Social network

Who “owns” social platforms? The user or the platform? The answer is both obvious, and yet not.

Clearly the developer of the platform (and its shareholders) own the business and its intellectual property. Deciding who owns the experience is a wee bit harder. Without the engaged users, there is no experience. In that respect the users are just as invested in the platform as its nominal owners.

This tension can sometimes get ugly. Nearly every time Facebook changes its terms of service, interface or algorithms, the users get restless, threaten revolt etc.

But what happens when a change in and enforcement of the terms of service impacts the business of its users. As when Facebook restricted sweepstakes and contests a few years ago. Restrictions it has since loosened. Or when Pinterest began applying daily pin limits to minimize spam and revising and enforcing its guidelines for contests and sweepstakes that involve Pinterest.

On some level, the platforms rely on creative users to experiment with business models to surface interesting ways of leveraging the platform. Is it then fair when the platform asserts its marks (pin, pinning), chooses to limit an activity (number of pins per day) or restricts something to itself alone as Facebook did with “advertising.” Perhaps not, but no one ever promised fair.

When you build your business on the back of someone else’s platform, you run the risk — always — of the platform making changes that impact your business. For example, when Pinterest asserted its claim to the concept of digital pins and pinning and signaled intent to enforce, a number of companies building third party Pinterest tools that used Pin in the name rebranded. Pingage became Ahalogy. Pinerly morphed into Reachli.

And last month, blogger Amy Lupold Blair was requested to not enforce a trademark she had registered for “Pinning Party” and to comply with Pinterest’s terms of service guidelines for sweepstakes and contests.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the Internet, and my purpose for sharing this example isn’t to overanalyze it or decide who is “right.”

Because it doesn’t matter. Pinterest has a terms of service, and reserves the right to change its TOS at any time. If you want to use the service, you have to play by its rules.

The company also has to be consistent in its enforcement of its TOS and defense of the claim to the concept of the digital pin. That means pinning only happens on Pinterest and no other business entity can own pin/pinning in a digital context. It may seem draconian when applied to a loyal user like Amy, but if Pinterest doesn’t assert its claims consistently, it sets dangerous precedent for when it tries to assert against the inevitable copycat platforms.

I’m far more interested in exploring how we can use social platforms in our marketing and business offerings without getting tripped up by the inevitable tension of who owns what. Here are a few thoughts. Your Mileage May Vary.

Build your offering on something you can own independent of a platform. It can certainly leverage a platform but for maximum flexibility, the underlying concept should be portable. This is why content-based plays are so powerful. The “product” is the story. The platform is simply the conduit.
If you have a great idea for technology play on top of/relying on a single platform, be honest with yourself. Are you a bleeding edge first mover? Or is your idea a breakthrough for the platform? Then it’s possibly worth trying to position you/your idea/your company as an acquisition candidate quickly. Whether the platform wants to leverage your technology, get you out of the way or both, this is a strike-fast play.
An independent technology concept that might plug into multiple platforms is also a decent bet, but again first mover or breakthrough has an edge, and shopping yourself may take longer than you have funds. Your idea needs to have legs on its own. Does it really fill an unmet market need?
Pick a name for your product/service/company that you can own. You can’t own another’s trade or service marks, so don’t use ’em. Very few companies will be as lenient as Twitter when it comes to use of their name in your name. As we’ve learned with Pinterest, that a term is a generic like “pin” isn’t enough to rely on if the company can prove that use of the generic term in the specific context is something it created beyond the generic meaning.

And you know that just because a domain name is available, that doesn’t mean the name is, right?

For most bloggers, the content-based play is the simpler choice. It allows you to build on your strengths as a storyteller without being married to a platform. Your power is in your story, and in who cares to read it/engage with it/converse about it. Not in how you share it.

Bottom line: don’t build your empire — however large or small –on someone else. Build it on YOU.

