real time isn’t enough.  Recognition needs to be ongoing…long-term.  It needs to be cumulative so that it constantly drives activity.

When you join a new room, you want the people in that room to know what you’ve accomplished.  With their point system and avatar (visual) system, turntable executed on this really well.

The visual aspect is key.  As soon as you join a room, you can see the hierarchy of users’ experience.  The people with cooler avatars are the ones with more experience (and respect).

Interestingly enough, they don’t actually get any physical rewards for this.  They have no more power than anyone else in the room.  Someone with 1 point can do the same exact thing as someone with 1000 points.  The driving force is all based on social equity and respect.

This is the same exact system that has been online gaming so successful time and time again.  This system of “leveling up” creates a tension amongst users where from day 1, all they want is to improve their status.

3. Insert the share

The key to getting people to bring in their own networks to Turntable wasn’t to just ask people to share a room.  It was to make a room unusable, unless someone else was also in the room.

Of course, you could only improve your status if you’re a DJ, and the best way to become a DJ is to start a room from scratch.

Users wouldn’t tweet it out just because they wanted to share something interesting.  They’d tweet it out, because sharing was the only way that they could improve their status.

It’s all really fucking genius.

Photo cred: Feel Mystic

It’s time for my next big leap.  Today is my first day at Zaarly as the Director of Product Marketing and Community.

I can’t even explain how excited I am for this opportunity.

While Zaarly is an idea that will be extremely difficult to build into a reality, if we can make it happen, it will have a huge impact. The chance to be a part of something like this only comes once in a lifetime.

What will I be doing?

While product marketing is a very common position, my actual role is pretty unique.  I’ll have the opportunity to apply my experience in three areas: community, marketing and product.

Essentially, I will be working to make sure that all three areas are well aligned, building a strong community, and translating the needs of that community into the product.

So I get to focus on the specific things that I love.  Connecting people with each other and building an amazing product for them.

On top of all that, the Zaarly team that I’ll be working with is epic.  My brother from another mother Shane Mac and I will be working directly together along with Adam Hofman, Eric Koester and the rest of the squad. I also have the amazing opportunity to work with Bo Fishback, who has become an amazing friend and mentor over the past few months.

They’re all good, genuine people, who hustle their ass’ off and put a lot of focus on being honest and direct with each other.  I thrive in that kind of environment.

As far as location, I will still be living in NYC while occasionally traveling to Zaarly’s other locations, and to the cities where Zaarly is growing.

…and now for the big question

What about BlogDash?

I’ve thought a lot about how I could potentially phrase this part.  I’m just going to be completely honest.

This was hands down the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my career.  I poured everything I had into BlogDash.  It’s my baby and it’s all going SO well.  We’re getting customers every day, we’re getting more and more traction.  It has all the signs of a good market fit in the making.

I was not looking for a new job.  Things just seemed to align in a really weird and powerful way with Zaarly.  When it comes down to it, this was an opportunity that I just could not pass up.

I think about what we did with BlogDash.  We did a lot of things right and plenty of things wrong.  I know that I have a lot to learn as an entrepreneur, and I strongly believe that my experience at Zaarly will fully prepare me for my next endeavor.

I did everything I could to make the transition easy for my partner Marc, and the rest of the team.  Marc has been extremely supportive of my decision.  I can’t thank him enough for the amazing opportunities he’s made possible for me over the past couple years.

Will I still be involved in BlogDash?

Yes but to what extent is still undetermined. I will likely be stepping back and assuming the role of an advisor.

I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, and where the site is going.  It has a real opportunity to make a positive impact on the media relations space, and we will do everything we can to make sure that that vision becomes a reality.

I’m confident that the rest of the team will be able to get through this transition, and we’ll continue to build BlogDash into a successful business.

The other stuff…

As far as my other side projects

My involvement in u30pro, TCM and Ask Summit will continue as normal.

I can’t thank all of you, my friends, family and readers for all your support these past few years.  It’s been an insanely awesome ride since I first started this blog and got involved in the social web space.

If you have any questions at all regarding this announcement, you can reach me at spinks at zaarly dot com.

Let’s do the damn thing!

Photo cred: Kathryn

How much time do you spend worrying about the name/url of your company?

I think we tend to place an inflated amount of value on a name because it’s such a long term position.  When it comes down to it, I don’t think it matters that much.

