Situation Analysis

•   Facebook, MySpace, flick*r and YouTube, have been the enablers of social networking but much of the relationships are only “screen deep” and the content “ so yesterday”. (Thanks!)

•   Publishers of events and communities, have done well to provide information that is valuable to the consumer, but they have not made it personal; people go to events to be with other people and they want to know who will be there.

•   Google, Yahoo, MSN search allows people to find what to do, where to do it, but the information is not localized or relevant to where people live, work and play; it’s too much work!

•   Consumers are wondering aloud if there is a tool to connect in real time (rather than tomorrow) and in person (rather than screen to screen), to communities, events and that allows them to not only find what to do, where to do it, but who to do it with?

•   Advertisers are beginning to realize the biggest new medium is mobile combined with the web, which makes the connection between live events and what was previously only online.

Solution

•   M3 introduces the world’s first “Face to Face Social Scene Network.

•   M3 connects people to communities and events by publishing information that makes it easy for people to manage their social life.

•   M3 makes it all possible on the web and on mobile phones, with search and easy to browse capabilities.

•   M3 is an open garden – users, be it an individual or a brand (social scene maker), can connect to each other with ease.

Why M3?

•   M3 does all the work by recruiting social scene makers who already have large followings. M3 publishes events across the network, and makes it easy to search by grouping everything by location (city, neighborhood, zip code), social scene interests (Lifestyle, Fashion, Non-profit, Entertainment).

•   M3 allows the social scene makers of the community to create groups and events, gaining the power of the M3 network to publish themselves and connect to more people.

•   It’s about meeting other people face to face, with content accessible via mobile when on the run, and on the web when you have time to plan.

•   Real world local tie-ins with some of the most sought after cities/venues in the world, creating a real social club-like community.

•   The best of search, publishing, networking combined into a very personalized social planning and management tool.

Why is M3 Unique?

•   M3 connects (brands) promoters, publicists, artists, musicians, producers, non-profit organizations to each other and to people who lead active social lives.

•   M3 works directly with brands and provides them easy tools to attract and retain  users that wish to stay connected to what they have to offer, be it a club promoter, an entertainer, or non-profit organization offering classes on spirituality or raising awareness around a cause.

•   M3 makes the information easy to access via the web and mobile - linking everything to a location; the information is relative to where you live, hang out, and where you want to meet people with similar interests.

•   M3 is an open network, you don’t have to sign up to interact, download anything, or pay a fee to use the service.

•   M3 allows the brand to be known, and the user to be in the know; opening doors to new interests and to meeting people who share similar passions for living a full life in the real world.

•   M3 is all about face to face interactions, not just screen to screen connections.

The Offering

•   M3 is the first social scene network serving the urban and highly mobile consumer.

•   M3 is delivered free to the consumer via branded mobile wap pages and a managed website.

•   M3 serves as a social tool to help brands build communities, allow users to connect in a mobile environment and “gain the social advantage”, when they need to, where they want to.

•   M3 allows on-the-go connections and communication (based on mobile location) that create a wired hub for organization of users’ social life.

•   M3 stands out as an easy-to-use service provided FREE to users via relevant advertisements with a power trio of proven digital media properties:

–     Search

–     Publishing

–     Networking

The Product

•   M3 starts with the brand as a user.

•   The brand publishes groups they represent.

•   The groups publish events they want to invite people to.

•   The brands share news with their groups via blogs, to keep users informed and garner feedback.

•   The users interact with the groups by posting photo albums of their experience at the events they attended, and comments.

•   The users interact with other users who are attending an event and are part of the groups.

•   The brand can broadcast last minute updates to their groups and events, that will be delivered real time via sms and email to the user, by M3.

•   The brand can manage the RSVP list by exporting it to a number of formats including a spreadsheet, or the doorman can use a mobile device to check the attendee list as they show up (making M3 green friendly).

•   The brand can market the group and/or event to the network with easy targeting tools (by location, interests, and so on).

•   The more diverse brands in the network, and the more diverse users, the more everyone benefits from the power of the collective presence; M3 becomes a PR and marketing exchange for brands.

Why Love M3?

•   Integrates inefficient platforms: Brands are spending on events, websites, email lists, SMS messaging, voice calls, online groups, and so on; M3 captures data on all.

•   Meaningful social network: M3 is the first to make the connection deeper than the screen; it’s about face-to-face.

•   Blue Ocean strategy: A little bit of everything without the complications, easy to understand why and how to use it.

