My name is Christopher and I have spent the better part of my life in pursuit of the rarest social circles this planet has to offer.  I have slogged through the densest jungles of Mallamoorana in search of the Bitϑaru, a people who communicate solely through vigorous and vexing movements of their eyes.  Deep within the Arctic Circle I espied the elusive Ťavѩ and watched in rapture for hours as they poked one another with icicles in a befriending ceremony never before seen by outsider eyes.

In my travels I have come across people who communicate with animals, ferns, stars, and even the soil of the earth.  And yet I believe even these most exotic communications pale in comparison to the coming age of digital sociality.  From Minneapolis to Marrakech, Neath to Niigata, people are joining social circles for which the limitations of proximity and the ready availability of icicles no longer apply.

They poke, friend, chat, tweet, and follow.  They get linked in, blogged about, hung up on, and stabbed in the back by level 5 wizards they totally thought were their friends but were, in the end, only using them to get to a stash of magic crystals.  They struggle to decipher texts, determine whether friends are JK or entirely serious.  IYKWIM.  They flounder and accidentally Reply All.  They apologize profusely in wall posts.  And through it all they share ideas, forge friendships, commit facebook faux pas, but forge on.

I have spent my life as an adventurer.  And now I should like to take my adventure from the tundras and highlands to the vast electronic plains, exchange my mud-caked boots for a keyboard.  As a copy O-Tern at Olson I hope to use words and ideas to clear paths connecting people to the things, companies, and people that excite them, much like I once blazed trails through the dense underbrush of Karamanduro and Pikinanuhara.

But before I trade my machete and travel adventure beard for metaphors and alliteration, I offer you these two items of film I have gathered in my travels; the strangest social circles I have ever had the pleasure of observing:

Item 1 -

I got to thinking, how do you plan a great gathering for a group with so many connections, and yet such great diversity? How do you get the information to the right party people in a way that’s engaging and exciting? How do I think in social circles? I wrote this blog-style guide as a way to process these questions, and as a possible solution for them that involves social media and event design.

1. A Theme That We Can All Get Behind
The first step to planning a great party, that will unite your circles, is to pick a theme.  Look at your target party-goers and come up with a list of common interests for them.  If you want to plan a small get together, a specific theme will draw a specific, yet modest crowd.  A broader theme will draw in friends of all types of social circles. Themes that tend work well for a more diverse crowd can involve currently popular memes or experiences that the whole group might share.  An Awkward Family Photobooth Party or a Twitter Bird Costume Contest would draw on trends and experiences that a larger circle of people are familiar with. For this example, I devised a theme called Springtime for Minnesota.  Here in the Midwest, we all know too well that tease named Spring.  One day you’re in your parka, one day you’re in your shorts, and one day you finally stop caring about the below freezing temperatures and just keep wearing your shorts anyway in an act of defiance.

2. Give Your Party an ID Card
The identity of your party spreads a message to prospective attendees about the theme and the high caliber of gathering you intend to put together. This identity helps you promote your event through a wide range of social media, as well as direct contact with friends and colleagues.  This identity for Springtime for Minnesota visually conveys the theme with a few design elements that can be used in a variety of ways to promote and create day-of decorations.  For this example, I chose specific colors and used them to create a type-set title, an event logo, and a basic background image.

3. The Main Attractions
Before you can tell all of your 645 best friends on Facebook about your upcoming event, you need to take a look at what you can provide for your attendees. Themed (but delicious!) food & drink, activities, and music should be decided upon at this point so you can give your friends an accurate and fabulous representation of they party they will be dying to attend. Think outside of the box for ideas that will really make the party a unique experience without breaking your budget.  Springtime for Minnesota might serve cold salsa with a really spicy kick, or have a hot cocoa and Popsicle bar.  Costume contests are always fun; it gives your party people a way to loosen up and become the creative souls themselves.  I would love to see guests at Springtime for Minnesota show off their best “Confusing Weather” pairings, perhaps donning flip-flops and short-shorts in the same outfit as a ski mask and puffy vest.  Double points for successful executions of Hawaiian prints juxtaposed with snowflakes.  The music can fit the mood or be suggested by each guest in their RSVP to give them an even more personal connection to the event.

