Buzz Canuck

65 Ways to Post a Facebook Profile Picture

I always find it interesting what people choose to  post as a visual representation of themselves on Facebook (picture to the left is my current version).

That picture goes a long way  to say what they are all about and is the really neat and interesting thing about Facebook vs. LinkedIn (faceless) vs. My Space (oftentimes nameless). It is window to your social network soul.

So here are my top 65 ways I've seen people post their pictures (ranked in order of my preference):

1 - Noxzema Girl/Abercrombie Boy Fresh Faced Innocent Shot -  the most real of the staged shots, nothing to misinterpret, transparent, open and genuine - even better, if you're smiling and wide-eyed
2 - Peer into My World - person in foreground, interesting stuff in the background  - context is everything - an invitation for me to stroll on by your profile
3 - Slice of Life - person is not straight on  and likely  doesn't know picture is being taken - feels natural and real -  isn't that what Facebook is all about!?
4 - Street Scene i.e. standing on a New York street corner - I like the urban slice of life, makes me know that you lead a real life and wander around cities occasionally (not just hang out in front of your computer all day)
5 - The Camera Vamp - nothing is more disarming than a sly,  curious smile - particularly one sponsored by Crest Whitestrips
6 - Original Artistic Representation - if the graphic is visually stunning/simple/original, makes me want to know more about you
7 - First Person Point of View - i.e. looking out over the edge of your canoe - usually when done, is a photo of great nature, interesting cityscape or cool happenings - I want to be there too 
8 - Surrogate Brand i.e Heineken Bottle, IPod - done creatively or choosing an obscure conversation-worthy brand, can get my attention
9 - Tourist Shot - travellers interest me, the pic immediately tell me your cosmopolitan - gives me a reason to know more
10 - The Vertical Shot - the taller your shot is, the more space you get in Facebook - may be a traditional media-minded principle - but I likely do pay more attention to a Skyscraper than a button
11 - Action Shot - whether its Parkour or spiking a volleyball, takes some talent to grab a picture in mid-stride
12- Gotcha - you've been caught unexpectedly - usually giving an interesting emotional reaction
13 - Hunter S Thompson Shot- looking back while driving a car (hopefully stationary), any other mock movie poster shot also works   
14 - Kicking Back/Chilling i.e. on a patio, at a cottage - makes me think you're friendly, laid back and might like to make a new connection
15 - This Party is Wicked - if you're willing to put yourself out there at a wild party for others to see,  you're likely a person with no hidden agenda or big hangups
16 - Family Slice of Life - who doesn't get a little heart tug seeing a  warm Rockwell shot of family playing on swings
17 - Thinking Man Shot - tough to pull off a solid pensive pose, done well, it says "smart" without saying it
18 - The Idol i.e. Oscar, Stanley Cup - icons are great shorthands for what you're all about
19 - I'm on a Cell Phone - perhaps a little Paris Hilton-y and shallow, but it does make a statement that you keep busy/have friends to talk to
20 - Fashionista - all the accessories - party suit, glasses and handbag - more than likely I'd want to be in your Entourage
21 - Rendered Photo - best of both worlds - a real picture of you with some artistic flair  - just don't make your head so small from all the artwork that I can't pick you out of a lineup
22 - I've Used My Web Camera - the glow off a computer screen usually makes people look more attractive/interesting
23 - The Halloween Shot - either shows off your creativity and passion or backfires and makes me wonder if you wear the costume outside of Halloween too
24 - Photo of Photographer - what can i say, I like photographers, It's something i wish I was better at - i usually try to see what type of camera and lense you're using too
25 - The Hockey/Baseball Card Shot - even though it silos you as a jock, it likely took some photoshop work - i have to give props to that
26 - Distorted Filtered Shot of Yourself - it's amazing what a good Photoshop filter can do
27 - Self Portrait - says that when you joined Facebook, you were eager to get started - tough however to take a good picture with your arm stretched 3 feet away, usually distorts and makes you look heavier
28 - Working on Your Hobby  i.e. painting, scuplting, building - tells me you have passions outside of work, likely some artistic merit  too
29 - Swimsuit Shot - call it human nature, but its always nice to see a good, healthy swimsuit shot - same reason we still see beauty pageants on TV
