Observations from Hearing Alan Cohen of Cisco Speak
July 16, 2009 @ 3:21pm
Updated — July 24, 2009 @ 3:22pm
by Mason Razavi
I recently attended an event in Mountain View in which Alan Cohen, VP of Enterprise and Mid-Market Solutions for Cisco, spoke his mind about the nature of contemporary business communications. The meetup was billed partly as a networking event and partly as an opportunity to learn about emerging social technologies in enterprises, so naturally I was compelled to go. Unfortunately, the event turned out to be little more than a recital of the obvious mashed up with some advertising and seed-planting for Cisco products.
Don’t get me wrong. Alan Cohen is a talented and charismatic speaker who seemed to have the audience in the palm of his hand. As I am someone who truly appreciates talented performers, watching him deliver his piece was in this sense a delight and an education in itself.
However the content was….shall I say, lacking? Allow me to summarize:
“Meetings are boring, and people fall asleep during them. Big companies are inefficient, as they spend too much time trying to get information from one place to the next. Email kinda sucks. Not important. Sorta annoys me. Human interaction is important. Face to face contact is important. That’s why Cisco makes this really neat video stuff that lets you do that, and in the near future we’re coming out with some more neat video stuff that lets you do that even better. Awesome, huh?”
Alright, I might be simplifying just a tad. Still, talking about the sloth-like path of information within giant corporations and how meetings are boring and inefficient is not exactly groundbreaking news.
I was lured to the event with advertising that teased potential attendees by asking if Twitter and Google Wave were the future of enterprise-level communications. My disappointment stems from the fact that I was expecting to actually hear what tools, specifically, were going to change things, and not just some stats and filler about how you only retain 10% of what you read and how 39% of people admit to falling asleep in meetings, and how Cisco is going to save Mother Earth and all its businesses.
In the end, I have to say that observing Alan Cohen’s delivery and the Thai food provided were the true highlights of the evening, even if the noodles were a bit cold.
Tags
Alan Cohen, Cisco, Communications, Enterprise, Google Wave, twitter
Comments
Email Marketing + Social Marketing ≠ Spam
July 13, 2009 @ 3:45pm
by Mason Razavi
I recently had a conversation with someone who asked if I thought that social media marketing should be considered spam. He posed an argument including the fact that people buy accounts and followers, and also that email marketing, which is in the same vein, is widely considered to be spam.
I began to think about some misconceptions regarding social network marketing and email marketing and how they might be thought of as spam. I thought I’d take a moment to clear that up for you – free of charge!
First of all, let’s talk email marketing. There are pretty strict laws in place about who you can and cannot contact with email. People have to opt-in to an email list before receiving contact. This is contrary to traditional direct mail marketing, where it’s standard practice to mail-bomb an entire neighborhood unsolicited. So, if people are asking for it, how can it be considered spam?
Secondly, social media marketing is anything but spam. Again, people choose who they want to hear from. Not only that, but companies that execute a smart social marketing plan can actually make it fun (say it with me: fun) to hear from them. The result is that sometimes people add certain profiles to their friends lists to appear cool, kitschy or irreverant. For instance, someone might add Family Guy, Pepsi, and Marvel Comics to their web 2.0 circle just for kicks. I’ve never seen anyone do that with spam!
Social marketing and email marketing campaigns, when well executed, are fun, interesting, entertaining, and provide value to fans. Still, even if it’s done poorly I don’t know that there is a case you can point to and call spam.
Tags
email marketing, social marketing, spam, web 2.0
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NFL Says ‘No’ to In-Game Tweets
July 10, 2009 @ 4:59pm
by Mason Razavi
The NFL has banned its players from in-game Twittering, citing a rule they already have in place that prohibits cell phone usage during games. In doing so, they might be missing a golden opportunity.
On one hand, you have to side with the NFL. Giving a bunch of rowdy, adrenaline-pumped, larger-than-life professional athletes a forum to say whatever they want to the entire world during the heat of battle, with all the raw emotions that go with that – you can see how that might quickly turn into a PR nightmare.
Top that off with coaches who would likely not want their players diverting their attention from the game at hand, and you can see where this might start to make sense.
However, the NFL is missing out on a ton of fun. And really, isn’t that what sports is all about?
Imagine a player telling the world what he feels like as the final seconds tick off the clock to a superbowl victory. Or loss. Perhaps you could envision an injured player taken off the field letting the world know first hand that he’ll be ok. The possibilities are limitless.
My suggestion to the NFL would be to give a few key players the privilege of using Twitter during games. This could serve a similar function as an isolated camera that follows a single player during a game, and is similar to the “mic’d up” idea that some sports leagues (including my beloved NHL) have used to get prime audio clips from players during games.
In the end, it’s all about entertainment, and fans are increasingly searching for behind-the-scenes coverage on what players are doing and saying before, during, and after games. The occasional tweet would only be the next step in taking it to an online format.
