The “Interest Graph” is not the “Social Graph”. But what does that mean and why should you care?
Despite the rapid ascent of Interest-based platforms, such as Pinterest, Sulia, WeHeartIt and Wanelo, we rarely see dialogue about the Interest Graph except in a Social context. However, The Interest Graph and Social Graph are two fundamentally different infrastructures with different underlying assumptions for marketers.
Sure, they often overlap, but it’s time we come to appreciate their differences, so that we can be more effective marketers on a social web driven by people’s passions and interests.
So should you be social or interesting?
The social graph is about who you “know”
Friends, followers and connections represent some degree of familiarity, ranging from a spouse to someone you met once at that thing you went to. If you think in High School terms, the Social Graph is all about getting in with the cool kids, so you can multiply your reach and borrow from their swagger.
The basic assumption of “Social Marketing” is:
“If someone knows someone else, they will be interested in similar things”
The interest graph is about “passions”
In high school, the “Interest Graph” is like clubs or sports teams- a group of people coming together because they love to do the same thing. They may or may not be friends, may or may not know each other, but they share a common passion that brings them together. The more passionate they are the more likely they are to create, share and comment.
The basic assumption of Interest Marketing is thus:
“If someone is interested in something, people who are interested in similar things will be interested in that thing”
Social marketing is about reach
The more people who see your message, the further it will spread. This means you will need to continue to grow your social networks on Twitter to remain ahead of the competition. It’s about building an online distribution network.
Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/03/14/would-you-rather-be-social-or-interesting/#bLk7jqXUxfOvfP54.99