30 - Cause Brand i.e. Age of Conversation - in a networked world that over-rewards visual gags and potty-mouthed humour, it's great you stand for something altruistic, can be a little generic and overdone, buit great as a short term pic
31-  Staring Past the Camera - screams I'm emotionally complex - can be a good or bad thing
32 - Surrogate Book - you are what you read,  polarizing and lacking some originality (unless its your own book of course)
33 - I Just Finished The Canoe Trip - if you still look put-together after 7 days in the woods, chances are you're very presentable after a shower
34 - I'm Hot, I'm a Model - great eye candy, but I also don't want the perception I've acquired an entire roster of adult film stars on my friend wall
35 -The Jock Shot i.e. crossing Marathon finish line, jumping on mountain bike - birds of a feather flock together
36 - Seasonal Shot i.e. in leaves, growing plants, trudging through snow - good active stuff but must rotate - as a Canadian,  only relevant for 1/4 of the year
37 - Cartoon Avatar i.e. Simpsons - liked it when the first ones popped up, now it feels overdone and lazy, skip right past
38 - I'm in The Band - better when not on stage blurry and in the dark, but I like musicians 
39 - The Eye Shot - very Dali-esque - usually tells me you'd rather not show your whole face - why? why I ask?
40 - I'm With Celebrity - a Perez Hilton, gossip magazine reader - not a bad impression and usually makes me look twice to see if its a cardboard cutout
41 - Wedding Shot - a bit over the top, but clearly something to be proud of, just don't keep it there for more than a year
42 - The Cutoff Shot - depending on where you cut yourself off, can be quite interesting
43 - Drinking Something i.e. glass of wine, beer, Red Bull - usually tells me there is a dependence starting to taker root, tough to look attractive while drinking
44 - Peace Sign/Thumbs Up - Positive but oftentimes makes you look quite staged and geeky
45 - Animal - if its a dog, deserves a higher ranking, cat - merits a lower ranking - also much better if you include yourself in the shot
46 - Let The T-Shirt Do The Talking - oftentimes funny but what bad thread count on those shirts
47 - The Posse Shot - I know you have friends, but most of these are drunk and I don't know which one is you
48 - Graffiti - messy and usually not terribly insightful
49 - Don't Take That Picture - hand obscuring the camera, well if you didn't want it in the first place, why post it for everybody to see?
50 - You as a Young Child - cute, but  I wonder why there  isn't something more 30 years more contemporary, likely means you were born in the 60s or earlier
51 - Sideways/Upside Down - don't make me work this hard, I'm time-starved as it is
52 - In the Car/With The Car - not being an grease monkey, I usually interpret as more Crazy Cooter than Michael Schumacher
53 - This is My Partner - I understand you love each other, but you are your own person after all (and you're hopefully not sharing a profile too)
54 - This is My Partner (cutoff) - alright, if that's you, whose arm is that cropped off from the photo
55 - The Body Shot i.e. abs, cleavage  - call me a prude, but  I'd rather see the whole you  - very one -dimensional  (see #29 swimsuit for better version)
56 - Getty Image Stock - get original and please if you're not going to respect intellectual property at least find ones without the watermark
57 - Patriotic i.e   a flag,  a symbol  -  generic, valueless, I can find out where you're from in your profile
58 - Imposter Celebrity - do you really want me to believe you look like Gary Coleman
59 - The Faraway Shot - is that really you in the water down there? C'mon there has to be a better shot from your holiday film roll
60 - This is My Company Logo - last time i checked, I friended you not the 12,000 people who work for you're multinational
61 - I'm Angst Ridden, Don't Care about You - i.e. giving the finger, looking gnarly with a three cigarettes out of your mouth - I'd rather spend my time with people that have a positive perspective on life not Andy Kauffman
62 - Imposter Nobody - so your name is Lisa and there is a picture of a husky guy - there is a 1% chance I guess this is really you...otherwise, I'm very disturbed
63 - Look at Me, I'm a Conference Presenter i.e on a podium - look we know you're great, do we also have to know how insecure you are about it
64 - A Question Mark - either tells me you have no passion, no interest in disclosing who you are or you just don't care about being or Facebook, forgiveness points if you've just joined and still finding yoiur way around Facebook
65 - The Airbrushed Suit - this is Facebook, you're not running for office, extra demerits if its in a mahogany office, you're sitting on the corner of your desk and I notice an executive pen set or diploma on the wall

