Digital Travel Fever

Although company blogs are the most read of blogs in general, people rarely trust their message. Corporate talk has its agenda, and by 2012, most web users are savvy enough to know they are being influenced upon.
Mutually fertile dialogue is rarely conceived via one-sided endeavors at disguising press releases as something else.

When contemplating the effective use of social media in company PR, the hardest thing to accept is the loosening of control. All the discussion cannot, and should not, be attempted to monitor with an iron fist. Negative reputation is hard to shed and get rid of within the online communities.

One snappy example of a small company making it work to their benefit is the Finnish online travel agency, rantapallo.fi . Besides hosting a discussion forum for their active audience, they have also provided a venue for blogs. Everyone can establish their own blog inside the site, and share their thoughts and experiences related to traveling. This is a clever way to crowdsource and engage their visitors, and at the same, provide more value for all. As it happens, in these glory days of WOM ("word-of-mouth marketing"), people are more prone to listen to the recommendations and advice from their fellow audience members. In this regard, "Rantapallo" has figured out the playing field.

At a recent travel fair, I had a chance to chat a little with the lovely editor-in-chief, Riikka Krenn. According to her, the young company (2007-) has been doing remarkably well. At the moment, they receive 100 000 visitors per week, and growing.

According to her, the hip countries to visit right now are Jordania and Croatia. (At this time of the year, sun and warmth in any place would sound just about right.)
Which one do you think I should take on my list of places to visit next?

Digital Travel Fever

Facebook Timeline and the Perils of Oversharing

The new features of Facebook were announced a week and half ago with showy, real-life feed shown-where else, on their own "f8"-page. Anticipation is high in the air. What kind of new tricks and gimmicks have Zuckie and his pals   invented this time to  waste/consume/spend our time with? To begin with, as I commented during his speech, the logo looks somewhat similar:

Ring a bell? Has it been so long from the end of "Lost"? The first image is the official logo from the Facebook new change launch. The latter, well, is the logo of the "Dharma Initiative". I guess the bluebook-boys (and girls) are fans of the show. In any case, my comment was swiftly moved. Or disappeared to the abyss of the web. Charming coincidence.

Back to the topic of hand. What are the new changes waiting us all inside the great FB? Besides linking us together, Facebook now wants to be able to influence what we watch, hear, read and buy. Netflix, Hulu, Washington Post, Ticketmaster and Spotify among others are moving inside Facebook. "Like"- button will have other verbs, although the negative ones most definitely won´t be entering the menu. And this is just the beginning. It could be argued that it almost feels like the entire web experience is being swallowed inside the FB. And globally speaking, when FB indeed is currently the second most  opened site of the web in general, am I wrong to imply that?

"Facebook Timeline" is the major term on everyone´s lips as of speaking. (The chosen  term actually has postponed the renewal of the site, as a small web company from Chicago decided to sue the big blue book for using their  own name. Well, we all know this will be settled in no time. Money talks and... Let´s leave it at that, shall we?) What does "Timeline" imply for us common folks? Short and sweet, it is a practical face lift for the old profile. The main picture is bigger and bolder, and your personality with all its myriad epitomes is better conceptualized and communicated for your chosen audience. The idea is to enable dynamic view on your life, past and future. Electric diary of one sort-only to be shared with your preferred audience. Naturally, the idea is to get us more immersed into the world of Facebook and share more information of ourselves.

Looks like something you desire as an upgrade? Want to feel like one of the hip early adopters? For the majority, this is not open yet. But wait! By signing up as a "developer", you can try to change your profile into the new sleek look. Instructions for example here. Or here.  At present, around 100 000 people are signing up as "developers" per day.

Increasingly, our online- and offline- life is being watched and defined through the renewed Facebook. Can you choose to leave your embarrassing movie options outside its watchful eye? Maybe, but it most certainly will be difficult. All this information of your consumption habits will be made open for your friends to see, and hopefully have an effect on their shopping habits. Not to mention of the bigger, corporate significance. Next to this picture, the information gathered from your chain store vip cards pales in comparison. It may be time to suggest that Facebook will never start charging you for using their site- why should they? If anything, it should be the other way around in exchange for giving personal information. As it is the case, "we the people" are not Facebook´s customers -the advertisers are. And boy, are they eager to get their hands on that ever-growing personal data.

