November 4th, 2009

Organic Social Networks, the Yankees and....Wha'? (UPDATE: WE WON OUR 27TH WORLD SERIES!)

Posted by Paul Greenberg @ 3:31 pm

Categories: Mobile, Social Networks

Tags: Facebook, Network, Twitter Inc., CRM, Games, Social Networking, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion

Needless to say, being a Yankees fan of the entirely driven and committed sort, I’m biting every nail on my hands off and frankly, if I could reach my feet, would go at those nails too (Ugh.). I do that every time that the Yankees are in the playoffs or World Series particularly, though, I have to admit, I do it to a lesser degree, but to a degree during the 162 game regular season too. Meaning, from April through hopefully early November, I don’t need nail clippers.

But this year is very, very different. Aside from being in the World Series for the first time since 2003, which makes it different, Twitter, Facebook, text messaging, push technologies and an iPhone make it different.

I no longer watch the game by myself though I’m the only person in the room (my wife, also a Yankees fan, is up in Newfoundland at the moment with her mom who’s recovering from surgery). I’m not even just watching the game with friends of mine who are Yankees fans on Facebook such as fellow Yankees fan David Sims, who is without a doubt one of the all time great writers and columnists in CRM and other IT matters - and one of the funniest. I’m also watching the game with several thousand people who are actively conversing from the stands at Yankee stadium or watching it on TV themselves - all members of either subgroups within social networks communicating via channels or members of organic communities - outcome based communities that have come together for the World Series and the World Series only and who will, for the most part, disappear after the Series ends.

But note something, I said will disappear for the most part, not entirely, which we’ll get to

If this were 2003…

If this were 2003, I think probably by now I’d be hating Josh Beckett (wait I still don’t like Josh Beckett) for beating us and Jesus Hoyos, a CRM thought leader in Latin America, would be the happiest man on the earth because the Marlins had beaten the Yankees - though to his credit, he’d be happy if the Marlins had beaten anyone at all in the World Series because he’s not a Yankees hater, he’s a Marlins fan. But how would he be letting me know (if we knew each other - which then, we didn’t)? An email maybe - a phone call? And only after the result itself was in and done. To communicate in some real time fashion with even one person was either cumbersome or expensive even then. Or at least more cumbersome and expensive.

But This is 2009….

While the Series isn’t quite over when I’m writing this (prior to game 6), here’s the picture so far and now.

The kicker is that I’m in Bogota Colombia, as one of the keynotes at CRM conference here, but no worries, broadband is solid and I have a subscription to MLB television on MLB.com which gives me streaming video live for the game. Or, I can watch it - yes watch it - using the MLB iPhone application streaming via Wi-fi that’s readily available.Or if for some feverish reason, I’m sick of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck (which is a frequent occurrence) I can listen the audio/radio feed from NY with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman - our homie broadcasters.

In the meantime, David Sims is getting ready to watch it from New Zealand somehow - TV or streaming maybe. The key Yankees bloggers for the press like Mark Feinsand are already starting to set their tweets out to the Yankees fan faithful to get prepared for the game. The conversations are already beginning on #yankees on Twitter and in the “enemy camp” at #phillies on Twitter.

When the game begins, I’m watching somehow or listening and in the meantime, between communities and sub-communities on Twitter and my Facebook buds, we’re rarin’ to go. So the night is a viewing experience and a conversation stream that organically evolved that includes my CRM colleagues, my cousins, a good friend who roots for the Phillies and other friends I have who happen to root for the Yankees or the Phillies who I had lost touch with but am now hooked up with primarily on Facebook. Plus there are the myriads of unknown folks gathered either physically at the park or watching on the tube or the web who are connected in total through twitter via their mobile device.

The conversation stream is real time and its intense and responsive to the game itself.

What’s remarkable is what organically happened from the beginning of the playoffs. People who I’ve befriended over the last couple of years and vice versa, or who are mutual followers began yakking about something they are passionate about using not email but social networks and communities to correspond. Which dovetails with the Nielsen data from their Global Network Survey in March 2009. Their finding was that more Internet users correspond via social networks (66.8%) than via email (65.1%). WOW.

The Social Side

But think about this. I’m working on a personal social graph that is outcome based - i.e. built around an event - the World Series - that incorporates my family, sub-communities of CRM influencers; large communities of yankees fans who I only will know for the games - and phillies fans - and fans who are converging because of the World Series only - regardless of who they root for #WorldSeries - using social channels like Twitter and social networks like Facebook. What makes this even more fascinating is due to Facebook Connect, my tweets are carried to Facebook allowing my friends on Facebook who don’t tweet much to comment and converse on the content of my tweets.

