Christopher S. Penn – Marketing AI Keynote Speaker

Author: Christopher S Penn

Andrew Baron Selling Twitter Account, Database For Sale?
Andrew Baron Selling Twitter Account, Database For Sale?

Chris Brogan raised the question people should be asking about Andrew Baron’s eBay sale of his Twitter account.

What are you buying? What’s the value?

Laura Fitton said on Twitter: “you can’t sell relationships.” You can’t. But you sure as heck can sell data.

In the case of Twitter, you can’t export meaningful amounts of data from Twitter followers from Twitter directly.

If Baron put up his Facebook account, that’d be a different story, because I can extract real data from it – names, email addresses, other contact information. At that point, it’s a database, and we buy & sell databases all the time.

What would I pay for that? The going rate is about $1.50 per valid identity on the commercial markets - you can buy header files from credit bureaus with roughly the same data for about$ 1.50 a head if you’re buying in bulk. Experian, Transunion, Equifax – all of them are selling YOU already, at a cost far below what your personal worth is.

Companies are buying and selling your data all the time. I can’t give specifics, but of the companies I’ve worked for in the last decade, most of them bought customer lists at one point or another, and the sad reality is that your personal identity, information, and privacy are dirt cheap.

You are for sale.

A piece of Andrew Baron is for sale, as is his followers on Twitter.

He’s just being transparent about it.

Incidentally, if I were a current or future Rocketboom advertiser, I’d buy this account in a heartbeat and run some analytics on it. Who DMs or @s Andrew the most, about what topics, and are those people running media channels of their own that I should advertise on?

Also, you can’t export data from Twitter. But you can cross-reference data pools you already have with Twitter. A social graph of Twitter cross-referenced with your house list and other social networks will tell you quickly who participates in that account’s first level relationships. THAT has value to someone who wants to market to Andrew or his connections.
- Name? Maybe.
- Location? Fairly often.
- Friend count? Definitely.
- Follower count? Definitely.
Combine that with other data pools, and Twitter is giving me something truly usable, something that might be worth paying for.

With the right tools, if I started with a million address email list bought on the cheap from a broker, I could use social networks – especially high profile ones like Andrew’s – to cleanse my list and determine if the addresses were of value. Remember, you can’t pull any data from private or protected profiles publicly – but if you bought a high profile account, you’d gain access to those individuals who established relationships privately but are still hidden publicly. Value.

Oh yeah, and if you see a LinkedIn profile for sale, be afraid. There’s lots of usable data in there.

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April 13, 2008
Marketing Sucks

Marketing Sucks

Marketing sucks. That’s the perception that many, many consumers have about marketing, for good or ill. Here’s an example of what I mean. Richard Mondello, a high school senior in Dover Plains, New York, recently wrote on his blog:

In my opinion, marketers will always be marketers. It’s their job to manipulate you into purchasing their product or service, and this isn’t arguable.

This is depressing, mostly because Richard’s right. Decades of bad behavior, bad marketing, bad advertising, and general shortsightedness on the part of corporate marketing departments have blackened the profession’s name to the very people we want to reach.

At every opportunity for new means of communicating, bad actors work as fast as possible to piss in the pool in the hopes that they’ll be able to scrape up a few meager commissions or sales before being consigned to the bin of perpetual ignorage by consumers in that channel.

Don’t believe me? Here’s one of my favorite examples – Twitter is 18 months old and has tons of clueless marketers trying to garner attention every hour of every day. Not a single day goes by when I don’t get a follower notification from some asshat marketer whose Twitterstream is only pimpage.

How did it all go wrong? Short term thinking, short term vision. When companies, organizations, or individuals focus only on the short term, whether it’s quarterly results on the Street or whether you can get some action at the single’s bar tonight, the same desperation is created by short term thinking. That combined with a profit above all else mentality has turned marketing into the corporate equivalent of that guy in the bar who smells of equal parts aggression, fear, and desperation – and the target audience stays far, far away.

Marketing can be more than this. Marketing can be more than desperate selling or attention whoring. Marketing can be, at its ideal, the sharing of ideas, the promotion of ideas. One of my favorite quotes from Seth Godin is that marketing can kill people. Bad marketing has basically been responsible for things like genocide in Darfur or the war in Iraq because the ideas that would have led to the most favorable outcome were not marketed as well as the ideas that have led to current outcomes.

