The PostSecret blog to date has been visited by 219,596,298 online viewers. The blog was started by a man named Frank Warren in 2005. Warren invites others to mail their secrets on postcards to him at his home. He then chooses a collection of them to post to his blog site weekly. The site has been a huge success and has spurred the publication of four books, tours around the country, and even spin off sites in France and Germany.
PostSecret's success can be attributed largely to the use of social media. Warren has used different social media sites in order to proliferate the site. In an interview with Mixergy's founder Andrew Warner, Frank Warren explains how he uses different social media outlets to spread the PostSecret movement. Warren states that it is important to find each social media's strengths or "viral mechanism". By tapping into these strengths Warren has built a huge online following. He has assigned specific goals to each different social media site. For example, Warren uses Facebook to spread information about upcoming tours and events. In addition, he uses YouTube to viralize videos about the site. Warren stresses the importance of creating new content on all social media sites in order to grow a movement.
Andrew Warner, after interviewing Frank Warren, concluded that unless an organization has a purpose that attracts others, the use of social media components will not necessarily effect growth or success.
Do you agree with Andrew Warner that a purpose is essential to the success of a movement or is social media support substantial enough to create success on its own?
2 comments:
When I interviewed Frank, I thought that tools were the answer to online success. So I kept hitting him with questions about what tools he used.
Then it hit me that the reason online tools like Facebook work for him is that he has a mission. Without a purpose, no one would care what he was pumping out on Facebook/Twitter/whatever.
Your readers can hear the full interview here:
blog.mixergy.com/postsecret-social-media-frank-warren
I thought you offered an interesting insight. I found the interview to be very inspirational as well as informative. I also appreciated the positive outlook of the future of the web that Frank Warren presented. It was refreshing since the view that many have about the future of the web is primarily negative.
Check out Andrew Warner's site: http://blog.mixergy.com/
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