*Wait a sec – "brand" "communities"? Logically, those should have all the social liveliness of traditional company towns. Even if they monetize like a bandit, they ought to die at least as quickly as the average Wild West silver-mining "community."
http://www.bazaarblog.com/2009/05/31/ghost-town-brand-community/
"Have you ever been exploring online and found yourself in a virtual community where crickets chirped and tumbleweeds drifted by? (((Dude, this is Dead Media Beat. Tried community-building with a print newspaper lately?))) Message board tallies show the last comment was made in 2007 and any newer threads got a couple of views and zero responses.
"Welcome to the ghost town, a languishing community where there are few signs of life. Perhaps it was once a brand community launched with high hopes, a substantial budget and ambitious marketing objectives, but it was later abandoned, both by its inhabitants and its founders. The once-promising gold rush moved on. (((Well, yes. They're not a "community." They're in it for the cash.)))
Gartner reports that 50% of brand communities will fail. And by “fail,” I believe they mean “shut down.” That leaves the other 50% still live. But are they successful? How many “ghost town” communities are out there? Over the past couple years many progressive brands have explored social media and community marketing initiatives — Twitter, Facebook, blogs, viral videos, forums or fully-fledged online communities. (((Not to mention the ferocious brand investment in Second Life.))) With the comeback of the term “community” (((not that it means anything))) and the hype and buzz of Facebook, many other brands are likely contemplating everything from establishing a Twitter account to launching a Facebook-like community within their site. The promise is high customer engagement — which the CFO could care less about, but marketers often believe drives sales and loyalty. (((I haven't had a marketer join up for my Twitter account in quite some time. I think they're already fleeing.)))
"I applaud exploration, experimentation and “fail fast” initiatives. But now we’re entering into a time where the key phrase is “show me the results.” The focus on measurability is leading many brands to take a hard look at what they launched, and step away from things that didn’t work...."
(((How about giving up on "brands," not to mention "ads" and even "marketing"? I mean, maybe those worked in the halcyon days of print media, but why would they "work" now?)))
((("Ads, brands, $100 million in public relations? Haw haw haw! What century are you in?")))
http://goodexperience.com/2009/06/microsoft-has-a-probl.php
(((More: advertising on social networks is useless because people there hate marketers
and don't consider them human:)))
http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/news/releases/2009/052009_social-media.html
