All posts tagged news

google_logo

So Much For “Don’t Be Evil”

By on February 29, 2012 in Browsers, Business, Google, News, privacy, Search, Tutorials & Explanations with 2 Comments

If you haven’t heard, Google is updating their privacy policy.  You have until March 1st to clear out your previous browser history before all bets are off and they own it.  Forever.

I’m not talking about your local browser cache on your computer.  I’m talking about Google’s massive database of browsing history.  Because, they’ve been tracking everything you do and saving it for a rainy day.  It’s time to break out your galoshes.

In a highly controversial move, Google announced that it’s changing it’s privacy policy to allow it to collect, store and use your personal search history data for its own purposes.  And it’s extending that policy to cover the entirety of the search history it has already been collecting.  It plans to leverage this information across all of it’s properties (e.g. YouTube, GMail etc.) and not just on the Google search engine itself.

This data will not be held anonymously – it will now be tied directly back to you.  In perpetuity.  The things that you do anonymously today will, in the future, be directly associated with your name, email address and/or phone number.   For example, private details sent in email can crop up later in Google Maps searches.  Imagine an off-color video viewed on YouTube informing your search results a week later at a client meeting when trying to demo an unrelated business application.

You can turn this off (opt out) and pause Google from continuing to collect your private browsing history.  Follow these steps:

1. Go to Google.com and log into your Google Account.

2. Next, go to  https://www.google.com/history

3. Click “Remove all Web History”

4. Click OK

 

Doing this will not only clear out your browser history, but it will automatically “pause” Google from collecting and storing your history over the long term.  To be clear, they will still collect record of your actions, but it will be anonymized and not tied back to you personally, but just used in aggregate with other users to inform general trends and analytics.

Years ago when I heard Google touting their mantra as “Don’t Be Evil” I thought it was cute and clever, and I was hopeful.  But I was also extremely cynical.  I knew that if they grew enough, the day would eventually come when the growth slows, competition heats up, the suits take over, and pressure to perform (financially) starts to mount.  These things have a way of changing.

To mix metaphors, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”  So much for “Don’t Be Evil.”

 

classic cherry chapstick

How Chapstick Blew It, And Paid A Price

By on November 9, 2011 in Facebook, Marketing, News, Opinion, Social Media with No Comments

Chapstick evidently didnt “get it,” and they’ve paid a huge price while taking a big hit to their brand.  But the story serves as a great reminder for all business folks, albeit at Chapstick’s expense.

It all began when they started running an ill-conceived ad of an attractive woman losing her Chapstick behind the couch. The print ad was essentially a huge shot of her bent-over, skinny-jean-clad backend.

Regardless of whether you think the ad crossed beyond the line of good taste, or couldn’t care less one way or the other, the undeniable fact is that it caused a (negative) stir and consumers started saying so, posting negative feedback comments on the Chapstick Facebook fan page.

In this case it went viral in the worst sense — like its real world brethren, a contagion of negativity and dissent.

What happened next was downright shocking to anyone who works in social media: the folks at Chapstick started deleting the negative comments!

Presumably the folks managing the Facebook presence of a national mega-brand ought to know better!  This breaks one of the cardinal rules of social media. It’s like censoring a newspaper and removing any articles critical of the government or a certain person or business, for example.

Social media is supposed to be about engaging your audience and interacting with them. This would have been a non-issue (and non-story) if they had merely responded to the negative posts with empathy and a promise to rethink their approach.

A simple “gee, we’re sorry you were offended. We certainly didn’t mean that. We were just trying to be funny. We’ll pass along your comments and see if the creative team can rethink their approach” would have not just quelled the negativity, but in fact would have been a major “win” for the brand. The folks at Chapstick would have demonstrated that they listen to their customers, and are responsive and approachable.

That sort of approach would have been exactly what social media is all about — interacting and engaging your audience and being responsive.

Instead, by trying to cover up the problem by deleting the negative posts, they just inflamed the community. Now even the people who didn’t care about the original ad were taking up arms.  It wasn’t the ad that was the issue, it was the handling of the issue — the censoring of comments.