The question of privacy is tricky in an era, when an increasing amount of people just do not care whether their  identity is  open for discussion. We share and exist through our public personas, and it may be time that the whole concept of "fame" or "public" is redefined. Last week´s news on the upcoming (18.10) Facebook "tv-show" called "Aim High", which uses actual personal data and images of all the profiles, went largely unnoticed. So did the little tidbit on how FB tracks its users even when they are not logged in to the service. (The instructions on how to stop the tracking, are here. ) It is almost as we have quietly accepted this little exchange of info in order to gain access. And the bottom line is, nobody has to be logged in. Or share everything. But then again, it is a handy little tool to keep your contacts in check. After all, upon hearing of the looming changes most of the people seem to be worried of only one thing: how to stop people of seeing those embarrassing tracks on your "Spotify" playlists.

Facebook Timeline and the Perils of Oversharing

Tavi in Wonderland

Tavi sounds like any ordinary 15-year-old. She likes fashion, movies, guys "who look like they are dying", Twin Peaks, indie music and taking pictures. Except she is hardly your average Midwestern teen. No common girls get to write for Harper´s Bazaar, sit in front rows for fashion shows in Paris and New York, mingle with the hipsters and co-design fashion for Rodarte. Oh, and she has that mega-popular blog, Style Rookie, which in all its precociousness has earned her the title "fashion wunderkind". She began writing her clever insights on trends and clothes at the tender age of 11. Feeling slightly underachieving, are we readers?

In person she is shy, pint-sized, fragile and dressed in quirky outfits, which undoubtedly have been sent to her by some brand-name fashion house. Her parents rarely leave her side, which, considering the sometimes eccentric world of fashion, is probably a good thing. Her dad is managing her endeavors, which can be admittedly called a career by now. But she is growing. Her once trademark-glasses are replaced with contacts and the granny-meets-fairy godmother look is morphing into something more mature. She herself has expressed disinterest in continuing her road to fashion- although many anticipated her to take over Anna  Wintour´s empire one day at the antediluvian "Vogue". Fashion does not impress her anymore, per se. Instead, she has found the 1990s, alternative music, Twin Peaks, "Sassy"-magazine and a growing sense of feminism. When she announced in May 2010 to be devising a magazine with the legendary Jane Pratt (of now-defunct Jane and Sassy magazines), blogosphere got excited. Why would she work for Vogue, when she can do it herself -and probably in her own zesty, unique style.

The webzine was launched last week. So how is it? Overall it looks very clean and airy, sort of reflecting poetic and delicate mindset of its target reader. Rookiemag is geared towards the new American teengirl, although undoubtedly it will gain followers around the globe. Tavi, whether she likes it or not, is well-known by now, and her actions are observed.

Nostalgia over the 1990s youth culture and indie ethos can be sensed all throughout the blogsite, which hardly comes as surprise from the young editor, who has spoken widely of her admiration for the period. Before youth magazines became the commercial vessels they are today, there was "Sassy", which critiqued politicians and celebrities, tackled real teen issues without the photoshop and marketing gimmicks, and featured Kurt Cobain and John Waters on its pages. Can you imagine present-day "Seventeen" -magazine having an editorial on Nirvana or Bikini Kill? Tavi´s longing is understandable when set against today´s youth climate: instead of Riot Grrrl -movement there is endless consumerism and "Gossip Girl".  Whereas being a teenager was once ok, now it seems one must look, and act, like a fashionable adult at a very young age.

For reasons unknown, Jane Pratt is no longer involved with the Rookiemag. Undoubtedly Tavi and her aides had to work hard to remain independent from what is wrong with so many magazines and webzines of today: constant aim for more clicks and advertising/sponsorship deals. Of course there are ads involved with the new venture, as well, they are aiming for profits after all- but the idea seems to be to steer away from lukewarm content dictated solely by the wishes of the commercial forces. That is not the idea of this effort, after all.
The blog is updated three times daily, after school, dinnertime and before bed. This is a clever move, since it thus conveniently ties itself to the everyday rhythm of the American teen girl. From the first issue, I recommend "Characters to Channel for confidence", which can be a good reminder for us all ladies, not just teens. Oh, and her surname? Does it matter? It is Gevinson. Here is her parody on a bubblegum pop song. Love the black lipstick. Mine in her age was blue.

