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 GPS device. When you see a trap, users report it by pressing a button on their phone, or calling a toll free number. Other user's phones will alert them as they approach the trap. Trapster incorporates crowd sourcing principles by learning the credibility of traps based on how many users agree. It also learns the credibility of each user, over time.
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.
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»
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.
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.
While driving through Michigan last Thursday, I learned something new and was reminded of something important. And that got me thinking about intranet strategy: (Someone has to make these connections. And anyway, it’s a long drive).
The fresh piece of information was that Michigan is pretty big, which I discovered when driving past Flint on the I-75 and chatting to a friend who lives in the state. He informed me that we couldn’t meet for coffee because he was several hours away in Grand Rapids (Google Maps contained the same data, but I was so focused on the route that I missed the big picture—there must be a metaphor in there somewhere).
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 America’s wretched excesses mean more government regulation. Workers who are retiring will need advice on how to make their money last. Small businesses may outsource accounting services. As we get to the middle of the recession, there will be a wave of mergers and acquisitions.”
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 Michigan to reflect on the connection between the current economy and an intranet strategy. But it’s still a connection worth making. Your company’s ability to execute on its strategy in this economy will benefit.
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.” A number
of mothers were highly offended and started a firestorm on Twitter
and on the blogosphere. The protest erupted and began to garner media coverage.
Motrin eventually pulled the ad – then they took down the entire website! In
summary, a bunch of very vocal mothers on Twitter and blogs forced Motrin to
its knees within 3 days. Motrin apologized... but what are the lessons learned?
(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!”
(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…
It’s not a virus, Trojan, or a denial of service attack. The latest
threat to your browser, computer, and network is click-jacking.
Click-jacking is the result of a visit to a malicious web page that
allows the attacker to take control of your browser. Specifically, it
can force your browser to click on any link it wants.
THE THREAT
“Clickjacking is a malicious technique of tricking web
users into revealing confidential information or taking control of
their computer while clicking on seemingly innocuous web pages. A
vulnerability across a variety of browsers and platforms, a
clickjacking takes the form of embedded code or script that can execute
without the user's knowledge, such as clicking on a button that appears
to perform another function.”
In short, if you visit an unknown or unfriendly website then it
could force your browser to click on nasty links that could take you
anywhere (including the downloading of a virus or Trojan) or allow the
attacker to take control of your computer. And it doesn’t matter which
browser you use (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.), all
the big ones are vulnerable.
(Live
blog entry from Cary, North Carolina) “Instantaneous, on-demand is the
new way… all kids want today is instant, fast-forward access,” says
David Pogue, columnist with the NY Times (addressing the Ragan Web 2.0
conference here in N.C). “I recently spoke at the National radio
association conference… and they’re almost suicidal!”
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%)
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.
For example, I recently read a biography on
Stalin from a very credible source and historian. Now I know a thing or two and
am a bit of a history buff, but I called into question the nature and
circumstances of his death as detailed in this one biography. In fact, there
are multiple versions and contradictions on how and where Stalin died...
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.
• 14% of
organizations use blogs
• 13% use social tagging software
• 11% use wikis
Meanwhile,
more traditional technologies are far more popular:
• Online
training is used by 47% of the organizations
• Video conferencing is used by 34%
• Collaborative workspaces (e.g. SharePoint) is used by 24%
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).
Flash is a wonderful and cool programming tool for any cool website. Flash can be used to present dynamic content such as video, other multimedia, and interactive tools.
The trouble with Flash, despite its flexible and dynamic presentation, is it has until now been unpopular with anyone looking to get indexed by Google, and virtually all search engines. Until now Google and the other search engines didn’t index Flash content. As of this summer Google is now able to index most Flash (.SWF) files. Web developers rejoice!
Though the celebration in the developer community has been forstalled…
Have employees use a MySpace- or Facebook-type site to introduce themselves to the company. These can also be a resource to help employees find a potential car-pool mate, someone with a background in product design or specific experience on a product you are thinking about launching.