•   Mobile access: The network is actionable real time.

•   Great features: Click-to-call, SMS alerts, photo sharing, blogging, chatting, web and mobile access to the network: the information is actionable and highly interactive, real time.

•   Targeting: M3’s digital DNA enables transparency across all digital experiences (web, email, SMS, mobile, voice).

You can read more about M3 in this interview: Blogger Interview with M3 CEO

CPC and CPM models simply wont work within social networks
Tullio Siragusa, Co-Founder, CEO - M3mob.com

Before we tackle why CPC and CPM models will not work within social networks, let's review the overall challenges surrounding the digital media industry when it comes to managing innovation around campaigns and overall inventory.

A key problem in most online publishers is the lack of focus on their core activities, that of innovating, providing value to customers and generating revenue. Operational problems can arise if media owners spend too much time focusing on trafficking ads, managing data and driving low value tasks, rather than focusing on delivery, making decisions and automating processes.

Publishers tend to focus on quality content and behavioral targeting to attract customers, and do not spend enough time looking at introducing new technologies to enhance their operations. Lessons learned in other industries, such as manufacturing and technology, could be applied to the digital sector.  Publishers need to be careful about investing in warehouse solutions that result in faster, poor decisions or automating inefficient processes. There is a need for more co-ordination, synergy and data transparency between sales, finance, revenue and operations within a company to create a more efficient whole.

Many companies are too tied to their traditional systems to fully embrace a more integrated operational infrastructure and many publishers have complicated processes that they already have heavily investing in, with no easy way to align with other processes. As a companies top line grows, old systems will no longer be tenable as the inventory will have sold out..  All companies go through an evolution, and new, better integrated processes should form part of that evolution.

Publishers can make optimum use of their online advertising models.  Some key chokepoints that hold publishers back are:

• Multiple systems with varying numbers
• Poor inventory reservation processes
• Lack of booking controls
• Mediocre forecasting analysis
• Inter-departmental miscommunication
• No real-time data
• Behavioral targeting chaos

Most of these problems could be tackled by applying inventory management, through the coordination of streamlined processes, technology and resources. The key applications are:

• Controls regarding the reservation and booking processes
• Forecasting analysis based on internal and ad server historical data
• Increased visibility throughout the organization, alleviating any miscommunication
• Real-time data
• Over/Under booking
• Numbers from multiple sources within one interface
• Simplified Behavioral Targeting
• Increased employee productivity
• Coordinated teamwork
• Process repeatability

Some of the key problems facing media owners when managing their online ad inventory relates to pay per click (PPC) model, the inventory becomes extremely difficult to manage with a huge number of products going into one search engine.

PPC models require multiple systems including bid management and analytics software, and no one has integrating these systems very well. Publishers are having to make constant readjustments to their campaigns, which can be a huge drain on resources.Agencies can be intensely frustrated by a lack of matching information flow from creative agencies, publishers and clients alike, which can seriously hinder the effective measurement of campaigns.

Effective targeting of ads is of paramount importance, but this process can be lost down the chain of command.  A simpler processes and focusing on just one or two publishers can help agencies have a deeper relation with their clients, which in turn lead to better ROI on campaigns.Multitude of disparate systems a publisher typically deals with to manage their inventory is not enough for analytics firms to just fob off a plug-and-play automated tool to integrate them.  The concept of one standard platform is a bit of a myth, but not impossible.

Any integration must be a human managed process centered around a Chief Process Officer, adding this role could also be fulfilled by a CTO or CIO. Some firms can be reluctant to tie themselves into one software platform, but would be more willing to invest in a CPO who would provide greater flexibility.The Catch 22 problem of convincing company boards that putting in processes to streamline operations will generate a significant return on investment, ironically, lack of money and time are precisely the reason that companies cannot implement these changes, and people don’t like change.

Publishers are failing to take strategic planning into account, the industry remains very reactive to competitive markets and in general spends too much time firefighting. While many companies are using yield management principles, there is still a fundamental disconnect in ad spend, which is geared towards product-based spend as opposed to brand spend. 

Publishers should focus more time connecting yield management with spend trends to drive the markets of specific products- a process which works in other industries, but one that has not yet fully been established in the digital industry. The inventory problem is simply not reaching the CEOs desk resulting in inventory problems being dealt with by staff who do not have influence across the organization to make strategic planning decisions or to take appropriate actions.

