ENSURING YOUR "SOCIAL NETWORKING" STRATEGY DOESN'T TURN INTO "SOCIAL NOT WORKING" July 2009
WHITE PAPER
Copyright (c) 2009 robertkeahey.com - All rights reserved
CONTENTS Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Coming to Grips with the New World of Social Networking ................................................................................... 3 External Considerations ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Appoint an "OOO".......................................................................................................................................... 4 Define a strategy - and stick to it .................................................................................................................... 5 Execute .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 Internal Considerations ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Embrace the new way of working ................................................................................................................... 8 Recognize demographic differences and biases ............................................................................................. 9 Establish reasonable policies .......................................................................................................................... 9 Provide tools ................................................................................................................................................ 10 Encourage dabbling...................................................................................................................................... 10 Summary ..............................................................................................................................................................11 Appendix A - Social Networking Platforms........................................................................................................... 12 About robertkeahey.com ..................................................................................................................................... 13
TABLES Table 1 - Social Networking Growth - June 2009 - Source: buddymedia.com ......................................................... 2 Table 2 - Social Networking Platforms ................................................................................................................. 12
F IGURES Figure 1 - Three Bold Moves ................................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2 - Policy Framework (Source: Sacha Chua - IBM) ........................................................................................ 9
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Social networking is all the rage right now. Everybody's doing it. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Classmates, Friendster, Linkedin, MySpace, Ning, Uku, Flixster, Asiantown, Xanga... the list goes on and on. Add to this the slew of blogging sites such as Wordpress, Blogger, TypePad and the never ending list of ezine blogs. On top of that throw in collaboration tools like Wikis, SharePoint, Lotus Live, and SocialText. All the tools you ever need to jump into the social networking fray. If you're not there you had better get there soon or you will be left in the digital dust of the information superhighway (remember that term...). There is no doubt that social networking has dramatically changed the way we all live, work and play. The marketing and brand management equation has been reversed, with the consumer now determining what your brand will be worth today and in the future. No longer are you in control of your message1. The message is now being created, destroyed and recreated on almost a daily basis. Just like the stock market, you brand "currency" is at the mercy of the whim of the mass of people (consumers, investors, watchers, participants, reviewers) whom over you have very little (more likely no) control. Social networking lives both outside and inside the virtual walls of your enterprise. The tools that your consumers use to discover, shape their perspective and opinions of, and ultimately purchase your products and services are the same ones that your employees use every day to conduct your business, communicate with friends and family, and make their life decisions. Therefore you have to pay close attention to not only how those tools are used by and affect your consumer, but also how they are used - or misused - by your workforce. Venturing into the social networking space should not be a spur of the moment decision. But on the other hand, "he who hesitates is lost". So careful planning and consideration should be given to your strategy for bringing your brand to the masses and letting them participate in the shaping of your future, but you must do it with a sense of urgency. This white paper outlines thoughts on how to avoid having your social networking strategy do a "melt down", transforming it into the mythical "Hydra of Lerna" - forcing you to fight numerous battles at once, and having two new ones appear each time you think you have finally scored a victory.
Facebook has 122.6 Million Monthly US Visitors, including Facebook Connect (up 10% in June 2009) Facebook Connect has 79 million unique visitors (June 2009) As of June 2009, Facebook has seen Y/Y growth of 248.2% Myspace has 60.9 Million Monthly US Visitors (7.19% growth in June 2009) Twitter received 22.99 Million Monthly US Visitors (16.5% growth in June 2009) Facebook has a 6.5% overall share of time spent online in the US Over 40% of the US Internet population logs into Facebook every month TABLE 1 - SOCIAL NETWORKING GROWTH - JUNE 2009 - SOURCE: BUDDYMEDIA.COM
