The definition of insanity, according to Steven Covey, is to keep doing the same things and expect different results.
When it comes to web strategy—for both internal and external web presences—some people behave as if Covey’s definition doesn’t apply. Cool new technology keeps coming along that, by its nature, enables us to do things differently, guaranteeing that we will see different results.
The latest wave of this game-changing, new-results-generating technology is social media, or intranet 2.0 when utilized within an organization. The promise is substantial, especially when costs are factored in.
According to the results of Prescient’s Intranet 2.0 Global Survey (561 organizations of all sizes from across the planet), for example, 46% of those with 2.0 tools have spent nothing or very little on the solution.
So are these inexpensive, powerful tools delivering satisfactory results? Not yet:
• Satisfaction rates with executives is dangerously poor: 38% of executives rate the 2.0 tools as poor or very poor; a lowly 23% rate them as good or very good.
• Employee satisfaction is almost as poor: 35% of organizations say employee satisfaction with the 2.0 tools is poor or very poor; only 27% rate the tools as good or very good.
These results do not reveal intrinsic flows in Intranet 2.0 technology, but rather suggest that some people are forgetting George Santayana’s observation that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In the case of intranets, for example, it wasn’t that long ago when organizations saw an opportunity to deploy the same cool web technology that had revolutionized external communications to enhance internal effectiveness by building an intranet.
While some organizations enjoyed strong results from their intranets, many others discovered that easy-to-use technology created site proliferation which resulted in the number one complaint of intranet users: I can’t find what I’m looking for.
The lesson from successful intranets is the importance of measuring success and linking the site to an organization’s unique business objectives, rather than simply building and launching without a plan.
One company that has developed a strong set of metrics to prove intranet success is Sodexo. Their intranet dashboard, which is visible to all intranet visitors, presents such data as: the percentage of employees that view the intranet as a valuable resource that helps them do their job; and the percentage that thinks their division makes good use of the intranet to communicate with the field.
While this data is important for proving the need for an intranet, according to Angelo Ioffreda, who was Vice President, Internal Communications, Sodexo, for a team that wants to gain the perception that the intranet will address a company’s unique challenges the best advice is: “look at your business.”
In Sodexo’s case, that meant adding value to a dispersed workforce by contributing productivity, effective and efficient communications (including reducing print) and enabling people to find one another.
The lesson for intranet 2.0 is clear: those organizations that develop a strategy founded on clear business value and a measurable plan for execution will achieve breakthrough success with the technology.
Those who ignore their history lesson and repeat their mistakes will start to experience Covey’s symptoms of insanity
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This Month
Month Archive
Login
|
Tuesday, August 25
Learn from web history: find the business value
by
Julian Mills
on Tue 25 Aug 2009 03:08 PM CDT
Friday, June 19
Social media: building the case
by
Julian Mills
on Fri 19 Jun 2009 02:37 PM CDT
Social media adoption has accelerated on the corporate intranet, led by blogs, wikis and discussion forums. Despite a low cost of entry—often below $10,000—adopters are not reporting outstanding satisfaction with the investment, especially among the executive ranks, driven by inadequate planning and weak or non-existent business plans. This data is contained in the results of the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey, which included the participation of 561 organizations of all sizes from across the planet. Cost of Intranet 2.0 Intranet 2.0 technology is cheap. Of those organizations that have implemented 2.0 tools, almost half have spent $10,000 or less on these tools:
Satisfaction Satisfaction levels with Intranet 2.0 tools is low:
Barriers to implementation Of those organizations that have not implemented 2.0 tools, lack of a business case, executive support, and IT support are seen as the top barriers:
Recognizing that during times of economic downturn, organizations are seeking to discover new ways to make the most of their investments, but too many fail to understand the intranet's value and potential to increase business performance, Prescient’s next webinar in its monthly series will focus on developing a business case for internal web initiatives. Join this free webinar to learn how to motivate executives to resource your intranet or social media initiative. · Date: · Location: Free Webinar See Winning support for your intranet/intranet 2.0 initiative (free webinar) Sunday, April 5
Encouraging anecdotal signs in social media
by
Julian Mills
on Sun 05 Apr 2009 07:16 PM CDT
Talk about how social media is gaining traction often focuses on the hard data that prove business value, or focuses on case studies and research that demonstrate best practices or key trends. In my role, I’m privileged to interact with people from across North America who are thinking about how best to evaluate and deploy the new social media tools, which provides a useful set of anecdotal experiences to complement the data. And three recent exchanges demonstrate very encouraging signs about how people are using the efficiencies of social media to create value; how consumer applications are revealing business value; and that grassroots knowledge is receiving support by enlightened leadership. Social value One of the truly exciting features of social media is that it provides easy-to-use technology that enables people to be much more efficient at interacting with one another. It’s a simple concept, but every day brings a surprising new example of how it works. For instance, the other day a colleague showed me Trapster running on his iPhone. Trapster is a mobile application that lets you see and share the location of speed traps right on your mobile phone or Is this a new way of interacting with one another? No, motorists have flashed their headlights to alert fellow drivers to speed traps for decades. But now a socially-minded driver can reach potentially millions of other drivers rather than a handful. It also demonstrates how social media creates a value proposition that vastly exceeds the older technology it replaces. In this case, Trapster is not only more effective than a radar detector, it’s also tolerated by the police. The application’s website quotes Bill Johnson, Executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, as saying: “If someone slows down because of it, it's accomplishing the same goal of trying to