The 2008 ‘Beacon’ class action lawsuit against Facebook that claimed violation of consumer privacy has now been settled by a federal judge. The Beacon program, which Facebook terminated in late 2009, publish information about consumer purchases — such as movie rentals, which is contrary to law — to the Facebook Wall of the purchaser and to their friends’ feeds. In one instance, a to-be-surprise gift of jewelry was broadcast to one user’s Facebook network, obviously ruining the surprise for his wife.

There were claims that the US$9.5M settlement was overly generous, especially since supposedly most of the intended claimants of the suit would receive little or no compensation. The settlement has now been approved by the judge residing over the objection launched by consumer rights group Public Citizen.  One of the points of objection was not that the $6.5M of the settlement would be given to a new digital privacy group, but that Facebook would have a hand in its inception, including assigning one of the three board members.

Part of the settlement amount is based on the Video Privacy Protection Act’s fine of at least $2500 per infraction. Approximately $3M will go to the lawyers handling the case. The rest will go to the group, whose main purpose is give out monies to organizations studying online privacy. The group’s board has already been selected and include Chris Jay Hoofnagle, Tim Sparapani (Facebook), and writer Larry Magid. Sparapani is a former ACLU attorney.

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Facebook reached an important milestone for the week ending March 13, 2010 and surpassed Google in the US to become the most visited website for the week. Facebook.com  recently reached the #1 ranking on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day as well as the weekend of March 6th and 7th. The market share of visits to Facebook.com increased 185% last week as compared to the same week in 2009, while visits to Google.com increased 9% during the same time frame. Together Facebook.com  and Google.com accounted for 14% of all US Internet visits last week.

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Social media. Two average-sized words that carry a tremendous amount of meaning. However, we have yet to create a working operational definition for social media.

Some define it as a concept — the democratization of the spreading of information. To others, it’s a product — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. And to many, it’s an experience — user-generated content.

As you can see, there are several different ways of defining social media, but throughout each definition — just like other sciences — there is an undercurrent of non-negotiable laws governing how information is spread using social media.

The correlation between the hard (physical) and soft (social) sciences that exists can be found in the structure, the building blocks, of each. This correlation rests in the laws defining each science and as we continue our social media evolution, we should take a step back and look at the laws that define this space.

These laws can help us understand why social media a) is the logical next step in the evolution of media and b) has changed the way we send and receive information.

The three laws of social media:
1. When two or more users are put in contact with each other, there will be a net exchange of information between them unless or until they cease to exchange information.

Once contact has been made, each user’s connections are now open to more information, creating what has been defined as the social graph.

With the introduction of social networking technology – allowing us to disseminate information in real time across space to others and actively respond to messages – our social graph has grown exponentially.

If we look at the advancements of mass communications technology, we can see how each significant invention has broken down both time and space, but also increased its reach. The social media conduit has, just like the telegraph, radio and television, altered the way information is spread and consumed.

2. Information can be transformed, but cannot be created or deleted – content is at once both innovative and repetitive. In other words, information – in the form of status updates, links, etc – is not new, just changed. Information circulating in the social sphere is just repurposed from other aspects of life.

Since social media is predicated on the open flow of information, it should be noted this flow is a form of content transfer. This is why social media is important: because it’s a two-way conversation between people and people, between brands and people, between industries (journalism, celebrity, etc) and people, whereby the flow of information is unfiltered.

Throughout history, this flow of information was just a trickle in the spigot of life, being broadcast by the few to the many; now it’s a tidal wave of information. This is why social media has changed the way we send and receive information – the democratized process of information flow is now embedded in our cultural psyche. We’ve opened up Pandora’s Box and the world has changed; indeed philosophically, social media has become an integral thread in the fabric of our society.

Our era is called the “Information Age” for a reason. Social media has left its footprint on this age and as we move forward, the pervasive idea that information should be both accessible and free is as strong a tenet of democracy as the ability to criticize the government.

Unfortunately, because of this non-filtered approach, information tends to be very noisy.

3. On a social media network, content that occurs will tend to increase the digital entropy of the social sphere.

In data transmission and information theory, entropy is a measure of the loss of information in a transmitted signal or message. In social media, digital entropy can be defined as a measure of how much the content within a social network is potentially available to a user’s network to inform (or entertain) and how much of the content is potentially manifest as empty space.

Basically, the amount of information spread from user via a social network and received by his/her network is dependent on a) how many people in the network can see the information (i.e., if you post on Twitter about your lunch during the Grammy’s, reception of your message will be low) and b) how many people care.

Social Thermodynamics?

You’ll notice the laws of social media are similar to the laws of thermodynamics. As we all remember from our 11th grade physics class, physics is the study of matter and its motion through space-time, and we can look at a parallel definition of social media as the study of information (matter) and its delivery (motion) through tools like Twitter/Facebook/etc. (space-time).