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"If you have a brand, you're under threat. Your customers have always had an idea about what your brand signifies, an idea that may vary from the image you are projecting. Now they're talking to each other about that idea. They are redefining for themselves the brand you spent millions of dollar, or hundreds of millions of dollars, creating". Groundswell - winning in a world transformed by social technology; Li, Charlene and Bernoff, Josh; 2008, Harvard Business Press, Forrester Research, Inc. robertkeahey.com
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COMING TO GRIPS WITH THE NEW WORLD OF S OCIAL NETWORKING Liz Fraumann, director of marketing at ESET, coined the term "So Me!" - a derivative of "Social Media". Social Media has created a new model for how people interact in all aspects of their daily lives. The focus is now on how "I" perceive the world around "me" and how "I" assign value to products and services. Add to that model the fact that today's online, interactive world has changed the equation for the utilization of information technology as it relates to business. Historically, we accessed computers to retrieve data that someone else created, shaped and stored. Today we discover information that we feel is relevant to our personal or business interest or goal, utilize it as we see fit, and reshape it to express our own opinions and to influence those around us. The convergence of these factors has resulted in a new model for business and social interaction. Traditionally the boundaries between business and personal behavior were very distinct. The tools we used at work were rarely used in our personal lives. Today the lines between the tools we use at work and the ones we use for play have pretty much disappeared. Trying to separate those tools and restrict their usage is like trying to rein in the long tail of the ecommerce - it has simply reached the point of no return. For enterprises of all sizes this has become a significant challenge - how do I provide the tools necessary to compete in a world where real-time interaction is no longer desired, but assumed? And how do I define the line between using those tools for "social" and "business" purposes? To the first question, the answer lies in simplistic, but careful planning. The answer to the second question is "you don't". Remember when email first became part of the business scene. There were predictions that businesses that allowed unlimited or unmanaged use of email would suffer dramatic drops is productivity. In the early to mid 1990's Computer Associates, the owner of one of the first commercially available email products (mainframe-based CA-email) actually "turned off" their internal email system for several hours each to prevent the predicted downturn in productivity. As Computer Associates quickly learned, once the "genie is out of the bottle" it's hard to put it back in - and reversed its decision.
"The risks for business owners and individuals are the same: If you don't shape your image on the Web, people will do it for you. The comment you posted years ago or that embarrassing video will be the first thing people see when they do a Google search, and that doesn't leave a positive impression. Social networks make it quick, and free, to set up a basic profile, and that's the first step toward shaping the image around your brand." Juliette Powell Author 33 Million People in the Room
Creating a social networking strategy requires that you consider both external (your marketplace and those who create your revenue) and internal (your enterprise resources and those who create your products and services) factors. In some ways these factors are distinct and require different approaches. But in many more ways they are common, and ensuring that you have the strategies, policies and tools in place to effectively support both environments is crucial to both maximizing your presence and minimizing your risk in the social networking world.
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EXTERNAL CONSIDERATIONS APPOINT AN "OOO" Entering into the social networking world can be a rewarding and risky experience. All too often we read about instances where social networking has had a negative impact on a company's brand. When this happens, who "owns" the problem in your enterprise? Marketing? The CIO? Legal? What happens when an employee inadvertently "leaks" a sensitive corporate document on Facebook? And who determines the policy regarding the use of Twitter within the workplace? In the majority of these instances, it becomes oversight by committee, which if well organized and managed is an acceptable solution, but seldom works in today's hectic business environment. Corporations have taken great pains to clearly define the roles of "CxOs". Unfortunately they have not given the same level of attention to the fastest growing and potentially most impactful business phenomenon of the last century. Given the importance of social networking to companies (both externally and internally), it is time to consider appointing an "Online Outreach Officer", or OOO, to manage the planning and day-to-day execution of the enterprise's social networking strategy - much like the Chief Information Officer does for the enterprise's business and information technology systems. The role of the OOO is a blend of marketing, legal, sales and information technology functions. The OOO must be a multi-faceted individual who has experiences in a variety of business functions and must be well versed in current and emerging technologies. In other words, the OOO must be "Web 2.0" savvy. The OOO will be responsible for establishing the enterprise's social networking strategy (externally and internally) and will be tasked with the following duties: Creating a holistic online outreach (social networking) plan that encompasses all aspects of the enterprise business model Obtaining strategy buy-in from senior management and legal departments Developing and measuring the ROI of social media and social network programs Managing legalities and liabilities of social media and social network programs Defining policies for the use of social media tools (externally and internally) Working with regulated industries to determine information limits and liabilities Integrating social media across departments (corporate communications, marketing, customer service, PR and sales) Selecting and deploying social media tools (externally and internally) Working with human resources to develop communications and training plans Developing online outreach campaigns to support line of business strategies Developing strategies and alliances to work with external agencies Marshalling and organizing resources to engage detractors and deal with o negative word of mouth o information leaks o unexpected groundswell
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DEFINE A STRATEGY - AND STICK TO IT As you develop your strategy for participating in the social networking world, you must answer three essential questions: "what" do you want to accomplish? "who" is your target audience? "how" will you engage them? Today we are faced with the "everybody into the pool" mindset when it comes to the latest social or technology hype. Social networks are growing at rates that have never before been seen when compared to traditional product and service markets and enterprises are jumping into the water just so they don't get left behind. Unfortunately many of these companies aren't the best of swimmers and generally end up treading water, or worse... Before you take that leap of faith and expose your vital organs to the new generation of savvy consumers, it is essential that you know what you want in return. There are several different reasons to create a presence in and reap benefits from the groundswell of social networking: To create a community of brand loyalists - you attempt to control the brand and message To create a branded community - you allow the community to shape your brand To build a collaboration environment for consumers (or partners) - they help build or improve your products or services o Consumer-to-you (they talk, you listen) o Consumer-to-consumer (they talk, you observe) o You-to-consumer (you talk, they listen) To provide product information - you reduce your costs and increase awareness among potential buyers To provide technical support - you reduce your operational costs and improve the customer experience There are additional things you may want to accomplish with your presence in the social networking world (e.g., simply provide basic online ecommerce capability) that are fairly benign and low risk, but at the same time don't offer much upside potential. But if you are moving beyond these models of consumer engagement then it is absolutely critical that you clearly document your rationale for and approach to expanding your strategy. Regardless of the "what" strategy you select, you must also determine the audience you are targeting. This step is as important ( if not more) as determining what you are trying to accomplish with your social networking strategy. In their book Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff describe what they call the "social technographics" ladder: "Each step of the ladder represents a social group of consumers more involved in the groundswell than the previous steps. To join the group on a step, a consumer need only participate in one of the listed activities at least monthly".2 Li and Bernoff outline six groups in their ladder: Creators - develop online content on a regular basis. Critics - react to others' content, posting comments on blogs, etc. 2
Groundswell - Groundswell - winning in a world transformed by social technology; Li, Charlene and Bernoff, Josh; 2008 robertkeahey.com
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Collectors - save URLs and tags, use RSS feeds, vote for sites, etc. Joiners - participate or maintain profiles on social networking sites Spectators - consume what others produce Inactives - nonparticipants (online, but aren't active) Each of these groups of consumers will provide different value to in terms of the role they play in shaping your brand and products. But each group also carries a different level of risk. For example, if you want to exert more control over your brand message, then you will need to engage the "creators" - those who develop content which carries your intended message. The perception of your brand they create has a waterfall effect on all the other groups in the ladder. If you fail to engage this group correctly (e.g., by not listening to them or providing inaccurate information) then the groundswell they create can become very hard to manage and if not controlled can do irreparable damage to your brand. 3 Finally, you must determine "how" you intend to engage your targeted audience. Appendix A provides a brief description of some of the ways you can build a social networking presence. Regardless of the approach you select, the key is to dedicate the necessary resources required to create a meaningful presence and then manage it just as you would any other corporate asset. The combination of the "what", "who" and "how" is critical in determining the scope and risk of your social networking activities. Getting the correct combination is not an easy task, but will pay big dividends if done correctly. However, all too often many companies go into reactionary mode when the groundswell takes an unexpected turn. Setting your strategy and then sticking to it takes discipline and a new operational mindset.
