Walter Adamson

Stanford's Open Office Hours a model for businesses on Facebook

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Stanford Open Office Hours is an innovative use of Facebook by a major school which takes advantage Facebook in very interactive, informative and interactive way.

For example "fans" or rather Likers of the Stanford Facebook page can ask Bill Gates questions at the Open Office Hours: Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will guest host the next Stanford Open Office Hours. Mr. Gates will respond to two or three questions related to his upcoming talk at Stanford: "Giving Back: Finding the Best Way to Make a Difference"...

Questions are posed beforehand, and then Bill Gates answers the selected ones in a video on the Wall.

And for example, from the Design School: Stanford Open Office Hours: d.school, Part 1 [HQ] by Stanford University (videos) 6:03 Bring your questions and comments for the d.school faculty on Stanford Open Office Hours.

Or Prof. Jennifer Aaker and Jen Eident "respond to your questions about authenticity for brands and people".

About Stanford Open Office Hours

Office hours are a Stanford tradition supporting just this kind of learning. Instructors set aside a few hours each week for students to drop by for conversation. These conversations can cover anything from a review of course content to the latest research findings or career advice. Stanford Open Office Hours is a public version of that tradition, an experiment that will bring conversations with some of Stanford’s most interesting people to you on Facebook.

See the complete Note here, and the list of Archived Stanford Open Office Hours (at this date).

It's a model of interaction which could be adapted by many businesses, and because of the format does not appear to be too labour intensive. They have some ground-rules which help manage the community, among them "be respectful to the host; be respectful to one another; do not monopolize the conversation; ignore the trolls".

Other Standford apps

Standford also has a Facebook Your Stories application, seeking testimonials from those who have benefited from scholarships, and of course an iPhone app. It's called iStanford and allows students to register for classes, look up campus maps and be able view the location of their friends on a map – instant messaging them if need be.

Of course there are many really good Facebook examples of business use, such as the DELL Social Media page which is a guide to small business, or the VISA Business Network. A recent post by @pollypearson of EMC illustrates the power of the spontaneous interview when she snagged a bunch of top EMC execs. The Standford page illustrates the potential of short Q&A and video with key people in the business or customers, which for example EMC could use in a followup style in their Communities.

What do you think of this model and it's implementation on Facebook?

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The Reverse Elevator Pitch

I liked this from Maria Umbach, VP and Chief Marketing Officer of individual products for Guardian Life Insurance Company of America:

It's not what you say inside the elevator [to somebody about what you do] but it's about what they say about you after you have left the elevator - she calls this the Reverse Elevator Pitch.

I might also call it the "Residual Elevator Pitch" since it is was is left after you leave the conversation - but reverse is simpler. Maria talks about innovating around language as an aspect of engaging customers. An important topic.

Also important to website design and digital engagement, for Software as a Service companies for example. How to use the right language for the right customers at the right time for the right purpose of their engagement.

http://xeesm.com/walter

Brian Wong's branded functionality

Jay Baage at Digital Media Wire reports on Brian Wong's concept of branded functionality:

By that he means marketing by building good-will towards your brand by providing, for example, iPhone-users with an application that solves a problem for them. One good example I know of is that HP has an iPhone application called iPrint that lets you print pictures and documents seamlessly directly from your phone to any network HP printer. In this sense, HP solves a problem for iPhone users who want to print on the go.

Is this something worth a separate brand concept? After all having eBay or a bank or Google or Linkedin on my iPhone is what I expect - it's almost like a brand negative for those that don't have an application and a level playing field for those brands which do have one.

Brands have functions now which include making it easier for consumers to interpret and digest information on products and to use services. An application as branded functionality is a truism, how does it help us think about new approaches or add new value to customers?

Frankly I'm not sure, but the most interesting thing is Wong himself - an 18-year-old entrepreneur who's launched his own business (Aer Marketing), developed a Web 2.0 business model, and created a functional and attractive web tool with FollowFormation.

We may hear more in the future about branded functionality?

Google News adds quotes from people searched

I heard in passing this morning that Australian cyclist Robbie McEwen had abandoned next season (2010) due to injuries sustained in a fall in May. When I searched Google News tonight I was surprised to see a quote from him leading the stories, a "quote snippet":

"Being forced on the sideline to watch, you can learn a fair bit about your rivals. I did see things [in the Tour] that can be useful. But that has always been a part of my tactic"

Aug 16, 2009 Brisbane Times                                             ...more by Robbie McEwen

It's a quote search "/news/quote?" within News, and clicking on more quotes gets a list of recent quotes.

For example, you see all publications which have published quotes from Albert Einstein in the last week.

If you search for "facebook" you get no quotes, but if you search for Mark Zuckerberg you can get his latest musings which have been captured in the press, or just the last one week's worth.

Neat!

By the way, I was glad to see that I had misheard the morning's report - McEwan has called an end to his "disastrous season" which has been marred by a bad fall and two other accidents. McEwen called his May 28 accident on the second stage of the Tour of Belgium as "by far the worst one I've had during my 14 year pro career and the effect has been that my 2009 season is over".

Thomas Power - tooling around in social media

I "know" Thomas Power, well at least I've met him personally and he's a nice guy - I think I am one of his 5,000 friends on Facebook.

"Thomas Power is one of the most connected people in the world with 50,000 contacts on Ecademy, 25,000 on Linkedin, 10,000 followers on Twitter and 5,000 friends on Facebook. Thomas has more testimonials on Linkedin than any other person in the world among 50 million users."

Of course I am a member of Ecademy, Thomas' baby - it's been a very successful online community in the UK. I'm not really active there any more as it has a bit too narrow focus for me, but I still get all my alerts and such and click through them.

When I saw this in the subject line, I opened it with interest, to see what I might learn from the agenda.

Join me for 48 hours next week for intense social media learning

Now Thomas, I just have to write this post because you've flabbergasted me - ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Here's the 2-day program:

Thomas will provide rare insights into the migration from a closed selective controlling© (CSC©) society to an open random supportive© (ORS©) society. This migration happening over the course of a generation, 30 years, provides the backdrop and context to create real change in yourself and your actions online. 

Day One - August 20th

Arrival 9am

Networking 10-11am

Context scene setter from CSC to ORS 11-1pm

Lunch 1pm to 2.30pm

Online Platforms part I 2.30pm to 5pm

Relaxation private time 5pm to 7pm

Dinner for 13 - 7.30pm to 10pm

Nightcap and retire 

Day Two - August 21st

Breakfast 8am

Online Platforms workshop part II 9am to 1pm

Lunch 1pm to 2.30pm

Summary and actions 2.30pm to 5pm

Networking close 5pm to 7pm

Departure.

Cost £699.00 inc VAT (that's nearly $1400 Australia Pacific pesos which buys a nice pina colada down here although I know it is only worth a cup of tea in the UK!)

My dear Thomas, no further analysis required (1) send me what you are smoking as I need some, (2) please write a book on how to sell 2 X 2.5 hours on using "Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook, Linkedin, Social Median, Youtube" for $1400 - I'll buy 10 copies.

The 2-day workshop is limited to 12 people, that's why it says "dinner for 13". Now I understand from the email sent to me that only 5 places are left. I was worried you'd be taking Dinner for One, but no, not at all, there's gold in them thar hills of social media tools!

Well done!

PS Thomas I know that you will have a google alert for "Thomas Power", but I've sent you a direct link anyway.

Stop trash talking Iceland - the GFC goes rap

The crew from Iceland making out on the GFC and the bad rap for Iceland.

 

Thanks to my buddy Jóhann Tómas Sigurðsson