With that said, there are three common threads that often emerge in individuals’ use of social media: self-absorption; voyeurism; and a need to be connected. They are beautifully displayed in this social media Venn diagram from the folks at Despair.com under the headings narcissism, stalking and ADHD (their words, not mine).

Image - Despair.com

It’s a pretty graphic that calls out some of the ugliness that lies behind the social nature of these sites. Don’t believe me? Ponder on this:

Narcissism- In the past year, personal branding has been a constant trending topic and buzz word across the social space. The thought is that while doing your job, you also have to look out for number one. Everything from Tweeting and blogging to networking events is all about you and finding the next big break for you.

I see it as kind of backwards, but if you think about it, most blogs that you read (including this one) fall under the author’s name. You also see many folks on Twitter and Facebook sharing their latest posts over and over as it’s a way to bring more people to seeing what they are doing.  One downside to oversharing is that communities like Twitter seem to self police themselves. Over-sharing blowhards of the “I” and “Me” varieties tend to put folks off and lose followers.

Stalking – In general, the term stalking typically comes along with a negative connotation. Well, that was until folks added Facebook to it. How many of you have said that you were going to Facebook stalk someone? Don’t be modest, everyone knows you do it. The question really is does it make it right?

Sure much of the information is public, but when does it become an invasion of privacy? I am no judge, lawyer or purveyor of online privacy, but also think that somewhere down the line we’ll see something come up about this in the legislature.

We should never take stalking lightly, even if we make it easier for folks to do it with geo-location sites like foursquare, SCVNGR and Facebook places. My friend Michael Dolan penned a great piece a while back on perhaps the first instance of foursquare stalking (take a read if you haven’t heard the story). It is definitely scary. In theory its cool to see where your friends are (would have been key in high school pre-cell phone years), but it also can let burglars and creeps know where you are and aren’t.

ADHD – I have never been formally diagnosed with ADHD, but I can sure multi-task like no other. Surely some of you are the same way.

No matter how good you are at juggling, social can be a true time suck if you try to see everything at once. You can’t do it, so don’t try. For some reason, if you think you can, may I suggest the following to help paint a picture:

• RockMelt – this browser was created for people with a short attention span as it ties in RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook within one browser. It has more pop-ups than VH1’s Pop-Up Video. I still have some invites so ping me if you want one to give it a go.
• LiveFyre – I blame Danny Brown for putting me onto this comment system. I have fallen in love with it and it offers more fluid commenting on many blogs and links to people’s SM accounts so you can easily follow a commenter or socially share. Depending on your settings, you can receive instant updates to bring the conversation from Twitter to your blog.
• Facebook groups – If you are in an active group, you probably see Facebook (1) cookied into your browser. These groups are very beneficial, but can also be easily derail your productivity if you join the cult.

When you have tried all three of these for a week and stayed on top of them religiously take a look at your “To Do” list and see how many things are crossed off. Chances are that it’s not as good as you thought.

At the end of the day, this diagram should show that we all need to take ourselves less seriously. We all will fall somewhere in between one of the three buckets, I know where I am, do you?

Earlier this month, Facebook dropped a bomb on the geolocation space by introducing deals via their Places mobile application. This move was a power play for the largest social network and a potential boon for advertisers looking to tap into the 100 million users of the Facebook mobile application.

In the initial roll-out, there were a number of merchants that partnered with Facebook to roll out the new deals feature, including Gap. Now along with the partnership, these companies gained the cache of being innovative in the social space.

Like many small companies that offer deals on geolocating networks for check-ins, the Gap had some issues with their maiden check-in campaign. The campaign seemed pretty straightforward where the company would offer 10,000 free pairs of jeans for check-ins at one of their stores. Problem was that the wording left both consumers and employees confused:

This Friday we’re giving away 10,000 pairs of jeans! Check-in at any Men’s & Women’s Gap using Facebook Places and you could win*. Just show any Gap employee your check-in and you could score a free pair. If you’re too late don’t worry, we’ll let you shop with 40% off any regularly priced item**.

All our stores are participating and have a certain number of jeans to give away, so from east coast to west coast and every store in between you can get in on the action!

*Friday, November 5, 2010, offer valid on a first come first served basis Friday November 5, 2010 only, starting at the time of store opening, at Gap stores in the U.S. only. Not valid at GapKids, babyGap, GapBody, Gap Outlet, Gap Factory Store, The Gap Generation stores, or online. Offer valid for one free pair of basic 5 pocket jeans with a value up to $59.50. Certain styles are not included in the offer. Store associates will pass out one coupon per person starting with the front of the line while supplies last. Coupon is good for one time use and must be surrendered at the time of purchase. Free item may not be returned. Only exchanges will be accepted. No substitutions allowed. No adjustments on previous purchases. May not be redeemed for cash or cash equivalent. Not combinable with any other offers. Gap is not responsible for lost or stolen coupons. Gap Inc. employees are not eligible for this offer.

