How to Gain Female Trust in the Social Space

Whether through body language or the use of technology, the act of expressing one’s self is very important and can lead to the collaboration of ideas on a larger scale. Even those who suffer from impairment of a sense, such as blindness or deafness, can actively communicate through some type of social medium. Studies show the average person spends seventy percent of their day in some type of message exchange; whether through verbal, nonverbal, or physical behavior.


Due to rapid advances in technology and emerging tools in the social space, communication has become much easier to carry out. In the past, physical confrontations were the main sources of idea exchange yet in the 21st century, the Internet has become increasingly popular as a communication tool. The Internet allows those who have extenuating circumstances and are unable to leave their homes to communicate just as effectively as those that are in good health. Older people and those who suffer from disabilities benefit significantly from this tool because they face a disadvantage when it comes to physical encounters. But in order to use the Internet to communicate effectively, we must understand its unique capability.

Females in particular, tend to have more intimate relationships with peers as opposed to men. When considering the usage of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter women occupy 65% of the community's voice with 10,000,000 more females online than man. Yet recently females expressed negative feelings toward advertisers in the areas of food, beauty, apparel, health care and automotive industry. A vast 66% of women feel that their interests in these categories are overlooked, hence a panel has been formed to discuss how social media can be more effective in targeting females. Duties of the panelists will include how to gain female trust in the social space by promoting issues that they can identify with.
The panelists will outline social media strategies, approaches and tips for businesses, small and large, on how to communicate with this desirable target through real, credible content and the savvy use of insights, learning and technology.

With the introduction of the panel, hopefully women will be able to find elements in the social space they can easily identify with. It is important not only to communicate a message to you audience, but acknowledge the specific needs of that audience you are targeting.

How can we express ourselves more clearly online?

Communication is a key aspect of any society. Through communication ideas are exchanged, skills are gained and sometimes perceptions are altered. A society without communication would be monotone and restricted from social growth because expression would be limited to one’s own thoughts. Whether through body language or the use of technology, the act of expressing one’s self is very important and can lead to the collaboration of ideas on a larger scale. Even those who suffer from impairment of a sense such as blindness or deafness can actively communicate through some type of mechanism. Studies show the average person spends seventy percent of their day in some type of message exchange whether through verbal, nonverbal or physical behavior. In today's society, individuals rely predominantly on the Internet but frequently people are unable to understand the context of e-mails,blogs, wikis, forums, IM conversations, status updates, etc.

First we must not forget the purpose of online communication: to convey some type of message to an audience. Just because someone goes on your website or comes across a blog does not necessarily mean that individual will be coming back. Language should be used to build a relationship between the reader and the poster so that new perspectives can be exchanged. If messages were communicated with more clarity, individuals could relate more to a specific blog and maybe actually go back to that site. "The web is full of blog posts that say nothing, articles that have no proper ending and generally disjointed thoughts mashed into chunks we call “content” but would more accurately be described as “filler.” We must plan what we will say prior to posting to ensure that what we are saying is consistent with readers' thought process. Often we write emails and use language that the receiver may find difficult, causing the message to be misinterpreted. Words should not be wasted for each word holds a unique weight in communicating. If you are not sure of something, you are instilling a false sense of trust in the reader hence references are a must. When expressing an opinion make it clear that is is not factual; if you are not familiar with something you are writing about, research the issue.

All of these factors contribute to the accuracy of proving a point. Communication is only as effective as the management of its tools. We have all of these resources yet we find ourselves sorting through wordy emails and skewed blogs. If everyone made a conscious effort and acknowledged the audience behind the Internet, messages would be clearly conveyed.

TrustCloud Enters the Matrix

At TrustCloud, it's not about how many friends you have.  How much money you have in the bank.  How successful you are.  It comes down to one simple thing - how many monitors you have.  CEO Xin Chung, seen here at his desk searching for "The One", recently acquired a fourth (?) monitor much to the dismay of ConEd.  And while we can't argue about how cool his set up is in person, we can state that, suddenly, our 1920x1200 monitor is seeming so very, very ... small.

2010 Advertising Trends

Developers are constantly trying to enhance or create products to attract those in the social space. Although advances in technology are beneficial, great minds tend to think alike. In 2010 advertising trends must be acknowledged in order to have a successful product due to the rising number of competitors out there. How can one effectively advertise and distinguish their product from the competition?