EXECUTE You've appointed a OOO and created a great strategy. Now it's time to execute - flawlessly! But as we all know, that rarely happens. Too many internal and external factors cause our operational engine to hiccup. But there are few things you can do to keep your social networking engine running as smoothly as possible: Don't go off half-cocked - Take the time to step back and re-examine your approach. Just like any major corporate initiative, the key is to start small - select an subset of your overall strategy and start with something that is less risky. Once you start there is no turning back. Remember a very simple rule - there is no removing something once it has been placed on the internet. Take for example the Streisand Effect - where an attempt at digital censorship has just the opposite effect. Measure, measure, measure - Whatever you select, it must be measurable. The key to understanding if a groundswell is occurring is to regularly monitor and report on each of the social networking initiatives you defined in your strategy. This requires a new way of observing the impact of your actions within the community you are targeting. Most companies are not prepared for this type of activity and attempt to apply process-oriented measurement techniques or historical market survey methods to these new community-based approaches. These old techniques fail to account for the new measures of brand awareness such as "community buzz". If you haven't considered engaging outside agencies (e.g., MotiveQuest, Cymfony) to help you in this area, now's the time to do so - before you get too deep into your social networking campaign. 3
For example, if you provide inaccurate information to the "creators" who in turn adopt it as part of their perception of your brand or products, then you have automatically placed them unknowingly at odds with "critics" who tend to search for opportunities provide opposing views. Thus you create an environment where the creators are placed on the defensive and the critics continue to question their positions. The downside effect of this is that you quickly lose the community who holds the power to help you shape your message. robertkeahey.com
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Once engaged, stay engaged - but think and act quickly - At the first sign of danger or distress (economic or otherwise), corporations tend to retrench and re-examine their strategy - many times to the detriment of the initiatives that support the strategy. For a multi-year plan this might be acceptable, but once you enter the social networking scene you have to be prepared to redirect your plans and resources very quickly. The ripple effect of global economic conditions and world situations can cause the thinking and buying patterns of your community to change very quickly. You need to be able to shift your thinking and strategy just as quickly. But this introduces a new stress on many corporations and they tend to fall into the traditional approach of abandoning campaigns and "learning from mistakes". Just like the Streisand Effect described above, once you're in the community it's not easy to get out - your community is now shaping your brand and message, and simply abandoning the community will only serve to ignite a flame of negative reaction to your brand. Be prepared to scale - If you have done your homework and have sincerely engaged your community, then they will more than likely embrace your brand, your message (and your products!). Waiting until the groundswell occurs and then trying to garner the resources to scale up to support it simply will not work. Your social networking strategy and operational model has to be viewed just like any other mission critical business system. It is very unlikely that your CIO does not have a business continuity plan for your business systems and supply chain. The OOO must be tasked (and measured) with the development of the same plan for your online outreach program. Just like your IT service management continuity plan, your online outreach plan must include people, processes, partners/suppliers and products/technology. Get ready to handle the downside - It's going to happen... so be prepared to deal with it. When you turn the care and feeding of your brand over to the masses, there will be someone who makes it their mission in life to make your life as miserable as possible. There are many horror stories littering the social networking landscape: Tesco - staff posted abusive comments about customers on Facebook HabitatUK - misuse of hashtags on Twitter Domino's - employees post video on YouTube of themselves contaminating food Starbucks - company’s Twitter-based marketing campaign is hijacked by anti-Starbucks filmmakers Ryanair - irate staffers enter into a blogging war with a self-proclaimed "hacker" Dell - well-known journalism professor and noted blogger writes about the poor service he receives Target - dismissed a complaint from a blogger by saying that it "does not participate with nontraditional media outlets" When it happens to your company, how are you going to respond? The key to minimizing the damage from negative groundswell is proper planning ahead of time: Instill a responsive mindset in your enterprise - the problem will not go away and will only get worse if you try to ignore it Develop clear policies outlining use of social networking tools (both external and internal) Incorporate your company's social networking strategy and policy as part of new hire orientation and training Brainstorm various worst case scenarios and develop anticipated responses to each Identify a "rapid response" team that will deal with the incidents - both internally and externally Prepare news release templates for various scenarios Develop outreach plans to regain consumer confidence
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INTERNAL CONSIDERATIONS Just like your externally facing social networking strategy, how you deal with the use of social networking inside your corporate walls (and the intersection of the two) requires special attention. The benefits of social media tools within your enterprise can be significant and can enhance core business functions such as: Communication o Employee to employee o Employee to consumer o Employee to partner Project, program and enterprise collaboration Information/knowledge management and filtering Product development and innovation But as we have seen from the previous section, the same tools that your employees for their day-to-day job functions are the same ones that give them direct access to your consumers - and the communities that shape your brand. Thus you need to pay special attention to the tools you provide for your employees and the expectations you set for their use.
