Tag Archives: Harvard Business Review

February 4, 2012 · 11:06 AM

Is Social Media Addictive?

Has this ever happened to you?

You would have finished a current work project a long time ago, but you just couldn’t ween yourself away from your Twitter feed long enough to concentrate.

You’re kind of depressed that you don’t feel as happy as all my your Facebook friends seem to be.

If the answer is “yes,” perhaps it’s time to admit powerlessness and get yourself to a meeting of Social Media Addicts Anonymous (SMAA), a new group for folks addicted to all things social and unable to manage their lives, careers and relationships.

If this sounds ridiculous, check out this post from Erik Sass at The Social Graf, or this December 2011 article from Danial Gulati in the Harvard Business Review.

In the former, Sass cites a recent study following 250 social media users (ages 18 to 85) in Wurzburg, Germany. As reported in the journal Psychological Science, when asked to give up all social media, subjects reported:

“…social media was harder to resist than a gamut of other behaviors: ‘In contrast, people were relatively successful at resisting sports inclinations, sexual urges, and spending impulses, which seems surprising given the salience in modern culture of disastrous failures to control sexual impulses and urges to spend money.’ Likewise, the subjects’ reports for alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine marked their desires for these substances at relatively low levels compared to social media.”

Social media more addictive than alcohol, caffeine, tobacco and sex???

Wow.

HBR’s Gulati, author of the book Passion & Purpose, observes three major trends emerging among heavy Facebook users:

  1. A tendency to compare their own personal situation unfavorably to those of their “friends.” In other words, people read the happy posts and see the smiling photos of their online friends and begin to feel that their own happiness and worth are wanting when compared to others’. (I wrote about this Facebook-depression link in a previous post.)
  2. Time fragmentation. We’re so busy checking our Facebook pages or Twitter feeds that we’re not able to fully concentrate on our work or everyday tasks. “Multitasking” has taken on a life of its own, to the point where people are switching back and forth between “real life” and social media on a minute-by-minute basis.
  3. A decline in close personal relationships. Why get together with your girlfriend for lunch when you can get caught up with her via Facebook? Connecting via social media is just like having a real relationship without all the mess. You can share what you want and you can quit listening at any time.

Just as the addict seeks to fill the void in his life with drink or drug, a person addicted to social media crave the “connection” these technologies provide as a way to fill the holes in his life.

As marketers, we talk about using social media as a way to “connect” with consumers and how companies can use Facebook, Twitter, etc., to “humanize” themselves and “become more authentic.”

But are we really accomplishing these goals, or merely contributing to a global addiction that ultimately will leave us all distracted, disconnected and depressed?

At this point, no one knows.

As someone who sits at a desk the majority of the day, I know it’s hard for me to get out and actually have a real conversation with a live human being (which means listening as well as talking) as often as I’d like.

However, I have found through my professional experience that it’s that face-to-face interaction that enables the type of trust and personal connection that makes business work.

If you want your company to behave more humanely, consider the interactions between the humans who work for you and the humans who buy from you. Is technology helping or hurting?

Are you doing all you can to foster true connection? Or are you merely trying to seduce and sedate your audience into an unhealthy relationship?

See you at the coffee shop.

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June 27, 2011 · 3:16 PM

Should #Ethics Be Taught in #B-School?

Maybe I’m just anxious because it’s Monday, but a blog post from Dr. David Rock in the Harvard Business Review has me a bit concerned.

“The Business of Values” recounts the discussions from a recent symposium hosted by the Harvard Business School on the “sticky subject of ethics.”

“With the poor standing that business leaders have in society today, there was wide agreement that the grand experiment to leave values out of business education has probably not gone so well, to put it politely,” said Rock, executive director of the NeuroLeadership Institute. Ya think?

Personally, I think teaching ethics at B-school is like teaching celibacy at the Bunny Ranch. If you haven’t bought in by the time you get there, four credit hours (or even two full years) of ethics teaching probably aren’t going to change your ways.

I think many in the business world come from the “Miller’s Crossing” school of ethics.

Regardless, Rock observed three current schools of thought on teaching ethics and values in business schools:

  1. Ethics = values. “These schools were teaching students how to recognize their wider responsibilities — like their deeper legal and fiduciary responsibilities, as well as less obvious responsibilities to their employees, stakeholders and the wider community.”
  2. Universal ethics. There is a universal set of values, which should be taught to all business students, although this approach begs the question of which values should be taught and how.
  3. “Ethics from the inside out.” Helping students to understand their individual values and how to exercise those values when facing ethical dilemmas.