First we must define the objectives of social media. Social online experiences aim to shift ideas or products from consumable to sharable. The whole purpose of advertising something online is to increase awareness. In the past advertisers used bold, flashy ads whereas now they are communicating their brand through small ads on social networking sites. The most effective of these ads are said to involve real people, have an actual message and the ability to be implemented in the real world. Consumers often refer to the social space for recommendations. Sites such as Linkedin or Twitter allow people to interact with others in niche categories; hence advertisements on these sites should be more specific in communicating the brand message Social networking goes beyond just friendship considering the many capabilities of networking sites. People are not only joining virtual communities to reconnect with old friends. The social space consists of influencers, friends and communities. Influencers such as bloggers are able to promote or reinforce, friends are able to spread the word and communities are able to relate to the discussion. Advertisers must consider the importance of delivering a message that communities can identify with because it is the communities that are most effective on a larger scale. Lastly,real time must be considered. The Internet allows for immediate communication, if not live communication. Someone can read a restaurant review upon entering the restaurant; if the reviews negative the restaurant goer may leave and bring their business elsewhere causing that restaurant to lose business. By monitoring live communication, advertisers can eliminate any negative feedback of their brand along with leverage positive endorsements.

The social space offers great opportunity if the right advertising techniques are implemented. It is important to keep up with the changing environment and identify brand names with messages the virtual community can relate to.

TrustCloud Goes Skiing

Part of what we're working on at TrustCloud is creating easier ways for people to engaged in experiences with friends.  And with that purpose in mind, a few of us from the office went up to Killington, Vermont for some team-building on the mountain's snowy slopes.  Luckily (or unluckily) we brought along a video camera to capture some of if.  Here is the result:

The Basics of Trust

Trust can be defined as many things considering the impact it has in everyday decisions. Trust is an emotion which takes into account logic and past experiences. Typically we trust those who we can relate with positive experiences and shy away from those who take advantage of our vulnerability. Emotions such as love, friendship, reliability and comfort are often associated with relationships formed throufg trust. But what are the deciding factors in trusting someone? The fundamentals of trust can be narrowed down to predictability, value exchange, reciprocity and exposed vulnerabilities. It is human nature to extrapolate and forecast current goals. Whether a personal goal or a company goal, individuals design plans as to how they can achieve something in the future and prepare for threats. Trust ties into predictability because trust eliminates the threat factor in a friendship. If you trust someone, you are forming a silent commitment to protect their best interest in the future. Value exchange focuses on a barter relationship. Through trust we are able to exchange non material possessions; a child entrusts their parent in exchange for safety and nourishment. Although we do not know specifically what we are receiving from the trusted party, a relationship is a barter and both ends must be providing something. This concept of reciprocity is not always immediate and often we grow impatient when our friends do not contribute something to the relationship. Trust could not exist in a one sided relationship where the element of reciprocity is never fulfilled. In addition, trust leads to vulnerability if we place trust in the wrong hands. People are often reluctant to trust someone because they don't want to be taken advantage of.
Trust is a key element in every relationship and must be exercised carefully. Once invested in the right situation, trust has much more benefits than losses.

Marketing with Facebook and Omniture

Facebook is becoming more and more popular as an effective networking tool for many
companies. Whether through an ad or actual brand name page, businesses are trying to market their product on a site.

Omniture, a web analytic company, teamed up with Facebook about nine months ago to create an application that could measure analytics within a desired social network. Omnist SiteCatalyst users could use analytics and segmentation to measure how popular certain Facebook apps were and determine whether or not these apps had the potential to be a long term success. Considering how much larger the Facebook community has grown since then, Omniture and Facebook have expanded their marketing partnership with the addition of Omniture's SearchCenter Plus which lets users purchase Facebook ads.

Omniture customers can compare Facebook ad campaign metrics to the tactics of other media channels and access familiar tools. In addition, reports can be generated to understand how effective ads are on Facebook pages and applications in marketing products, Many companies are starting to use Facebook as a marketing tool hence this type of report would be beneficial to see if it truly provides accurate results.

Android or iPad?

The arrival of the Apple iPad has been gaining much attention over the past few months with its 9.7 inch touch screen, and advanced capabilities. Although the product had an alleged presale of March 26th, customers have been signing up on Apple's waiting list for quite some time. But what the public seems to forget is that Apple is not the only technological guru to come out with a touch screen tablet this year. Google's Android operating system is also debuting a touch screen tablet this year. The iPad is to be powered by the iPhone Os, an operating system originally designed for cellphones like the Android. Back in January,many companies showed off the new tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show. One Indian company, Notion Ink, spoke about the capabilities of an Android tablet called Adam. Estimated to cost between $327 and $800, the Adam uses the Tegra 2, features a rotating webcam and Compal, MSI, and Quanta played demos of Android-powered devices with seven to ten inch powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 microprocessor.These Android based tablets can make use of established and different display modes. Android apps; some even have the ability to run Flash, as well as a webcam and multitask software; features the iPad lacks. The question is what product will be more capable : Android or iPad?