So how do we get from desperate, lonely attention whoring (buy my product! digg my article! watch my video! pay attention to me!) to the ideal McMarketing outcome – billions and billions of lives saved? It really comes down to a change in our perception of what marketing is. Look at what the American Marketing Association says marketing is:

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Quick, close your eyes and try to remember that. I’d say marketing has a branding issue, wouldn’t you?

Try this:

Marketing is the sharing of ideas.

The idea that college is affordable with the right solutions.
The idea that a conference can be more than wooden panels and hotel food.
The idea that a marketing podcast can inform and entertain.
The idea that you can change your life for the better in an instant.

We need to change our own belief system about marketing from corporate pimpage to the sharing of ideas, of knowledge, of insight. If you have a product or service that is unremarkable, that is not worth sharing, either change your product or create something on top of the product that is worth sharing. That’s been the basic idea behind the Financial Aid Podcast. Student loans – especially federal student loans – are commodity products. They’re fundamentally more or less the exact same thing, give or take a few minor details. So how do you make a commodity interesting? I couldn’t.

But what I could do was create something else that was interesting – an internet radio show and new media initiative that changed how I thought about financial aid, and in turn helped others to change their ideas about financial aid. Instead of being a boring, obscure process that happened behind closed doors and in back room deals at conferences and golf courses, the Financial Aid Podcast has helped to bring at least part of the financial aid process out into the open, into the digital dialogue. It’s about sharing the ideas I’ve learned in financial aid with everyone and anyone who wants to listen and have a conversation about financial aid.

Are my ideas any good? That’s for the audience to judge, but based on the results so far – thousands of listeners, thousands of friends on Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networks, coverage in US News & World Report, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, WCVB Boston 5 – I’d say that they’re at least worth talking about to some degree.

If you’re a marketer, the very best thing you can do is to start figuring out what ideas you have that are worth sharing. Not products, not services, not pimpage, but actual ideas. If you work at a company that, frankly, has no ideas worth sharing, you either have to create them, or work for a different company.

What are your ideas worth sharing?

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April 13, 2008
My Twitter Follow Policy

A few folks have been talking about how following works for them on Twitter – do you follow back everyone who follows you (minus the spambots)? Do you selectively follow some people? How and why?

Here’s my rationale. As I said in a recent post, Twitter is my AP Newswire. As such, I look to Twitter to learn first and foremost – I watch Twitter and see not who’s interesting or attractive or fun or whatever. I look to see who has the information I need most in their Twitterstream and follow.

My day job at the Student Loan Network requires me to stay on top of current events, to keep an eye on markets, to have discussions with the smartest people I can on a regular basis to keep myself sharp. I look to Twitter for folks who work on the inside of firms like Merrill Lynch (ticker: MER), Citigroup (ticker: C), JP Morgan (ticker: JPM), and many others. I look to Twitter for folks as avid about economics and finance as I am. Twitter is my Bloomberg terminal.

My hobby job as PodCamp Co-Founder along with Chris Brogan requires me to stay on top of trends in new media, social media, marketing, PR, and much more. Twitter is the conference that never ends.

My focus on Twitter changes, too. Lately it’s been focused on macroeconomics, politics, marketing, and PR, but back in February it was heavily focused for a couple of weeks on object oriented classes in PHP, and I followed/unfollowed a lot of people when my focus changed.

Just as I have a choice between CNBC and Bloomberg on TV or the Boston Globe and BostonNOW, I have choices about who I follow on Twitter, based on what I need Twitter to teach me. If I don’t follow you, it’s not because I don’t like you or because you’re irrelevant. It’s that what you’re doing right now isn’t necessarily in my field of focus – but may be in the future.

I try to keep the number of people I follow between 300 and 400 – any more than that, and Twitter becomes unusable because I lose more information than I gather.

To keep balanced and make sure I don’t miss anything, I check my Replies tab religiously.

That, in a nutshell, is my follow policy. What’s yours?

