12 frogs read think get curious

Time to update your personal bog, you slut!

Will companies, networks, and yes, even websites ever get over themselves and realize it isn’t about them?

Okay, it is The Register, so they put it like this: “Social networking users tend to get around, as they say, and not stay faithful to one network, according to a new study.” Hmm… so I’m a slut because I’m on facebook, flickr, and twitter? (Sorry if you are reading this, Dad.) Now, I think this is pretty funny, so I went looking for the original report… I was curious if the report is what suggested the loyalty angle, or if it was The Register tweaking everyone.

That’s when I found out that Parks Associates thinks people will pay three thousand dollars for “Web 2.0 & the New Net”.

I don’t want to ruin it for you — cause I know you are just dying to whip out your credit card and download that PDF — but the best part might be from their U.S.: Social Media Activities (Q1/07) graph:

When such a stunning graphic is combined with equally stunning prose (“…cutting through the hype and probing into the heart of the key questions it presents to the industry: Is there money to be made in the Web 2.0 space? How should established players react?”) and a $3,000 price tag… Well, of course The Register is poking fun.

How could you not? I mean, you almost have to feel sorry for companies that purchase this report. Almost. Here’s some free advice for folks who even think of going down that path:

• Don’t just read about what everyone else says about them, actually visit facebook, flickr, MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube yourself
• Visit Techmeme and follow some links
• Get a feedreader and subscribe to a few blogs — click through and read some comments, too
• Go to Technorati, search for your company name and on keywords that are important in your industry, and subscribe to a few of the blogs you find as a result
• If you need reports, hop on over to the Pew Internet & American Life Project and download their reports for free

Yep, free advice from a social software hussy. I’m so bad.

So, when I read this headline in my newsreader, for a second I got confused and I thought you had sent me an email with this title specifically! Now, that’s guilt. But, realize in my newsreader headline popup… it is anon, so I had no idea it was actually YOURS. Guess it just sounds like you.

On the article, great advice, particularly #1. I know so many execs that are developing a FaceBook strategy without having tried it. And if you try it, you don’t have to get why people are spending hours on it, but send some messages, poke a few people (just don’t ask what that means), upload some photos, try out some apps… really try to use the functionality. And then, ask some folks that use it, why. If you ask them before you have tried it, you won’t get it.

Thanks for another great read, Jenny!

I think people are just innately lazy and want easy answers quickly + are willing to pay $$$ without THINKING about the issues themselves. They think they are saving themselves time and money, but really they aren’t.

I need to read your blog more often Jenny!

Hey Jenny,

Great article. I did not know there was a such market for this type of material. Now that I know, i am going to go defecate on a 100 piece of paper, scan each page, upload the PFD’s, and then sell the result for grand, anyone interested?

Isn’t it amazing the $$$ shelled out on these reports? Any good librarian (aka info-geek such as yourself) would be happy to find the info for them. Thing is, people value the same info more if they pay for it. sheesh.