Are Global Brands Too Important To Be Hyperlinked ?

Leon Benjamin posted the following thought to Twitter - and hence to Facebook.

"You know you're a global brand when people don't bother hyperlinking to you on blog posts coz' everyone knows where to find you. Thoughts?"

I started to write a response - and then ran out of space.

So here goes ...

I think we should flip it - as to WHO links and who doesn't ...

When a new social network is small, nascient, getting going - the early users are likely early adopters - been around the block a few times with other apps, know the expected behaviours, the etiquette etc - this includes hyperlinking - even for famous big names - the hyperlinks are there.

As the Social Networks grow, the noobies appear. And - as a 'nooby', the inevitable question - who (in the case of Twitter) do I follow ? who (in the case of Facebook) should be my friend ? - and so on.

Two things then happen

1) As time marches on the new people that join start to lose the core understandings, rules and etiquette of the original early adopters - forget - don't know - aren't as knowledgeable/ schooled in the finer points etc

2) The higher up the brand / success tree a brand / user is ... the more likely the 'uninitiated' will be following - so a higher proportion of no hyper linking will be occurring.

Thus my suggestion would be to flip the research.

I contend that the less aware a user is of the etiquette - the more likely they are not to hyperlink - and the more likely to follow big names.

@stephenfry and britney (i am sorry - I don't know her '@' off the top of my head - are sitting there on twitter with hundreds of thousands of followers - out of however many millions of twitterers there are.

I am betting that a lot of those followers are 'noobies' - just think of some of mr frys's frustrations posted to twitter ...

@PTPayne What!!!!??? Have you read nothing I've posted in the last 24 hours???
8:56 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck in reply to PTPayne

It's not instantaneous. You tweet ONCE ONLY, including the string #followmestephen After hours/days/weeks you'll see me added to your list
8:55 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck

Sigh. So many of you just don't get hashtags and aren't using them. It's so simple. I'm afriad I can't follow anyone who doesn't do it right
8:30 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck

.. and I can't find it now - but a cracker a few weeks ago when he blacked out his image - I paraphrase :
" really - it would only take you a scroll down the page to answer that question for yourself"

Bottom line - all of the above is fully laced with 100% opinion - and no absolute data - but to me it makes sense.

I'd welcome a debate.

Innovation - according to Guy

Just found this locked up in my blog softWare 'PENDING' .. thought I should actually post it! Bottom line - Mr. Kawasaki talking about innovation.

In his words:

"Don't be afraid to polarize people." For radio, he said, an attempt to please everyone will only "create mediocrity."

The full monty ...

SAN JOSE -- February 9, 2009: Guy Kawasaki -- an original Mac "evangelist" in the '80s and now Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures -- opened Radio Ink's Convergence '09 with a keynote that focused on innovation: what it is and how to get it. He said, "True innovation occurs not when it's motivated by the desire to make money, but the desire to make meaning -- that is, to make the world a better place."
Kawasaki said most of the entrepreneurs who come to him and say their primary motivation is to make money end up with failing companies because they attract employees with the wrong motivation. He asked attendees, "How do you take the radio business and make people's lives better? That is the true foundation of innovation."

Kawasaki noted that most businesses define themselves by what they make today rather than sufficiently broadly, and urged attendees to jump past radio's current "curve of local transmitters broadcasting 30s and 60s for local advertisers.:
He recommended that companies seek a two- or three-word "mantra" instead of a mission statement and said innovators should be guided by the idea of "Don't worry, be crappy" -- that is, understand that a valuable innovation will be so much better than what came before that it won't matter if it's not perfect out of the box. But then, he said, the innovator must be willing to open his or her mind to ideas for improvements -- which can be the most difficult step.
Kawasaki also said to radio specifically, "Don't be afraid to polarize people." For radio, he said, an attempt to please everyone will only "create mediocrity."

... with thanks to : Radio Ink Magazine, for the source.

A critique of Apple's marketing to Windows users

Have to say - speaking as an Apple zealot - and loving these ads - I have to agree ....

A critique of Apple's marketing to Windows users

".... "I'm a Mac" ads aren't really marketing at all, they're just there to cater to zealots. If Apple was truly serious about reaching Windows users with its Web site, he says, the company would post the ads in both QuickTime and Windows Media formats, giving users a choice of which to watch (or better yet, sniff out the platform and play the correct one automatically). No plug-ins required.

Ted's right. While Apple may be delighting its existing customers by delivering streaming media in QuickTime, its purpose with the "I'm a Mac" ads isn't to evangelize the benefits of QuickTime, but to sell Macs. Apple shouldn't require that prospective customers install special software (even if that software is free) in order to view marketing materials."

passed on - with thanks to : Z Trek

How Do You Value A Good Brand ?

If ever you were wondering - 'just what is a brand worth ?' ... read on....
Interesting brand questions - and results ...

passed on - with thanks to : Broadchannel