get people to obey the speed limit." Consumer apps reveal business value One of the genuinely fascinating aspects of our projects that focus on bringing social media into the enterprise—often called intranet 2.0—is observing how consumer grade software is challenging organizations to improve internal functionality for their employees. Last week, I conducted a business requirement interview with a Vice President of one of our clients, a multi-national financial services company that is assessing how to improve their intranet. “Building in the capability to add widgets is smart,” he observed. “I would take advantage of that, but I have an iPhone with 24 apps. If we advertised internally that there are 24 apps, that would engage staff, even if it was a simple weather forecaster or what’s for lunch in the cafeteria.” Not that along ago, a common complaint from younger workers was the executives don’t “get” new technology because they don’t use it. Increasingly, executives are starting to use the technology, and rapidly perceive how it can add value to their businesses. Grassroots knowledge, enlightened leadership Successful social media deployments require knowledge and commitment at the grassroots level to understand the technology and put it to good use. My experience, supported by data, suggests that the grassroots is often ahead of the organization’s leadership, which causes that important energy to be dissipated. Last week, I met an IT Director with a large healthcare organization that is developing a new web strategy to support an important development in the organization’s direction. Healthcare entities often perceived to be trailing their users in the utilization of innovative online technology, but this Director was already anticipating how the organization’s clients would want to interact with them using mobile technology, and showed me how he uses Digg on his iPhone to follow the Linux community in which he participates. The organization was also experiencing a common phenomenon for large entities: an employee had started a Facebook group in which employees were discussing the organization’s new direction. A new, 50-something CEO had just come on board, and there was curiosity about what tone he would set for the web strategy. The questions were answered when he requested a blog on his first day, and joined the Facebook group. A boomer CEO of a supposedly conservative organization participating actively in social media is an anecdotal data point that promises we are about to see some exciting new developments in the deployment of social media. Measuring Intranet Success in the Real World. April 30th, 12 EST. Register today. Saturday, March 28
Healthcare catches the social media bug
by
Julian Mills
on Sat 28 Mar 2009 07:28 PM CDT
Even if you don’t work in healthcare, there’s a good chance you’ll be following recent health Web 2.0 developments with interest. The Medpedia Project, for example, will bring a wikipedia approach to health information, and Google Health, the personal ... more » Saturday, March 14
Would your CEO buy you a beer?
by
Julian Mills
on Sat 14 Mar 2009 02:44 PM CDT
With all the hype created by the Internet, it’s easy to forget that web technology rarely creates something new. It enables people to do the things they’re already doing, but do it more effectively. So in many cases, successfully utilizing web technology doesn’t require technical knowledge alone; it requires a commitment to accomplish a business goal. In the web world, the winners aren’t those with technology—because everyone has access to the same tools—success is driven by leaders who focus on a business goal and understand how to use technology to achieve it. Amazon didn’t create an interest in buying books; it allowed the transaction to be more efficient. And people were finding buyers for stuff they no longer wanted before craigslist came along. Jeff Bezos and Craig Newmark didn’t create the need; they had insights into how to use web technology to meet the need more effectively. Of course, this increased effectiveness can be transformative. Amazon not only trashed the model by which books were sold, produced and inventoried, it created an opportunity for the company to gain unprecedented customer insight and sell more than books. And then trash other companies’ business model. Craigslist evaporated newspapers’ classified advertising revenue, causing them to lose a crucial source of profit and accelerated their decline in the digital era. One of the most hyped benefits for the latest Web trend—social media—is the competitive advantage being gained by companies that embrace innovation through collaboration. There is no doubt that social media delivers important business benefits, and it’s important to understand the technology such as wikis and social networking that allow collaboration to take place more effectively. But we can’t forget that, just as people bought books before Amazon appeared, some companies have always innovated through collaboration, and enjoyed a competitive advantage as a result. And they didn’t do it because of technology; they did it because they had leaders who established a culture of collaboration, and saw past the risks of allowing their employees to engage with each other and focused instead on the benefits. While preparing a recent webinar on integrating social media into an intranet strategy, I was reminded of one such company I visited in the mid-90s while working as a magazine editor. It was a new entrant into an established vertical, and had succeeded in introducing disruptive technology well ahead of the established players. The visit finished on a Friday afternoon, so we were invited to participate in their weekly “beer day,” when one department bought beer for the company. I complimented the CEO on allowing his people time to relax, and he responded by saying it was all about facilitating collaboration, observing that their meeting rooms were usually booked on Monday because teams of engineers realized they were working on projects that could benefit from knowledge sharing. No wiki needed, just old school silo-erosion through socializing. One of the key findings emerging from Prescient’s Intranet 2.0 Global Survey is that some of the main barriers to implementing Intranet 2.0 is securing executive support and complying with corporate policies. For example, leaders who ban Facebook because they think it allows staff to goof off, or Legal Departments that won’t allow blogs because staff may say something inappropriate. It’s not hard to imagine how these same groups would react to “beer day”: don’t allow it because an engineer might drink too much and say something rude, or the company could incur liability from drinking and driving. For those who grasp the business benefits for Intranet 2.0 but struggle to figure out how best to introduce them to their company, rather than trying to choose the right technology, maybe they should ask if their CEO would buy the company a beer. If the answer is no, sharpen the argument on business benefits and get ready to focus on cultural change, not technology selection.