How Pinteresting (360degreesofadvertising.wordpress.com)
Nordstrom Will Use Pinterest To Decide What Merchandise To Display In Stores (JWN) (businessinsider.com)

Elizabeth, today’s guest blogger, is probably better to known to you as Busy Mom. She has been writing about her life and family at the Busy Mom Blog since 2003. Her full-time job in healthcare also makes an occasional appearance on her blog. She likes to engage with brands that have something relevant to her life and interesting for her readers, and reviews products on Busy Mom Reviews. However, she hates bad pitches, as regular readers of Marketing Roadmaps may already know from her comments on my bad pitch posts. She lives in Nashville with her husband and three children.

Elizabeth responded to my call on Twitter for brand experiences at BlogHer, good and bad. Her e-mail had such good, specific advice for brands, I asked if I could run it as a guest post.

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While I don’t think we’ll ever resolve when/where brands choose to have parties (I think it’s going to happen no matter what, and people need to just conduct themselves properly), I noticed a theme among the events and expo booths I visited.

This was the year of “forced engagement.”

I get it. I wouldn’t want to be in the brands’ position, with freebie grabbers and all. I think companies should get something out of our visits. I also understand my attendance was voluntary at the events and places I visited, but I just I felt like I was performing everywhere I went.

Don’t misunderstand. I have met some great people and was honored to be invited to the events I attended. They took the time to find me (for the most part) and I tried to stop by as many as I reasonably could.

The events I attended were quite lovely, but it’s as if some didn’t know if they were throwing a blogger summit, usually held over 1-2 days where I would expect to perform, or a party.

It may just be my personality, but the videos, going from station to station and the creating/making this, that and the other thing are getting a little old at something that’s supposed to be a party. What ever happened to just drinks, hors d’oeuvres, music/entertainment, conversation, a display or two and a gift bag at the end?

It’s one thing to be contracted to host or perform in some way at an event, and another to politely stop in expecting a traditional cocktail party and find yourself doing crafts and smiling for the camera at every turn.

If there’s a problem with swag-grabbers, then maybe they need to take more time with the guest list. I’m continually amazed at some of the folks I see at every event. Clearly there is little research into online reputation by some of these companies.

One party that I thought did a good job, and full disclosure, I was paid to be a host, but was NOT involved in the planning, was the Schick Intuition Kiss and Tell party. The brand was represented through the decor, there was a brief product speech and the rest was a memorable time with fabulous entertainment, an open bar and product (the razor, not the bar) samples at the end. Follow-up engagement is a contest and a coupon on Facebook.

Hallmark and the CheeseburgHer party did a good job, too. Both were good times, but there was no doubt about the sponsors. Hallmark had a pertinent holiday theme, and you knew right away what the new McDonald’s product was, but we didn’t have to perform for them.

I’m not sure what the answer is as far as engagement in the booths goes, but clearly it’s not accosting attendees at the door and coercing them into attending a show. Note: I’ve not been to other tech conferences, this may be a “thing” I’m not aware of, but it doesn’t happen at medical conferences.

And, contrary to popular stances, I don’t think swag is the problem. Getting doo-dads and such can be fun (blasphemy! I know!) and there’s nothing wrong with it.

At a booth, I am expecting to hear what’s new with the company, try the product out if it’s brief, chat with the rep, and maybe throw a card into a fishbowl for a drawing/follow-up later, and get whatever doo dad if they have it (and I’m interested.) I’m not wild about being asked to sign up for their service on the spot (but having the option is good, I suppose) or to fill out some complicated form. I’ll spin a wheel if I must, but enough with the other games. Again, maybe just my personality.

I get that both the blogger and the brand should get something out of the interaction, and I know my presence is voluntary, but I’m just weary of performing all the time. And the feeling that they want to get as much out of us as they can is getting a little creepy.

Parties should be parties. Do something memorable, have a brand presence and follow up later.

Booths should be booths, have a small something “fun” if you must, but give me the information, let me enter your drawing or whatever by giving you my card, and personally hand me the promotional material or swag stuff.

Connect with me.

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In my final BlogHer Marketing Lessons post, I’ll share my thoughts about some brands that I think did get it right. It’s not an all-inclusive list — there was no way any one person could experience everything going on over those four days, so please chime in with your experiences. Try to be specific in both your criticism and your kudos. This helps my readers use your opinions to improve their marketing programs — SG

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