Online PR Podcast

Welcome to the Online PR Podcast with Mark Polson of Code Greene and Pete Codella of Codella Marketing.

Mark and Pete cover four topics as part of this episode:

1. The future of the Web
2. Social networking heat maps
3. Cyber terrorists
4. Customer complaints

The Future of the Web

Based on this article by Ben Hunt, Pete and Mark talk about the future of the Web and implications for social networking and Web-based applications, like software as a service.

The fragmented Web will move toward convergence, where Web surfers will carry their credentialed persona with them from site to site.

We’ll even see an auto login where, based on your credentials, you’ll have access to your personal information and social networks without having to memorize or jot down dozens of user names and passwords.

Perhaps credentialed online personas will finally eliminate spam.

We’ll also see even more home pages become an aggregation portal instead of a static online brochure.

Social Networking Heat Maps

Ever heard of eye tracking? Have you done usability studies to know where people look most when they visit your Web site? Do you make it easy for them to locate and click on important information?

An interesting study was published that shows where people look most often when visiting social networking sites. You’ll be surprised by the results.

You can read what Marketing VOX wrote regarding the study, and view the eye tracking heat map, in its Aug. 3 post, Eye Tracking Shows SocNets Change Search Rules.

Cyber Terrorists

Pete commented on the Aug. 6 attack on Twitter and Facebook, and other social networking sites. For several hours the Twitter site showed what’s affectionately known as the fail whale.

It’s actually a source of consternation rather than affection. It’s what Twitter.com looks like when their servers are overwhelmed or being maintained. You can watch and listen to what Pete thinks of the fail whale in his social media song: Crazy Little Thing The Web.

Facebook users posted status updates complaining about Twitter being down and Facebook itself was sluggish.

Supposedly YouTube was even targeted by the email spammers that sent hundreds of thousands of messages to the social networking sites.

Pete and Mark discussed the presence of both good and bad online, just like in real life, although they wondered how an anonymous cyber terrorist would benefit from taking down Twitter.

Customer Complaints

It’s a well known fact that people use blogs and social networks to vent about unfortunate personal experiences.

Many companies have now implemented a social media aspect to their customer service management. Comcast, for example, uses @comcastcares on Twitter to respond to complaints about the company’s service.

Conversations that were once only face-to-face are now taking place in the virtual world. Companies that fail to monitor what’s being said about them online leave themselves open to all kinds of negative consequences. While companies that engage with constituents through social media tools are seen as caring and genuinely interested in their customers.

Mark and Pete discuss how the Web can be used as a tool to voice a complaint and reach a much broader audience than was possible before. A good case study is the YouTube video, United breaks guitars.

Resources

The Social Future of Web2.0/Web3.0

Marketing VOX: Eye Tracking Shows SocNets Change Search Rules

YouTube video: Crazy Little Thing The Web

YouTube video: United breaks guitars

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