Laurel Papworth

I was asked to help with promoting a new social network mobile phone from 3 called the INQ so I came up with these “social butterflies”. You know, profile and identity personalities or “demographics” for social networks.  You guys are gonna kill me *falls off chair a laughing* NOT to be taken too seriously.

Camoufly…changes colour depending on the environment

In social networks, the Camoufly keeps their profile separate for each network. Reading the social situation and behaving appropriately is their greatest gift, a place and time for everything. Facebook is strictly for friends and family – forget them adding the boss or popping online at work to poke friends! The Camoufly screens their calls too, pushing personal calls to voicemail at work – privacy is paramount to the vanishing Camoufly.

Flutterby…forever flits in and out

Forever fluttering about, on the hunt for unusual and intriguing web sites, the Flutterby will take a cool video from YouTube, post it on Facebook, then Tweet it to followers. Always planning what’s next the Flutterby is excellent at connecting random information to the right person at the right time. A lunch break is peak time to flitter about online communities and find exactly the right contact for the next business pitch or dinner party. The Flutterby is the most likely to belong to many social networks and have many online friends – just don’t expect this butterfly to remember them.

Followfly… sticks close to family and friends

The Followfly is a social animal; the service doesn’t matter to them, as long as they can connect. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube – social Networks are just a tool – they’ll go where their friends are. The Followfly is most likely a grandparent keeping in touch with grandchildren or a busy event planner who wants to organise Friday drinks using Facebook Events. Who cares how many friends there are or which network is bigger –friends and family are where the Followfly will fly.

Climberfly… climbs the social network ladder

The Climberfly is the equivalent of high society in the blogosphere. The well connected Climberfly knows who’s who and what’s what and has the most friends on Facebook. The Climberfly use their web of connections to make sure their information is heard and distributed. This social butterfly is the most likely to use their connections and social media savvy to create their own business or become a leader in their industry. The Climberfly is hyper-connected both online and offline and does not deal well with the Flutterby who is constantly in and out of their social networks

Imagifly… creative and focussed

The Imagifly is a content creator who will take your wedding photos, scan them, turn them into a slideshow, create a music soundtrack and upload the creation to YouTube. Working in isolation yet wanting an audience, the Imaginfly is an original thinker, paying little attention to what the rest of the social network are doing. Ever creative the Imagifly is well respected for the quality and originality of their contributions to the network.

Madam Butterfly… self involved and focussed on their social networking needs

In a virtual world, Madam Butterfly will have their online 3D representation aka avatar, with the best haircut, fashion and virtual car. Photo’s shared online will be all about them – Madam Butterfly at work, at home, with famous people, playing sport. Madam Butterfly spends time frantically updating their Facebook status and refreshing pages in hope of a new message. Strangely, Madam Butterfly has the least friends of all the butterfly species making them the most likely to fall trap to inappropriate confessions such as drink dialling.

(I wrote “tequila texting” but it got changed. Enquiring minds wonder why?)

Spyfly… watchers of the social networking world

The Spyfly is often the lurker of social networks, watching and observing to learn the purpose and value systems of the social network that they have joined. The Spyfly is wise, perceptive and able to understand the motives of others in the online community. They rarely contribute but when they do, their opinions and insights are gold

I like the images – someone at the agency, Porter Novelli made them up. They remind me of the squashed fairies book that one of the Monty Python team did.

I don’t remember the name but I found an image. What squished fairy.. err, butterfly… are you? Anyway, the 3 INQ mobile social network phone info is here. I think Twitter is being added to it. Soon. Or else.Heh.