April 10, 2008
The Story of the Goldilocks Economy

Quoting Gillian Tett of the Financial Times:

In recent years, the concept of a “Goldilocks” economy has permeated the policymaking world. For after decades of painful economic booms and busts, politicians and central bankers have become wedded to the idea of chasing a growth rate that is neither “too hot, nor too cold, but just right” – as Goldilocks famously said, in reference to her porridge.

I’ll take a moment to make another fairy tale reference. Depending on the storyteller and the story source, there are three bears in the Goldilocks story…

… and in some of those stories, when the bears awaken, they kill her.

Not a good omen for our economy.

April 9, 2008
Want to influence China? Forget Olympic Torch Protests!

China’s power today is driven by economics first and foremost. Want to lead the charge, make a difference, influence their human rights policy? Forget the Olympics, forget Olympic Torch protests. The Olympics are symbolic, and while as a Buddhist, I certainly acknowledge and applaud any attention given to the plight of Tibet, protests will accomplish very little in the long run.

Want to really make a change?

Every time you go to the store, check to see where a product is made. If you have a choice between goods made in China and any other nation (and you may not), buy the product made somewhere else as often as you can.

Commit today to buy 25% fewer goods made in China, and 25% more goods made in the USA or other countries that support the human rights initiatives you value.

Economic power made the giant, and economic power can change its course on human rights – but only if you have the will as a consumer to vote with your wallet, no matter how great the sale is.

April 8, 2008
Arrive Smarter

I’m loading up my iPod before heading back to Boston, and it occurred to me this simple thing:

With as much content as we have available to us – TED Talks, Google Talks, Google Employee Discussions, NY 2012, PodCamps, etc. – if you own the gear and don’t arrive at your destination smarter than you left, you’re not taking advantage of the technology.

If you have an iPod capable of video (and yes, I recognize many don’t, but for those who do…) load up your personal graduate school of life and arrive smarter.

April 3, 2008
Why The Rick Astley YouTube Rickroll Matters

It’s all good fun today on April Fool’s Day as Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up is linked from all of YouTube’s featured videos. Just fun, right?

Heck no. There’s a lot more to this.

We’ve heard a lot of metrics about YouTube and other social sites, about how many users there are. But what would happen if one video were promoted by YouTube to the near exclusion of everything else?

That’s today’s Rickroll. It’s not just an April Fool’s Day prank – it’s also a clear demonstration of how many users YouTube could aggregate to a single video if they so chose, and you can bet big media and marketers will be paying very close attention, particularly if the number of views heads into the tens of millions in just 24 hours.

Here’s an interesting tidbit: the Rick Astley video has embedding disabled. Why? It can’t be just a licensing thing. What if YouTube wanted an accurate measurement of plays just on YouTube.com? You’d have to disable embedding.

What, do you think this link is going to go anywhere else besides that video?

April 1, 2008
I have 2 SocialThing Invites. Want one?

I have 2 SocialThing Invites. Want one?

Here’s what you must do. Get THREE people to register for PodCamp NYC, and in the “how did you hear about PodCamp NYC” section, have them put YOUR email address (munged is okay, like cspenn at gmail dot com) and the word socialthing. Example:

How did you hear about PodCamp NYC? Heard from cspenn at gmail dot com / socialthing

First two people who refer THREE signups to PodCamp NYC gets the invite.

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March 31, 2008
Why Twitter Matters : It's Your AP Newswire
Lots of debate lately about Twitter – what it is, why it matters, how to use it. I’ll throw this thought out there:

Twitter is my personal AP Newswire.

Here’s the thing. I can’t afford a Bloomberg terminal ($1,800/month) or an AP newsfeed in real time and I’m unwilling to even spend on real time stock quotes, since by and large I don’t trade in equities. However, there are LOTS of people on Twitter who either work at or have connections in the companies and industries that I follow and study.

A few examples:
- On the day of the Bear Stearns crash, a Twitterati told me about conditions at Merrill Lynch and what was the thinking there
- Jay Moonah tipped me off to Google AdWords Demographics before the post showed up in Reader
- Pick any major newsworthy crash/disaster recently, like crane collapses or aircraft issues. Twitter has it long before CNN.
- A Black Hat SEO recently disclosed a VERY cool trick for gaming Digg on Twitter. Never would have seen it otherwise.
Scoble‘s on track – it’s about who you follow that gives Twitter its value, and not who follows you. Being popular is fun, being informed is valuable.