Related Items Sunday, February 22
What's love got to do with it?
by
Julian Mills
on Sun 22 Feb 2009 11:02 AM CST
One of the essential lessons delivered by successful implementations of social media is that leadership sets the tone. This week, Canadians experienced first hand the tone set by one of the highest profile social media success stories: President Barack Obama. The integration of social media into his campaign has been well documented, famously broadening his capacity to make a powerful connection with people. His desire to touch hearts and minds was captured by a quotation splashed in several Canadian newspaper headlines: “I love this country.” One of the experts on Obama’s use of new technology is Barry Libert, co-author of Barack, Inc. Libert was a presenter in a webinar hosted by enterprise social media vendor Mzinga the day before Obama’s Canadian visit. Libert noted that Obama frequently tells adoring crowds that “I love you back,” recognizing his responsibility to make a personal connection with the multitude that follows him. He knows that touching their hearts and minds is necessary in order to build a culture of connection. Obama’s success demonstrates that successfully utilizing social media tools requires that culture, strategy and technology integrate seamlessly, observed Libert, meaning that social media is fundamentally a leadership issue because it’s not about enabling technology, it’s about building a culture and assigning strategic goals. While it would be inappropriate for most business leaders to say I Love You to the people they lead—the statement could potentially result in remedial diversity training—every business leader should be thinking about the culture of connection they must establish with their employees, and evaluating how emerging technology can enable them to do so more efficiently. Are they taking on this responsibility by setting an affectionate tone toward social media? When it comes to measuring attitudes of IT leadership, the answer is no. A majority of CIOs are ignoring the potential benefits that Intranet 2.0 offers their organization. Obama’s campaign redefined political leadership, and business leaders are absorbing the lessons provided by Libert and others. While we shouldn’t expect them to lead off meetings by declaring their love for staff, we shouldn’t be surprised if more of them establish a connection with their own blog, or even allow staff to connect with each other through a social networking tool. Reserve your spot Putting Social Media to work in your Intranet Strategy ( Monday, February 9
The economy and your intranet: make the connection
by
Julian Mills
on Mon 09 Feb 2009 04:18 PM CST
While driving through The fresh piece of information was that He also reminded me that even in a terrible economy, there are opportunities for companies and individuals who take a strategic approach to seeking them. My friend rejoined the ranks of the employed after a brief period between jobs, becoming a product manager with a large imaging company. His new employer was among the many companies that had recently announced lay-offs in some areas of the business, but the CEO had ensured that a message went out through their intranet that the company was also investing in growth areas, which included adding head count. Today, in Digg, hundreds tagged an item from Reader’s Digest called Nine Recession Proof Careers, which provides a useful source of data on where job opportunities still exist. The list included Energy, Environment, Government and perhaps surprisingly, Financial Services: “Rising from the ashes of a very bad year, financial services have a bright future. Corporate Which brings me to intranet strategy. You’ll have noted that the CEO at my friend’s company was able to connect with employees through a well utilized intranet, which is an invaluable business tool during times of corporate stress. And, within the nine sectors mentioned by Reader’s Digest, an effective, well utilized intranet will be a crucial means for companies to engage with existing employees, ramp up new hires and employees joining the firms though acquisitions and enable staff to collaborate with one another. Unfortunately, as Toby Ward points out in an article called “Selling an Intranet Redesign”, too many organizations are failing to make a connection between business opportunities and their intranet. “While there is hope that more executives will realize the intranet's value to their organization, there is still a pause for concern. The study finds that only 14% of the respondents consider the intranet as ‘business critical.’ This is unfortunate because the intranet is a key business tool. Other organizations may not have allowed the intranet to become business critical, because senior management believes they should not invest in the intranet or a redesign.” Not everyone will have the luxury provided by a long drive through rural FREE WEBINAR: Reserve your spot Putting Social Media to work in your Intranet Strategy (February 26th, 2009, 12PM EST). Reserve your spot today. Wednesday, December 3
Motrin suffers Web 2.0 headache
by
Toby Ward
on Wed 03 Dec 2008 01:33 PM CST
The
Motrin Moms crisis sparked by a controversial Motrin ad on their website has
provided some interesting lessons on how companies must learn to adapt. In
short, Motrin ran an ad that summarized said, “Take Motrin if you wear your
baby in a sling or carrier.”
See the Motrin ad & read the full article Motrin suffers Web 2.0 headache. BOOKMARK THIS: Monday, November 10
WWW founder shrugs at Web 3.0
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 10 Nov 2008 01:41 PM CST
(AARHUS, DENMARK: jboye08) Robert Cailliau is a Belgian computer scientist who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developed the World Wide Web.