The one phrase in the article that most deeply disturbs me is a quote from one unnamed participant, “[I]t is easier to make headway teaching values if we take the stance that we are all deeply flawed, in deeply complex, chaotic systems.”

I find this sort of thinking defeatist, but I can understand why someone would feel this way. After all, you don’t have to look too far to find stories about leaders from business, government or The Church behaving badly.

I used to promote the Kansas City Business Ethics Awards, which are held annually to celebrate business owners who “did the right thing,” even when it cost their business money or even an important client relationship.

We had a heck of a time getting any attention from the news media (even back in the days when newspapers employed reporters). After all, the media don’t report on airplanes that land safely or on people who obey the laws.

But I disagree with the notion that we’re all deeply flawed. Or that life is terribly chaotic or complex.

We are all imperfect. We all make mistakes. I would argue that most people make the right choices most of the time and that most people genuinely care about their families, their neighbors, their communities and the world.

Further, in the age of social media, it’s tougher for an individual or a company to hide bad behavior or unethical business practices from the public. The truth always gets out, and even a seemingly small decision, such as where you’re sourcing raw materials, can (and will) come back to bite you.

I am optimistic about the future, as I hear more people choosing to take responsibility for their actions and to think twice about the pursuit of material possessions vs. doing what’s right.

I applaud business school educators for making the effort to make ethics an integral part of business. I hope they also will hold the line when it comes to pursuing justice and celebrating fair play.

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May 6, 2011 · 9:00 AM

More Marketers Getting Engaged

Two great articles from last week on marketers’ shift from impressions to engagement as key performance measures:

The first, from our good friends at the Harvard Business Review, authored by Coca-Cola Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer Joe Tripodi, profiles the corporation’s growing interest in harnessing the power of brand advocates in pursuit of doubling worldwide revenues by the year 2020.

“In the near term, ‘consumer impressions’ will remain the backbone of our measurement because it is the metric universally used to compare audiences across nearly all types of media. But impressions only tell advertisers the raw size of the audience. By definition, impressions are passive. They give us no real sense of engagement, and consumer engagement with our brands is ultimately what we’re striving to achieve. Awareness is fine, but advocacy will take your business to the next level.”

Tripodi notes that Coca-Cola-related content generated 146 million views on YouTube, but only 26 million of those views were of content actually created by Coke! Wouldn’t it be great if you had your marketing messages amplified by a factor of five-and-a-half?

The second article, by Weber Shandwick’s Tim Marklein, offers an excellent practical guide for marketers seeking to align impressions with expressions when measuring the impact of traditional and social media messages. His advice:

  1. Integrate analytics across multiple channels;
  2. Track engagement and impressions in parallel; and
  3. “Contextualize,” which is my favorite point of all:

“[I]f you’re targeting consumers, then USA Today (3.3 million daily readers) might be valuable to you because of the audience and media context within which it appears. If you’re targeting business leaders, then  WSJ.com (12 million monthly readers) is probably more beneficial in reaching your broad audience.  The industry blog (10,000 daily readers) might be a more targeted way to reach specific decision-makers who would buy your company’s product.

Now let’s add engagement into the mix. Generally speaking, people consume daily newspapers in a passive way with limited engagement.  While newspapers certainly impact opinions and behaviors, that impact is hard to track and fragmented across a broad audience.  With the WSJ.com piece, by contrast, advocates and detractors alike can easily share it via email, blogs and Twitter.  The industry blog might only have 10,000 readers, but they might be ‘the right 10,000′ — and if it’s a good blog, then they’re actively sharing, debating and commenting on the post, which extends the reach through trusted peers and leads to even more engagement.”

There is strength in numbers to be sure, but real growth comes from engagement.

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April 21, 2011 · 11:53 AM

In The Race to Be First, You Lose

A thought-provoking post from Tom Gable in today’s Daily Dog, responding to a claim by the Harvard Business Review’s Joshua Gans that, “Facebook is the largest news organization ever.”

