Social network confusion, info overload, need some organization

jfriend

I don't know where to put this post so I'll put it here.

Recently, Smugmug has been starting to branch out on social networks. There's Smugmug and SmugmugPro on Twitter and now there are Smugmug and SmugmugPro on facebook.

In addition to that, we have messages that pop up on our Smugmug pages and some items are sent to us in email.

So ... I have no problem with Smugmug decided to be all over the social web in hopes of getting customers to notice their messages.

But, above all, you need to make it easy for a customer who wants to see your messages to see them JUST ONCE. What starts to annoy customers like crazy is when they subscribe to something in order to get important information and pretty soon they're getting the same information over and over in a lot of places. It feels like SPAM and people will leave when it feels that way.

What triggered this post is I've been a follower of Smugmug and SmugmugPro on Twitter for a little while and today I see the Twitter posts encouraging folks to go become fans over on facebook of Smugmug and SmugmugPro over there. So ... I'm thinking to myself that I'm already seeing lots of duplicate info between Smugmug and SmugmugPro on Twitter and then I go look at facebook and there's yet more duplicates of largely the same info. So, Smumug is asking us to sign up for duplicate info feeds? Why?

I want ALL the info, one time in one place. I'd probably prefer to see it either on facebook or in email (Twitter seems lousy for this because there's no good ability to discuss anything with other users or provide feedback). I don't want some of it in one place and some of it in another place. And, I certainly don't want to have to see lots of duplicate info across multiple places just to make sure I see everything.

So, what is it Smugmug? If we want all the info, one time in one place, where do we go? It all feels very chaotically organized now.

FYI, you have no idea how many companies are blowing this today. There are a lot of companies that I've become a fan of on facebook, only to find out that they put so much garbage on their fan feed that I opt out within days. Those companies are missing a great opportunity to have regular messages to me by overdoing it. It's almost as if there ought to be two levels (give me everything for people who want daily chatter and give me just the important stuff for people that only want "the important stuff").

RogersDA

jfriend wrote:

John said some pretty nifty-neat cool stuff...

So much info from various Smug-sources or Smug-retweets (which, obviously, Smug cannot control). That's one reason I will not be a facebook person (I am not that interesting anyway - I'd would probably get negative fan numbers).

denisegoldberg

Agreed.

I want information, but I want it in only one place. It may be necessary to provide multiple sources of information, but let me choose just one and eliminate all of the other clutter.

Seeing the same information in multiple places is extremely annoying. And if I'm already viewing the information in one place, don't ask me to sign up for another.

--- Denise

Andy

We're getting tons of feedback on this, and nearly all of it is positive. As I posted to John on Facebook directly:

We'll post Pro-only stuff to @SmugMugPro at Facebook and Twitter.

We'll post stuff that relates to all SmugMug Customers on @SmugMug and @SmugMugPro on Facebook and Twitter

We'll post SmugMug Status updates (Maintenance, Read Only, etc) to @SmugMugStatus on Twitter (and of course our Status Blog: http://status.blogs.smugmug.com/)
When we do this, I usually make a courtesy post to @SmugMug and @SmugMugPro on Twitter, so that as many people as possible can see the news.

We always post new features and bug fixes to our Release Notes
http://releasenotes.blogs.smugmug.com/ - which is the definitive place to get news of new stuff at SmugMug.

We post news of new features to user homepages in the homepage newsbox. We send out emails from time to time to those that opt-in (in your control panel, settings tab) for new features and announcements.

Does this help? We really appreciate your feedback, all of you.

denisegoldberg

I understand there are many who use the social network sites, and it appears you are making those folks happy. I'm not on Twitter all day, and Facebook is on my list of never use sites. I don't want to need to log in to get a status. I want the information to come to me - I don't want to go look for it.

I am getting the feed from the release notes. That's good.

EDITED BY Andy- Denise, I fixed my link - sorry!

--- Denise

jfriend

Andy wrote:

We're getting tons of feedback on this, and nearly all of it is positive. As I posted to John on Facebook directly:

We'll post Pro-only stuff to @SmugMugPro at Facebook and Twitter.

We'll post stuff that relates to all SmugMug Customers on @SmugMug and @SmugMugPro on Facebook and Twitter

We'll post SmugMug Status updates (Maintenance, Read Only, etc) to @SmugMugStatus on Twitter (and of course our Status Blog: http://status.blogs.smugmug.com/)
When we do this, I usually make a courtesy post to @SmugMug and @SmugMugPro on Twitter, so that as many people as possible can see the news.

We always post new features and bug fixes to our Release Notes
http://releasenotes.blogs.smugmug.com/ - which is the definitive place to get news of new stuff at SmugMug.

We post news of new features to user homepages in the homepage newsbox. We send out emails from time to time to those that opt-in (in your control panel, settings tab) for new features and announcements.

Does this help? We really appreciate your feedback, all of you.

Let's see if I understand correctly. If I'm a fan of SmugmugPro on facebook and follow @SmugMugStatus on Twitter, I should see everything and only see it once?

Andy

jfriend wrote:

Let's see if I understand correctly. If I'm a fan of SmugmugPro on facebook and follow @SmugMugStatus on Twitter, I should see everything and only see it once?

Sure, that's the idea. Don't shoot me if I cross post, or if I make a mistake and don't post. I am human, after all

But - there are things we tweet that we don't facebook - remember, different Social Media.... Twitter is 144 characters. FB allows plenty. We might tweet about a cool thing we saw, or want to find out about. Or maybe we want some quick opinions on something. Or maybe I'm hiring Sorcerers (I am.) Or a dozen other reasons I can think of. And I might tweet any of this on @SmugMug or @SmugMugPro depending on who my audience is.


Thanks!

Andy

So, guess what We're consolidating our Facebook pages to http://facebook.com/SmugMug - it's become a bit of an upkeep issue, and we'd really like to simplify things. I posted this on our Facebook SmugMugPro page tonight. Please be sure to Like us at our main Facebook page!
Nothing's changing as far as SmugMugPro! We're just consolidating our presence on FB (and likely Twitter, too, in the future), to make things way easier all around for everyone, you guys and us alike.

Thanks!

PS: Yes John: you were right and I was wrong