I was chatting with him before his keynote address this morning at jboye08 in Aarhus, Denmark. He told me he had to “tweak his presentation” on the “history of the World Wide Web.” I found it interesting that the co-founder of the WWW was “tweaking” his history… I joked that he shouldn’t forget to also “tweet” it (Twitter). Robert replied, “Oh, I don’t use those things!” Continue reading "WWW founder shrugs at Web 3.0" »BOOKMARK THIS: Wednesday, November 5
WWW founder shrugs at Web 3.0
by
Toby Ward
on Wed 05 Nov 2008 04:18 AM CST
(AARHUS, DENMARK: jboye08) Robert Cailliau is a Belgian computer scientist who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developed the World Wide Web. I was chatting with him before his keynote address this morning at jboye08 in Aarhus, Denmark. He told me he had to “tweak his presentation” on the “history of the World Wide Web.” I found it interesting that the co-founder of the WWW was “tweaking” his history… I joked that he shouldn’t forget to also “tweet” it (Twitter). Robert replied, “Oh, I don’t use those things!” I like him! Robert went on to address the subject of Web 3.0... ...and openly mused and subtly mocked the attempts to define it. He offered three different examples of definitions that have been offered: • The biological, digital analog web where information is made of a plethora…of digital values coalesced…. Blah, blah, blah (editor’s note). • Transformation of the Web from a network of separately soiled applications and content repositories to a more seamless… blah, blah, blah (editor’s note). • Etc. Like me, Robert believes that a definition of Web 3.0 is premature and presumptuous. I think those that are attempting to define it are just plain asses trying to make a name for themselves and who openly refer to themselves as ‘gurus’. Robert believes that Web 3.0 may well come to be known (possibly) for micropayments (“What ever happened to those?”) and automatic computer updates and back-ups). Those that attempt to define unknown quantities are obliged to remain unknown themselves. I just wrote that… you can quote me. It’s the jet lag that’s turned me into a cheeky monkey… OTHER HITS FROM DENMARK: Monday, September 29
North Americans demand social media
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 29 Sep 2008 01:36 PM CDT
Americans really dig social media… but Canadians love it. Almost 60% of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site, and one in four interact more than once per week. These are among the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study (Cone LLC).When asked about specific types of interactions, Americans believe: • A company should have a presence in social media (93%) • A company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media (85%) • American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment (56%) • Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%) See my entire column North Americans demand social media (Web 2.0) Tuesday, September 9
Web 2.0 is content that matters
by
Toby Ward
on Tue 09 Sep 2008 01:08 PM CDT
Yes, the
blogosphere and ‘Web 2.0’ are filled with fluff, idle chatter, and, quite
frankly, a lot of crap. However, if you learn to filter the junk, as you do
with your mail, e-mail, or television, the rewards can be extremely meaningful
– and valuable to business. I live on
Wikipedia (and often am driven their by Google). I do a lot of research and
reading and find the quality on Wikipedia to be superlative. In fact, while it
has its critics, I’ve yet to encounter a credibility gap. And yet, the
reliability of more traditional, scholarly sources are not always as reliable. Read my full column: Web 2.0 is content that matters (with intranet examples, on Ragan.com) Thursday, August 28
Web 2.0 not a priority for CIOs
by
Toby Ward
on Thu 28 Aug 2008 01:10 PM CDT
The
single most credible survey I’ve found to date confirms what I’ve been saying
for some time: Web 2.0 is still a lot of hype, and not a priority for many. A Robert
Half Technology survey of 1,400 CIOs in the • 14% of
organizations use blogs Meanwhile,
more traditional technologies are far more popular: • Online
training is used by 47% of the organizations Now here’s
the killer: 72% of CIOs have no plans to use blogs in the next 5 years; 74% no
plans to use wikis (a scientifically representative telephone survey of 1400
CIOs, not a self-select, voluntary web survey). Read my
full column: Web
2.0 not a priority for CIOs Friday, July 11
No Facebook? No young workers
by
Julian Mills, VP, Prescient Digital Media
on Fri 11 Jul 2008 04:20 PM CDT
Aside from an entertaining observation that “French hotel clerks and young American women learn non-verbal communication at the same place,” Mike Schaffner’s recent article in Forbes.com, “Why Companies Need Web 2.0,” provides a brief but helpful overview of Web 2.0 technology and quick thoughts on how to utilize it. Schaffner, who directs IT for the Valve and Measurement Group of Cameron, suggests applications such as:
· Mashups can bring together production and operations data from a variety of sources, allowing a production manager to get a good overview of her operations. · YouTube-style videos can be used for training or distributing important messages, such as the CEO announcing a new product launch or Joe, the IT help desk guy, receiving an award. More significant than the “how” of Web 2.0, however, is Schaffner’s observation about the “why”: The point in all this is that there is a new generation of potential employees and customers that are accustomed to a variety of technologies being available, and they expect to see and use them in the corporate world. Whether and how we deploy these technologies likely will have an impact on our ability to attract new talent to our companies and to find and retain customers. Give me Facebook or give me a new job His observation about the expectations of a new generation to have access to this technology is strongly reflected in Prescient Digital Media’s intranet consulting services. Executives, right up the CEO level, are showing increased interest in bringing Web 2.0 technology into their environment in order to meet demands from younger employees. A recent survey of a 1,000 European office workers reveals that this concern is well founded. Conducted by IT services firm Telindus, the survey found that:
While the varying adoption rate of Web 2.0 technology between consumers and corporations is well documented, the Telindus survey reveals that this delta is becoming a business challenge that organizations must start to take seriously. Saturday, June 14
Enterprise 2.0: A must have
by
Toby Ward
on Sat 14 Jun 2008 01:27 PM CDT
There are a number of reasons why a corporation or a not-for-profit should adopt Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 tools. Enhancing communications and collaboration with customers and employees is the primary, over-arching driver for most. But there’s another more pressing need: snooze or lose. “You really have no choice,” says Steve Krol, EVP of Professional Services with Lyons Consulting Group, which has worked with the likes of AON, Porsche and even Playboy. “Social media represents a full-fledge media /communication channel that will evolve with or without you. It’s another accepted form of communications that people want. According to a web survey by the Software Information & Industry Association, only 41% of participants are using social media, but 35% plan to use it. While the survey is not scientifically significant for all organizations in all industries and is biased towards the audience that participated, the numbers are pretty close to the mark. As it relates to large organizations, the numbers echo other recent study findings from CIO and Forrester. However, the adoption numbers are far smaller in small and medium size organizations. Read the complete article: Enterprise 2.0: A must have Monday, March 24
Blogging case study: SYNNEX Canada
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 24 Mar 2008 03:55 PM CDT