Wiki Brands - Reinventing Your Brand in a Customer-Controlled Marketplace

As much as some people would like you to believe, brands are becoming less important in the new economy, the  evidence is actually to the contrary.  Prestige brands have flourished. Boutique brands have sprung up. Digital brands have become cultural powerhouses.   Even Anti-Brands like No Logo and Slow Food have become branded anthems. If you look at the financial makeup of companies, the intangible "brand" has steadily become a greater percentage of a company's financial pie.

What has changed is what  brands, or I should say strong, winning brands represent. In a recent paper "Wiki Brands"  I completed  for New Paradigm, we recognized 6 distinct eras that the art and science of branding  has marched through. Each have been a reaction to some type of media shift, marketplace scarcity, generational pushes or consumer attitude. ...and the eras are becoming shorter and shorter, anointing new winners who tap into the paradigm shift and leaving losers in their wake who don't react quickly enough.

A history lesson on the 6 phases:
Trademark (until 1860)    - A mark of brand ownership - "Something you buy"  i.e. Cattle
Brand Mark (1860-1920)   - A mark of brand quality - "Something you trust" i.e. Ivory
Mass Market Brand (1920-1970s) - A mark of positive associations "Something you want" i.e. Marlboro
Post-Mass Market Brand (1980s-late 1990s) - A mark of superior brand attributes "Something you prefer" i.e. Tylenol
Love Mark (early 2000s) - A mark of inspirational brand vales/stories/design "Something you love" i.e. Apple
Wiki Brand (the future) - A mark of brand interaction "Something your participate in" i.e. MySpace, Wikipedia

Yes, imagine that - brands are becoming something you participate in. A new generation of net-enabled  have left the angst-ridden anti-corporate baggage at the door. They line up outside Apple stores for days to get an iPhone. They donate their free time to Mozilla communities. They spend three times as much on coffee to experience Starbuck's third place. They develop new ads for Doritos. They send in photos to get on Jones Soda bottles. They help find solutions for Intuit. They join with their kids on Webkinz virtual communities.

Given a perfect storm of marketplace, media and consumer conditions, we are accelerating toward a world where customers are actively participating with brands. Brands have become surrogates for other forms of traditional social participation - religious, political and community. Some mass marketed brands are screeching the brakes trying to stop this train. The winning brands are credibly tapping the talents of users, consumers and customers into authors, designers, storytellers, scouts and researchers and thus turning them into word of mouth advocates, brand ambassadors and customer evangelists.

Wiki Branding is smart marketing for our times.  It recognizes a human instinct that has always been there but has all been ignored for the greater part of the last 1/2 century of marketing - customers just don't want to consume your brands and communications - they also want to 1) engage and play with them, 2) create and customize new stuff for themselves and 3) share their wisdom and creations with others. Given digital and mobile technology, at no other time  have customers been able to tap into these 3 other brand motivations - we are a hyper-connected, super-informed and very involved volunteer brand army ready to be mobilized.

In our Wiki Brand paper, we interviewed 15 successful wiki brand companies and realized the way they are approaching their customers and structuring their organizations are entirely different than their peers. We noticed quite distinct and differentiated points of view on at least ten different areas, altering traditional and accepted notions on how to build brands:
- Brand engagement - the pursuit of genuine customer interaction
- Brand orientation - the passion for building a better customer experience
- Brand tone - the reduction of brand hyping and presence and increase in transparency and ideas 
- Brand targeting - the pronounced shift to targeting microsegments and influencers
- Brand media - the shift from mass broadcast to intimate, narrowcast
- Brand innovation - the recognition that innovation is always in beta nver a final destination
- Brand openness - strong brands malleable enough to build new ideas/enter new market segments
- The marketer's role - shift from strategic/communications genius to dialogue facilitator & integrator
- The role of brand positioning - use in controlling what company's do, not just what they say they do

Welcome to a Wiki Brand world. Are you ready to join and participate?

