There was a great story on PBS's Marketplace today about how over 2 million websites have added Facebook's Thumbs Up "Like" button to their pages in the last six months. Some call it the "one button survey." When you click the "Like" icon, say for a story on New York Time's website, or a new drink on Pepsi's website, you're providing the company access to your data and your friends' data.

The whole marketing dynamic is reversed. Essentially, we're shouting to companies "I like you. Pay attention to me! And bonus... here's a bunch of people like me you should also pay attention to. And double bonus, I'll tell my friends that I like you so that they can like you too. "

The next step is making it easy for your friends to see all the things you like. Which is the challenge for Google. Google search is based on the idea that people like seeing the most popular results. But as more and more of the web becomes "socially-enabled," people may prefer to see what their friends recommend, more than what search results are most popular. Looking for a good local restaurant? Will you go with what your friends like, what Yelp tell you, or what Google says?  What about searching for a doctor? 

I predict all forms of "recommendations" will have their place, depending on the product category. But friends' endorsement will have the edge- at least for things you think your friends know about!

P.S. Check out the bottom of this blog entry just below here...

I was the "branding guy" on a Social Media panel in San Diego yesterday. Most of the attendees were from biotech, pharma, and life sciences. I recommended these rules:

1. Just because you can, does not mean you should. Deploying social media has an upside and a downside for your brand. Do not make the mistake of automatically doing social media just because it is available and popular. It is a strategic choice that needs to be integrated into your overall business planning.

2. Assess the value of social media like you would any other marketing and communication tools. Separate out the "cool and trendy" factor and evaluate how each tool individually and collectively will impact your brand. Think of the variables that constitute blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and other tools; things like speed, interactivity, reach, user control, etc. Each tool has its trade-offs.

3. If you do it, do it right. Maintaining an effective brand presence in social media requires a sustained commitment. You need to keep providing updated content of value, manage and moderate it, and track results. Otherwise, it will backfire as a broken promise.

4. In one word, social media is about engagement. Customer engagement with your brand leads to customer intimacy with your brand which leads to increased revenues (check out this Gallup study). Customer intimacy reflects a fundamental set of values and priorities that directly shapes how you do business and what constitutes success. Are you as committed as you want your customers to be?

We'll see you out there!

Scott Adams (Dilbert's creator) funnily (is that a word??) depicts the distractability that comes with the territory of today's online resources. Check it out.

Do we really get more done with today's technology? As my friend and colleague, the late great Bob Topor said, "Never mistake activity for progress."

E-mail, social media, and the participation enabled by web 2.0 technologies present numerous marketing opportunities for engagement. Let's not overlook the counter-opportunities - that is, online tools to reduce distraction and keep people focused. The ROI pitch? Productivity and progress.

So I open an e-mail from my sister that says this: Your friend Roz Becker sent you the following video from CNNBC: "Glenn Beck Attacks Moshe Engelberg." I click on the link and watch an incredibly well done video starring... me. Sort of.

The Huffington Post tells the story: MoveOn.org, in conjunction with SEIU and Brave New Films has put out a fake newscast (on the fake network CNNBC) in which the Fox News host goes through his usual moments of pique and emotional duress. Only this time, the subject of his conspiracy theories is the person signed in to watch the made-up video. And they show an example of the mock newscast.

As part of a marketing campaign, this approach has great promise. It personalized the video by using a Facebook interface that grabbed my photo and some friend's names to instantly create a fake newscast that was about me. Think about the possibilities for personalizing ads of all sorts. What a great way to increase the personal relevance of a product or service! Unbelievable.

Is this the beginning of Web 3.0??

I like social media. I often advise clients to strategically employ social media. I use some personally. But there is a major downside. Like Doonesbury illustrates, it takes a lot of work to curate our "personal brand" on social media. (click here for a better view of the comic strip):

Social media is great to connect us with people and things we care about. But the "opportunities" to stay connected through social media can cost us staying connected with the people around us. We stray away from old fashioned "analog" social media, like talking or hugging or just being present with another person. As good as Facebook is, and Twitter is, and gosh darn Andy of Mayberry, even as good as this blog is, real life relationships come first. So there you have it. Gotta go... need to check status updates from my Facebook friends (just kidding!).

Paranormal Activity, a horror movie about a young couple's house haunted by a demonic presence, cost about $15,000 to produce, and brought in $7.9 million last weekend. Paramount Pictures worked with Eventful in San Diego to create a social media buzz, instead of more traditional movie marketing approaches. Eventful's "Demand It" lets us "demand" that performers, movies, or events we want to see come to our town. Enough demand can make it happen.

That's how Paramount decided which cities to show Paranormal Activity in - it was based on demand level generated through social media. Then when they got 1 million demands, they decided to roll out the movie nationwide. From their press release: “From the very beginning, we put this film in the hands of the fans and we trusted them to tell us where and when it should be seen. We couldn’t be more thrilled by their overwhelming support and we are happy to release the film in every town - big and small,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures.

I see this as an incredible Web 2.0 resource. It gives a powerful voice to the public and enables companies to respond to what the market wants. And framing it as "Demand It" may lead people to feel more empowered than something like "Request It."

As we shouted and sang in the '60s, "Power to the People!" Who knew the many ways that the internet would deliver on that promise.