·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:
39 per cent of 18 to 24 year-olds would consider leaving if they were not allowed to access applications like Facebook and YouTube.
A further 21 per cent indicated that they would feel ‘annoyed’ by such a ban.
The problem is less acute with 25 to 65 year-olds, of whom just 16 per cent would consider leaving and 13 per cent would be annoyed
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.
Quick, what is the most read and used website on the planet? It’s not Google, it’s Yahoo!
What is the most read news website on the planet? It’s not Google News, it’s Yahoo! News.
Despite its position as media darling, Google trails is competitor (and advertising partner) Yahoo! in many respects. Not only does Yahoo! beat them on total aggregate traffic, but its news site has more than three times the traffic of Google News (35 million monthly, unique visitors compared to only 11 million). In fact, Google News sits in eighth spot, right behind the lowly Gannett Newspapers and flounders with the lowest growth of all the top 10 news sites.
Perhaps a key reason for Google’s fledgling traffic status when compared to Yahoo! (though they are often rated as the 2nd most used website on the planet so they’re still doing fine thank you very much) may be the nature of its websites. In short, Google lacks original content. While Yahoo! not only compiles news from other sources, it also creates its own content with expert columnists.
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.
“'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”).
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 Toronto, ON from March 31 - April 2, 2008).
Broken down by percentages, Estill’s CEO blog audience is comprised of:
25% staff
50% suppliers/customers/industry
15% personal development/bloggers
10% friends/contacts
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 sellsabout a $1 billion in computer products in Canada.
“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:
To keep in touch with:
Staff
Vendors
Customers
It will get read by your staff
It helps personalize you
It adds to your influence
Good for laying out strategy
To dispel mystery
To share opinion
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:
Have a few “in the can”
Use other people’s material
Use guest bloggers
“Not perfect is good”
“Careful of being too safe, but legal is real”
Keep a paper archive
Learn how to write an article in 20 minutes
Use or cite book reports
Re-use your past material including your blog material
Post by email
Keep posts short (400-500 words) or even a paragraph
Avoid politics, religion and ghost-written articles
--
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 Toronto, ON from March 31 - April 2, 2008). Three days of Web 2.0 best practices, case studies and learnings for which you can Register Online.
It is said that our ability to create Web content vastly outstrips our ability to digest it. Consistency in how content is structured, catalogued and managed is consistently inconsistent, to say the least. The problem also persists in the world of digital signage.
Digital signs are the electronic or digital signs that you find in elevators, in lobby kiosks, or even the billboards in Time Square. It is believed that China already has more than 100,000 of these digital signs.
Cisco® today announced the development of a new qualification program for those creating content for digital signage. The Cisco Academy of Digital Signage (ADS) will offer a specialized curriculum focusing on the three vital areas of digital signage:
• content creation • content management • content distribution
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, BBC).
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.
“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.
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 University of Phoenix and to subject myself to cosmetic surgery. Hard to see how they are customized to my preferences, but maybe there is some trend discernible in the posts to my Funwall that suggest I’m receptive to such offers.
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.
37% of the US adult Internet population used online social networking at least once a month. That figure will rise to 49% in 2011.
Currently, 70% of all US teens visit social network sites on a monthly basis.
By 2011, one-half of all online adults and 84% of online teens in the US will use social networking each month.
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 Ontario) they could spend a surprisingly small amount of money to reach me.
The last story made a very positive impression on the London, ON chapter of IABC in a presentation I delivered last week on “Managing Social Media.”
You can download the presentation by following the link below.
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.”
Montgomery told the New York Times that: “Despite all of the assurances that the industry gave to regulators and the public, it sounds as if their business plans sort of fly in the face of the promises to operate without exploiting young people.
“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.
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).
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.”
For the increasing number of healthcare consumers who appreciate the value of finding relevant health content, a recent article in the New York Times, Google and Microsoft look to change healthcare, offers hopeful insights into how the tech giants plan to enable people to make smarter choices about their health habits and medical care.
The article also provides helpful insights for those who must construct online strategies for their organizations, especially when bringing an established value proposition to a new market.