And this is all organic.

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post on outcome based social networks (OSN) which was an excerpt from the 4th edition of CRM at the Speed of Light. What was most prominent about it was that the OSN was pretty much archived when done. That’s likely, hopefully after tonight. But in the course of this amazing playoffs, two things happened. I made some new friends and found a bunch of new people on Twitter who follow me and/or who I follow. I saw how quickly that even existing social networks and communities can morph themselves into new forms with new rich results and conversation - which tells you how important it is to not just understand the business value of the communications revolution that we’ve seen in the last five years or so, but the social value that’s been added when it comes to being able to converse with “people like you” in real time in a few seconds after you decide you want to. Extract what business value and thinking you want from this observation. I’ve got to get ready with my laptop and iPhone, for the game, sitting at my hotel in Bogota.

Though I wish I could be at Yankee Stadium tonight.

July 27th, 2009

Dead Finger Tech: MLB At Bat + MLB iPhone App = Summer Bliss

Posted by Paul Greenberg @ 4:00 am

Categories: Marketing, Mobile

Tags: Apple iPhone, MLB, Video, Games, Personal Technology, Paul Greenberg

If you’ve been reading ZDNET blogs much this week, you’ll notice that there are a lot of a lot of them that are called “Dead Finger Tech” and then there is some piece of technology that follows.  Us’n ZDNET bloggers have been asked to name that one piece of technology that we can’t do without; that we love as we love our family and friends; that we wil take to the proverbial desert island.  One that I liked in particular was Matthew Miller, our Mobile Gadgeteer’s Kindle. (a man after my own heart)

But i gots my own Dead Finger Tech too. And, being a New Yorker, which means talking and at least aspiring to live large, I needed a two pack combo to make my Dead Finger Tech work. Its not hardware either though there is hardware necessary.   Of course, I would complicate it.  Its that livin’ large thingee.

What is it, Paul? I know that you’re just dying to know.

Its the combination of MLB At Bat including MLB.TV Premium and the MLB At Bat iPhone app.

Here’s the picture:

You probably know by now that I love the New York Yankees. If you didn’t, I will now yell it to the rooftops. I LOVE THE NEW YORK YANKEES! - and have for at least 53  years which is as far as I can remember. I have no doubt its encoded into my genetic makeup, though.

I also love the game of baseball and even love Kevin Kostner for making the greatest sports movie of all time with Field of Dreams. There actually is crying in baseball, Tom Hanks, if you watch the scene where Kostner has “the catch” with his Dad in the movie; I cry every single time that scene is up. I admit it. Okay, c’mon all you big tough studs out there, admit it man up, you cry too.

I’ve gone as far as to find out who some of the best Yankees fans are in the world of CRM and related areas. We’re plotting to take over the business world, BTW.  Among them are Joe Pine 2, the author of business classic, The Experience Economy and the 2007 best seller Authenticity; Ken Juster, Executive Vice President of Law, Policy, and Corporate Strategy at salesforce.com; and Tien Tzuo, Founder & CEO of Zuora (former salesforce CSO) and brand new daddy (Congrats to Tien!!!);  That is among an incredibly large number of others. Carly Cooper of the SAP Business Influencers Group is more of a Yankees fan than I am, which I didn’t think was humanly possible. We rule in CRM baseball fandom!!

So I cannot, repeat, cannot live without my MLB At Bat Premium TV subscription - which gives me Internet connectivity to watch all 162 Yankees games (minus those that fall under the horrible blackout rules)  and of course, other than last year’s aberration, the playoff games that we’re going to rightfully earn.  Combine that with the $9.99 annual iPhone app and we have a winner.

I won’t show  you the MLB.com subscription but take a look at what this iPhone app provides.

It shows the schedule with games in progress and the scores live:

It shows the scoring plays game by game or the play by play after its occurred:

But its so much cooler than that. It also sends video highlights to the iPhone about 10 minutes after they occur in game for every single game playing that night. You access them inside the individual game that you’re watching or tracking or listening to.  I’m drooling, in case you can’t see me.

