I am still not using Google Plus

There are enough things in my life to keep me busy (and provide a distraction) including the time I spend online. Of that online time I now spend a lot more of it blogging and on Twitter than I used to, mainly because this is where I get the most benefit and get my news. This therefore means I spend less time on Facebook as well. So although I can instantly communicate with friends and family there, I really don't use it as often as I used to.

As for Google Plus (Or Google+ as some call it), I've never really got into it and still don't really see the purpose of it. Sure, some friends use it and some business contacts are 'hanging out' there, but for me I don't need either another personal social platform or another business-orientated social network.

Perhaps, like the Dunbar's Number (the amount of people somewhere between 100 and 230 that it becomes almost impossible to sustain social relationships with), there's also a maximum number of Social Networks that the average human is capable of using at anyone time? For me it is around 4 (if you include the two blogs that I write for, plus Twitter and Facebook), but for others it might be higher or lower.  This might also go some way to explaining why I don't really find Pinterest Pinteresting and why Instagram hasn't gripped me.

I'm also not going to force myself to use Google Plus. Yes, I am aware that there are quite possible positive effects for using it (e.g. for SEO) and this does not mean other individuals or organisations shouldn't use it as a social media channel. It's just not for me right now... or at least until I stop doing something else and get less distracted!

Website performance challenges

Yesterday I posted about the potential for Google to affect its search rankings based upon response times, which looks to be a growing issue in 2010.

In fact, a recent report from Aberdeen Group highlights that many companies are still not assessing their website performance from the user's perspective and that less than a third of those surveyed have the support for their C -level executives for any website optimisation initiative.

The report also highlights the areas of concern that site owners have about their web offering, with most stating their applications as their principle worry:

Customers - a definition of a developing breed

Throughout this blog I refer to 'customers' as the main people that companies should:

• engage with
• worry about
• communicate with
• listen to, etc.

Yes, I could have used others, such as:

• Readers
  (if you have a subscription model that actually works or another model that makes money)
• Staff
  (if your target audience in internal
• Shareholders
• Leads / Prospects
  (if your target is aquisitional)
• and a bunch of others....

But I've use this term mainly because its simple, is the one I use most commonly and also the one you're most likely to try to engage and influence. Also according to last week's IMRG statistics, online sales are still showing double-digit growth, so its probably no a bad thing to give them a high business priority right now.

However, the internet has done more than simply change the way users experience and swap information, its created a new type of customer. To quote Alex Jefferies of Aberdeen Group in his recent report on Customer 2.0:

These customers expect to interact with peers and businesses when they want, how
they want, and in the channel of their choosing.

There's no longer the chance to turn a blind eye to this developing type of consumer. They have: an opinion, a voice and increasingly have the power to wield it. The company that doesn't facilitate and listen to all these touchpoints may find the conversation going on without them.

Social Media Monitoring & Analysis

Having recently read the Aberdeen Group research paper on Social Media Monitoring and Analysis, I was asked by a client about its usefulness (before they read it themselves).

Now Aberdeen Group papers are usually written in a fairly dry manner, with terminology that can initally baffle the inexperienced (e.g. their use of the term "laggards"), this one is no different. However once you have read a few you get used to it (almost).

The paper does contain some very useful information about social media measurement as well as observations and insight picked up from those they have surveyed in the entertainment, PR, retial and other market sectors.

A service like this (e.g. Magpie's Brandwatch) is useful for managing your company's online reputation and if the report says:

"61% of Best-in-Class companies currently deploy social media monitoring and
analysis solutions"

....perhaps you should consider if yours needs to do the same?