Tavi in Wonderland

The Audacity To Think differently

At this year´s Elonmerkki-conference (25.8.2011), the "Branding of Finland" -project  was visibly represented through the Finnfacts- display stand. It has been almost a year since the national "brand-team" published their report with the help of Jorma Ollila, yet the work still continues. Last year the team concluded  that Finland´s strengths and modes to distinguish itself  is through "great functionality of the society, nature and education". The executive director of Musex (Music Export Finland) Ms. Paulina Ahokas was a member of the Jorma Ollila -led brand team. Her organisation, Musex, focuses on representing Finnish music industry abroad and tries to improve the export revenue income. Ms. Ahokas also served as the moderator for "Elonmerkki", and gave her view on the significance of design in exporting the Finnish brand abroad. International economy is in turmoil, and the way to survive is through constant adaptation and renewal. In this regard, Finland as a country has a lot to catch up to, according to Ahokas. Companies must recognize the significance of design in renewal, differentiation and profitability. In sum, "design" is not plain decorative speak for the organization, but a strategic approach on action.

Finnish know-how, and ways to export it abroad  was an underlying theme in many of the day´s speeches.
Panel discussion "Design in boosting competitivity" (Design vauhdittamaan kilpailukykyä) highlighted the concerns, hopes and visions for the Finnish brand internationally. Panel members were Atte Jääskeläinen (YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Company), Mirkku Kullberg (Artek, Finnish  furniture company), and Veera Heinonen representing Finnish Foreign Ministry. The moderator for the panel was Pekka Timonen, the leader for the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012-project.

The shared view among the panel members was apologetic. According to Veera Heinonen, the encapsulated message of last year´s Finnish brand team (functionality, education and nature) is good, but it has not been successfully communicated globally. The problem lies with under-communication, if anything. The notions of "sauna, Sibelius and Finnish Grit" are old-fashioned and need to be upgraded. As a skillful recent example Heinonen mentions last winter´s "Finnish snow-how" -phenomenon, and how it gained international attention and recognition. While the rest of the Europe struggled with too much snow on their airports, Finnish airports remained open, no matter what. This skill with snow removal was widely admired and reported even at CNN. But how could this one-shot attention be integrated as part of the country brand? How could it generate longtime buzz and boost export?

According to Kullberg from Artek, their company is often  mentioned internationally when referring to Finnish design. The problem is, that the company is actually smaller than their fame and name-recognition. Their small size comes as a surprise to many foreign stakeholders and has turned into a golden cage for the company itself. How does a company utilize their brandname productively while avoiding pitfalls? At times, it felt like Artek´s challenge was in risk-taking. This is what Kullberg admitted herself.

In effect, the panel concluded that a much of the challenge with communicating Finnish brand lies with cultural modesty and reservedness. We simply do not have the natural tendency to speak loud enough repeatedly and take risks when it comes to marketing and communication. The phenomena of "Rovio" is admired yet feared at the same time. Is that the kind of attitude we should adapt in marketing? Surely Vesterbacka is pushing the limits of good behaviour- after all, it is not "The Finnish way" to act. But discreetness does not gain you followers in today´s cacophony of messages sent. In the end, everybody cannot be pleased, when it comes to designing the message. From where can we garner the audacity to talk louder and push for influence?

The uber-innovation activist (yes, that is his self-made title, "yli-innovaatio aktivisti") Anssi Tuulenmäki from Aalto university had many pointers to give in this. Hopefully the panel members were listening and throwing their shy ponderings away. Tuulenmäki is not shy to admit the influence of environment to communication style. The Finnish landscape has been traditionally rural, cold, distant, barren and small-scale. There is not simply even enough of Finns to speak of to gain profits based on mass. However, the nationally characteristic ability to survive on the basis of smallness, independence and reliability are strong assets to be recognized.
The seed for success lies in differentiation and clever innovation. What do we do differently than the others, and how can we capitalize that? Simple, yet the idea does not bear labor for offspring easily.

One of Tuulenmäki´s clever insights into "differentiating the message" is being ordinary. In this day and age, we have all come to associate startling messages with something special, lavish, unique, outstanding, better than the norm. But this not always the mode to take. As an example he cites Lauren Luke, your-average single mom from South Shield, England, who happened to stumble into making amateur makeup-videos into the internet sometime in 2007. Today, she is a Youtube-phenomenon with 111 million views, her own cosmetics line sold at Sephora, a book, newspaper column and a Nintendo game. Her secret lies in being ordinary and approachable, not the supermodel-style we have come to associate with cosmetics. Can an entire nation take example from this? Of course, according to Tuulenmäki. The best communication is different communication. Copying the mainstream is not strategic innovation. It is safe, yet poor and lazy thinking. Common convention is the killer of brilliant ideas, regardless of the field of operation.