Ding...Ding...Facebook Hits 800,000 in Toronto, Where To From Here?

Hurray, Facebook has now become part of 800,000 Torontonian lives (or about 1 in 6 Hogtowners)! Boo, London just leapfrogged over our Facebook leadership and is about to hit 1,000,000.

Here's what I find what's interesting between the numbers:

1) even my tech troglodyte friends have a latent need to understand what's going on out here...kind of like suburban married folk who really want to know how single urbanites live.
As the picture denotes, we've at a tipping point, anybody that was an early adopter are members already (with the possible exception of people who have an austere view to personal privacy) - the masses, based out of fear of being left out, are likely about to jump onboard soon - it wouldn't surprise me if 2,000,000 becomes our Toronto saturation number  at some point next year

2) with the exception of CBC, I haven't seen a lot of  marketers advertising their presence on Facebook within traditional media - maybe reasonable given  the notion of "why drive traffic to one media to another" - but still I believe there is a bit of  first mover currency for those who do advertise their presence

3) myself and some colleagues tumbled through the numbers last week, we know Canadian Facebookers may in fact be younger than our US counterparts --- we just don't know how much younger - disparities in official figures are too wide across geographies to credibly present them (anywhere from 11% to 40% of people on Facebook are 35 years or older). Anybody with some real authority please let us know.

4) I am always astonished to see people in my business (communications/marketing/media) proudly claim they aren't on Facebook as if they've joined some cool non-joiner club that smokes in the digital alleyways and are tough enough not to join the "cult". So what you're saying is that because of pride, ego or fear, you're not at least going to sample a cultural phenomenon that takes up an inordinate amount of your consumer/viewer/user's time, enthusiasm, insight and a great part of marketing's future. Foolhardy. It's the same people I met years ago that bought and purchased media yet never watched TV.

5) this is a new medium with new rules. We're so excited by its prospects that our company is setting up a part of our business dedicated to building Facebook group pages (the right way), sponsored groups and applications, auditing Facebook content, providing collective group pages and providing general consultancy on Facebook.   

6) from a word of mouth standpoint, it is incredibly powerful. People don't hide behind fake profiles (My Space), people are so well connected that it functions as a surrogate form of email (unlike LinkedIn), acquiring networks of like-minded friends is easy (unlike building a slow and steady readership through blogging). It is a perfect storm of buzz ready to happen for clients who are willing to cede a little bit of control, join the conversation and provide stuff that is useful not just self-serving.

7) predictions for the future:
- better RSS feeds to ensure people understand the importance stuff that gets updated, particularly within groups
- better integration with other networks - smart niche networks will start  using Facebook as their social
portal
- better integration of video - we are quickly becoming a dynamic communications society and marketplace - static pictures are ceding to
- better sponsored groups - Facebook, for its own survival, needs to find a better way to embed branded content that people will find useful, brands find valuable and their investors find financially viable - with the exception of Red Bull, I haven't seen that much success within sponsored groups but there has been a tonne of FREE success in applications
- community support - both official heavy user, open source developer, user generated content and brand ambassador groups and forums
- e-commerce - one of Facebook's last frontiers - if anybody is looking like an eBay competitor , it might be Facebook
- a bricks version of Facebook - what would a Facebook meetup lounge look like - unless Starbucks does a JV, expect live coffee shops, bars and lounges and office networks to set up around  Facebook, accelerating the connected workplace.

Now the big question is : Facebook is steaming hot now (you should be here), inevitable bigger later (you should be planning for this)...what does it look like in 2010 and will we still be talking about it?

