OK, so I am a sucker for lists. But everyone makes lists at the end of the year, right? Here are a few things that have weaseled their way on to the online marketing scene and need to simply go away. Call it a rant, a venting session, an overly opinionated post... whatever. Here are ten online marketing trends that I think need to hit the bricks.
- The Poke. Not sure how this has survived multiple Facebook UI revisions, but in the most recent round, it's more visible than it's ever been in the user profile. Conspiracy theory - one of Zuck's early investors thought of the poke and for political reasons, it cannot die. Retire the poke, Zuck.
- Checking in at home on Foursquare. Is it really necessary to become the mayor of your own house on Foursquare? Do people really care when you've checked in at your own home? Shouldn't you be doing that everyday anyway? Let's stop the home check-ins, people.
- Sending FB updates to Twitter. It's lazy. Among other things, the updates often get truncated at odd points. And for many people, seeing the fb.me link in Twitter screams, "Don't click me... I am Facebook spam." Take the extra 30 seconds to create a 140 character update of your FB status and plug it into Twitter. Or skip it altogether.
- Group creation on Facebook. So apparently, you can now create groups on Facebook and add people to them without their consent. Bad idea Facebook. Equally bad idea to use this feature, group creator. If someone likes your product/service/idea, they will join your group.
- The _______ Daily is out! Does anyone read those? I read somewhere that everytime one of those tweets is sent, a puppy dies. Let's stop killing puppies, people.
- Pointless Hastags. "I just ate WAY too many cookies! #goingtoneedtoworkoutlikecrazyLOL." Enough said.
- LOL.
- @ Spam. I am sure this is difficult to control, but the amount of @ spam that has made it's way into my Twitter feed the past few months is sickening. We put a man on the moon. Let's find a way to stop the @ spam.
- Posting Quotes. I realize you may be a big Tony Robbins fan and got one of those 365-day desk calendars for Christmas, but sharing these incredibly moving quotes via your Facebook status is not necessary. It's really not.
- Top Ten Lists. Why are there so may top ten lists about online marketing stuff? Man, it seems like everybody thinks they need to create a top ten list in hopes of getting it Dugg to death. Gimme a break.