Integrating processes could be applied to tackling the problem of customer variability. Starbucks,is a stellar example of using adverts and staff to train customers on the correct ordering process to help speed up queues, making the business more efficient while simultaneously adding customer value. Online publishers could apply the same education process when clients are looking to buy ad inventory.  Automating processes does not eliminate people, it just allows then to be more creative.

While publishers are seeing web traffic going up, there remains a lack of communication within their organizations, with a divide existing between their print and digital operations, meaning they are missing a trick in terms of integrating online and offline activities.

Publisher’s need: 

• Changes in business processes
• Better strategic planning
• Matching yield to spend
• Inventory problems reaching attention of executive level
• Visibility across all operational platforms
• Integrate and match data across company
• Reduce the amount of human touch in inventory process

Often we live our lives in a way that is upstanding, yet there are people who simply push our buttons or worse no matter how nice we are to them, they just don’t return the courtesy.  Why is that? 

I believe we are responsible for the behaviors of every person we come in contact in our life. Once you accept that charge, redirecting judgment onto your own behavior and making the change within, you'll see the change reflected in them. Meaning, if you can see the mirror of yourself in the other’s behavior, and you accept the perceived wrong done to you as a blessing to call for your own transformation towards becoming a better human being, you will inevitably see the other person differently. It’s the old saying “don’t shoot the messenger”.

There's one more part, the people in our life are also responsible for what happens inside of us. But you can't say it and they can’t say this about you.  Why?  Because we would then use it as an excuse to take less than 100% responsibility for what happens and all that we create in our lives. Meaning, it is easy to blame, in blaming external circumstances to our own, (I am the way I am because my mother did this to me, my sister did that, my boss was nasty to me, I grew up in an environment, and all the wonderful excuses we make for ourselves) we no longer have to look within ourselves to change and in doing so we keep being a disconnected society.

Spirituality or Karma, or whatever you wish to call it is technology; it's the way the universe is hardwired. God, the Light, the Universe [which is nothing but a giant computer calculation] arranges everything, Karmically speaking, so that the people we need to confront will be in our lives, for one single purpose: Our own transformation towards becoming the best version of ourselves.

Some people come into our lives for a season, some for a reason, and others for a lifetime. Every relationship, short or long, meaningful or not, serves a unique and valuable purpose if we are tuned into reality instead of the illusions our own ego creates. If everyone lived with this consciousness, there would be no wars, no dispute, no arguments, and no disconnection, possibly we would reach nirvana.

This is a great quote I take to heart:

“Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love.  When you seek power and control over people, you waste energy.  When you seek money or power for the sake of the ego, you spend energy chasing the illusion of happiness instead of enjoying happiness in the moment. When you seek money for personal gain only, you cut off the flow of energy to yourself, and interfere with the expression of nature's intelligence. But when your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy.  When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiplies and accumulates - and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth."

- Deepak Chopra / The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”

What this quote means to me is simple.  When our consciousness is about sharing instead of taking, in all that we do, inevitably we create miracles not only in our own lives, but in the lives of others.  Examples of this is our work, or as some call it “the job”.  We are so excited when we start a new job, why? Because we are there to make an impact, to help the company grow, to add value, but what happens over time?  Our ideas get overlooked, and we stop pushing for them, we get overlooked for a promotion and we lose that spirit, we lose the excitement. Why does this happen?  Because we are no longer there to share, we are there to take, we work for the paycheck, the equity and we stop working to contribute to something greater than ourselves, when that happens, we lose the happiness the job once provided, furthermore if the company is in trouble it is because of our consciousness and of those who feel the same way, conversely companies that grow, are those whose members share the same vision and each member of the team wants the other to succeed and makes it his/her business to see to it that the other is successful because the way Karma works, this is the way to ensure your own success.

If you think about this principle, the same applies to relationship, first we work towards making the other’s life better, then we start to worry about “what have you done for me lately”, and that connection is lost and chaos sets in, hence why the divorce rate and extra marital affairs are out of control.

How does one change this pattern?  When you are in a dark room you flip the Light on and you can see,  in our lives when we identify, uproot, and transform our tendency to take, to that of sharing it is the degree of change in that direction that determines the measure of our fulfillment (happiness, joy, health, etc).