Digital is Not a TV Game - Online Video Ads Need New Chutzpah

A well-written article by Joanna Smith today in The Globe and Mail highlights the growing online video ad industry and its need to transition itself from its TV-based cousins.

Some highlights:
- new interactive video combines video, with embedded send to a friend, polling, gaming and interactive options
- interactive video has 23% better stickiness than static video with 14.2 seconds per ad interaction
- Nokia UK's The Passenger (produced by Ottawa's Fuel Industries) - average interaction time achieved was 8.5 minutes
- to overcome ad resistance, firms are providing discounts, tangible perks and gatekeeper hurdles to content for watching ads (which leads to a question - if the ads aren't good enough, entertaining enough or informative enough for people to watch, why incentivise them to watch them)
- Viagra, War Child, Old Navy, Nokia were profiled as leading new generation examples
- YouTube has introduced its semi-transparent/animated video that may be annoying but not as interruptive as preroll -  the ads disappear after 10 seconds

Talks Like Teen Spirit - The Facts Behind Teen Word of Mouth

Keller Fay regularly teases out a new post on various facts of word of mouth. They either have a great PR department or have built up an incredible reputation as many of the key U.S. pubs usually republish most of their releases. This month, it's all about teens.

Some interesting insights about teen word of mouth :

1) Teens are twice as prolific as the average person - they participate in 145 WOM conversations about products and services each week, containing 77 distinct brand mentions--compared to averages of 71 WOMs and 22 brand mentions for the rest of the population.

2) Teens are nearly three times more likly to buzz online - 19% of teen WOMs occur online (text messaging/IM, e-mails, chatrooms/blogs), versus just 7% among the population as a whole.

3) Nearly two-thirds of teen's word of mouth is still "live and in person" - fully 63% of teen WOMs still occur in person (versus 73% for the overall population).

4) The top 10 brands being talked about positively by teens- iPod, American Eagle, Dr Pepper, Chevrolet, Nintendo, Sony, Target, Xbox, Wal-Mart and Mountain Dew.

At least with my Canadian sensibilities of teenage life, I don't understand the Chevrolet and Wal-Mart rankings. I'm presuming one is more steeped in Americana and the other fits  a student's need for value-conscious products.  However, I find it challenging to believe that these two are truly loved . Perhaps Keller may want to apply some Net Promoter thinking to their next survey and monitor the genuine intensity of brand word of mouth as opposed to measuring a brands ubiquitousness.

Brands of the Future - Wisdom from Strawberry Frog

Cutesy metaphors are a dime a dozen - this one I liked from one of my favourite agencies:

"WE’RE STRAWBERRYFROG AND YOU’RE DYING TO HEAR FROM US. That’s the kind of assumption most marketing makes. An assumption that, while engrossed in business, or sports, or the latest Hollywood meltdown, you don’t mind being interrupted, to hear superlative copy about some product or service you weren’t even thinking about a split second earlier. It’s like some random stranger walking up to you and your friends at a party and shouting, “Hey, let me tell you about my awesome new car!” What would you think of that guy?

But there you are. A brand. And you need to communicate with people. People you don’t know. People who haven’t invited you to the party. What to do?

Act like the uninvited guest you are. Earn your keep. Don’t interrupt. Participate. Don’t talk about yourself. Talk about them. Enrich the conversation. Add to the culture. Offer something tangible. Give people a reason to hang with you, get to know you, want to hear what you have to say. And the next time there’ s a party, if you’re really all that interesting, there’s a good chance you’ll be on the guest list"

Thanks to Bernie from Public Relations Rogue for the savvy new marketing mantra link.

Carlsberg - Possibly The Best Word of Mouth in The World

Neat idea from Carlsberg in London. I love the idea of repurposed money and Carlsberg has been dropping 10 and 20 pound notes all over London with the stickers  "Carlsberg don't do litter. But if they did it would probably be the best litter in the world."

I'm not familiar with Carlsberg's campaigns in London but I can't help but wonder how to interpret  the unquestionble buzz that this campaign is driving. Does it help the brand? Could another brand be substituted easily? Thoughts? 