EMBRACE THE NEW WAY OF WORKING "Wake up and smell the coffee"... We've all heard that expression many times. It's time for corporations to wake up and accept that continuous, real-time, two way social interaction is the new way of social and professional engagement. Only a small percentage of the global workforce is not tethered to an digital network of some sort, whether it be wired or wireless. Constant interaction, sharing and negotiating is the current economic and social model for conducting "business". From closing multi-million dollar deals to deciding where the gang is going for sushi. Near real-time collaboration is becoming the standard for deal development. Mash-ups are the new standard for application development. Instant polling provide real-time feedback on our decisions. And the list goes on and on. As corporate leaders our challenge is to not only recognize that the world of social networking has invaded the walls of the enterprise, but to embrace it and leverage it to our advantage. This requires letting go of the deep-rooted mental models of corporate hierarchies, organization charts and boundaries. The corporate presence has been extended into the consumer's domain and we are now part of their "world". We are now in the same "time and space" as those who generate our revenue regardless of geography and time zones. All this points to a new model of corporate leadership and requires a visible and tangible expression of your understanding FIGURE 1 - THREE BOLD MOVES of how social media and social networking enhances your company's business model - and makes your company a great place to work! To do this requires stepping out of our comfort zones (which is even harder during economic downturns) and making bold moves. So think about this... pick a Monday morning in the not-too-distant future and announce three bold moves for your company. This simple, but dramatic move will help to validate with your employees that you value their way of working and the contribution they make to the success of the corporation! robertkeahey.com
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RECOGNIZE DEMOGRAPHIC
DIFFERENCES AND BIASES
While we are all ready (or forced) to jump onto the social networking bandwagon, we also need to be sensitive to the fact that not everybody in the enterprise views this phenomenon in the same light. Some people are not comfortable with the level of interaction that is forced upon them by the new social media tools and techniques. Cultural differences or religious beliefs may prevent them from participating openly in certain scenarios. And some people may simply not be comfortable with the technology itself, preferring to use traditional means of communication and interacting. One of the critical tasks for the OOO will be the development of an employee outreach program to communicate the social networking strategy. This outreach program should be centered around the goals and objectives of the program so your employees have a clear understanding desired outcomes. But more importantly they should understand their role in the program and the expectations placed upon them. Only then can they feel comfortable participating in the new corporate community. Finally, you must provide the tools for everybody to be successful - including those who choose not to take the leap into the world of social media.
ESTABLISH REASONABLE POLICIES Almost every company in existence has a policy regarding the use of corporate resources - especially information technology assets. Typically these policies state that the assets are for business use only and should not be used for personal use - or at least they should be used "within reason". There is nothing wrong with establishing policies to protect the corporation and limit liability. But all too often these policies are not enforced during the employee's tenure with the company. More often they are dragged out and dusted off during litigation activities when the company is trying to recoup financial losses that may have occurred as a result of the employee's actions. Most corporate policies are written in legalese, with very little rationale for their existence and a lot of verbiage about what is not acceptable. As outlined above, the "new way of working" dictates a high level of interaction and transparency between you and your consumers. The same should hold true for your employees - they should have complete transparency to all aspects of the frameworks that make up your corporate policies. A good policy framework should do more than just "state the policy". It should provide insight and rationale into the policy and provide guidance for expected behavior. Figure 1 outlines a simple but comprehensive approach to establishing a policy framework that gives your employees a better understanding of the policy and provides resources that help them ensure the policy is correctly applied. Decisions - Describes the general decisions regarding the implementation of the policy and how they relate to the operation of the company. This should include insight into overall corporate governance of the policy and specific direction and guidance for all elements covered by the policy (e.g., social media usage, social networking participation, etc.).
FIGURE 2 - POLICY FRAMEWORK (SOURCE: SACHA CHUA - IBM)
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Scenarios - Outlines different examples of how social media should be used in different situations. This will give employees a tangible understanding of how the company sees social media and social networking being utilized to conduct business and contribute to the
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success of the corporation. The scenarios should also include examples of what can go wrong if social media is used incorrectly, and should provide guidance on the steps that should be followed when those situations occur. Best Practices - Provides guidance on establishing social media and social networking strategies and capabilities. Outlines methods for engagement of employees in the process of developing policies, capabilities and best practices. Should give employees guidance on what to do, instead of just not what to do. Resources - Provides a repository of best practices, methods, tools and guidelines for the use of different social media tools. Outlines the "do's" and "don'ts" for the use of tools. Includes training resources for the use of social media tools and social networking.
PROVIDE TOOLS If you don't, your employees will... The best way to manage uncontrolled proliferation of tools within your enterprise is to provide them as part of your business operations model. The tools that your consumers use to discover and acquire your products and services are the same tools that your employees need to conduct business with them. So trying to limit the use of those tools within your enterprise will seriously reduce your productivity and constrain your ability to compete. Part of the OOO's job is to determine the optimal mix of social media tools for the enterprise. A subset of the tools associated with the social networking platforms listed in Appendix A are commonly found in most enterprises today - Wikis, blogs, forums, etc. The OOO will need to determine the best approach to providing some of the more open, community based tools such as social networking sites, micro-blogging, and multimedia sites. Whether these are provided internally or externally depends on the maturity of the social networking strategy within the enterprise and how well the policies guiding the use of these tools have been developed and embraced by the employee community. Regardless of the approach used, the OOO should consider employing a strategy of social media and social networking aggregation to control the "sprawl" associated with today's highly distributed, disjointed and federated world. Application suites like Socialtext or Jive Software SBS provide a platform for integrating many of the social media tools into a single system, enhancing the value of your corporate data, providing a platform for rapid capability development and improving employee productivity.