It is sad how many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up because it became too hard, or worse translated hardship as hardship, instead of realizing that sometimes hardship is a detour to help us avoid a crash, it's only hardship because we fight it and can't see past the value of it.  Perhaps we get behind a project, a relationship, or something with great excitement and when it does not go as we expect it to go, we get frustrated, angry or worse we give up. What if the reason it became difficult was because our consciousness changed? Meaning, what if the fun stopped because we became takers instead of givers?  When you do something for the greater good of others, not for your own self alone, all you want automatically comes to you, conversely when you have personal agendas, you may get the satisfaction of sort of getting away with things for a while, but sooner or later Karma comes knocking at your door.

An example of this is when we are really good at what we do at work, yet we just seem to hit ceilings when it comes to promotions, or success and we can't understand why; perhaps it was that ill comment made to our friend, partner, neighbor and the way we treated the waitress at the restaurant that spews over into it.  How is that possible?  Isn't life compartmentalized?  No, it is not.  There is a thing called circuitry where one area of our lives does spew over into the other. What is sad is that most don't realize how that also affects others, for example our business partners suffer due to our bad energy and Karma, it's a butterfly affect (a slammed car door out of anger in China, causes an earthquake in Tripoli Italy).  Some will find this controversial and not true, however just because you can't see, touch or smell gravity it is a law of physics you won't dare challenge. Years ago no one would have believed we could use a microwave to warm up food, or a mobile phone to talk across the world, but in due time all technology is revealed, including spiritual technology (Quantum Physics).

The short of it on a more practical level is this: It is the transformation from reactive consciousness to proactive consciousness that reveals Light in our own lives and changes the Karmic train we are on in the right direction sort of speak.

Paul Ruppert-led session on mobile social networking

April 2, 2008 at 4:23 pm 

Coverage of yesterday’s event kicks off with the first of the reports on the roundtable discussions that followed Steve Bratt’s opening remarks. Paul Ruppert, one of the contributors to this blog and a longtime industry exec who’s recently consulted to a large social networking site, led his table’s discussion around the question of “What opportunities and hazards come with mobile social networking?”

The video picks up as Paul introduces his group’s concerns about metrics, touches on some of the players at the table, and hands it off to a few of them as they talk about the potential and pitfalls of bringing social networking services to the handset. Those who spoke included Tullio Siragusa, CEO of M3 Mobile, Simeon Coney, VP of business development with Adaptive Mobile, and John Puterbaugh, chief strategist of Nellymoser and who, incidentally, blogs here.

In-Brief: On the evening before I left for my last trip M3 Mobile, a social networking service that last week launched it’s beta site in London, pre-briefed me on the service, which combines all the right buzzwords and approaches (ad-supported, location-based and social networks) to get audience and eyeballs. Special thanks to Kate Berg, who reached out to MSG and made sure I had more than enough material and interviews (including a Q&A with Tullio Siragusa, M3’s CEO) to do a deep-dive. BTW: I encourage more companies in this space to do the same as I am also preparing to present & chair at upcoming mobile social networking conferences/events in Europe and Asia. Always (!) interested in hearing your pitches. Contact me directly or my PA at andrea@msearchgroove.com for a briefing.

As MSG also tracks social networking (part of the brief to analyze all things at the intersection of content and context), I jumped at the chance to learn more about nimble newcomer M3. M3’s location-based mobile and Web platform is designed to facilitate face-to-face connections for people to socialize, and the ad-funded/sponsor-supported model is a big part of that. Granted there are similar offers gaining traction in the mobile space, but few have voice at the center of the exchange. And still fewer give a voice to grassroots organizations such as Cardboard Citizens, the UK’s only homeless people’s professional theatre company. I was intrigued, and caught up with Tullio for the inside track.

Here’s an excerpt of the Q&A:

Q: There are other similar services in the mobile space. What is your USP?

A: The real value of M3 is having a tool that allows you to connect with your friends and also make new connections, real-time. For example, it’s Thursday night. I’m out and about and so I’m not in front of my computer, but I have my phone. I can log into my M3 account and I can see friends who are in my vicinity. But further than that, I can also see what events and what venues are happening in the location that I’m in, which gives me instant access to places to go and people to see that I would otherwise not have access to unless I went home and logged into some website.

Q: So you help people meet by letting them know what is on nearby?

A: Well, it goes a little bit deeper than that, but you’re definitely on-track. The thinking is that I can instantaneously connect with those friends and I can use voice to do it. One of the value-added functionalities of M3 is that I can make a call right from within the system. So that’s the consumer-to-consumer relationship.