“'Time Leadership' is my philosphies and musings on leading SYNNEX Canada, a billion dollar wholesaler of computer equipment,” says SYNNEX Canada CEO Jim Estill when describing his blog. “I call it CEO Blog - Time Leadership because of my keen interest in time.” Recently the author of a book and audio CD called Time Leadership Audio, Estill writes about many subjects as it relates to his work and days. Personal subjects are not taboo on his blog and he in fact talks very little talking about his company (a home page disclaimer reads: “This blog represents my personal views and not those of SYNNEX or any other company”). Estill’s most recent postings include:
Though he clearly is not a shy leader and communicator Estill decided he needed to communicate more with his constituency – including staff, customers and vendors. Authoring a blog is but one tool Estill has seized in enhancing these communications. Today, he communicates with all of those constituencies and more through his CEO blog that he’s authored since the Spring of 2005 (he presents this case study at the upcoming 2008 Social Media Summit Canada Conference in Broken down by percentages, Estill’s CEO blog audience is comprised of:
Though the blog is an external one on the public Internet (at http://www.jimestill.com), a principal audience of the blog are SYNNEX employees (up to 25% of the readers). Estill says that the blog is of interest to employees because it “humanizes” him as CEO and provides a forum for 2-way communications (that isn’t always possible given the demands on the time and schedule of a busy CEO). At the ripe age of 19, Estill started a computer distribution company - EMJ Data “from the trunk of his car” in 1979. The company grew to $350,000,000 in sales and then sold to SYNNEX in Sept 2004. Estill remains as CEO of the company that now sells about a $1 billion in computer products in “We sell all the brands you would recognize like HP, Apple, Intel, Lexmark, Acer, Sony, Microsoft etc through computer resellers and retailers from Future shop and Zellers to Bob's computer store.” Among the reasons Estill cites for starting a blog:
Estill dedicates about 2 hours per week to blogging and admits, “It requires commitment and thought.” Though he points to his own success and recommends blogging to others, he does suggest that blogging is not for everyone and shouldn’t be undertaken “if you do not like to write.” Estill offers a number of tips for blogging:
-- Learn more about this case study and other social media / Web 2.0 case studies at the upcoming 2008 Social Media Summit Canada Conference (hosted by the Advanced Learning Institute) in
REALATED READING: BOOKMARK THIS:
Sunday, February 24
Facebook spoof leads to jail and beating
by
Toby Ward
on Sun 24 Feb 2008 02:47 PM CST
Setting-up a spoof Facebook site in the name of a celebrity, athlete or politician is a popular past time. For a Moroccan computer engineer and father, his spoof has delivered him to jail -- three years in jail for setting up a Facebook site in the name of a member of the royal Moroccan family. Fouad Mourtada was sentenced this week on suspicion of stealing the identity of Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s younger brother, Prince Moulay Rachid (see Jail for Facebook spoof Moroccan, The prosecution had urged the court to impose a sentence which set an example for others. Mr Mourtada was convicted of "villainous practices linked to the alleged theft of the [prince's] identity". In his defence, he said he admired the prince, and that the Facebook entry was just intended to be a bit of fun. A website supporting him published a letter addressed to the prince apologising for the incident. Earlier this week some Moroccan bloggers went "on strike", suspending their regular blog entries for 24 hours in protest at Mr. Mourtada's detention. According to the website, he told family members who visited him in jail that he had been blindfolded and beaten unconscious at the time of his arrest. Apparently using Facebook is dangerous after all. While I can’t imagine such severe punishment in the Western World, there undoubtedly will be some price to pay in severe cases of liable and slander when misusing Facebook and other social media that make it easy to spoof people.
BOOKMARK THIS:
Thursday, February 14
Web 2.0 fails the grade, according to executives
by
Toby Ward
on Thu 14 Feb 2008 12:23 AM CST
“Collaborative tools are overloading employees and killing productivity—to the tune of $588 billion a year, according to a January study by Basex, a collaboration technologies consulting firm,” writes Brian Watson of CIO Magazine (see Web 2.0: Too Good to Be True?). “It’s the money-saving argument that’s getting pushback lately.” Web 2.0 does not deliver the ROI, does not live up the hype, and is not even close to being a top priority for senior management (not all, but most). A CIO Magazines study, Top Technology Priorities for 2008 finds that even techies don’t consider Web 2.0 as a priority. A survey of 250 “top IT executives” from a collection of small, medium and large organizations doesn’t even touch on the issue of Web 2.0. Continue reading "Web 2.0 fails the grade, according to executives" » (on Content Matters)
BOOKMARK THIS:
Sunday, December 16
Delivering on the social advertising promise
by
Julian Mills
on Sun 16 Dec 2007 04:57 PM CST
I didn’t immediately see the promise of Facebook’s advertising. I don’t just mean the value proposition to Facebook users, I also mean what I saw when looking at Facebook. At first, I was presented with ads to enroll in online programs at the More puzzling was the online poll asking which team is better: the Patriots or the Cowboys. The question of who is the best football team was definitively answered when the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the Grey Cup, a hot topic for many of my friends who—regardless of whether they were living in Ireland, Saskatoon, South Korea or Toronto—made their allegiance very apparent on Facebook. In other words, lots of discussion about the CFL in my social network, no mention of the NFL. Not exposing me to an NFL poll should have been a no-brainer for a media channel that is supposed to be obviously different to the untargeted ads and pop-ups that intercept a visit to the New York Times and CIO, or the offers that appear beside Premiership fantasy teams. I came around on the value proposition after reading eMarketer’s recent article “The Promise of Social Network Advertising” . It reports that:
The value proposition right now is not social network based targeting, it’s eyeballs, which deliver sufficient value that eMarketer projects that worldwide online social network ad spending will grow from $1.2 billion in 2007 to $2.2 billion in 2008, 82%. And the organization predicts that “if social network marketing delivers on its promise of peer recommendations the flow of advertising dollars will turn into a flood.” Further reiteration of the value to advertisers of social network advertising came from one of our clients, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. An ad for their excellent blood pressure action tool appeared beside my Funwall one day, which prompted a conversation with our client about the effectiveness of the spend. It delivered excellent value, she reported. Not only could HSFO target demographics based on user profiles (which is why I saw it, given my plus-35 age and residency in The last story made a very positive impression on the
You can download the presentation by following the link below.  1 AttachmentsTuesday, November 6
Hey! Stop socializing and pay attention to my ad
by
Julian Mills
on Tue 06 Nov 2007 09:51 AM CST
The estimates of how many advertising messages we are exposed to in a day varies considerably, from 400 to over 5,400. They key phrase here is “exposed to,” not “pay attention to.” In fact, one-third of the American population between the ages of 17 and 35 say they do just the opposite, according to CRM Magazine, and avoid ads altogether. The promise of capturing the attention of this highly prized demographic is an important motivator for News Corp’s recent announcement that it will allow advertisers to deliver precision-targeted banner ads based on user-created data through the expansion of MySpace’s advertising platform. The move offers a clear value proposition to New Corp., which requires a return on its massive investment in MySpace. It will also be appealing to advertisers, who invest an estimated $500 billion on advertising annually, and don’t wish to see that spend reach closed eyeballs.