Thanks for my very British colleagues Ed at iStudio and Dave Fleet for the pickup.

 

How to be a Corporate Blog Evangelist

Lately, it seems a fair percentage of the time that I travel back from links or Facebook groups I find interesting, they rally back to Jeremiah Owyang at Web Strategist. His posts are always laden with insight and great supportive information and data.

Check this one out on how to be a Corporate Blogging Evangelist - I love his ten tips, particularly # 8 -Define the purpose for your blog
         1. Delight your customers (you better say yes)
         2. Demonstrate corporate openness
         3. Express goodwill
         4. Thought leadership
         5. Mitigate PR damage risks
         6. Control the conversation in your market
         7. Develop a product with customers in real time
         8. Harness a rapid response tool
         9. Casually release products and get feedback
        10. Word of mouth marketing
        11. Amplify a message
        12. Competitive positioning tool
        13. Delight your customers

Facebook - The United Nations of Digital Life

What, not on Facebook yet? Are you nuts? Do you want to be left out? 

It seems like only the later-mainstream and the intentional non-joiners have not become part of Facebook-o-sphere in Canada. With members climbing to just over 33 milion overall and over 3 million in Canada, it's starting to reshape the landscape of the web.

I remember being on MTV Canada Live's show last month and having a mild disagreement with co-host Darren Jones on Facebook's advancing popularity  vs. My Space (anticipated given My Space's fortress around the music and entertainment set). It would seem the enthusiasm and evidence I have for Facebook's prospects vs. My Space is even greater one month since. Why?

People are interested. Given a number of interesting and social applications. People are flocking to Facebook. Unique visitors are up +89% vs. last year according to comScore. People are spending a lot of free time wading through  the nooks and crannies of Facebook.  Hitwise claims that people are spending 3x as much time on Facebook than news and media sites. The average time spent every month by users on Facebook has climbed to 186 minutes/month according to comScore.

Developers are Interested. Given it's open source nature, developers are quick to adopt and develop new applications designed specifically for Facebook. Colin and Roy recently convened a Facebook Camp unconference of over 450 people interested in Facebook applications. There are now over 1,800 applications with 75% of users adopting at least one.

Bloggers are interested. Increasingly, Facebook is becoming a collecting ground for social media content creators. Facebook is becoming an extension of their blog through widgets and uploading their posts seamlessly. Infrequent bloggers have stopped blogging and are using Facebook as their proxy. In our 1% Army Tournament of bloggers, more than 90% of the elite Canadian marketing/media/digital bloggers particpating are already on Facebook, making it better than email to get the message out. I'm sure folks would agree an RSS feed might help Facebook out.

The Well Heeled Business set are interested. Perhaps surprisingly given its university roots, 40% of users are over 35 years old and Facebook is considered decidely more white collar than blue collar MySpace. According to Business Week, 48% of users have salaries over $75,000 and companies like Ernst & Young (16,000 members in their network) and CitiGroup (8,000) have amassed armies of well-salaried workers online. 

Brands and corporations are interested. Previously, it was the domain of edgy players like Red Bull and Apple  to lead the way on applications and sponsored groups. Now, forward thinking companies of the established set are onboard. Check out TD Canada Trust's just launched  Money Lounge - the first Canadian bank to jump  on the Facebook train and the  plaudits they're getting for going first...

- "go TD! Congrats on taking this very forward-thinking leap. Great marketing initiative."
- "Félicitation à TD pour avoir pensé d’ouvrir un groupe sur Facebook. Je crois que c’est une très bonne initiative!"

As Ebay is to online commerce and Google is to search, the potential for Facebook to avoid "flash-in-the-pan" status and become the ongoing lightning rod for becoming the hub for the Social Web exists.

So for all you non-members, tepid business colleagues and privacy-mad personal friends , I hate to feel so cultish about this but why don't you jump in the pool, the water in Facebook is warm.

Dogbert and The Role Of Marketing

No profession escapes Scott Adam's wrath.