May – I'll Have Another Please

Posted by Robert Rose on May 28, 2010

As we wrap up the month of May – I’d have to say it was a pretty damn good month no? I mean 23,000 people are still thinking about whether to delete their Facebook accounts. This is probably 1/10 of how many will join on May 31st. But, the whole privacy thing has marketers up in arms.

But this month it finally felt like the economy was coming back a little bit. I spoke with at least 5 clients this month that were getting marketing budgets going again. The conferences I went to were extraordinarily well attended, and people were in a super spanky mood.

Follow Friday

Because the wrap-up is happening on a friday – my #FF – FollowFriday love definitely goes out to @Note_to_CMO - whom I’ve just met but is already teaching me stuff through his tweets. @sliewehr – who was kind enough to invite me to speak at #GilbaneSF and also the upcoming Gilbane Boston. He’s just a super-bright analyst on Content Management. Then there’s @iantruscott – my speaking partner – and somebody I finally got to know well at Gilbane San Francisco. What an incredibly intelligent guy when it comes to marketing and content. He’s definitely my “man in England”. And, then I have to finish with @lorenmcdonald. He’s an old friend and one of the best guys you’ll learn email marketing from.

Some Highlights From The Month

Okay, so what did we learn this month…

Well of course the big news was Facebook and privacy – and of course the Google I/O Conference.
The Gilbane Conference on Content Management was a great kickoff to the conference season (is there such a thing). Ian Truscott’s post sums it up much better than I can.
Robert Scoble pointed out how we might lie.. er… “like” something and create a false impression of what we really do. This feeds really well with why I think Facebook’s value for marketing is actually dropping – not rising.
comScore is now adding a free service for startups. That’s really an interesting development and helps both sides of audience measurement.
And we learned that most people Google themselves now. Whew… I’m not alone.

May… I’ll Have Another

I’m off to my first vacation weekend since I started up Big Blue Moose. The weirdest thing was not having to ask anyone if I could go….

Yeah, May was absolutely fantastic…. I’ll definitely have another helping in June…

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend…. See ya on the other side…

http://www.sueannereed.com Sue Anne Reed

I love your comment about how the people leaving Facebook on Monday will probably only be a drop in the bucket compared to how many people actually join that day. I again think it’s going to be a couple of months before anyone can say if this privacy kerfuffle has any impact on Facebook (based on # of signups and monthly unique views). I have a feeling, it might cause a bit of leveling off, but not much.

Isn’t the whole “like” issue ironic? In making it “easier” for someone to connect with a brand, Facebook has actually devalued that connection. The numbers may go up, but the actual engagement will go down.

Have a great vacation weekend, and many wishes that June is as fantastic as May was for you and Big Blue Moose.