DISQUS

You've done a very nice job of creating a social media presence for yourself. Kudos on the good work!

You might enjoy looking up the concept of a Life Table, via Google or Wikipedia. The math behind a life table fuels the fees insurance companies charge, determines when a crisis will occur with Social Security, and applies perfectly to the situation you are discussing.

Well said, well done!

There's always activities that are difficult to measure (i.e. changing the signage in a store, for instance), those activities have always existed.

And yet, Social Media folks sometimes are frightened when challenged to provide something. You can prove that this stuff does or does not work, I've done both.

It is easy to say it cannot be measured or proven, it eliminates accountability. It is a rush to prove it does work, so try!!

Well done on realizing that the math used by biology and ecology folks applies to Facebook!

I make my entire living on the concepts you outline. I apply those concepts to companies, outlining for them how their business may be struggling due to the issues you describe in your post.

You correctly identified that adoption/acquisition, carrying capacity, and retention drive all dynamics, and do so not just for Facebook, but for all business models.

Well done!

Maybe people could just leave you alone, and focus on their own mistakes.

How is the planet a better place because people clobber you over your opinions?

There are folks who've been told that the "long tail" of retailing gives them endless opportunities to grow healthy, profitable businesses in this era.

Your thoughts?

I've received criticism for not using my actual name (Kevin Hillstrom) as the name of my consulting practice (MineThatData).

What do you folks think, should I have gone with my actual name?

You are experiencing the maturation of an industry. It's an endless cycle that is being revisited in your world.

As the masses embrace what you've been part of, you'll move on to new and exciting things that push the envelope. Conferences are one way of understanding when it is time to move on to new and exciting things.

Bury it!!!

You identified the problem that hurts all of us technical people --- the language we speak.

We can't help ourselves.

The better job we do at speaking the language of the everyday person, the better job we will do of evangelizing our ideas.

And when somebody figures out how to do it, please help teach me too!

One of the blogs I follow includes a significant amount of swearing. The person is clearly hurt over the direction his industry is taking, and it seems the only way his feelings can truly be expressed. He doesn't seem to swear in non-industry related posts. While I don't think his language is appropriate, it is obvious his feelings are hurt, and I can pick that up from his choice of language.

I won't swear on my blog. I want those who run across my content to focus on the content, not the language used to deliver it.

Now try carving out a niche while Wall St. demands that you grow sales and profit at the same time. I've been in enough board rooms and executive meetings to know that leaders talk about these things all the time, they aren't dumb.

Trying to get 35,000 employees to all act in a consistent manner, selling product that 500 merchandisers all agree is targeted to the exact same niche, while preventing further comp store sales decreases, now that is where the rubber hits the road.

Without a doubt, doing the right thing is good. And I would be the first person to get behind companies that do nice things. Spending time doing these activities drives a better ROI than spending money on a television commercial.

Many years ago, I sat in a room with folks from Hallmark. They wanted to create an automated thank you program for my company, tied in to a CRM system. To me, that was opposite of what you are advocating. There's such a fine line between doing good, doing something that looks good, and trying to drive profit. To your point, if you do good, the sales and profits will follow.

Good post!

Do we know that these direct mail pieces worked because they drove sales increases to the companies that sent the direct mail campaigns to you?

Thanks for the link!! Nice blog.

To me, white papers aren't any different than any other kind of communication.

Some are very well done and are very relevant.

Some are not well done but are very relevant.

Some are well done and are irrelevant.

Some are not well done and are irrelevant.

Everybody likes to take potshots at the last category.

I think you showed wisdom in this discussion. Most important was the comment that you have to learn to listen to and incorporate feedback from a diverse set of individuals.

Once you have the feedback, knowing which opinion to act upon is a combination of gut feel, experience, and passion. We all have different gifts. We clearly enhance our gifts by listening to others.

Good job!