With the new move from MySpace, advertisers can now pinpoint exactly who they want to reach, based on data collected from users' personal profiles, the groups they join and the messages they post for their friends. While the value to News Corp. and the advertisers is obvious, it may be a more dubious proposition for the users, suggest some commentators, such as Kathryn Montgomery, a professor at American University and author of the book “Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet.” “If you are hanging out with your friends and talking about who you are, what rock stars you like, and so on, you don’t assume that someone is sitting there and taking down every word you’re saying and putting it into some kind algorithm,” she said. Citing performance increases of more than 300 per cent in terms of things like click-throughs versus ads that are targeted through demographics, Travis Katz, international marketing director for MySpace, tells the Globe & Mail that his company is simply applying the user-generated principles of social media to its advertising approach, especially for smaller advertisers. “It's really the idea of empowering all of these users – small business, independent film makers, musicians – to leverage social networks and do advertising in a way that is efficient, smart and easy to use.” That’s an extremely valuable proposition for the advertiser. Now let’s see if users agree. RELATED ITEMS The Three Cs of Mastering MySpaceMonday, October 22
iGoogle vs My Yahoo!
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 22 Oct 2007 12:29 PM CDT
Although both leading personalized user portals have been around for years, the two search turned portal turned Augustus Caesars have been upping the ante for your eyeballs.
The ongoing war is being fought with content and Web 2.0 as the delivery mechanism. Both My Yahoo! and iGoogle are personalized portals that allow the users to choose the type of content, layout, design, and tools that appear on the home page.
This spring iGoogle was redesigned and enhanced with new tools including Google gadgets (Google gadgets are interactive mini-applications like personalized, weather, etc. for your desktop – the same gadgets that inspired the gruesome Windows Vista gadgets). Read teh full article iGoogle vs My Yahoo! (Content Matters). BOOKMARK THIS:
Monday, September 10
The Facebook Revolution
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 10 Sep 2007 12:32 PM CDT
“A do-everything site with the potential to devour the whole Internet,” according to Christopher Beam of Slate magazine (see How Facebook could crush MySpace, Yahoo!, and Google). Facebook started as a college alternative to MySpace, but has exploded in popularity and will soon overtake MySpace as the most visited social networking site. According the ubiquitously accepted Alexa.com website rankings, Facebook is now the 10th most visited site on the Internet – up 6 places since the rankings were last updated (MySpace is unchanged in the 6th spot). “MySpace, if you ask me, is a spam-infested state of nature,” writes Beam. “The average user page comes with a crapload of embedded music and video players, some seizure-inducing wallpaper, and a bunch of friend requests from "models" who want to "get to know you." Facebook, on the other hand, is much less customizable but also a lot more reassuring. The interface is comfy, sturdy, and attractive without being showy—the kind of social network you'd bring home to Mom.” BOOKMARK THIS:
Wednesday, July 18
Top 10 e-commerce developments
by
Toby Ward
on Wed 18 Jul 2007 04:00 PM CDT
According to the experts, Google is the most signtificant development in e-commerce since the White House issued the original e-commerce framework 10 years ago. While I believe the new Web 2.0 phenomena is equally significant, I have to agree. The Top 10 developments in e-commerce were ranked by 75 policy and industry experts from a wider list of developments chosen by the the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). SIIA is a trade association representing more than 800 software and digital content companies including AOL, Adobe, IBM, Macromedia, McAfee and many others (although strangely enough, not Microsoft). The Top 10 develoments are all significant. In fact, I can’t find anything wrong with or missing from the list. Not only are they significant, they’ve all significantly impacted all (most) of our lives. Read the full article: Top 10 e-commerce developments (Content Matters). Monday, July 9
Podcasting: Is anyone listening?