Here’s the advice that you usually hear when coming up with a name, and why it doesn’t matter.

1. It should be easy to spell.

Of course, on the web, you can get around this by buying all the common misspellings of your name.  Still, if it’s easier to spell, that’s probably better.

It doesn’t really matter because usually people discover websites by seeing and clicking a url.  No spelling necessary.  Even if you discover it offline, it’s probably written down somewhere.

Examples: tumblr, xanga, scvngr, disqus

2. It should be easy to say clearly.

This is more important than being easy to spell.  I had a company (Scribnia) that was hard to say clearly.  It was a huge headache especially at loud events/conferences.

That said, it has its advantages as well.  Something unique will stand out and may stick in people’s minds.  People never really remember the name of something the first time you tell it to them anyway.  They usually need to write it down.

Examples: readwriteweb, behance, scribd

3. It should be descriptive.

In some cases, using a name that provides some insight into the context of the company will make it easier to get the concept across. It makes it  easier for people to grasp what you do.

This one really doesn’t matter in the end. There are countless examples of companies with names that have very little to do with the actual service, at least not on a simple level.

Examples: google, foursquare, amazon, zappos

There are many other little things to take into account when creating your name but in the end, I’d argue that it really doesn’t matter that much.

Following the usual advice may help you a little bit, but none of these things will make or break your company.

My only advice would be to think about the emotion that your name gets across.  A name can make you look cheesy, professional, cool, boring… Find a name that feels like aligns with your brand and go with it.

What do you think… does a name really matter?

Photo cred: Andrew Mager

People seem to complain a lot about social media conferences.

I’ve definitely had my share of complaints too.

I think that most of these conferences suck because they weren’t set up properly (or for the right reasons), which I won’t go into in this post.

What I want to talk about is our unrealistic expectations of the content.

People come to these panels and speakers and expect to come out feeling like an expert in that topic.

Thing is, you can dive into 1000 webinars, speakers, books, roundtables, premium communities etc… but until you actually do something, you’re not really going to learn.

Doing is the only way to really learn.

You can be taught how to use tools, and how to organize strategies.  But the actual methods and concepts that make a company or professional great can only be learned through experience.

What works for one company probably won’t work for another.

Sitting there and listening to some dude talk about how his company had a viral video will do literally nothing for you.

We expect epic content, and then we complain when it’s all so basic or we’ve heard this stuff before.

This is especially true in the social media space, because it’s still pretty new as far as tools and strategies.

The tools and strategies in the social media space still haven’t been developed that much.  They’re still very basic.

We can’t be taught how to actually make this stuff work.  No speaker can make you good at your job, especially not in an hour or less.

Same can be said for blogs, books, webinars, etc…

Get your hands dirty and start making mistakes.

Then you’ll be the one speaking.

Use conferences for at least one of the following:

1. Learning the basics
2. Networking
3. Inspiration

When I first got started learning about social media tools, I loved a lot of the content, because it taught me the basics.

My favorite conferences recently are SxSW and Big Omaha.

At SxSW, I didn’t go to any speakers or panels, but it was amazing for networking.

Big Omaha had some of the most inspiring content I’ve seen.  Had I gone to learn the secret to building a successful business, I would have been sorely disappointed.

So before you complain about the content at a conference, think about why you’re there, and check your expectations.

Or maybe I’m totally off on this one.  What have you thought of all these social media conferences lately?

Have you heard about Zaarly yet?

Zaarly could be a world changing platform. It could alter marketplaces the same way ebay or craigslist did in their time.

The product is extremely simple, but the implications could be vast.

Here’s how it works:

You can use it on the web or on your mobile device.

Step 1: What do you want?

Step 2: How much are you willing to pay for it?

Step 3: How soon do you need it?

And boom…you Zaarly it, and someone fulfills it for you.

Here are a couple simple examples:

1. You want someone to bring you a coffee in the next 30 minutes. You can zaarly it, and someone (anyone) will bring it to you.
2. You’re in a new city for a day and you want to get a tour.  You post to zaarly that you’ll pay $100 for someone to show you around the city for the day, and someone will do it.

Those are really really simple examples, but when anyone can buy anything they want, the opportunities are endless.

Give it some serious thought, and I’m sure you can pick up on the major implications this kind of platform could have, if it works.