Just like my high school baseball coach used to say, “It’s all in the fundamentals.” Building blocks, whether amino acids, grammatical and derivational morphology or subatomic particles, all help us understand the world around us and as we continue to alter the social media landscape (think what it was in 2007 vs. 2005 vs. 2002) we will still adhere to these fundamental laws.

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Today’s musicians, both mainstream and indie, are using social media to connect with fans, build anticipation, and generate revenue in new and unique ways. The products range from singles to mix tapes to digital six-packs, even oddly shaped USB sticks, vinyl, and the occasional traditional album.

But how are these artists reaching their new fan bases online through social channels? Much like the business world, social media promotion for musicians is still a very new game, with no exact recipe for platinum success.

There are however, some innovations being put forth, and a new connection is being formed between artists and fans — a connection that empowers both to give each other what they are looking for.

Fan-Funded Projects

We have all heard about the success of micro lending organizations like Kiva, which use multiple small payments to contribute to a larger goal. The same process is being applied to creating an album or a music-based project.

One such project is the Washington D.C.-based indie hip-hop group Panacea. The producer/MC duo listed their project on Kickstater, a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers, and others.

The project was posted on the morning of February 26th. According to Jeremy Calvery, the group’s Director of Digital Media and Promotion, “We were at $1,000 before the end of the first day. We had to increase the number of $200 packages from three to five over the weekend because people were e-mailing and literally begging for the chance to ‘buy’ the whole back catalog. Less than five full days from the first e-mail to the list, we had reached the funding goal of $3,800, which was set to be just a bit more than what the minimum press of 250 vinyl copies was going to cost.”

Another hip-hop outfit, the Get Busy Committee, also launched a project on Kickstarter. In their drive to raise $3,218, they included one premium pledge level at $1,000 — an investment that netted the donor a song about him or herself to be included on the record, as well as a platinum plaque. They sold this spot within 24 hours.

Using Video to Create Buzz

Another approach musicians are taking is the use of web video series. Indie pop artist Mike Posner has been telling his story over the course of a video series titled “One Foot Out The Door.” Daniel Weisman, Mike’s manager, stated that he was attempting to create an income stream for Mike while he was finishing college and working on his debut album.

Daniel and his management company Elitaste were approached by the shoe company Puma about integrated artist campaigns. Puma ended up sponsoring Mike’s last semester in college, and provided a camera crew to follow him from classes, to the studio, to shows all over the country.

Daniel wanted to do something special for the Mashable readers when I reached out to him, so fresh off the upload, here is the premier of Episode #10 of “One Foot Out The Door.”

Live streaming has also been worthwhile for big announcements. Underground artists the Kottonmouth Kings turned to Ustream to tell their fans all about their new album and when they could expect it in local stores.

The video was watched live and formatted like a press conference, with fans getting the chance to ask questions and share their feedback. It was a smart way to bring their fans into the experience and give back to the community that has supported them for 10+ years.

Creativity From the Fans

Rob And Kal are a pop/rock act from the UK who are taking fans inside their studio and the music creation process. They call it Mubla 2.0, which Rob defined as “our interactive recording project where we come up with song ideas and you help us develop them with your comments, suggestions and musicianship.”

So far they have five songs in progress with fans like Adam saying, “I just feel the intro has a little too much going on and 2.33 to 2.56 I almost want the piano to play and pull at the heart strings.” Another commenter named Russell gave tips like, “Think drums and a bit more of heavier guitar would go down nicely particularly near end.”

This concept empowers fans and gives them a product they feel responsible for and connected to. The project can only strengthen the bond between fans and artists, and result in an easier sale when the time comes to release an album.

Reaching Out to Non-Music Bloggers

Glasses Malone, a new artist signed with Cash Money Records, is turning to bloggers to get the word out about his new album “Beach Cruiser.” What makes his campaign unique is that unlike traditional artists who look to get their tracks on highly trafficked MP3 blogs and review sites, Glasses and his team are focused on adding value to bloggers whose primary focus is not on music.

A marketing rep for Glasses told me, “These bloggers are more open to running contests and integrated campaigns than traditional music bloggers because they are not accustomed to being pitched by a major label artist. We have found blogs that love unique and fresh content that will separate them from their peers and competition, and it is working out very well for us so far.”

Armed with a research team, they have been targeting biking blogs, college blogs, beach lifestyle sites and more, all with the hope of driving new traffic to Glasses’ site and generating some pre-album buzz.

Conclusion

No matter what the labels and corporations are doing, musicians are taking it upon themselves to use social channels to connect with fans, offer value, and create relationship. This has ultimately led to new business models and revenue streams from sponsorships, touring and live appearances, custom products, and social monetization through advertising.