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 09 Jul 2007 04:37 PM CDT
If a geek records a podcast, and no one downloads it, does it make a sound? Just like the rhetorical “tree in the forest” we do know that podcasts are heard, mostly by nerds and younger enthusiasts, but they are comparably quiet when compared to other social media such as blogs, wikis and social networking. A recent study by Bridge Ratings has found that only about 1% of the U.S. population listened to podcasts last year. Unfortunately, the real figure is likely much lower as this number comes from a number of interviews conducted with a “podcast panel.” Want to test the theory yourself? Try asking 100 friends and family if they listen to podcats and I’ll bet, with the exception of 20 and early 30 somethings, the vast majority will never have heard of a podcast. Read the full article: Podcasting: Is anyone listening? Tuesday, July 3
The most important emerging technologies
by
Toby Ward
on Tue 03 Jul 2007 04:41 PM CDT
Forrester Research asked 15 of the largest interactive marketing agencies (think web designers and online marketing companies) to rate the most important emerging technologies for impacting their design practices (see The Emerging Technologies That Matter Most To Interactive Agencies). Their top answer: mobile devices. Other top emerging technologies of the 30 mentioned: • Online video Continue reading "The most important emerging technologies" (Content Matters) Tuesday, February 6
Social media (Web 2.0): are you in?
by
Toby Ward
on Mon 05 Feb 2007 11:22 PM PST
How pervasive are social media tools (such as blogs and podcasts) becoming? Here are some of the numbers (taken from my CNW seminar series Social media (Web 2.0): are you in?):
· There are approximately 55 million English language blogs – 45,000 new blogs created every day · 44% of web users in the · 20% of Canadians say they read blogs on a regular basis · Three of the top 8 most trafficked sites on the Internet are social media sites that didn’t exist a couple of years ago (e.g. YouTube.com) · 13% use RSS (real simple syndication ) for reading · 29% of Listen to the complete webcast of my and Brent Holliday’s presentation Social media (Web 2.0): are you in? Also includes a link to the Social media checklist handout and the presentation slides. Tips for adoption
See James’s complete list of tips for adopting enterprise 2.0. My own tips for adopting social media tools:
Monday, August 28
The Three Cs of Mastering MySpace
by
Julian Mills
on Mon 28 Aug 2006 10:49 AM CDT
The news that Google will pay at least $900 million in advertising revenue to have its search boxes and keyword-driven ads on MySpace helps to answer an important question about social networking: can companies monetize the strong traffic growth of this Web 2.0 phenomenon? The deal means that Fox Interactive is starting to see a return on its $580 million acquisition of MySpace. Google, in turn, is expected to realise net revenue of $50 million to $200 million from its deal. So there’s money being spent, and not just by Google. Debra Aho Williamson, Senior Analyst with eMarketer, writes in her breakdown of the deal that it will have no significant impact in 2006 because the payments do not start until 2007. eMarketer estimates that MySpace will generate $180 million in “As for succeeding years, News Corp. executives stated in an Aug. 8 quarterly earnings conference call that less than 10% of the $900 million guarantee is earmarked for 2007. That leaves around $810 million to be divvied up over 2008, 2009 and the first two quarters of 2010. And that’s assuming Fox Interactive Media makes its minimum targets – both companies believe the upside will be far greater.
“eMarketer estimates that But while the social networking opportunity is being monetized, the relationship between two Web 2.0 poster children and the thoughts of an influential business professor suggest companies considering how they can participate must consider “three Cs” if they want to master the opportunity: core competence, Consumer Generated Media and controversy. MySpace has demonstrated that it has discovered a formula for attracting and holding the attention of an extremely distractible, and highly desirable, demographic. But it has not yet developed an e-commerce platform to generate revenue from its audience’s interaction. Enter Google, which is constantly finding new applications for its Web 2.0 competence in managing complex data. Uniting the competencies of the two entities could create a new model for online transactions. Aho Williamson points out that: “New products such as Google Local and Google Checkout are crying out for an audience and MySpace could be a convenient place to give them a big push: Local businesses could offer a seamless way for MySpace users to find their retail storefronts using Google Local, or they could simply handle online transactions with MySpace users by using Google Checkout.” As for Consumer Generated Media (CGM), John Deighton, Harvard Business School Professor and an expert on interactive advertising, provides an interesting perspective. He was interviewed by the Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge newsletter about the deal, and sees MySpace as “a really exciting marketing frontier.” For one reason, the utilization of CGM means that it can continuously remain linked with the needs and interests of its audience: “MySpace will evolve with its users. It relies on user content, so this is bound to happen. As member tastes grow up, so will their profiles.”
With concerns about online predators targeting MySpace users, one can’t mention social networking without noting the controversy it attracts. Deighton suggests that advertisers not be scared off by this concern, and even sees it as part of MySpace’s appeal: “It is popular precisely because it sits between safe-boring and truly frightening. I don’t think News Corp really minds MySpace’s racy image.”
There is no doubt that social networking can be monetized. But the companies that do so must have a competence in managing content in Web 2.0—in this case, harnessing collective intelligence and handling a complex database—know how to build a business model around CGM and be willing to handle the controversy that can be involved.
