Tag Archives: Think Like Zuck

The CMO’s Guide to Facebook Graph Search

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Where does the hype end and the analysis begin with Facebook Graph Search? One answer: The CMO’s Guide to Facebook Graph Search, published January 24 by three of my iCrossing colleagues, Ashmi Dang, Amanda Peters, and Doug Platts.

According to the PoV, marketers need to get more focused on generating closer connections with audiences by sharing compelling content on Facebook. The rationale: because Graph Search indexes results (in order of relevancy) based on the strength of the relationship with one’s social network connections. Brands that forge closer connections with people will have more visibility across consumers’ networks when people use Graph Search.

As the point of view discusses, employing a holistic social strategy and active community management are increasingly essential to succeeding on Facebook under the new world of Graph Search.

Facebook Graph Search has certainly generated controversy. Intel’s Ekaterina Walter (the author of Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg) recently told me she believes Graph Search is very consistent with Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a more connected and open world. “The intent isn’t to do Web search within Facebook,” she told me. “Rather, the purpose is to help people find specific answers to specific questions within their own social graph that is unique to them. Facebook Graph Search is a huge undertaking and will take awhile to fully launch, but this is definitely something the majority of the users were looking for.“

On the other hand, Jeff Macke of Yahoo! Finance referred to Graph Search as a Facebook flop. And in Fast Company, Guillaume Decugis warns, “Facebook’s new search tool will either have to remain private, resulting in limited, biased content, or make private data accessible to search.”

I believe The CMO’s Guide to Facebook Graph Search will help you decide for yourself.

 

The Passion of Mark Zuckerberg: A Conversation with Ekaterina Walter

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Mark Zuckerberg has captured the attention of the entire world, as he proved once again with today’s market-moving, stop-what-you’re-doing-and-pay-attention announcement about the launch of Facebook Graph Search. He is, of course, famous and infamous — the symbol for a social media phenomenon that has revolutionized the way we live but also a lightning rod for an ongoing debate about individual privacy in the social age. Does Mark Zuckerbrg have anything worthwhile to teach business leaders, or is his success a unique, unteachable combination of circumstance and individual talent? In the newly published Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO, Ekaterina Walter argues convincingly for the former. In a highly readable, warm discussion about Zuckerberg and Facebook, she asserts that Zuckerberg can teach us the value of passion, purpose, people, product, and partnerships. Hers is a highly instructive book that even Facebook critics — as I have been from time to time — should read.

Walter demonstrates how the rise of Facebook reflected a deeply personal passion of Zuckerberg’s for connecting people in an open world — one that gave him a single-minded focus that led to the launch of the world’s largest social network. In my favorite chapter, on the value of partnerships, Walter shows how the symbiotic relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg has made him a better leader. But since this is a book intended to help business people become more effective, Walter imparts lessons from the Zuckerberg/Sandberg relationship, such as the importance of forming business partnerships that combine imagination and execution.

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What makes the book more valuable are the lessons that Walter shares from brands that demonstrate the ethos of Zuckerberg — companies ranging from TOMS to Zappos. Her examination of businesses that demonstrate passion, purpose, people, product, and partnerships elevates the book from a read for Facebook watchers to a useful guide for anyone in business.

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