4. The Talk of the Town

Promote your party in a variety of methods in order to get a buzz started and to spread the word. Use your event’s identity materials on your favorite social media sites to place the image into your friends’ heads.  Create a Facebook group that talks about all of the great attractions, and plays to the audiences shared experience in the theme you’ve chosen. For Springtime in Minnesota, I can use the background image I created for a twitter background, in conjunction with a twitpic of myself and any co-planners dressed to suit.  Brainstorming good copy for a 140-char promotion is hard, but if you take some time to craft a great line it will certainly pay off.  Depending on how big your event will be, get involved in other media that will bring in a strong crowd. For the Minnesota crowd, sites like vita.mn and mspmag.com would be great places to submit a large scale event, or simply grow your own social circle. In addition to the great benefits of social media, it’s also good to remember the impact of a physical invitation. Consider printing invitations or handouts to personally give to the people in your circles that you run into often enough, perhaps even giving them enough to give to their other social circles.

5. Work It!
Look to the talent in your social circles to help create the decorations, or cater the food.  There’s a good chance you have willing friends in your circles with the skills to pitch in and make it a great party.  Incorporate your theme effectively, and always have a plan B you can count on in case it snows on your parade.  When the party is in full swing, keeping small checklist of things that need to be periodically checked during the party will help you get through the tasks quickly while enjoying the party thoroughly. Try to touch base with all of the guests you invited and offer your thanks.  Make a goal for how many new people you want to connect with; maybe you’ll finally find some friends that will go to that upcoming show at First Avenue with you, or that ComicCon you never thought you’d even admit to loving!  Oh, and whatever you do, don’t forget to dress in the right style or costume for your party!

I think a great party has the potential to make a huge positive impact on a social circle, and have a sort of “Pay it Forward” effect of inspiration. This guide to event design, with social circles in mind, really encompasses how I aspire to interact with my peers. I want to inspire the creative spirit, and find ways to connect with the many different groups I consider myself a part of.  It’s always encouraging to see bridges built when my circles collide, and I think that’s what a great party is all about.

Strategically, I chose this format for two reasons. With Fan Page application, Facebook enables me to track fan activity, monitor and collect other data such as demography, country of residence, etc. Secondly, I hate chain emails that end with “If you don’t forward this email to ten people, something bad will happen to you.” (That just creates bad karma.) Plus, with Facebook’s easy interface, the tasks are much more convenient. All the tools are planted at the fingertips—just click “Accept” and post the information on the Facebook status. Bing, Bam, Boom.

On March 7, 2010, Social Circles Project Fan Page was founded. My overzealous plan was in place—starting with a post to the project’s Fan Page along with a sugar-coated message about me needing a big favor on my Facebook status and let all my 122 friends light the fireworks. (122? Don’t laugh, I’m a very private person.)

Well, the fireworks didn’t really go off. It went sput, sput, pfff…

Almost a month later, I finally broke 250 fans. (Shhh, I think it’s funny too.) 25% of expected goal? Is this experiment a failure? Yes and no.

Firstly, a few of my predictions were confirmed true. My very first fans are those whom I speak to on regular basis. Also, after the first huge spike of fans rate without an aggressive campaign to follow, the fizz fizzles out quickly. Lastly, my favorite, I’m friends with too many skeptics.

Social Circle is about connection. Good brand connects people. I did not create a good brand. It was intentional—a controlled experiment. The brand was unknown—only two forms of advertising were used, social media and words-of-mouth. The participants were kept in the dark. None knew much about the experiment nor did they know that it could help me get an internship. The incentive was also controlled. What’s in it for you? Nothing, friends. You’ll do it because it makes me happy—yes, for the pure loyalty of a friendship. That worked! Within 4 days, the project reached its first 100 fans—80% of those, I’m already friends with on Facebook. Not bad at that rate? If I kept this up, I could reach 1,000 fans in less than a month. Sooner than my expected goal. Assuming that each of my 100 fans completed the second task by getting every single one of their 100 friends to join. Keyword, assuming.

Well, that did not happen.

The next one and a half weeks of the project inception, I let the first wave worked its course. I wanted to see how far my ripple effect would reach until it completely died down. The bubble bursted quickly (see graph below.) The momentum disappeared within the first week. Also, I limited all communication on Facebook—no post was released on the Fan Page to keep fan engaged and interested. No interaction. No mention of the name, Social Circle project on my  Facebook status. At the end of the second week, the total fans slowly creeped up to 128 fans and halted. Without connection, the project stood still.

The second peak in total fans was induced by the aide of LinkedIn. I used my groups’ discussion boards to advertise my project. Few responded. Then, the third peak, I stole my roommate’s computer and used his Facebook account to invite all his 923 friends to join. Sneaky, sneaky. That got me about a hundred fans. As of April 9, 2010, the total fans stands at 255. On the bright side, that is twice the number of my Facebook friends.