Are Finnish companies doing things differently enough? Is the value of deviation and difference acknowledged? The speech of Anssi Tuulenmäki surely left the audience with a thought or two to reflect on, hopefully with fruitful results.

The Audacity To Think differently

"Elonmerkki" -media conference

Today (25.8.2011) I will be blogging live with 15 other bloggers, related to "Elonmerkki"-media conference, in Helsinki, Finland. It is an honour to be chosen among other bloggers to witness this event.
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The day´s theme is related to design, innovation and their strategic significance for organizational value. The need for differentiation in today´s organization is massive. Various daily messages are bombarding us and fighting for the attention that is getting harder to catch.  Design, as we are have come to associate it, has usually been linked to surface, commercialism, embellishment and frivolous enhancement. The core value has been thought to lie somewhere else. The message of this year´s "Elonmerkki" -conference states otherwise. Design is more than a hip afterthought in an engineer´s daydream. It is a complete experience that tells a story of the product/service for the great public. Design is an inseparable, essential part of the product/service.


All the blogposts will be edited into a book. As a plus, the proceeds originating from this publication will be donated to Unicef. Comments are highly appreciated.

"Elonmerkki" -media conference

Google+ after the Initial Infatuation

So how many of you have already tried out Google+, the bold contender against the stealth monopoly of Facebook?
Not many, I suspect. After the not-so-secret launch this week, Google+ is now -supposedly-open for the great public to join. Although many became enamored with the sleek and clean design, the truth is that it is slightly... lonely. Yet. The new social network is, as I described earlier, a sandbox without active playmates. Or am I just the only one being left out of all the fun games on the yard? Can´t be.

Over time Facebook has managed to acquire not just headcount, but games, company pages and easy sharing options with Youtube-clips and print media articles. Is it even possible to do the latter with Google+ yet? As it is, besides posting the idiosyncratic egonews flashes on the like of "I am watching tv", people seem to like to share video clips and news articles over the social network. Pastime for the electronic masses.
And in many online publications, the button for Facebook is _there_, just a click away. Youtube is owned by Google. I tried adding a music video the normal way to my Google+-profile. It placed itself to the +1 recommended -area, where the actual video can be accessed and watched through redirection to Youtube. Why would anyone want to leave the social network to see my "recommendation"?

As Janne Ruohisto recently wrote, it is possible that Google+ will, over time, become more like a closed social network for purely professional circles, in the likes of Yammer and Socialcast. So far, they have a lot to catch up to. The interest is there, the desire to swift over from Facebook is growing. The once celebrated indie-spirited Facebook has grown into a megalith, which guards itself fiercely (try switching your friends over to Google+? We will bury your profile!!). Except when it comes to the question of privacy. The repeated accidental bugs opening up the private information are all too familiar for us.

The new announcement over the union between Skype and Facebook is great, and was magnificently timed. But the real question is, whether they will be able to answer to the much bigger questions out there: the division between growing amount of "friends" and the ownership of added personal information. Google+  has the idea of division beautifully embedded into its design with "circles". When will the same idea pop up in Facebook? Quite soon, I suspect. But also, the larger public has begun questioning Facebook´s policy of owning everything one adds into the system.Is it fair? Is it right? And more importantly, above else, should we tolerate it?

Google is bringing official  brand pages, or company page possibity, into the Google+ in two weesk. In other words, they are suspecting the critical mass to grow into such portions within this time period, that it becomes worthwhile. At the moment getting in, or "getting an invite into circles" is troublesome and takes patience and many, many tries. This illustration describes it perfectly. Still, will you be joining "The Plus" when you can? As a hint, it is good to start with old Zuckie in your circles. After all, he is the most circled person inside Google+ as I´m writing this.

