TRAACKR

Oxytocin, aka the Trust Hormone, has been at the center of several recent studies showing the correlation between the release of oxytocin by the body and social bonding. These studies conclude that the presence of oxytocin increases trust, essential to building social bonds. In other words, our body is wired to know when to release oxytocin based on cues we get from our social context to let us know when someone is to be trusted.

The idea that we learn through our upbringing, culture, and personal experience who can and can not be trusted, and in what context is quite obvious. However, the fact that our brain triggers a physical reaction (release of the hormone) is very interesting. This finding is even more fascinating in the context of the work we do at Traackr: identifying the triggers of online influence (def. the ability to affect another person’s actions through an online relationship).

Through the analysis of the massive amount of data we have been collecting and client case studies, we have come to the conclusion that online influence (not to be confused with online popularity) is highly correlated to online trust. Our theory is that by contributing actively within a certain context (whether topical, social, geographical), people are more likely to build trust among their peers, audience, etc., and as a result to influence their actions.

Of course, much work is left to be done to prove this theory but it seems that the research done on the impact of oxytocin is a very important piece of the puzzle, especially when we look a few years ahead. Let me explain: for my generation (Gen X) and older, triggers for the trust hormone will primarily be found in the physical world; for Millennials though, born and raised within a digital world, these triggers can be activated on and offline. This explains the generation gap we sometimes feel when it comes to the role and importance of social media. Take for example this interview of Malcolm Gladwell in the Globe & Mail, in which the acclaimed author observes:

If social media or online communication is the means to the creation of a personal connection, it’s a fabulous thing. But if it’s an excuse to not make a connection, it’s ultimately a trivial thing.

It doesn’t even cross Malcolm Gladwell’s mind that rather than online communication being a vehicle to create relationships offline, relationships can also be shaped, strengthened, expanded, and enhanced online. Now we know why: he, along with most people of his generation, is not wired to build online trust, let alone relationships.

As Millennials increase their share of the economy and decision power, the importance of building trustworthy social bonds online will become paramount, making online influence and online trust a core part of our social and economic fabric. These are not some futuristic views on our world. This is already happening today and our mission at Traackr is to help surface the data and ease the transition.

The hype around Social Media ROI measurement has finally gotten to me: I’m growing tired of 140 characters promises, conference invitations, or free trials to the latest tool solving social media ROI measurement and help brands get on the social media bandwagon.

The promise of a silver bullet to approach this really complex issue is slowing down the development and adoption of social media by businesses, not accelerating it.

So let me call it as it is: measuring the ROI of social media can’t be done. I’m actually quoting here the father of ROI measurement, Bob Kaplan (ref. #SMB10), inventor of the balanced scorecard.

Trying to calculate the ROI of social media is the same as trying to calculate the ROI of email or the road you drive to work on. The costs can be approximated but the benefits can’t. Their reach is too broad and too many other factors are at play to even to list them all, let alone attempt to measure profits.

Maybe even more importantly than one’s inability to measure ROI for social media, the main problem of this ROI hype is that it fuels the idea that social media for businesses is an end in itself and can have its own P&L. It’s not, it’s a capability (or rather a very broad set of capabilities) that serves other business objectives and of course one should measure success associated to these business objectives.

I can’t tell you the number of clients of Traackr who asked me whether they should be on Facebook or Twitter. My answer is invariably the same: what are you trying to achieve?

There is no ROI associated to social media. There is an ROI associated to business objectives and social media can help achieve some (many?) of them.

The decision whether to invest in social media doesn’t lie in an excel spreadsheet, rather it’s a leap of faith and a belief by some business leaders that they are better off with it than without it. The tipping point for companies is based on risk tolerance, peer pressure and critical mass, not on a dubious ROI calculation.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, you should check out the new site for Skittles (yes the candy…www.skittles.com).  It has generated an enormous amount of chatter and buzz online this week because they are doing some very interesting experimentation.  At the beginning of the week, the home page was, essentially, one big Twitter search for the term “Skittles.”  The entire page was really a  Twitter search page.  They had a small Skittles box with a nav bar on the top right corner of the page where you could link to other Skittles pages.  I just noticed that they just switched the page to their Facebook profile page.  I am sure this switch will generate another wave of online chatter.  It’s really fun stuff!