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At a search engine marketing conference, several of us gave a session on website usability topics ranging from usability and SEO to site architecture and requirements gathering. Afterward, there was time for questions by the audience. Someone asked, “Why don’t we all just copy Amazon.com?” I replied, “Never, ever copy what Amazon does.” The audience responded with surprise, thinking I was not a fan of Amazon.

Not true. The reason you don’t want to copy a successful site like Amazon is that their website requirements are not likely to be the same as your site requirements. Their users may have different characteristics than your site visitors. Their customers’ needs may be completely different. You don’t have the user, traffic analysis and usability testing data they’ve collected over the years that they use as a base for their user interface, information architecture and content delivery.

Your website is unique

Today, with blog templates or content management system software being the design foundation for many sites, web page layouts are fairly consistent and come with no surprises. We’ll find two or three columns, a header, footer, sidebar navigation and a picture or two. The logo typically goes into the top upper left corner. It would be unusual to find a page beginning with a copyright year, privacy policy and company address. Arriving to a solo column page with no header would be odd.

One wonders what creativity we’ve lost out on because we’re afraid to change the status quo. Usability folks like to promote consistency and user habits for design considerations. This is because anytime we are forced to re-learn where items are customarily placed, it slows us down. There is a risk of user confusion. We’re told that it takes only a few seconds to lose your visitor, so why take any chances?

Many web designers have been creating product navigation menus the way Amazon has been doing it, believing that if Amazon’s way is making them a profit, it ought to do the same for their sites too. Why wouldn’t this work?

Understanding mental models

Amazon has expert knowledge of their customers’ mental model. This means they know how their visitors search and browse their site. They know what their users want to find, or learn, before they add an item to the cart. They know how what words are chosen most often to locate certain products, so their information architects can then create their entire information architecture based on user language, keyword choices, and traffic patterns.

When someone says they will make your website easier to use, ask them what mental model they are referring to. Are they going to make it easier for search engines to crawl and rank it? This is a searcher mental model and one an SEO is more likely to be focused on. An information architect wants to know the mental model of your target users. What are your customer needs? What types of behaviors can you expect from them? Many websites have different user paths on one website.

For example, colleges provide different types of information for students, parents, alumni, staff and teachers. Each type of person has a different mental model, with their own needs and expectations. A common mistake is to design identical user paths for everyone, ignoring the specific financial, emotional and practical needs of each user group. Remember that your website is unique. The better you understand what motivates and interests your site visitors, the more competitive your site will be.

Findability and manageability

Information architecture supports findability and usability. It can also support organic SEO practices related to on-page content and word usage. One area that Amazon has helped to pioneer is user management of information. Their customers are recognized by the use of cookies and purchase history. There are different user types for them to track. Some people are affiliates. Some arrive for the first time because they received a gift certificate. Others are regular customers, so Amazon has a chance to study the kinds of products they like. Amazon users can manage their own wish lists, accounts, leave book reviews, send gifts and follow author blogs. Do you know your site visitors this well?

Information architects use terms such as taxonomies and semantics to help describe what they do. Simply put, they organize categories of information into something that makes logical sense. A usability oriented person is interested in the same thing because words can create momentum or promote frustration.

For example, which one of these category links is the best choice to find online specials?

• Closeout Sale
• Gift Ideas
• International
• New Releases
• Top Sellers
• Today’s Sales

What if your customer wants to find sales or new releases by product category? Can they tell, by looking at these links, if they can sort by price? What types of products does this site offer? There are no clues offered in these link labels. By “today”, when is the cut-off time? What does “international” mean?

Interestingly, the website that uses these category links has all of its customer service information at the very bottom of the homepage, lumped into a box as if an afterthought. What message does this send to customers? Was any user testing performed? Apparently not. However, there was attention put on the searcher mental model as far as search engine queries go. Unfortunately, the site owner learned that search results did not equal conversions. In their case, they required both a rebuilt information architecture as well as usability adjustments to increase and support conversions.

A 360 degree team effort

Your website is and should be the manifestation of your own vision. Sure, it’s fun and helpful to study other websites. But those sites should inspire you to try new ideas or even have the courage to think outside the box. Surround yourself with those who have the technical skills to implement your vision. These people will be your project managers, search engine marketers, social media marketers, information architects, usability and user experience consultants, web designers and developers. Ask them questions about where they acquire their inspiration. Test site designs on people. Research, with and without search engines, the language and terms your site visitors use to find your products or services. Be sure to write out your specific site requirements and business goals. Write guidelines to be sure everyone on your team sticks to the game plan.

And know that nobody understands your customers better than you do. Not even Amazon.

–Kim Krause Berg

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