Social Customer

Tweeting the Super Bowl

By Patty Seybold

On Sunday evening, February 7th, my husband and I got ready for the annual ritual of the American Super Bowl—the one football game each year that most Americans never miss. Tom was bemoaning the fact that we had neglected to invite friends over. I said, “We’ll have our own Super Bowl party,” as I got out the beer and the chips. But that’s not exactly what happened. I settled down to watch the game and the ads, with my laptop in front of me, fired up TweetDeck and began tweeting my take on both. I quickly noticed that most of the people I follow on Twitter were doing exactly the same thing. So I enjoyed myself immensely, sharing the experience with several hundred people.

One of the times that Twitter really excels is when there’s something happening in the world that draws peoples’ attention. Last month, I wrote about the way Twitter was being used to help rescue and relief efforts in Haiti. The earthquake in Haiti, an important Congressional hearing, the confab at Davos, the winter Olympics, an announcement by Apple or Google—these are all times when I head for Twitter to follow what’s going on (setting up a search to filter the topic I’m following) and to lend my voice. Humans are social animals. We want to share our celebrations, our passions, and our front row seats with other friends and fans.

I enjoyed the Super Bowl immensely, in part because I was able to hang out with lots of other people doing the same thing—many were friends and family members. Others were people I’ve “met” via Twitter. The game was thrilling. The Colts’ Peyton Manning is the best quarterback I’ve ever seen in action. Yet the underdogs won—the New Orleans Saints persevered in much the way that the people of New Orleans have persevered after the destruction of their beloved city by Hurricane Katrina. It was heartwarming.

The ads were disappointing. (For those of you who live outside the U.S., you may not be aware that the annual Super Bowl is also the biggest TV advertising competition. Audience reaction can make or break an ad agency.) Many of this year’s ads shared a common, bizarre, and belittling theme of emasculated, frustrated men breaking free. (Clearly uninspired group think on the part of the advertising community.)

The worst ads, in my opinion were from Careerbuilder.com (unattractive people in their underwear), Dockers, Dove, Kia, Denny’s chickens, Intel. A lot of people liked the eTrade ads, with the babies talking in grown-up voices, but I found that too derivative of Citibank’s identity theft ads which do it better. My votes for the best ads go to Doritos, in particular, the “house rules” ad: The kid saying to the new boyfriend, “Keep your hands off my Mama; Keep your hands off my Doritos.” Google’s Parisian romance ad, the Audi green police ad, the Cars.com amazing kid growing up ad, and the HomeAway.com (terrible hotel experience) ad. To pick your own faves, go to NFL Fanhouse to view and vote on this year’s Super Bowl ads.

Social Media and Online Security

When I joined Twitter last year to keep track of some Visionary clients, I never dreamed I would become so addicted to it. I would probably embarrass myself if I shared with you just how much time I have spent over the past year and a half scrolling through endless tweet streams, “listening” to and barging in on, other peoples’ conversations, and sharing random thoughts with the world at large. Once I mastered Twitter (I can quit anytime!), I moved on to Facebook, and LinkedIn, and so on and so forth. What is it about social media that keeps us going back for more?

As humans we crave interaction with and recognition from our peers, and now that we have various forums in which to do so, we sometimes have an inexplicable need to let the rest of the general population know what we’re doing, what we’re wearing, and what or where we just ate. Some of us even post pictures of our meals to help our schedule-challenged friends feel that they are right there at the table with us, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the newest, most creative presentation of steak and mashed potatoes (Oh look! It’s the mountain from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind!”). Unfortunately, in putting ourselves so far out there, we can also open ourselves up to unwanted attention. For example, someone in your offline world whom you’re not expecting to see could show up uninvited to a gathering you’ve planned, simply by searching for your name or handle on the Internet and finding your intended location.

Social Media is Like...a Mr. Bubble Pool Party?

Doing a Web search for "Social media is like" gives some fun and interesting results. (Make sure you use the quotation marks to search for this exact phrase. And don't tell Patty Seybold I'm spending my time doing this...)

Below are some of the things you'll find. Except for the first couple of examples, you'll have to click the links to understand the rationale. (As an intellectual challenge, you can try to guess at the reasoning before visiting the site in question.)

• Social media is like a Mr. Bubble Pool party...it has a way of bringing people together and can be a heck of a lot of fun!
• Social media is like water...don’t be afraid to dive into the deep end of the pool; water is best when added to other things.
• Social media is like speechwriting...
• Social media is like playing slot machines...
• Social media is like visiting a good hair stylist...