Controlling health content
Steve Lohr, the Time reporter, writes that:
The Google and Microsoft initiatives would give much more control to individuals, a trend many health experts see as inevitable. “Patients will ultimately be the stewards of their own information,” said John D. Halamka, a doctor and the chief information officer of the HarvardMedicalSchool.
Already the Web is allowing people to take a more activist approach to health. According to the Harris survey, 58 percent of people who look online for health information discussed what they found with their doctors in the last year.
It is common these days, Dr. Halamka said, for a patient to come in carrying a pile of Web page printouts. “The doctor is becoming a knowledge navigator,” he said. “In the future, health care will be a much more collaborative process between patients and doctors.”
Microsoft and Google are hoping this will lead people to seek more control over their own health records, using tools the companies will provide. Neither company will discuss their plans in detail. But Microsoft’s consumer-oriented effort is scheduled to be announced this fall, while Google’s has been delayed and will probably not be introduced until next year, according to people who have been briefed on the companies’ plans.
A user defined value proposition
While we can only speculate at this stage on Google’s health plans, it’s a safe bet that the company will continue to extend its well established value proposition.
Google’s breakthrough was PageRank, a method of using the link structure of the web, rather than just the characteristics of documents, to provide better search results. Google’s databases maintain billions of pages and employ a proprietary alogorithm to "score" the relevancy of websites for each search query. The highest ranking, or "most relevant" websites for a specific query are listed first in the search results.
But Google does not define its value proposition in terms of technical functionality, it expresses it in terms of user experience, according to Tim Armstrong, its VP of Advertising: “Our search index is the value proposition that we offer to our users. The reason people come back to Google every day … is that we offer them non-paid, relevant information, both quickly and totally objectively.” That simple message, based on a clear understanding of customer experience, has provided the company with its growth opportunities in advertising, he adds.
The Time article also demonstrates that its value proposition is leading the company into health, because Google is the default starting point for most health searches. “And people are increasingly turning to their computers and the Web for health information and advice. A Harris poll, published last month, found that 52 percent of adults sometimes or frequently go to the Web for health information, up from 29 percent in 2001.”
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.
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.
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:
The tragedy at Virginia Tech is a horrific, unforgettable event. My heart and prayers go out to all the family and friends affected by the hell they are going through.
Earlier this week, Tim O'Keeffe and Michael Clendenin both talked about VT’s response to the crisis and mused about the use of a second website or ‘dark site’ for crisis communications. The killings and the ensuing confusion of fearful parents and family was accentuated by the loss of the school’s website in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. One only hopes that VT was only not prepared for the potential spike in traffic and that the crowds of concerned visitors crashed the website (for it would have been an extraordinarily bad decision to have made the conscious decision to pull down the website voluntarily during such a crisis).
In short, there were likely many tens-of-thousands of concerned people attempting to access the VT website for more information on the tragedy – and likely were hoping to glean some information about a loved one. The website though was not available.
A secondary or ‘dark site’ that could be published quickly in a crisis to communicate breaking news and information would not have solved this dilemma. Proper infrastructure planning and hosting could only have prevented a site collapse. If the university lacked the ability to publish information to the home page and therefore decided to turn-off the website, then shame on them. With modern content management and near instantaneous publishing capabilities for even the lowest-tech luddites, VT wouldn’t require a special dark site to communicate details of the unfolding tragedy. The university would merely publish information to the website as it became available and provide links from the home page and media center. For example, after I write this column in MS-Word, it takes about 60 seconds to publish it live (but I could do it in as little as 20 seconds).
Dark sites have their place and purpose, and are particularly valuable in large, planned and complex events (such as a merger or acquisition), but the use of a dark site for crisis communications has largely been supplanted by modern publishing technology and the advanced content management system. Every organization should have a crisis communications plan, and every organization should be able to publish very quickly as the need arises. Furthermore, in the event of a crisis and a landslide of unexpected traffic, it is wise to plan in advance with your website host to ensure they can accommodate large spikes in traffic should the event arise.