Indeed, I failed to reach the goal of 1,000 fans, but I also did gain a greater insights about social circles because of this failure. It has forced me to examine my strategy of what actually went wrong, what went according to plan, and which theories were confirmed true. I was, in fact, in the eyes of the storm.

1. The strongest links to any social circle are those with loyalty based on connection. Brand loyalty is hard-earned, but the greatest.

2. Interaction creates connection. A great brand creates a conversation that connects the audience, which sustains the life of a brand.

3. Incentive is everything. A Fan Page that starts with “First 25,000 fans get a $500 Best Buy gift card,” is more likely to reach 1,000 fans in a month.

4. Word-of-mouth is still the most effective form of advertising. Those whom I have spoken to face-to-face, brought the most fans to the page while my outer circle of friends, only became a fan and ignored the second task.

5. People are often skeptical when asked to react, but within your inner social circle, you can ask them to do almost anything. Once again, all about connection.

6. You need more than a bag of tricks to sustain interest in a brand. It’s always a never-ending campaign. The minute the dialog subsides, the audience will lose interest.

7. We are all connected. Identify the connection and you can always reach those whom you don’t know through those whom you already know.

Social Circle Project will continue until it reaches the goal of 1,000 fans. To track its ambition or become a fan of this social experiment, please visit Social Circle Project Fan Page on Facebook.

-Andii Bunnag

jumpingyellow@yahoo.com

When I think in terms of social circles, I think about how people define one another through their circles. In this wonderful world of ours everyone has their unique perspective, but that perspective is constantly changing and is heavily influenced by our respective social circles. We talk with our families, hang out with our friends and interact with our coworkers and classmates. Even if we’re feeling too lazy to leave the house we can (and some people do) spend hours surfing social networking sites. How each of us is connected to the people around us may vary, but the fact that the way we think, feel and make decisions is influenced by the opinions, actions, and ideas of those people remains constant.

Everything we experience has the potential to influence us. Our social circles are a means of sorting through the clutter. We connect most strongly with people who have interests similar to our own. We decide these people can be trusted, and we respect what they have to say. These are the people with whom we enjoy shared experiences. We exchange ideas and introduce one another to new things because when we find something we like, we want to share it. And we share it with the people we know to have similar tastes and interests.

For the purposes of branding, the better we understand this idea of social circles, the more effective we can be. We don’t want our brands to be splashes of color in the mass of clutter. Thinking in social circles allows us to position our brands more effectively, in ways that make it easier for them to become a part of and facilitate those shared experiences that are truly influential.

A) I have to like you.
B) You can’t have any biases against Bill Murray.
C) It’s important that you have a great sense of humor.
D) Did I mention I have to like you?
E) You have to be ok with my constant desire to stay connected. And by that I mean, you have to answer my phone calls even when you know I’m just calling to tell you something about what just happened on a particular TV show that you don’t even watch.

If you possess 80% of those qualities, then you might already be in my core social circle. Does my core social circle contain people from different groups? Yes. But let’s get down to bizniz.

Growing up in Cottage Grove, there was always an underlying sense of “everyone knowing everyone.” You could almost do six degrees of separation for anyone in The Grove, and that was with 20,000 people. Even now with 10,000 additional people, it’s still the same. Sounds better than six degrees of Kevin Bacon, right?

But I’m not the head of any social circles, I’m the floater. What is a floater, exactly? Floaters are people who keep close ties to multiple social circles in an effort to know the most. Where did I get my best gossip about the popular people in high school? The social circle of mine which contained more connected gossip lovers. Who did I feel the most comfortable with? My core social circle from high school.

In college, the first time around, I was in a sorority. We only hung out with certain fraternities. All of those were social circles, and social circles within themselves. Not everyone possessed 80% of the traits listed above. At work, I had social circles too. We glared at other people who dare enter our Corner of Darkness in the cube farm, or our “specific lunch table”, therefore making those a bad example of the social circle.

By the way, did you know that 80% is one of the most common averages that people will use when trying to convince people to do something? 80% of people believe that.

Why do I consider myself a floater? Keep in mind that I am a Very Specific Brand of person. You will not find another girl like me anywhere, unless you can find my “twin” that apparently wanders the skyways in downtown St. Paul. Brand Ally Smeed is a hot commmodity, and by not planting my roots in any specific social circle, I get to share my ideas and my brand with everyone. I’m not sure why people want to limit themselves when it comes to knowing others or knowing other brands. It’s ok to reach outside your own social circle to the next one, that’s where the fun lies.

Here is one way that I view the world around me in social circles. Enjoy!