ENCOURAGE DABBLING That's right. Encourage your employees to play with social media technologies and social networking. Today's workforce is comfortable with all aspects of digital technology and is accustomed to "creating their own space" so-to-speak. Innovation comes from many sources and providing the opportunity and environment for creativity can enhance your product and service development process. Consider creating the social media innovation lab mentioned earlier to provide an open test-bed for new ideas. However, as with any corporate resource, establish policies for its expected use and benefits. The net result of your efforts in this space will be motivated employees who feel like they are part of the corporate strategy and innovation process.
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SUMMARY Social media and social networking are here to stay - and are evolving at ever accelerating rates. To ignore this wave of human interaction and information technology innovation is simply not an option. Your enterprise no longer controls the adoption of these new ways of working. Your customers are shaping your brand, so you might as well join them in the process. But to do that you have to equip your workforce with the same methods and tools that your customer use. Before you jump into the fray you must develop a social networking strategy that will support both your customers and employees. There will be many bumps in the road on your journey to building a community of brand loyalists and creating a positive groundswell around your products and services. But proper planning and execution will help to make the trip much smoother. Your employees are the most powerful assets in your corporation. Shortchanging them when it comes to giving them the social media tools to do their job is myopic at best. It's up to you as leaders to take the bold steps required to embrace the new world order for social interaction and set a broad vision for your corporation. Do this correctly and your employees will rally behind you and give your company new found energy. Fail to take the necessary steps for creating an environment where your employees can explore and innovate and you will be relegated to a non-player status in the world of social networking. Good luck!
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APPENDIX A - SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS Social Networking Platform Blogs Microblogs Wikis Multimedia
Answer systems
Information ranking/filtering/voting Discussion forums Presence/instant messaging Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
Public social/professional networks
Social/professional network aggregators
Purpose Provide commentary or news on a particular subject with the optional capability to solicit responses Communicate "status" on items of interest using brief updates or micromedia Creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages by an community of interest Creation and publishing of picture/audio/video content for public consumption Community driven knowledge markets that present aggregated content from individual contributors and other reference websites Create instant online polls to collect, rank and filter public opinion Persistent online discussions on a particular topic of interest Text-based communication between two or more participants over the internet or mobile devices Newsfeed and information aggregation and distribution on a "push" basis Multifunction websites where individuals invite and connect to communities of friends (or people with similar interests) for sharing and integrating real-time status, multi-media and/or businessrelated content Products that aggregate multiple aspects (email, microblogs, wikis, instant messaging, etc.) of social networks into an integrated platform
Examples Typepad, Wordpress, Six Apart, Blogger Twitter, Yammer, Plurk, Jaiku, identi.ca Wikipedia, MediaWiki, Atlassian, MindTouch YouTube, Yahoo! Video, MySpaceTV, Flickr Yahoo! Answers, Answers, Answerbag Votingplace, Linkedin Polls, Misterpoll, Micropoll Yahoo! Groups, Google Groups, ForumCo, ProBoards AOL AIM, Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Wave (beta). SMS FeedBurner, NetVibes, Pageflakes
Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Linkedin, SocialGo, Boardex, Hi5, Orkut, Bebo
SocialText, Jive Software
TABLE 2 - SOCIAL NETWORKING PLATFORMS
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ABOUT ROBERTKEAHEY.COM Successfully identifying, analyzing and creating compelling value propositions for emerging technologies that drive both top and bottom line value for global enterprises of all sizes is Robert Keahey’s expertise. Mr. Keahey, who holds an Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) V3 Foundation certification, brings to his clients a successful track record of innovation, strategic technology and business planning and development, superior service delivery and operational know-how complimented by a variety of information technology industry experiences. He has a network into high level executives in the information technology industry and has partnered with key players such as Microsoft, Sun, Cisco, EMC and Oracle to develop industry leading capabilities. He also has relationships with numerous venture capital firms and has assisted in the evaluation, development and acceleration of the business plans of several of their portfolio companies. Contact Robert Keahey via his website at www.robertkeahey.com
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