For me, Twitter is my AP Newswire…

…I’d wager, in fact, that it’s faster than AP.

Names of some parties have been withheld for their protection, and in some cases, you won’t even find them in my public “people I follow” list.

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March 30, 2008
Snapple Antioxidant Water is a Soft Drink

A few folks have been mentioning Snapple’s new soft drink, Snapple Antioxidant Water.

“Wait, it’s water, it’s not a soft drink!” I can hear Marketing shouting.

I beg to differ.

Exhibit A: water.

Ingredients: Water.

Serving Size: 1 cup (240ml)
Servings per Container: About 2.5
Calories per serving: 0
Total calories per bottle: 0
Total Fat: 0g % Daily Value (Fat): 0%
Sodium: 0 mg
% Daily Value (Sodium): 0%
Total Carb: 0 g
% Daily Value (Total Carb): 0%
Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 0 g
% Daily Value (Protein): 0%
Niacin (B3): 0%
Vitamin B6: 0%
Vitamin B12: 0%
Pantothenic Acid (B5): 0%
Vitamin A: 0%
Calcium: 0%
Vitamin E: 0%
Magnesium: 0%
Zinc: 0%

Exhibit B: Snapple’s drink.

Ingredients: Purified water, sugar, potassium citrate (electrolyte), citric acid, natural flavors, fruit and vegetable juices (for color), modified corn starch, calcium lactate (electrolyte), calcium gluconate (electrolyte), magnesium lactate (electrolyte), vitamin E acetate, calcium disodium edta (to maintain freshness), grape seed extract, zinc gluconate (electrolyte), vitamin A palmitate, EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), manganese gluconate (electrolyte).

Serving Size: 1 cup (240ml)
Servings per Container: About 2.5
Calories per serving: 50
Total calories per container: 125
Total Fat: 0g % Daily Value (Fat): 0%
Sodium: 0 mg
% Daily Value (Sodium): 0%
Total Carb: 12 g
% Daily Value (Total Carb): 4%
Sugars: 12 g
Protein: 0 g
% Daily Value (Protein): 0%
Niacin (B3): 20%
Vitamin B6: 20%
Vitamin B12: 20%
Pantothenic Acid (B5): 20%
Vitamin A: 10%
Calcium: 2%
Vitamin E: 10%
Magnesium: 2%
Zinc: 2%

Lots of stuff in Snapple’s drink that you won’t find in authentic water, including the 125 calories per bottle.

Is it a good drink? That’s opinion. I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say. Is it water? Hell no. It’s got as many calories per bottle as a 12 ounce Guinness, a small soda, a 12 ounce orange juice, and infinitely more calories than unsweetened coffee, tea, or water. If you drink 5 bottles of water, at the end of the day, you will have consumed 0 calories. If you drink 5 bottles of Snapple, at the end of the day, you will have consumed 625 calories, or a Burger King Whopper (no mayo).

What does this mean from a marketing perspective? By calling it water instead of a beverage, drink, etc. – pretty much anything that’s not water – it’s inherently misleading. People who drink it without reading the label and believe that it’s a substitute for water are in for a surprise, especially in their waistline. And Snapple’s not alone, not by any means. Sobe, I’m looking at you. Call it what it is – a soft drink. It may not be carbonated, and it may have more vitamins than a Diet Coke, but it’s still not a water substitute, and drinking it in lieu of water, if you’re thinking about health and weight control, will unpleasantly surprise you.

Updated:

I did some quick checking around. I found that another beverage, based on the marketing tactics above, can also be called antioxidant water!

Yes, it’s true – with only 160 calories per bottle, plus healthy doses of polyphenols, as many health benefits as red wine, and the antioxidant ferulic acid, here’s my antioxidant water!

Please consume antioxidant water responsibly.

Fun experiment: of all the people who drink antioxidant beverages, how many could even explain what antioxidants are?

Updated again:

Snapple’s marketing agent is going to send me some of their antioxidant water for a taste test and review. I plan on reviewing Snapple, tap water, bottled water, and beer.

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March 27, 2008

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