Google+ after the Initial Infatuation

The Race is on: Facebook versus Google+

Earlier this year we learned about the slight slump in popularity of the megaorganism known as Facebook. 
The number of Americans using the"blue timekiller" (as I lovingly call it) had dropped within the period of May from 155 million to 149 million. And this, they (as in the faceless, all-encompassing specialists)say, is a reason to worry. Is the pop rocket of a phenomenon showing signs of fatigue? Entering mature phase? (In all fairness it is gaining more adult users over 45 rapidly). Every trend has their beginning and an end. And now, with us all hooked into using social media services, it appears to be almost translucently cool to be able to resign from joining the game. At least, that´s what I blogged about at the end of last year, with hints of antisocial network and the luxury of saying no. Because let´s face it, being "off-grid" nowadays is getting rare indeed.

Then again, for a discernible part of us, Facebook, is just... plain fun. It is like the good old handy telephone book, with only a few tiny little upgrades. I like not always being forced to leave the house to talk with friends -especially when it is freezing cold outside and you feel overdrained. If only it did not play with our privacy so much. All the little bugs and crunches that made us cough, worry and shake our heads over the last year -could this be done differently? And hey, as we are talking about it, why is there no good competition? Sure, there was (and is) diaspora , where at least you can own the rights for your own pictures. But that did not really catch fire. Nowadays, it seems diaspora is mainly being visited by its developers. Correct me if I am wrong. So what is a girl (or a boy, or an animal) to do?


Enter Google+.  The latest development of the magnate company to get us all hooked inside the big megacorporation. After being released a few days ago for a selected group of people (ok, the ones who managed to buy, bag or steal an invite) it has generated buzz all over the web. Is this the Facebook-killer? Can the social network be redone, and better?
So far, my experience is quite narrow and clinical. With the lack of an as established and large friendsupply inside the "+", playing around just isin´t as fun, at least for now. One feels like the odd kid left on the sandbox with a plastic toy and anticipation hanging in the air. However, the positives of the new social media are visible, and Google has definitely noted the problems within Facebook, which we all are more than familiar with.

The pages are clean, sleek and free of clutter. Have you noticed how the sideline of ads in Facebook has grown deviously over time? How everything you search or write about is instantly met with similar themed ads? So far, there is no such thing in Google+, but then again, they might start playing the moneygame any day soon. Google+ consists of "hangouts", "circles" and "sparks". "Sparks" is where news become social and users can set the news to match their preferences. "Hangouts" is like the name: place to hang out with your friends from various circles -through video chat. And guess why Facebook announced they are bringing Skype-powered video chat this week? The competition can be fruitful for the large public.

"Circles" is the main pro side of Google+. Tired of setting up limitations for various friends over at Facebook? Yes, the whole thing can be done differently and smoothly. In Google+ the user can easily place people in separates "circles", and set limitations to these circles of friends. Now you can literally put those parental units in their own circle, and not worry about them seeing you every post from last Friday. Let´s not forget business contacts, either.  Oversharing just is not what most of have a need to do.

Another pro (or con, depending how you look at it) is that the whole thing is integrated with other Google services. Just log into your account (gmail, Youtube etc) and you are free to play with Google+, as well. This should be good news for Android- phone users as well, as the "app" for Google+ is already available, as write this. And I got it yesterday, thank you very much. Intrigued, but wondering how to switch all you hundreds of close friends from Facebook to Google+ smoothly? No worries, there is a solution! Courtesy of a friendly developer named Mohamed Mansour, one can easily switch the bundle of pals from the blue system into the G-system. It is called "Facebook Friend Exporter", it is free and available here . Be prepared to move everyone into their respective circles, though.

So how does one get inside the happening hotspot of the moment? My, by invitation only! As I am writing this, the invitation system does not work smoothly as of yet (that´s why the system is not officially open yet!). But every now and then a few invites slip by. So... does anyone want an invite? If so, write a nice comment, send your gmail-address (snoweffect333@gmail.com) and I will do my best.

The Race is on: Facebook versus Google+

Preventing drunken missteps

This handy new tool by a Colorado-based web security company promises to prevent those embarrassing moves on the internet after a drunken night (as nothing good happens after 1 AM).
It is called the Social Media test, and it is a free plug-in for Firefox/Google Chrome browsers. Program requires the users of Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr or Tumbl to perform simple coordination tests before allowed to post online. The tests include keeping the cursor inside a moving circle or correctly identifying a set of flashing lights. Failing leads to blocking access to posting. Google also has a similar tool  with math questions, designed to prevent drunken emails.

Preventing drunken missteps