We have recently seen a dramatic shift in the definition and responsibilities of friendship. According to Time Out Chicago, we are more likely to call people our friends without really defining them as real friends. Some sites like Facebook and Twitter have made friendship equivalent to replying to a status update.  And even Dentyne is telling us to how to treat our friends:

But, in an era where online social networking is the norm, how do we find the set of people who’s opinions we trust the most? And how does this effect what we buy?

Well, there is a fair amount of research on the subject of online word of mouth referrals amongst friends and it all centers around two things: 1.) A referral by a past customer is one of the most trusted pieces of online communication and 2.) The Dunbar Number. According to this concept, a human being can sustain relationships and communicate with about 150 people. Ironically, this is the average number of friends users have on Facebook. These 150 people make up a person’s referral circle, the people we receive information from (commercial or otherwise). Yet only 26% of these 150 will actually be called ‘real friends’ according to the aforementioned article in Time Out.

So, do we only trust these 39 people who we call our ‘real friends’? Well, a local artist/teacher, Maria Scapelli, might be able to shed some light on that with a project  called Peoplescape 365. Essentially, Scapelli set out on a mission to make one new friend a day for a year either online or offline. Her topline conclusions: 1.) she only kept about 10% as ‘real friends’ 2.) almost all of these people she met in person. So, based on these loose numbers, we might be able to say a person is only able to maintain about 30-40 real friendships and that these relationships are mainly forged by face-to-face contact.

Does that mean we don’t trust the remaining 110 people in our social circle when they say a Samsung TV is a great purchase or buy a book recommend by Legend457 online? No, of course not. But when it comes to making a brand something we love to a point of passionate irrationality (see Lovemarks), one might assume we have to talk to these 30-40 people (among other things). If we don’t, we are simply just providing purchasing descisions not life long loves.

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4.13.09 :: With all the gaffs being thrown around about the future of social media and internet, we’ve decided to add our two sense in about web 3.0.

Most people agree that both web 1.0 and 2.0 can be broken down into content, functionality and style. Web 1.0 was about pushing information through fact driven brochureware and e-commerce sites that were fairly static. Web 2.0 used social media and shared content with a higher user experience to pull people to sites. So, what’s next?

Web 3.0 Content
Content will always be king. So will concept (the angle or the idea that sells the content). So, despite the proliferation of user self-generated content (i.e. youtube) we can expect branding, infotainment and user generated branded content to proliferate and co mingle more with social media. i.e. Sprint’s Now Site and Coke’s Happiness Factory.

Web 3.0 Functionality
Two words: I, Robot. Largely unexplored in the past 10 years, have been the fields of robotics and AI (despite Google’s ability to ‘guess’ what you’re going to search). Futurist, creator of pets.com, and predictor of social media 10 years ago, Paul Saffo, confirmed this in an interview with Communication Arts recently. Not to mention an upcoming search engine, Wolfram Alpha, that uses AI to provide an actual ANSWER to your question, not just search results. Expect the web of the future to be able to have a conversation with you to figure out what you want. aka Max Headroom.

Web 3.0 Style
We will see the webpage cease to be a page. The web will interact with us as a dynamic entity fluidly. See Minority Report. E-ink, touch screen tech and new mobile devices will dictate this new experience, design and interface. Expect information to look more abstract and intuitive rather than instructional. So more icons, less words. Who knows…maybe we’ll develop short hand stenography for the web.

And now, back to the present.

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3.30.09:: We’ll admit, we love errant, blunt advertising– pieces that speak plain truth to an audience that has organically become fans of a brand. This awareness is probably one of the great merits of branding. Recently, I came along this poll while on Facebook:

Pretty spot on, right? Absolutely. Unfortunately, efforts of fast food outlets to woo their most dedicated customers (18-30 year old males) have met backlash before. Who could forget the adorable Quizno’s hamsters?

This ad, despite its warm reception among younger guys, met huge backlash from the occasional customers of the sub chain– families. The ad campaign was subsequently pulled. Conversely, other companies have been able to embrace this audience while remaining benign to the greater population. (i.e. The King’s return to Burger King advertising).

So, if your message embraces this kind of honesty:

1. Find the venue that works for you.
Facebook in this case was a perfect place for this interaction.

2. Listen to your ‘fans’, not your customers.
Marketing professionals receive a lot of customer feedback. The best ones know which ones to listen to and whom to regulate to the peanut gallery.

3. Be prepared for interrogation.
Any bold action requires a rationale. Having one that shows how you are embracing the truth about your brand is never a bad one.

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2.09.09:: Times are tough. Unemployment’s up, politicians are struggling for an economic IV and, worse still, consumer confidence continues to dip. So, how do you sell yourself to a group of fenced in, regretfully cautious people? Stay positive. Get people to revel in the innocence of fun, make them feel good about what they have or simply celebrate charity.

Take a look at this Carnival Cruise Lines spot:

This ‘all for fun’ message creates camaraderie and reminds people there are still fun things we can all enjoy (be it a beach ball OR a cruise).

Getting people to join a simple, common altruistic purpose also works. For example, Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital’s ‘do good.’ campaign. Using bright graphics and headlines like,”Do something good today.” along with compassionate support points, this hospital encouraged people to join the organization’s (and their community’s) cause: good health.

Even packaged goods can align themselves with a better purpose. A la Frosted Flakes:

What’s great about this is that Tony the Tiger not only supports building more sport fields but encourages consumers to nominate projects online (frostedflakes.com).

So, do positive commercial messages create a better economy and/or brand situation? I think positivity is a point of difference in a negative landscape. These messages get people to pay attention and act to a greater good. However, in order to really save the economy, we would need to have a  consumers buy into this feel good thoughts with actual dollars on a massive scale. (Take a look at Finland’s plan for this).

So, I would argue a brand is doing nothing bad by doing good right now. But, as for the economy, we all just might have to just limit how much MSNBC we watch.

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