the interwebsOR How I learned to stop worrying about my job

by Clay Parker Jones

What are we going to cover?

Social Media (Community + Identity)

Design for the Web (Reimagining Sites)

Good Ideas (Content, Usefulness + Usability)

You already understand social media. Here’s why.

People Communicatin’

Online

“Social Media”

1. We’re in advertising. That means we should know (and understand) people, right?

2. Identities are formed online, too. People’s choices in the real world help define their identity, and the same thing goes on the web.

3. A voice on the other end. Don’t forget that technology doesn’t drive the web. People do.

People

1. Staying up. People are using the web primarily to keep in contact with friends (78%, at least)

2. Ambient Connectivity. Stay in contact when you want to be in contact, and never when you don’t...sounds like a good context for brands, yes?

3. Sharing. It’s more than just talking to each other. It’s about sharing, collaborating, and having fun.

Communicating

1. Searchable. Google indexes almost everything.2. Permanent. Or at least damn near it.3. Real. Especially for digital natives, there’s no

distinction between physical and digital lives.4. Easy. Seriously, it’s easy. My mom is 62 and she

does it without much help.

Online

What does a goodwebsite look like?

- Eric Burke

Websites areproducts.

We should treat them as such.(Pretty isn’t everything, but it does help.)

Design forconnectivity.

Don’t rebuild. Reuse.(Someone already built it better)

Okay, so whatshould we do?

Which one gets more traffic?

CNNFlickr

0

0.63

1.25

1.88

2.50

August September October November DecemberFlickr CNN.com

We should probably look into the whole community thing, yes?

Daily Reach, %

“ Things don’t get socially interesting until they are technologically boring.”

- Clay Shirky

There may be a problem with all this fun tech stuff, though.

Great content wins every time.

Heck, people even pay for it.You know ... books, music, movies, etc.

great content:Not that easy to make.Something like 90% of blogs are dead, unused by their creators. Keeping up with demand ain’t easy. Think of it this way: could you write a best-seller? I know I can’t. But the brands we work with have the opportunity to at least come close.

great experiences:A lot easier to create.Build a great experience first and then allow people to help you make great content. Youtube is a good example. Wikipedia is an even better one.

community-building:People want to have a relationship with you.This world is based on relationships. And wouldn’t you believe it? People seem to be OK with online relationships with brands. Why? Because on the web, the user controls the relationship.

step 1:Try it.Yes, just go try it. It’s really simple. You’ll get it after a few days, I guarantee it.

step 2:Stop thinking about this as a reach vehicle.We’re working on the reach thing. For now, people don’t look at banners, and we know they don’t click on them. But we can do engagement really, really well. So let’s stick to that.

step 3:Get people to do something.When you write a brief, don’t think about messaging. Think about activity. Think about excitement.

When you think about a web experience, don’t think flashy and perfect. Think big, or think little. Think about commitments instead of campaigns.

That’s it.Hope you liked it.Clay Parker Jonesexitcreative.net/blog@exitcreative