Page 331 - Social Media Marketing

likewise be introduced to “suggested friends” who also happen to like this same content. 309
This extends as well to recommendations and other forms of content that can also be
personalized as they are shared, adding an additional element of clutter-cutting credibil- ■ USE THE SOCIAL GRAPH IN BUSINESS
ity to the entire process.

By extension, what works for published content—across networks—also works
for content served into networks—content like ads, for example. Using the social
graph, content that is being syndicated or published into a social network can be opti-
mized based on the likes and dislikes of those in a particular member’s social graph.
Going a step further, advertisements that leverage the social graph can actually display
the fact that others within a particular person’s social graph happen to “like” this
advertised product or service. It’s a sort of 2.0 version of “All your friends are doing it,
so perhaps you’d like to try it as well.”

KickApps, purveyors of a white-label (they provide the core application, and you
brand it) social networking platform and toolset aimed at publishers, has built this exact
capability into their platform. Called the KickApps Social Graph Engine, the functional
value is the optimization of incoming advertising according to the collective likes and
dislikes of the member’s friends, expressed through an individual’s social graph.

KickApps: Social Graph Engine

KickApps offers a companion suite of social graph plug-ins and tools that work with Facebook
and other social and content publishing tools. You can review the KickApps platform here:

http://www.kickapps.com/applications/the-kickapps-platform

Connect Communities

As a final point in the application of the social graph, consider the imminent rise of the
“universal social graph” and its potential impact on business and cause-based organiza-
tions. While the Social Web is certainly about connecting and sharing—and to a much
greater degree than websites, whether business or personal, ever were—there is still an
element of “one winner must emerge.” What was once AOL and then Friendster, then
MySpace followed by Facebook and Twitter, and… will continue to morph.

Off in the distance lies the universal social graph—the single-location collection
of your various profiles and personas. Think of personas as tuned personal profiles,
sort of like your accountant (one persona) who takes to the highway on a Harley-
Davidson Softail every other weekend (a different persona, related to the same under-
lying individual, or profile). The universal social graph approaches the challenge of