facebook makes me crotchety

I did the Twitter thing for a little while, but found it clunky and un-portable…which may be an indictment of my own tech savvy, sure, but I also found that I wasn’t missing a whole lot because of the news feed feature in Facebook and the way that people have been using it. Which is just like Twitter.

I find that both a relief and an annoyance.

It is a relief, somewhat obviously, because it means that I don’t have to use Twitter anymore. I get almost the exact same information, but only have to use one application. And, as an added bonus, all side conversations tend to happen as comments on wall posts so I can quickly read the whole conversation as a single unit instead of having it dispersed across my Twitter feed.

Convenience for a lazy man. It’s a concept I can get behind.

It is an annoyance because most of what people deem important enough to Tweet or wall post about is either boring or pathetically self-aggrandizing.

For example, if you are really having a great time doing all of these fun things, do you really need to post about how you are having a great time doing all of these fun things? Just like you never hear someone say “I went to Harvard, it’s a really good school” because it is obvious that Harvard is a good school, if you feel the need to talk about how much fun you are having while doing whatever activity you are doing, you’re selling too hard. The fun should be obvious. And if it isn’t and you’re trying to convince me that it is, it falls flat in a sad, “I wish you were confident enough in yourself not to try to prove how cool you are in a public forum” kind of way.

Primarily disappointing is how many people write posts like this.

Posts like “got so drunk last night and it was awesome” or “girls nights rock, so glad I went out.” They are both unoriginal and cloying attempts to prove to people who may be following your posts that you are not a complete loser.

Except by saying, in not so many words, “I am not a complete loser”…well, you’ve just proved you are.

But at least the annoyance is all in one place now. It would be worse if I had to switch applications for the same drivel.

social networking is for the already cool

Had an interesting discussion today at the House of Biz over some campaign extension tactics that we are going to be presenting to the client tomorrow…specifically, we were talking about how to extend this particular brand in social networks.

I took the stance that this would be a waste of time.

First, some background: this particular brand has a broad target that skews young, but hasn’t really broken through to be cool yet. In fact, it isn’t really all that well known yet. Which, to my mind, means that we need to get the word out…even if that means using Pleistocene-era tactics like broadcast television and other broad-reach media. Because we need people to know about the brand. And to like it.

Because unless they already know about and like the brand, why would they want to be its Facebook friend? Social networking is for the already cool, the brands that will be sought out on their merits. The brands that people want to adorn themselves with. Tattoo the logos of. Have people judge them by.

I’m afraid that I lost this argument.

And it’s fine that I did, I understand that in client meetings where a lot of work is being presented it is important to have broadly applicable thinking…lots of tactics shelter the agency from the charge of being a one-trick pony or, in the case of my agency, too old school.

But it’s still a dumb idea for this brand.

behavioral targeting complaints

I am an analog guy…and even though I have a blog, I know that this is true. I can’t help it. I am a man of my time.

That said, to the digital strategist (and you know who you are) who gets away with saying things about social media that are obvious to anyone who uses them, but not obvious to the oldsters who run the House of Biz, go fuck yourself. You are lucky to have the job you have, but you only have it while Oldy McGees run the place. And that won’t be forever.

You’ve been warned.

Anyway…I was sitting in a presentation by media to the brand team that I work on about online ad effectiveness based on type of buy (don’t judge, the lunch was free and I’ve not been able to find my ATM card for something like four weeks now). It got me thinking…with the size of our team and the amount that we go to websites appropriate to the brand we work on (and are thus followed by behavioral ads), could we be skewing the numbers on effectiveness?

Based on my hatred for the media team at the House of Biz (whoa, 4:58…let’s fire off an email to Account Management and then leave, and then Account Management gets it to me by 7 – this is a good day – and then I work all night to make it happen, not that I am bitter), yes. I sure hope so.

With all of the jazzy hand waving and shit talking that the digital media and strategy team do, you would think that they would be smart enough to exclude the company IP address from those that were behaviorally targeted.

Maybe it doesn’t matter.

But I don’t care.

I’m all sorts of fired up because it’s 8:00pm on a Friday and I’m still here, working on something that Media forgot and that Account Management just got to me.

Aren’t you glad that I’m back to blogging again?

i am back

Ok, so…it’s been quite the rollercoaster ride since Thanksgiving. Yes, it has been since Thanksgiving that I last had something advertising related to say.

And that is the funny thing about advertising – you can lose five months and not even notice it.

A mix of shoots and concepting and extension ideas and new campaigns ideas and more shoots and execution and endless client change and short deadlines and yelling at digital producers and making out with co-workers at agency happy hours and getting smacked down my Creative Director yesterday today and tomorrow, and losing pitch after pitch, and seeing friends laid off left and right, and commiserating over beers with those people to the point that I turned up at work the next afternoon, and getting promoted and finding a new Pretty AE whose shirt I look down all day…whew. It’s been busy. Exhausting. Par for the course for advertising.

But I am back.

And I mean it this time.

Back, of course, means that I will post in the usual desultory way…but at least I am posting. And I plan to post until I actually get that Crispin job or we get busy again at the House of Biz.

I have missed you.

And am glad that we’re back together again.