Cashiers: Use item discount code FREEJEANS.
Source – Gap Facebook Event

Now if you read the copy there is no mention of how many pairs of jeans each store would have and there were a number of consumers who still did not know what checking in meant and employees weren’t sure of how to handle the promotion. The wall of the event was filled with negative comments. According to Fast Company, the promotion was a success, but to the whole promotion could have been managed better.

Sure from a financial standpoint, Gap sees this as a success, but from a social standpoint, there is still work to be done. To make these promotions truly sustainable,  the company need to educate its employees, from the team managing the strategy down to those on the front lines executing the promotion. To me, a company gets a major fail sticker when they can’t come through with their offer advertised on a network or if everyone in the store is clueless.

With Facebook inserting places into geolocation, there is no question that mainstream buy-in will continue to grow for them and the other players in the space. Companies will need to continue to optimize campaigns to meet customer need along with educating their staff.

As geolocation applications, like foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR, continue to gain integration with the general public and retailers, we are going to see a lot of cool things from companies benefiting retailers; however that is still a ways away. Sure it can be argued that broadcasting check-ins to existing networks like Facebook and Twitter adds to brand affinity, however as my friend Arik Hanson aptly put it in this post, people simply tune them out.  I know I do, at least unless there is a cheeky comment making me want to check out the location, but I still use the applications.

I don’t think it will be long before more brick and mortar stores embrace the platform for customer loyalty and acquisition however it will still take time. With that said there is one group that is ripe to set the standards for geolocation check-ins – non-profits.

Before you dismiss the notion as crazy, think about it for a second. Non-profits are experts at driving people to a location, generating buzz, raising money for their cause and getting companies to sponsor the event. Mixing this skill set with companies looking to do social good and experiment with a new medium could really lift this platform to the next level.

Let’s say company X wants to sponsor an event with the Jimmy Fund. In a traditional situation, this meant giving a donation to help both the charity and event. With geo-apps, the same event can be more impactful in buzz generation, money raised and brand recognition. Company X can now sponsor a mixer at a local nightclub to benefit the Jimmy Fund and then add $5 to their donation for every check-in on foursquare up to $5,000. By creating a new location within the confines of the service, the sponsor is able to modify its contributions based on the number of people at the event.  It can also open it up to folks checking in at the night club, not attending the event but wanting to help raise money. This also helps raise the audience if the venue or room is above capacity.

Aside from the goodwill that company X generates by raising money for a noble cause, they can also offer a deal or coupon that can be redeemed on their website or in their store that is exclusive to people who checked into the event. It could also show brick and mortar locations the power of a geolocation presence.

This could be the way to ease in mass adoption of these applications, similar to the way that the Haiti disaster helped get mass adoption of donating money via text messaging. Would you be more likely to check into a location if it helped a charity?

Image - Esquire

This was a great week for me, how about you? For the first time in a while I conducted a bunch of media interviews. While it might be standard fare for PR pros, I haven’t spent much time working on pitching and it’s good to know that this old dog still has some tricks up his sleeve. Also had some great conversations with Google and some friends who ran the marathon on Monday. Weekend looks like good weather so it should be good to see the Red Sox when it isn’t raining or freezing outside. With that out of the way, here is this week’s edition of Five for Friday.

Why You Can’t Measure ALL Social Media – This is a great case study on the power of a network. While C.C.’s purchase was driven from influence within his network, the company can’t track it. The reason is that currently there are no tools that can track all forms of influence from user-generated reviews. It also muddies the water for companies trying to tie a true ROI to social media.

Is social media a requirement for PR pros? – This is a great argument from both sides of the aisle in terms of PR and social media. While I think that there needs to be an understanding of social media by PR pros, it is not for every business at the end of the day.

When Winning The Battle Is Just As Good As Winning The War – This is an interesting case study on how the folks over at Edelman used Facebook as a tool to help their client interact with their community. It also goes into the “what is best for” the client or partner mentality that many of us struggle with at times.

“Writing is still important” or “Writing is like hygiene” – How many times have you mocked a pitch or email that you have seen? Don’t lie we’re all friends here. I know that I have written poorly at times and strive to be better. My buddy @PRCog (yes that is his real name) wrote up a great piece on the importance of the written language for business.

Early Proof That Geolocation Marketing Will Succeed – This is an interesting campaign run by VaynerMedia. The use of geolocation for a crappy NBA franchise showed promise for larger companies or brands looking to make an impact. Check out the case study below.