The story grew legs, so to speak. Facebook postings went thru the roof.  The Twitterverse went viral with the story. And even worse for Chapstick — it crossed over into the mainstream media!  It’s been a PR disaster.

Like Watergate, it was the cover-up that inflamed a citizenry.

Lest any reader get the wrong idea here, the takeaway from this is not to stay out of social media — do that at your own peril.  As I always say: the conversation is going to go on with or without you. If you don’t participate then you have no hope of ever steering it or, in times of trouble, “setting the story straight.”

No, rather the issue here is how one handles its presence.

C’mon people, it’s not that hard. It’s like you were taught as a kid — honesty is always the best policy. If a bad situation arises, tackle it open and honestly, head on. Your customers will appreciate you for it.

That is the takeaway from this debacle.

netflix-logo

NetFlix Pricing Gaffe Followed Up With… Another Gaffe?

By on September 19, 2011 in Branding, Business, Marketing, News, Opinion with No Comments

It’s not the first time I’ve said this, but I just did NOT see this one coming!

Today NetFlix announced that their much-discussed and much-embattled price hikes were actually just the precursor to splitting out the DVD and Internet Streaming services as essentially two different companies with two different CEOs and separate respective teams running/focusing on each. The original NetFlix business will be rebranded “Qwickster” and the Internet Streaming service will retain the NetFlix brand.

Within the coming weeks, the two services will further split physically. Each brand will have its own dedicated web site and once and for all split apart the online features and functionality. The two services will no longer interact and work as one. You will no longer be able to log in and view your Instant Queue and your DVD Queue side by side.

Although Netflix is nowhere near the size of Coca Cola, for some reason this strikes me as a gaffe nearly on scale with Coca Cola’s changing of its formula in the 80′s. However, Coca Cola was able to issue a mea culpa and merely re-introduce original Coke as “Coca Cola Classic” side by side with “New Coke” and keep trucking — it was merely a product offering change. In this case, Netflix is changing it’s entire business operation and dealing a major blow to its brand. I doubt recovery will be so easy if it turns out to be a misstep.

And in my eyes, this is a massive misstep, to say the least. In one fell swoop they have just gutted the brand that they’ve spent years and millions (hundreds of millions?) to build. Not only that — they’ve done it at a time when that very brand is already battered and bruised from the massive upheaval caused by the pricing changes. After nearly a decade entrenching NetFlix as the leading player in DVD rentals, the company is now starting all over with $0 in brand equity in Qwickster. Aside from the fact that it’s a stupid, meaningless, forgetful name, in my opinion.

Add in the fact that NetFlix lost its rights to Starz content for the Internet streaming service as of February 2012, which is the source of the bulk of its most valuable new releases and top-line Hollywood titles.

In my opinion, Netflix has gone from an Internet darling to a slow motion train-wreck-in-progress in a matter of months. Can it be saved? Is it too little, too late? Are there any more surprises forthcoming?

I think they have completely destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars in brand equity, and disenfranchised millions of customers. I expect this latest announcement to be received about as well as the last one (the pricing changes) and I smell the death of the DVD business. I think it’s all over but the crying.

The chinks in the armor have been revealed, and it won’t be long before Blockbuster (which has been purchased by DISH Network and is being reincarnated to once again go after the Netflix mailorder DVD business) and Internet streaming companies such as Hulu jump on the bandwagon and start capturing market share from the once invincible Netflix.

As I’ve said, it’s just my opinion. But I see these moves as major brand gaffes.

Now Netflix is wounded. And it’s self-inflicted.

UPDATE: This blog entry was written as the news was unfolding. In hindsight, a month or so later, we now know that NetFlix has doubled-back on its plans, scrapping Qwikster entirely, and said: “Mea culpa! Don’t worry folks, we’ve listened and changed our minds — things will stay as they were.” As a customer, I’m thrilled. And as a pundit, I’m smiling… ;-)