The other relationship very unique to M3 is the one with the sponsored advertisers that we’re signing up. They are active in the community, so they are not just advertisers who want eyeballs. They want to build and continue to have an affinity with the consumer. So, if I’m Carling Beer, and I happen to have a hundred pubs in the SoHo area that carry my product, I might have in the database several pubs that are preferred restaurants if you will, who are M3-friendly. And therefore I’m able to use that local search capability that the consumer’s looking for to provide an ease of connect to my brand for that consumer.

Q: How am I able to promote? Is it banner and text links along with the local mobile search results?

A: It’s all of the above, and this is something very unique to M3. There was a study sponsored years ago by Procter and Gamble that found consumers are more prone to purchase a product if they’ve seen it advertised in multiple media at different times.

In the case of M3: I could be on my mobile phone and I see a banner for a particular brand. I’ve seen that advertiser on my web page on M3. I hear a voice clip ad from that advertiser when I connect with an existing friend or a new friend. And then I can go to an event that is either sponsored or co-sponsored with M3. This all creates a sense of affinity to that product. I am surrounded by the brand, which enables me to have a high propensity to consume that brand versus just seeing it in one or two places.

Q: You do voice-to-text here. I could imagine that is SpinVox. Whose IP and why offer it?

A: The SpinVox relationship creates value for the consumer and for brands, and those brands could be national brands as well as local art galleries, restaurants or clubs, that want to be able to call into the service and invite members of a group. One of the values of M3 is that people can join different groups that match up to their interest levels. And based on those groups, we will also have the advertisers that match up to those groups.

So if I’m a club owner and it’s Tuesday night and it’s kind of slow, I can have a promotion and call into the system and say ‘This evening, if you come in if you’re in the area, first drink’s on us if you’re an M3 member.’ And that could easily be spun into a text message that will be broadcast to the entire group.

Q: Let’s talk about the user experience. How central is the mobile device and what is the role of the mobile operator?

A: We built M3 on the WAP first. The intent has always been, and will always be, to make it a mobile platform first, and the Web becomes a management tool for those who want to see the information on a bigger screen to be able to manage pictures, create albums, etc…

We’re carrier independent. We really don’t care which operator you have because you can insert at will what area you’re in. It’s predominantly zip code and postal code based. The way it’s been built today, it requires you to enter your location. And you can enter up to twelve locations. You can pre-load your locations.

Q: Please run me through the double-blind calling feature you refer to in your press release. (BTW: double-blind calling is M3’s feature that allows users to speak to one another in a free call–without revealing their identities. When one M3 user is scrolling profiles of other M3 users, they may see a person they want to get to know better. They simply send a text message within the M3 system, and invite that person to talk. If the other person accepts, M3’s proprietary technology allows users a 2-minute double-blind call, completely free and sponsored by an M3 advertiser with a 5 second ad while they wait to be connected. Listen to a sample here.)

A: The real value of the double-blind call is that M3 is also a great vehicle for those who have an interest in romance. I could meet someone that seems interesting to me while I’m browsing and searching for my friends in an area, and decide to connect with them via M3. Then, essentially, I can chose to make a phone call and not have to give my phone number, choosing to provide that information when I feel comfortable enough with the person. So it’s a way to anonymously communicate with someone and get to know them before you actually share some private data that you would otherwise not have the tools to do so. In the U.K., it’s of greater value because incoming calls are at no-charge. I essentially can make a free two minute call while I’m browsing for my friends who are in the area.

Q: What about targeting?

A: From an advertiser’s point of view, we provide several levels deep of information, so it could be very targeted. It could be targeted by age, sex, location and, of course, as people join groups and with different interest levels and different verticals if you will, then that advertisement could also be targeted towards the consumers that are in those groups.

But I think what is also is unique about M3 is that advertisers who want to be active in the community can do this because we provide them a vehicle to connect with the consumer. They also provide us a vehicle to connect to more consumers because it’s a two-way relationship. So, for example, if I’m Malibu and I throw thirty parties every year for 100,000 college students, I now have access to a tool that allows me to create a user group for those who actively look for these kinds of venues. And I can promote what’s happening to those users and track them. I can have a feedback loop.

Q: You’ve got the advertising part covered. Are you looking to make it a search advertising model?

A: That’s a good question and we’ve had discussions about that. We are planning to have more search capabilities. So if I’m searching for someone and, perhaps, I’m done doing my search and I still want to go out and search for some related topics, we’ll look to incorporate where appropriate private label search engines which will allow us to provide that functionality to the consumer while at the same time leveraging the intrinsic values of search engine marketing and associated click-throughs and revenues that could come from that.