Neology | Copyrighting & Marketing » Random Thoughts

The Paradox of Choice

eschuey — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:15:37 +0000

I was recently listening to a very well crafted presentation from a social networking company. One thing the presenter mentioned got me thinking. He pointed to this image (http://marcellomedia.blogs.com/mrb/web20.jpg) and said that we have now reached “The Paradox of Choice”.

When Barry Schwartz first wrote his book “The Paradox of Choice”, he cited many examples from the consumer world, such as jeans from The Gap. In general, he reasoned that too much choice is a bad thing. It “contributes to bad decisions, to anxiety, stress, and dissatisfaction—even to clinical depression.”

Are we headed that way with social media and networking? Are we so overwhelmed with web 2.0 apps that we don’t know which one to use, or we use too many to use any of them effectively?

From a personal standpoint, I can’t deny the attraction of being and staying in touch in so many ways. And from a marketing standpoint, it offers consumers and companies more avenues for communication than ever before.

So does the paradox of choice really exist in the social media world? Perhaps, although I believe our society seems capable of handling more choices than ever before. Where the true problems start is when companies jump into social media without a plan, and with no way to manage all of the chatter or the apps being used to generate that chatter.

There is no doubt that involving customers in a plan can be tricky. But those who manage it best, whether they use one or one hundred social media apps, stand to benefit greatly from the effort.

Dictionary 2.0 – Neologisms Accepted

eschuey — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:56:48 +0000

It seems that the world is going 2-dot-0. Marketing 2.0. Web 2.0. Enterprise 2.0. Business 2.0. So where’s the Dictionary 2.0?

The world is changing, and our language is striving to keep pace. The advent of new technology and evolving culture is taking us into places for which we have no descriptive vernacular. To wit, words like “google”, “blogosphere”, “tweet”, “phishing”, “crowdsourcing”, “vaporware”, and “skype” didn’t exist 10 years ago. Now it’s hard to get a sentence out without using one of these neologisms.

Our language has never been very good at precision. I mean, where is the word describing the orange dust left on your fingers after eating Doritos? Or the word that explains the insatiable need to constantly check your phone for calls, text messages and emails? Shouldn’t we be devising these and recording them in some recognized Wordipedia?

It’s time to loosen our grip on what the English language should be and accept newer words for what they are: useable, descriptive content that fits comfortably beside any Dictionary 1.0 word. After all, those senescent words were once neologisms too.

The Brand Called YOU

eschuey — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:08:03 +0000

I was recently struck by an article I read on FAST COMPANY’s web site entitled “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters. The article is two years old; but the topic acts as a good reminder for those who have fallen victim to today’s economy, and to those freelancers and consultants who rely on themselves for income.

This particular quote grabbed me: “…cast aside all the usual descriptors that employees and workers depend on to locate themselves in the company structure. Forget your job title. Ask yourself: What do I do that adds remarkable, measurable, distinguished, distinctive value?”

What Tom Peters does not really touch on is the difficulty of defining and communicating that value. Like any brand, understanding what differentiates us from everyone else takes a lot of thought. And figuring out how to reach our customer is no small feat. Fortunately, there are now many articles on how to identify your unique offerings that did not exist two years ago (”Personal Mission Statement“), and just as many mediums you can use to pitch yourself once you define those offerings (from LinkedIn to Plaxo, FaceBook to personal web sites and blogs).

Competition is stiff, especially now. You’ll need to use every tool you can. Taking the time to define the brand called YOU can help set you apart.