RELATED ITEMS Thursday, August 17
The business value of blogs
by
Julian Mills
on Thu 17 Aug 2006 01:52 PM CDT
If you spend any time on the Internet, you will have at least a passing interest in blogs. But if you’re responsible for communicating your corporate message and managing your advertising budget, you need to be using this social media actively. Recent statistics demonstrate that blogs are an extremely cost effective way to reach an influential audience at a fraction the cost of traditional media vehicles. The phenomenal growth in the number of blogs has been well documented, and recently released statistics from comScore Media Metrix, demonstrates that this explosion in content has driven a corresponding increase in usage. They report that the traffic to blogs continues to grow, up 56% over the past year to 58.7 million visitors, and that represents 34% of the total Internet audience. As with many Internet-related trends, a younger demographic plays a key role in driving the numbers. Users between the ages of 12 and 17 are 21% more likely than average to visit blogs. However, certain blog niches (like politics) have a median age of 45 and median income of $85,000, and a high level of C-level executives. Effective blog advertising The stat about blog niches was provided by Henry Copeland, president of blogads.com, in a discussion with B.L. Ochman on MarketingProfs.com. According to Copeland, the appeal of this new media has driven a 300% growth in blog advertising in the past year. He adds that, if used well, blog advertising can allow companies to establish significant brand awareness for as little as $25,000 to $75,000. The article makes a strong case for the importance of utilizing blogs for corporate marketing, and provides a number of useful examples about how the media can be used to achieve spectacular—and cost effective—results. But it also cautions that advertisers must adopt a blog mindset it they want to succeed with blog advertising. “With click-through rates in traditional online advertising dropping, inexpensive blog click-throughs are as high as 1%,” writes Ochman. “Advertisers are starting to appreciate the influencer constituency on blogs, where the distinct advertising value of these audiences ‘isn't their eyeballs, it’s their mouths,’ Copeland says. “Successful blogs are edgy, have a sense of humor, and are recognized experts in a narrow niche. Blog audiences look at traditional ads, like ‘Click here, get 20% off,’ and say ‘screw this, I've seen it everywhere,’ Copeland says. In his discussion, with Ochman, Copeland offers the following guidelines for effective blog ads:
Effective corporate blogging Given the significance of blogs for on-line communications, every company should be incorporating them into their communications mix. Not only is a corporate blog an inexpensive way to deliver information, best practices in corporate blogging have become obvious and are easy to apply:
Microsoft provided a high profile example of the benefits of corporate blogging with Robert Scoble. His blog attracted millions of readers and his departure captured mainstream media attention. For instance, in its coverage of Scoble’s move to a video blogging start-up, Forbes.com wrote that: “To err is human, to blog, divine? For the last three years, one man has shown how a blog, plain-spoken and irreverent in its tone, could be a tool to significantly help soften the monopolistic bullying image of a corporate giant like Microsoft.” Scoble epitomized the practises mentioned above, winning praise for himself and his company. He was clearly an expert who connected with his tech savvy audience, wasn’t afraid to respect Microsoft’s competition—praising nemesis Google, for example—or to criticize his own company. As a result, writes Forbes, “industry watchers came to appreciate both Scoble's honesty and his inside look into the traditionally insular world of software development.” Related items The latest in social networking Thursday, May 25
Social software and the generation gap
by
Julian Mills
on Thu 25 May 2006 06:13 AM CDT
( Given the event’s strong attendance, that promise resonated with its audience, and more importantly, it was delivered according to the attendees with whom I spoke. They also credited Nathaniel for ensuring that the senior IT staff attending the event had the opportunity to understand the management implications created by collaborative technology like blogs, wikis and RSS. Attendees could learn about these issues in my presentation, “Leveraging Social Software and the Technologies of Web 2.0.” We enjoyed lively interaction in the session, especially around the generation gap relating to the usage of social software. A number of heads nodded when I put up the famous quotation by Max Planck, father of quantum physics: “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” Planck’s observation is relevant to social software, because as Prescient’s President, Toby Ward, has blogged: CIOs don’t respect social media. Their adoption rate and, more significantly, personal usage of these tools trails that of the MySpace generation, who now spend an average of 1 hour and 22 minutes a day using their computer for social networking. This usage contrasts to the 51% of CIOs for whom social networking has “no interest/not on radar screen,” according to the CIO Magazine study that Toby references. A participant in the session provided an excellent reason for why this generation gap must be taken very seriously by the senior IT people who decide what technology an organization’s employees can use within its environment. Not only was she a senior manager in a large high tech firm, she also lectures at an engineering college. Each year, she hands the graduating students a form they can use to evaluate prospective employers, with a key criteria being the technology they make available for online learning and social networking. Every manager is, or should be, aware that winning the competition for talent is a critical success factor today. It would be a shame for an organization to lose this battle because its CIO is ignoring the world outside her server room. Credit goes to Nathaniel for keeping social networking on the radar screen for attendees at his conference, and to the participants in my session who are deploying the technology to good use in their companies, but always looking for ways to do it better. Wednesday, May 10
Travelling the Web 2.0 way
by
Julian Mills
on Wed 10 May 2006 11:36 AM CDT
For a consumer preparing to spend a substantial portion of her household income on a family vacation, travel is about finding the right experience for the best value. For the business providing that experience, travel is about standing out in a hyper-competitive, global market while maintaining a sustainable margin. For both parties, travel has also become about mastering the Internet, which these days means immersing themselves in the emerging world of Web 2.0, notably the deep respect for data and the collaborative creation of content. It’s well established that travellers rely on the Internet to make their plans. For example, in its North American Consumer Technology Adoption Study, Forrester discovered that “User-generated content has exploded over the Internet, and, from blogs to Wikis to MySpace, real-life user commentary is trumping established media and brands,” writes Matt Rand in Forbes.com. “Travelers have taken to the Web and are now providing real-time, illustrated, no-holds-barred travel guides.” The online travel industry, which has reached sales of US$60 billion in revenue, or about one-quarter of the overall US travel market, has recognized the importance of these trends, and as a result provides helpful examples of how to incorporate the technology and mindset of Web 2.0 into their business plans:
While these examples provide a good reference for any company contemplating how to incorporate the mindset and technology of Web 2.0 into its strategy, Yahoo! demonstrates how organizations that develop a competence with CGM can enter new markets and pose a significant threat to incumbents. “With features like Yahoo! Shoposphere, an add-on to Yahoo! Shopping that gives users a chance to make lists and guides for others, Yahoo! is tapping into its 400 million users to create content and foster communities that will keep the Web traffic flowing,” notes Reiterating the point that Yahoo! sees travel as being a market that requires Web 2.0 technology, it bought travel meta-search site FareChase in 2004 which enables users to check fares while looking at reviews and trip planners. RELATED ITEMS |
Recent Articles
Search
Other Blogs & Articles
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