While Gable spends a lot of time distinguishing between the “news” value of your cousin Sally’s Facebook post about her labradoodle puppy and, say, the situation in Libya, the larger point he makes about social media and the importance of “being first” should keep your CEO and IR department awake at night. Gable writes:

“Professional journalism traditionally aims for accuracy, enlightenment and fairness. Some Bloggers and Twits claim to practice citizen journalism, which others dismiss as fluff, hype and churnalism. Legitimate media, including top bloggers, post corrections and updates when stories are wrong. Doing a search for corrections on Twitter doesn’t turn up much. Younger consumers of news and information may have difficulty discerning the difference between professional journalism and faux fast news. The race to be first is having an impact on financial news coverage as well.”

Gable cites an article entitled, “Twitter, tech bubbles, and the nostalgia of the technology press” by Tim Carmody, which notes that Twitter, bloggers and Quora are driving corporate stock prices, with information moving as fast or faster than the traditional journalists covering the industry.

When anonymous messages appearing from out of the ether have the same or greater impact as well-researched articles published by reputable news organizations, millions of dollars and jobs are at stake.

Today’s investor relations officer must spend at least as much time monitoring what’s being said about his company as he does getting the word out. It’s like playing Whac-a-Mole while simultaneously making a phone call and typing a press release.

Hope your multitasking skills are up to snuff.

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October 4, 2010 · 12:08 PM

#HBR: The High Cost of Responsibility (or Why the Lawyers & The Government Have Won)

Reading an essay on responsibility by Rosabeth Moss Kanter appearing in the October edition of the Harvard Business Review has me troubled.

On the surface, taking responsibility is a noble endeavor. We all should respect and admire the person who raises his hand and says, “my bad.” It’s a lesson we all learned from “Leave it to Beaver” or “The Cosby Show.”

But Kanter, appropriately, points out that The Buck Stops Here is not an inexpensive strategy:

Selling a simple cup of coffee, for example, already requires much more knowledge than how to brew and serve it. Where was the coffee grown, under what labor conditions, and with what pesticides? Is the cup made from recycled paper, and how many trees were cut down and how much water was used to manufacture it? Does the plastic lid leak toxins, and does it snap shut well enough to prevent burns from spills?

My read: activists, government and plaintiff’s attorneys are now dissecting every move you make. And every move made by your suppliers, vendors, partners, friends and the people who re-sell your products and services—so watch your butt.

From a PR standpoint, I believe that taking this “total responsibility approach,” telling the truth and dealing fairly with others is the right thing to do. And business owners should consider all aspects of their business to ensure they (and their business partners) are doing the right thing in all facets of their operations.

It’s just a shame that simple mistakes are more likely than ever to subject otherwise well-meaning and honest people to endless government regulation and/or devastating lawsuits. You can’t legislate honesty, but you can make life a lot tougher for honest people.

So while you’re huddling with your lawyers, your accountants, your risk management advisors, etc., be sure to include your communications officer, s/he’s the one who’ll be responsible for telling the world how “responsible” your company is. Or dealing with the consequences if you aren’t.

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September 29, 2010 · 2:11 PM

Care for Employees and They’ll Take Care of Customers

Being a Boston University alum, I can only grudgingly applaud the Harvard Business Review, but they’ve got another great blog post worth writing about.

Author Tony Schwartz writes about his amazing stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Fla. and how their approach to customer service begins by treating employees like grown-ups instead of like idiots.

Schwartz, a Diet Coke man, expressed some disappointment to a manager that the hotel served only Pepsi products. When he later returned to his room, he found an ice bucket with a half-dozen Diet Cokes waiting for him.

Upon further investigation, Schwartz learned about the six ways the company empowers (and I hate that word, as it’s become a cliché) employees. Among the more interesting:

Every employee of every Ritz hotel has the right to spend up to $2000 a day per guest to resolve any problem that arises. It’s a powerful expression of trust in employees, as well as a gift of empowerment and autonomy. It’s also vastly better for guests. How many times have you been told, over the years, “I’ll have to go to my manager about that”?

Schwartz notes that turnover at Ritz-Carlton is “a fraction of the [industry] average,” and that “each rise of one per cent in employee engagement translated into as much as $10 million in additional annual revenues.”

People like me talk a lot about customer service. Probably too much. Sometimes we’re so focused on the the customer side of the equation that we treat our own employees and co-workers like crap. Admit it. We’ve all done it.

We serve best when we serve those closest to us first.

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