Explorations in a new business classroom
A look at ways in which social software is able to deliver business benefits
Monday 20 August 2007, 4:21 PM
Social software 101 or – the business essentials of Web 2.0
The last year has seen a great deal written and hyped about social software. There has been an implication that something new is happening, and that if you don’t know about it and harness it in your organization, you face redundancy and ruin. Well perhaps not ruin, but at least seemingly to be seriously behind the times, which in the technology news area is about as bad as it gets.
So what is social software and why should you care? Over the next few days I will look at the main categories and some examples of each, both at the introductory level and taking a business focused perspective, the ‘what is it good for’ approach.
Please make comments, ask questions, and let me know if these are adding enough detail. If possible add interesting examples of your own usage of social software.
Social software is not new. When email was first run on the networks that would become the internet, ARPANET (in about 1970), it was considered a minor feature, yet in the concluding report on ARPANET usage the massive use of email was the “largest single surprise!”
What is new, are the rapidly increasing range of tools for finding, storing and sharing experience using the internet. It is this range that I will consider in this series of primers.
So what is social software and why should you care? Over the next few days I will look at the main categories and some examples of each, both at the introductory level and taking a business focused perspective, the ‘what is it good for’ approach.
Please make comments, ask questions, and let me know if these are adding enough detail. If possible add interesting examples of your own usage of social software.
Social software is not new. When email was first run on the networks that would become the internet, ARPANET (in about 1970), it was considered a minor feature, yet in the concluding report on ARPANET usage the massive use of email was the “largest single surprise!”
What is new, are the rapidly increasing range of tools for finding, storing and sharing experience using the internet. It is this range that I will consider in this series of primers.
Thursday 9 August 2007, 12:46 PM
Facebook and those online advertisers fears – again
Last week six major companies withdrew their advertising spend from Facebook. Their concern was the occurrence of their branding on the Facebook pages belonging to the British National Party. According to the BBC News website the BNP responded by questioning any need to avoid their party. While it is easy to see why responsible companies would indeed want to shun association with a political machine mired in racism, it is harder to see how companies can still be surprised by the connections that are brought about by the internet.
Online advertising is pretty new, even if we place its inception with pioneers like HotWired selling fourteen banner spaces in 1994. That gives a history of only a little over a dozen years. In that time, there have been plenty of fears. From early concerns over territorial rights and the implications of reaching a global market (which symbiotically reinforced early government attempts to facilitate business growth on the information superhighway), to the massive and largely self fuelling investments in establishing presence (ideally as first mover) in those heady dot com days, to the realization that Doubleclick’s cookies could tell a sordid story of most men’s browsing preferences… Online advertising has been a roller coaster of potential and fear, worthy of the best amusement rides.
What has been learned? Well, quite a bit really – the banners of the late 90s look very dated compared with the interactive and targeted ads we see today. Placement is focused far more consistently - indeed the list of those advertisers who withdrew from Facebook (First Direct, Vodafone, Virgin Media, the AA, Halifax and the Prudential) are indicative of major companies who recognize the potential value of Facebook’s users .
Google adwords is setting an ever higher expectation of relevance and targeting. Online advertising spend is greater than on radio, and is growing faster than any other sector.
While the six companies in question may be pleased to have been seen to avoid being linked to the BNP, the longer term certainty is they will find ways to reach the Facebook audience again, and soon. When unwanted material is only a click away on the internet, there will continue to be a pendulum like relationship between the utility of online advertising, and the risks.
Online advertising is pretty new, even if we place its inception with pioneers like HotWired selling fourteen banner spaces in 1994. That gives a history of only a little over a dozen years. In that time, there have been plenty of fears. From early concerns over territorial rights and the implications of reaching a global market (which symbiotically reinforced early government attempts to facilitate business growth on the information superhighway), to the massive and largely self fuelling investments in establishing presence (ideally as first mover) in those heady dot com days, to the realization that Doubleclick’s cookies could tell a sordid story of most men’s browsing preferences… Online advertising has been a roller coaster of potential and fear, worthy of the best amusement rides.
What has been learned? Well, quite a bit really – the banners of the late 90s look very dated compared with the interactive and targeted ads we see today. Placement is focused far more consistently - indeed the list of those advertisers who withdrew from Facebook (First Direct, Vodafone, Virgin Media, the AA, Halifax and the Prudential) are indicative of major companies who recognize the potential value of Facebook’s users .
Google adwords is setting an ever higher expectation of relevance and targeting. Online advertising spend is greater than on radio, and is growing faster than any other sector.
While the six companies in question may be pleased to have been seen to avoid being linked to the BNP, the longer term certainty is they will find ways to reach the Facebook audience again, and soon. When unwanted material is only a click away on the internet, there will continue to be a pendulum like relationship between the utility of online advertising, and the risks.
Tuesday 31 July 2007, 11:52 AM
Explorations in a new business classroom
This was a year of social computing like never before. While the number of registered users of Facebook and Myspace has grown rapidly, my own corner of cyberspace has had its own social revolution. One year ago we chose to install Elgg on the University of Brighton intranet. Elgg is an open source framework that gives users of our intranet a number of social tools. When a user logs on she can see who else in logged into the intranet, and who has added to their blog most recently. A tag cloud indicates what subjects are being blogged about most actively. When a user registers an interest in a topic or thread of discussion – alerts indicate any activity since she has last logged on.
None of these features are in themselves new, indeed it is these tools that form the core functions of the currently disputed Facebook, but their impact on a working environment is offering new opportunities for research and collaboration. And to deploy them in an organization of thirty three thousand in still not common. Indeed, shortly after the installation went live, researchers at MIT contacted Stan Stanier, the learning technologies manager, to ask about the impact of being the most socially networked university in the world!
As with much in the world of academia, the answers are slow to emerge, and one year in, the University of Brighton is preparing initial research into what some of the impacts have been. As the research emerges, I will use this space to consider its implications, both for learning environments and also for business.
What value might there be to business in a set of social tools? Indicators across a range of research show that many businesses gain when it is easy for information to be accessed, when expertise can be found and shared and especially where a culture that fosters knowledge sharing can be developed. Over the next few days I will look at academic research that shows ways in which social software is able to deliver these (and other) business benefits. But for now it is time to walk my puppies before they return to a classic genre of social networking – barking at my neighbors.
My Technorati Profile
None of these features are in themselves new, indeed it is these tools that form the core functions of the currently disputed Facebook, but their impact on a working environment is offering new opportunities for research and collaboration. And to deploy them in an organization of thirty three thousand in still not common. Indeed, shortly after the installation went live, researchers at MIT contacted Stan Stanier, the learning technologies manager, to ask about the impact of being the most socially networked university in the world!
As with much in the world of academia, the answers are slow to emerge, and one year in, the University of Brighton is preparing initial research into what some of the impacts have been. As the research emerges, I will use this space to consider its implications, both for learning environments and also for business.
What value might there be to business in a set of social tools? Indicators across a range of research show that many businesses gain when it is easy for information to be accessed, when expertise can be found and shared and especially where a culture that fosters knowledge sharing can be developed. Over the next few days I will look at academic research that shows ways in which social software is able to deliver these (and other) business benefits. But for now it is time to walk my puppies before they return to a classic genre of social networking – barking at my neighbors.
My Technorati Profile
