a groovyweb by isman tanuri

Here is something different on this blog. My experiences, thoughts and learning over the last week.

#BarCampSG4

Last Saturday (21 Nov), I attended BarCamp Singapore 4, organised by Preetam Rai and Kelvin Quee. Sponsored and held at IDA Singapore (also co-sponsored by Yahoo! SG and Hackerspace.SG), BarCamp was open to all. This being my first attendance at a BarCamp, I was not too sure what to expect although I had some ideas, having read some accounts on previous BarCamps.

What is BarCamp? Read on Wikipedia.

BarCamp is Crowdsourcing

Just like the concept of crowdsourcing in social media, most of the topics of the day were suggested by the attendees (pasted on IDA’s wall as shown on photo to the right), then voted by attendees and eventually presented by the attendees. Anyone was free to present on any topic they fancied (technology, social media, creative arts, culture and social sciences) and there were really off-the-wall submissions including ‘How to Present Difficult Concepts to Lesser Beings’ by Coleman Yee (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and one that I rued I missed: Adrianna Tan’s ‘How to Hack Your Own Travel Channel Life’ (thank God for Slideshare). All in all, I enjoyed the sessions I attended, the learning and the impromptu discussions.

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Updated 13/11: This post also appears as a guest blog post on Penn Olson.

I was recently reading an early chapter of Al and Laura Ries’ ‘The Origin of Brands’ and was struck by this concept:

The world’s best and long-lasting brands were typically created by a divergence from an existing product category and that these brands continue to survive not because of their ‘share of market’ but for being first in the mind of consumers.

Consider these examples of divergence and its disregard for market size of the day:

• What was the size of the cola market the day Coca Cola was launched?
• What was the market size of Mac users when Apple launched their Apple I system?
• How about the size of the personal computer market the day Microsoft launched their MS-DOS platform?
• And when McDonald first introduced the fast-food hamburger to the American public, what was the size of the fast-food market?

The answer to these questions: Zero.

However, these brands have proven they have what it takes to survive and prosper all these years. So, why is this possible?
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Talk about itself. All the time. David Meerman Scott has something to say about this.

Writer’s Note: Hundred Trees is a condominium development in Singapore. Hundred Trees is on Twitter and Facebook. Please note that I have personally seen @hundredtrees reply to tweets previously (if you don’t see any in their current timeline). Credit to @hundredtrees for being social when it mattered.

So what should brands do instead?
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Recently I was asked this question ‘Tell me why Wisma Atria should have a Twitter account’. Wisma Atria is a major mall on Orchard Road, Singapore that has pretty much reinvented itself with a facade change and cool-factor repositioning. A quick check shows that Wisma Atria is already on Twitter although I can’t be sure if that is indeed Wisma’s or a Twitter-squatter. Looks derelict to me (with 4 dubious followers) and 0 tweets.

There are many things that a business can achieve on Twitter and on social media in general, including close interaction with customers, shouting out ads, news and discounts, content distribution and much more. Brand reputation management is also a real possibility if Twitter is set up to alert.

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If you are in Settings in your Twitter profile page, have you noticed…

Funny thing is, I have never received a newsletter from Twitter. Nor any other communication since signing up.

Or you have and it is really just me?

Maybe they haven’t figured it out yet. Probably thousands of others like me have explicitly given them the permission to speak directly to me. And they’re not jumping on to this? They need to read a Godin.

Or they haven’t hired anyone to do this. Or set it up? Too busy on the technology or how to monetise perhaps?

Here’s the official line from Twitter’s own help page.

I have been a user far much longer than 6 weeks, spill the beans already!