TribalWorks

Yahoo has announced that it will be rolling out its new social media features.

With the additions announced Monday, Yahoo’s roughly 275 million e-mail users will have the option of setting up their accounts so they can highlight communications from other people with whom they have formed an online connection.

The concept mirrors a premise that has turned privately held Facebook and News Corp.’s MySpace into two of the web’s hot spots for socializing over the past three years—a period that has coincided with a wrenching downturn at Yahoo.

Yahoo also is copying Facebook and MySpace by opening its e-mail service to applications created by outside programmers. In a test that started Monday among a small number of e-mail users, Yahoo began offering applications developed for finding photos stored in their mailboxes, transferring information to blogs, and sharing tips about movies.

The changes will turn Yahoo’s e-mail service into a “scrapbook for your life,” said John Kremer, a company vice-president. “We hope opening up Yahoo mail will have a game-changing influence on the industry.”

Yahoo has declined from a leader to a follower in the online services space.  They have been beaten by competitors, most notably Google, in almost all areas of their business.

It is still too early to say whether or not this new feature will pay off for shareholders.  But as discussed in our post on Social Media Sites - Should I Build or Rent? there are a few criteria which one can use to determine the likelihood of success.

In this case I think it made sense for OS to go ahead and build their own since they have become a key online rallying point for the sports gaming tribe:

• Operation Sports has been around for about 10 years and they have built up a substantial member base (There are almost 800 member online at this moment)
• OS focuses on a specific interest, thus they quickly became the number one destination for enthusiasts.
• The existing site already had very active discussion forums thus enabling them to more safely take this risk

 The key questions Yahoo should be asking are:

• Is the market too saturated with players such as Facebook, MySpace and boutique social networking sites for us to profitably get to critical mass?
• What is Yahoo’s proposition?  What can we do that no other site can do?
• Can Yahoo make it easy for people to find their tribes on our site and make it easy for them to interact?

Yesterday the two teams for the 2009 Interenational Bowl were announced - University at Buffalo Bulls and the University of Connecticut Huskies.  Accelteon is a strategic partner with the International Bowl, thus we get a unique view into this annual cultural and sporting phenomenon.

Bowl games are essentially the post season for US College Football and occur annually from mid-December to early January.  They are as much about the fan experience as they are about the game itself.

From the time fans learn if and where their team will play (usually on the first or second weekend in December) to the weeks following the game, the bowl experience brings together fans in a way unlike any other sport.

The following is a timeline from pre-announcement to post-game on how various fan groups might interact:

Pre-announcement Anticipation:

• Days or hours before the bowl committees announce their selection, fans rush to online discussion forums to discuss and predict where their team may go.
• This is probably the most anxious time for the fans as they don’t know if or where they are going.  For example, this year University of Connecticut fans didn’t know if they should book a plane ticket to El Paso Texas for the Sun Bowl or get ready to drive up to Toronto.

Getting Ready to Go:

• Once the fans know where their team is going fans go online to:
  • Discuss the match-up, some fans hoped for a better bowl game, opponent or location; however, most are excited about the opportunity to travel with their team for a new experience.
  • Try to find out from other fans what the best way to travel to the game is (car, plane or train); if they are driving, many try to find other people to car pool with.
  • Discuss where the best hotels, restaurants, pubs are in the host city.  Some fans may group together to get a discounted hotel rate.
• Team pep rallies are often held at the school before the team heads off to their bowl location.  This is an opportunity for players, students, alumni and fans to rally around the team.

Living The Experience:

• Once the fans arrive in the host city they may participate in a host of planned an unplanned activities:
  • Unplanned activities may include meeting up with old classmates at a local pub, students hanging out together with the team at a club, or a family/group of friends going to see local tourist attractions.
  • Planned activities may include, The Battle of The Bands competition, an awards luncheon or a pep rally before the game.

Game Day:

• Fans that attend the game often head to the stadium early to participate in tailgating activities
• Once the game begins, the thousands of fans in the stadium band together as one for the duration of the game.
• Likewise, fans that could not make the trip often get together either on campus, or at a friends house to watch the game.  However, some fans take the bowl viewing experience to another level as seen in this video.

Post-Game:

• Once the game is done, fans may gather for one last meal before heading to the airport or hitting the road to get back home.
• The days and even weeks following the bowl game is usually filled with fans posting pictures/videos, talking about their experiences and thinking about next season.

Brands such as FedEx, Tostitos, Allstate and Capital One have been synonymous with the bowl experience for many years.  In subsequent posts we’ll talk about how companies can and have monetized this opportunity.

One point we reiterate with people we meet is that Tribal Strategy is not Web 2.0 Strategy.  However, a strong Web 2.0 Strategy can be a component of Tribal Strategy.  Marketers can us the Tribal Approach with little or no online component.

An example that demonstrates this is the latest campaign by ABC Canada Literacy Foundation.  According to the Marketing Magazine article:

Launched last week, the national multimedia campaign poses a series of child-like questions designed to capture the attention of parents and encourage them to visit FamilyLiteracyDay.ca to discover the answers. All of the ads feature the tag line, “If you read with your kids, you’ll know more.”

Besides print, out-of-home, digital, online and radio spots, the platform also includes a series of thought-provoking ambient ads. For example, a manhole ponders the question “What’s down here?” while a poster mounted on the side of a hot dog stand asks readers “Why are hot dogs called hot dogs?”

The ambient ads, located in parks and on buildings in Toronto and Montreal, kicked off the campaign. The “Who’s this guy?” question is affixed to a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Toronto, while a small vinyl cling ad reading “How high do birds fly?” was placed on the glass floor in the CN Tower’s observation deck.

These ambient ads placed in or around these locations provide a temporary gathering place for small tribes.  Be it a family or a gathering of school children.  One of the things I like most about these is that it compliments and enhances the experience of these locations rather than interrupts the audience.