Even better, you now can get either selected games or, if you’re a subscriber to MLB.TV Premium, all games shown live video streaming on the iPhone.  BTW, this is Robinson Cano’s two run homer off the Orioles last week.  I saw it live on the iPhone but of course, through the clever use of the video highlights am able to show it to you as if I actually captured it that way too.

I’m only showing you some of what this app does. It also carries every single radio broadcast of every single game every single day or night.  That means if the Yankees are playing the Oakland A’s, I can listen to the Yankees broadcasters audio or the A’s broadcasters audio - live.

It also carries Gameday  which is the pitch by pitch graphical representation of the game that tracks the batter pitcher interplay to the point of insane description - e.g.  Polanco strike (Curve 83.2 mph).   That granular. Oooh. I’m shivering.

Think about this. You get EVERY SINGLE MAJOR LEAGUE GAME pitch by pitch graphically, or listening to your live audio broadcasters of choice, or watching the games live video streaming - all of them if you’re already an MLB.TV subscriber or a few if you have nothing but the app.  The audio and video are glitchless on Wi-Fi and nearly so on 3G.  You get video highlights in game about 10 minutes after they occur so you don’t have to miss anything. It also has the standings broken down by league and wild card and a whole other set of MLB videos - like a compendium of the day’s highlights etc.

To add to the unadulterated bliss, they are going to add a condensed game video - condensed like cream of mushroom soup, I imagine.  That means a shortened maybe 20-30 minute version of the game.

Now, all of this isn’t a great substitute for being at a game or even watching it on TV - and I have the DirecTV Extra Innings (Extra $$$$) package too.

Tell you what, though, this is about as good as it gets. The price for a whole season is frigging 10 bucks. That’s it. Ten bucks.  $9.99.  Less than 10 bucks.
Oh, life can be grand sometimes.  I have the iPhone App and Internet connectivity to prove it.  Now the Yankees have to win this year.  Again.

Got any favorite Dead Finger Tech you want to blab about?  Or fight me on the Yankees?  Or agree with me on everything?  This is probably the only time on ZDNET you’re going to be able to talk sports or gab with me about gadgets. So go at it.  Talkbacks a.k.a. comments are a lot easier now.

Okay, everyone, bring it.

March 16th, 2009

Social CRM for the iPhone? Nope. Still, Not Bad at All

Posted by Paul Greenberg @ 4:00 am

Categories: Industry Analysis, Mobile, Social CRM

Tags: ERROR: brand required [TR|ZD|BN] e.g. searchapi.php?brand=TR&mode=document

On March 4, Finnish app provider Cermster announced their iPhone app - Relations Manager as “Social CRM for the iPhone.” So, being an iPhone lover, I figured that I’d take a look at the app - and $4.99 didn’t seem to be an unreasonable price so I bought it.

Of course, in addition to reviewing the app, I was investigating the claim that it was “Social CRM for the iPhone” since that’s a pretty expansive claim given what social CRM is supposed to do.  I was looking for it being a mobile device that would handle sales force automation that would enable interactions with customers directly or or marketing that would link customers using it to the comments, ratings and reviews that were available and allow the customer to engage in the dialogue around the products in demand.  Or something like that.

Did I find that?

Nope. It is unequivocally NOT Social CRM. Not by a looooong shot.

BUT….

It is a good iPhone app that adds a useful small dimension to mobile contact management and I sure as hell don’t regret buying it.

What Relations Manager Does

As complex as Social CRM may be, Relations Manager is simple. It allows you to both track your contact calls and remind yourself on a regular basis to keep up with particular contacts - something that anyone should find personally valuable and also valuable to their business activities.

Take a look at this screen.

Essentially, what that simple screen does is:

1. Allow me to set how frequently I want to be reminded to call a particular person.
2. Keep a record of when that person was actually called.
3. Allow me to favorite the contact, or categorize a set of contacts, or make a contact an urgent contact to call when need be.
4. It allows me to call the contact right from the screen with autodialing once I click on the button that says (what else) “call now.”
5. It has a log of my recent calls and a list of the reminders I’ve set too.

And that is about it.  Not deeply functional, not terribly complex.  But that’s a very useful service especially if you have a large contact database (I have over 3000 contacts).

Okay, so this isn’t social CRM despite their claims. Big friggin’ deal. This is a useful application that helps you deal with something that we all have to deal with - remembering to call contacts consistently without the awkward calendar or task settings in Outlook and with a way to help you track the calls you have made.

Not bad at all for 5 bucks.