The POWER of ONE to ONE to MANY

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I created this video about the importance of social media to an organization like Best Buy after reading a PowerPoint presentation on the topic by Twelpforce lead John Bernier.

If you don’t think social media can impact a brand as large as Best Buy, consider that I created this amateur video with less than two hours of work on a mid-range home PC on a video editing program that cost about $49.99 and available in many retail stores.

Consider again that YouTube states that 20 hours of video are uploaded every minute to their site.

Consider that those videos about a brand, which can sometimes be very influential despite their production values, are linked to on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, personal blogs and on a hundred other social media sources.

You can have a lot of social media tools in your company, which Best Buy absolutely does, but you can always use more social media people, which Best Buy is always looking for.

Beginning of the 3D Backlash?

While reading through reviews of the newly released Clash of the Titans remake, I noticed a number of reviews questioning whether it was worth seeing the movie in 3D. Most seem to be in agreement that whatever you think of the film, paying extra to see the 3D version isn’t worth it. So is this the beginning of a 3D backlash?

If there’s one thing you can guarantee about hype, it’s that too much of it can cause people to start questioning whatever it is you’re selling. There’s no question that 3D technology talk is everywhere.

The 2010 Consumer Electronics Show was dominated by television manufacturers showing off their upcoming 3D HDTVs for home use, while movie theaters seem to be filled with new 3D movies every week since the runaway success of Avatar.

I’m not quite yet convinced that 3D will completely take over our movies and televisions, however, I’m also sure that the current negative talk about 3D will not kill the format either. Right now, I think most of the backlash comes from sticker shock as it does over hyping.

Movie theaters are charging a premium on 3D movies that can add almost a third the ticket price as a regular showing. If movies that don’t live up to that cost for the premium of 3D, they’re going take the hit in their reception.

Clash of the Titans, for example, had it’s release date moved back 2 weeks because the studios wanted to convert the film into 3D late in production, and the reviews show it’s not a very effective conversion. Meanwhile, Avatar, a film designed to make use of 3D, still rakes in the money.

While 3D HDTVs currently sell for a premium, it should be noted that manufacturers are releasing that 3D in their high end models, which in many cases sold for the same amount without 3D last year.

So while home 3D will be expensive for some time, it will become affordable in the same way that HD did, and as prevalent. It’s just a matter of time.

My Green(er) Aquarium

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I added to the green in my desktop aquarium by removing all the fake plants and replacing them with actual live flora. The Marimo ball that I added to the tank looks like a green tribble as it floats around with my betta fish.

I also added a 2nd African dwarf frog to keep things interesting.

Google Needs a Twelpforce

It’s pretty obvious that Google’s biggest strength is their technology. It seems like every month involves some new Google technology meant to strengthen the company’s position as the Internet’s information phone book. On the other hand, as the company releases more and more products, I’m starting to see a small, but growing, backlash against their weakness: customer service.

When Google’s product line consisted of “beta” products like Gmail or Google Maps, they could get away with providing very minimal customer service. Users with issues are often directed to an email address or forums for support. Now that Google is developing operating systems, like the Android platform on a growing number of smartphones such as their own Google-branded Nexus One, or the Chrome OS that they hope to have on netbooks, relying on email or forum support just isn’t going to cut it for potential buyers.

Google is absolutely going to have to invest in more traditional customer service options, such as call centers, as their product families grow. However, I also believe they’d also significantly benefit from looking at how Best Buy’s Twelpforce handles both customer service and technology questions.

As a Best Buy employee who has helped a number of people via Twelpforce, I know very well how the model allows a company to use the collective knowledge of its employees to provide help to the public on a wide range of topics related to a company’s products and services.

If there’s one thing Google is very strong in, it’s the technical knowledge of their employees. Imagine how many questions they could answer for the public by using a Twelpforce model to bring that knowledge straight to not only those asking the questions, but to anyone else who might have similar problems as well.

Google wouldn’t have to rely on only Twitter as a means to answer those incoming questions either. Best Buy has been developing a tool alongside Twelpforce, called BBYFeed, that allows for both questions and answers that won’t fit within Twitter’s 140 characters. This tool is being designed to open up future avenues for both incoming and outgoing interactions beyond Twitter.

If any company would be good at creating a way to collect those answers in a way that could be easily searched and available to answer future questions, it would be Google.

So Google, where’s your Twelpforce?