Here are a few of the big ones:

1. It creates new services and industries

The supply and demand system concept has always been flawed.  Dan Ariely talks a bit in Predictably Irrational about the way people value things, and how irrational our natural gauge of “value” actually is.  The power has always been in the supply…the seller.

There’s a lot of demand that exists that we don’t know about.  Supply is only created if someone identifies the demand and builds a solution for it.  When anyone can simply ask for things that they want, we can see the true demand that exists.

Now, there’s a place where anyone can say what they want and exactly how much they’d like to pay for it.

I couldn’t get my computer monitor delivered from Soho to the Javitz center before, because that service just didn’t exist.  Last week, because of Zaarly, someone brought me my monitor for $25. Something that didn’t exist before, suddenly exists, because I wanted it.

What if my simple Zaarly posting started a whole new industry?  Why shouldn’t there be a service that simply picks things up for you, and brings them to wherever you want it?  Zaarly can create one off transactions, and it can also create entire new companies or industries.

Think about what other services could exist if we just knew what everyone wanted at any given time.

2. It can help the unemployed

So you lost your job.  Now what?  You should start looking for a new full time job, and either apply for unemployment, or pick up some shitty part time job to pay the bills.

Now, you can go onto Zaarly and find random jobs.  Maybe someone needs their dog walked.  You offer to do it through zaarly, complete the task, make some money and do a good job.  Maybe they ask you to do it again in the future and now you have a steady source of income for a while.

Say you’re short on the rent by a couple hundred bucks.  What do you do?  You can’t pick up a job on the spot and get a paycheck in time to pay the rent.  On the spot, you can pick up some random tasks through Zaarly, make some quick cash and get the rent together in time.

3. It can change the charity model

Zaarly is already doing this.  Check out what they’re doing to help those affected by the storms in Joplin.

Usually, when you donate to something, you have no idea where that money is going.

Now you don’t have to go through a charity to help someone.  You can use Zaarly to put money toward something specific, and have someone onsite fulfill it.

Will it work?

That’s the big question. The challenges are enormous. This isn’t the first time that something like this has been attempted.

It doesn’t matter if everyone in the world is posting something that they want, people ready to fulfill those tasks have to be there too.

There will also undoubtedly be a number of wrong ways to use Zaarly (drugs, sex, you know… the usual) that could cause a lot of issues.

I do know that the team has thought about these issues thoroughly, and will continue to do so as the userbase grows.

I think if anyone can do it though, the current team at Zaarly can.  I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know a number of them personally and with Bo Fishback at the helm, they have a good shot at it.

It also feels like the right time.  The platforms that tried this before were too early.  The level of trust and connectivity required for something like this to work just didn’t exist yet.

I didn’t write this post because they’re my friends though. My friends start new companies all the time.  I wrote it because I think if Zaarly does work, it could change the world for the better on a huge level.  Any time I hear about a company like that, I want to tell every damn person I know about it.

So… what will you Zaarly first?

This year, I was lucky enough to be invited to the PRSA Digital Impact Conference in NYC again.  I was given a free pass to attend as press.

I attended this conference last year and found it really interesting to see how the public relations space has changed over the past 12 months.

It’s always an interesting experience for me attending PRSA events.  I’m used to conferences that are filled to the brim with social media and digital professionals.  At PRSA, it’s very clear that the majority of the people has a more traditional background, and do not consider themselves among the digerati.

The major difference I saw from last year was this…

Last year, there were a lot of questions about whether or not social media was worth the investment.

This year, it was much more of an “okay we’re in… now what?” mentality.  The concept that social media could help business was pretty widely accepted.  Now people were looking for advice on how to navigate this world of bloggers, influencers and social platforms that they jumped into.

So… the attendees at the PRSA Digital Impact pretty much reflected the state of the traditional business world.

Here’s a recap of some of the 3 best presentations that I watched:

Mobile Engagement for PR Pros

This panel had quite the crew.  My friends Peter Himler and David Berkowitz joined by John Puterbaugh and John Havens shed some light on the state of the mobile world, and the fascinating path that lies ahead.

“Mobile internet usage will surpass desktop internet usage in the next few years.”

That’s an astounding stat.  It’s one that aptly helps us predict where advertising dollars are headed.  Business follows usage.  As more and more of our time is spent browsing on our phone, rest assured that businesses will be looking to monetize on that time.