We have to commend Skittles for having the chutzpah to play with their main site like this.  It’s a fun experiment and something very interesting for those following the social media world.  But, is it working?  We’re very interesting in hearing what everyone thinks about it so far.

Certainly, it is generating an enormous amount of chatter and buzz.  I’ve received 5+ tweets about it in the past 2 days (and I’m not following that many people).  I’ve seen another 5 blog posts about it (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I’m sure).  And here I am writing a post about it myself.  While I don’t know how much traffic it has generated to the site, I would have to say that based on “buzz” as a metric, it seems to be working very well.  It’s an interesting phenomenon – they are using social media tools to generate buzz through social media networks.  Fun.

With that said, is this strategy working for the Skittles brand?  What image is it creating for Skittles?  Is it appealing to the right customers or is this just a “social media publicity stunt” that won’t drive sales or additional brand affinity?  No real way to tell at this point, but my gut says that this experimentation has helped secure a fun, free and wild image for the Skittles brand and that it will ultimately lead to sales.

Love to hear more thoughts, though.

DS

Since yesterday’s announcements from Google and Facebook (a couple of hours apart) that they would both make their social ID standard available to all sites, the (micro)blogosphere has been quite active to look at the merits of each solution and try to predict who will emerge victorious.

Social data standards are paramount to TRAACKR and we’d like to chim in with our own point of view on the suject. So, Facebook or Google? WHO CARES??!?

No, seriously, who, outside of Facebook and Google, cares? We should just all be happy that this arm wrestling between the 2 giants is taking place because it means that standards are indeed converging, which is really all that matters.

Why should there even be 1 single standard? We tend to forget that the “winner takes all” approach to Web businesses doesn’t always hold true, far from it.

If OpenID and Facebook Connect are both adopted widely, it won’t be long before some small genius businesses (like yours truly) start building bridges between the major standards to unify them. I’d just be content  if we’re left dealing with only 2!

We only wish for this battle for standards to expand in scope and start including more social data types than basic social network info. It’s undoubtely the way it is going and the fact that both Google and Facebook are leading the charge will only accelerate this trend.

So our opinion on this? Keep on the good fight!

Last week, we announced the battle for standards for social data among Google, Yahoo! and Facebook (btw, let’s shed a tear for Microsoft, absent from this short list. They’ll probably come up with their own standards in 6 months, stay tuned).

Yesterday, the first shots were fired in this battle with Facebook announcing they will block Google’s Friend Connect, in the name of protecting their users privacy against Friend Connect substandard privacy policy.

In their words, ” At Facebook, we always look out for the privacy of our users”. Really? Charles, I have one word for you: beacon.

Anyways, no reason to elaborate on this as this move by Facebook lacked all subtlety and there is barely a need to read between the lines to understand why they did what they did. Little scared of Google, aren’t we?

Just like in any battles for standards, we can expect more fighting before things settle down. The good news for all of us is that once this is all in motion, the momentum is very hard to stop and standards will undoubtedly start converging.

Traackr has been on the forefront of advocating for the standardization of users’ social data – see our article from a few weeks ago about this.

The calls for standardization have gotten a lot of traction this week, starting with MySpace announcing on Thursday they will join the DataPortability project and partner with eBay, Yahoo, and Twitter to share user social data.  The next day, Facebook and Digg announce a partnership of their own. Monday, Google will launch of “Friends connect”.

The battle for social data standards has started and the Traackr team couldn’t be happier. Whether Google, Facebook or MySpace manage to impose their standard, or even if we are left with 3 different standards (compared to no standards today), the real winner of this battle has already emerged: the user.

As for Traackr, we have been spending too much time up to this point to collect data in any way shape or form it was made available by the provider, and to normalize the data. As soon as some of these standards become real, we’ll be able to focus more time and attention where it is needed: give the data meaning for our users.

So kudos to Facebook, Twitter, Digg, MySpace, eBay, and Google.  Keep on the good fight!

Special note to our friends at LinkedIn: were you serious when you asked us to mail (with a stamp and all) you a request to participate in your Private Beta API? Read this post: the train is leaving the station and you’re not on it…