The panel also spoke about QR codes being used more and more.  It’s an interesting topic, mostly because in my personal experience, QR codes still escape the mainstream.

QR codes are perhaps the first technology that I’ve seen businesses adopt way before consumers.

John had a good point though.  You can be a skeptic of QR codes, but if you don’t test a QR code, you won’t get any results from a QR code.  The only way to see if a QR code will increase engagement with your audience is to try it.

The last topic was augmented reality.  I love these discussions because you can let your imagination run wild with the implications.  Connecting people with the physical world through technology is the future.

Interestingly enough, FourSquare just announced their experimentation with NFC’s (Near Field Communication).  Other businesses have experimented with this technology, but if anyone can get it installed in every store and restaurant, it’s foursquare.

John had an interesting and simple way of describing augmented reality.  “Augmented reality is the GPS for your life”.

I love it.  Using technology to guide your decisions and interactions in the physical world.

The technology exists.  The user experience needs to be improved a lot before it’s widely adopted, but rest assured, this is the future.  Let your imagination run wild.

Chick Writ: Consumer Brands: Reach Women Buyers via Female Bloggers

Holly Hamann is a friend of mine who has built an amazing network of bloggers over at The Blog Frog.  You’ll hear a lot of people talk about how to reach bloggers, but Holly is the real deal.  She’s built something powerful, and actually understands the blogosphere.

They recently surveyed their community to learn more about what bloggers are looking for when working with brands.  Her talk focused mainly on the results of this study.

What do women bloggers want from working with brands?

How can you tap the influence they have?

She asked 65,000 of them (blogfrog members) for a research report and got a few thousand responses.

Of course it’s important to realize that a lot of the bloggers that participated in this study are bloggers who are savvy in terms of working with brands and PR.

Here are some of the most interesting stats:

“Nearly 2/3 of mom bloggers reject half of the pitches they receive from brands”

“There’s a very specific time of day that most mom bloggers are using social media.”

“Over 70% of mom bloggers said they considered making revenue to be important”

You can get the whole report for free here.

“PRofiting From the Personal-Branding Era: How to Convince the CEO to Encourage Personal Brands”

Ed Schipul had a panel about building personal brands within your company.

It’s a topic that I’ve discussed many times before and have always found interesting.

The initial thought that managers usually have is to prevent employees from focusing too much time on their personal brand.  They should be working on projects that help your company right?

Ed spoke about the value that empowering your employees to build personal brands can bring.

He gave a number of examples of other companies, and his own, loosening up on the leash, letting their employees do what they want and the value that the companies got out of it.

He also spoke about the risks, using Jeremiah Owyang as an example. He described him as one of the best content creators and personal brands, who ended up leaving the company when they couldn’t keep him there.  If a personal brand becomes big enough, it can be hard to keep them with the company.

I liked how his company approached employee bios on their site.  We’re seeing more and more, especially within digital organizations, team pages that are colorful and full of personality.

If you’re doing a good job of hiring people who align with your company’s vision, allowing them to express their personalities on your site and on their own platforms, it can only help you better convey that vision to the rest of the world.

I’m excited to see where the Public Relations space will be this time next year…

To see all the pictures from the event, go here.

Photo cred: Coal Miki

At what point do you consider someone a trusted connection?

Is it after a tweet or two?

Is it after an email?

Is it after a skype chat?

Do you have to meet in person first?

How many times?

Let me phrase it another way.  What does it take for you to trust someone enough to recommend them to others as a professional?

I see social media tools constantly launching with new ways to help people connect with each other.  But as it becomes easier to connect with someone, it seems like we lower our standards for what qualifies as a “trusted connection”, or even as a friend.

What social media allows us to do is create these passive relationships, or “weak ties“.  People have always created weak ties with others, but with social media it becomes possible to do it on a much larger scale.

Now we’re (the social media bubble) even doing it in person.  There’s something that always bugged me about bump and hashable type apps.

Instead of really talking to a person and taking the time to get to know them when you first meet, you can just do a quick info swap on hashable.  It’s this “I’ll get to know her later” mentality.  It weakens our relationships.

The guys at addieu have built something better, because it actually connects the accounts.  It’s more permanent so the exchange actually means something.

Information about a person doesn’t create a relationship, interactions do.

Have you been making real connections with people?  Or are you just bookmarking as many people as possible for later?