Anne Hoffman's List: Value Networks Research and Examples

Are you considering social networking in your enterprise? Surprise! We are too. We started off the process with certain perceptions about what the application should do and shouldn't do. If you think that your employees (especially the younger ones) want social networking within the enterprise just to have "fun" - think again. If you think it is purely for improving collaboration and productivity - ponder more. How do we know? We did a focus group with employees who are recent college graduates. Here is what we learned.

We have officially completed our exploration process to determine the value of social networking within our enterprise. This is included conversations with industry analysts; IT peers; a proof-of-concept (POC); usage model work; focus groups and human factors engineering. The first lesson we learned is to not call it "social" networking. It was wrought with images of kids throwing virtual pies at each other. Our new terminology for the capability within the enterprise is now Professional Networking.

Social networks are all the rage and many of my posts at OnlineMarketerBlog recommend social tools for businesses. However, there are potential pitfalls to consider before you facilitate interaction between customers and your business.

Here are 21 things your business should consider before starting a social network...

April 03, 2008
Analysis Of Social Networks: Telling Old Stories In New Ways
Based on the incredible amount of media coverage, many people might believe that social networks are a recent discovery – a phenomena resulting from consumer participation in web sites such as Myspace, LinkedIn and Facebook. However, research, analysis and theories on the subject began over a century ago. ...

All we do here at Ignite Social Media is social media marketing. So we watch it carefully, looking for trends, what’s coming next, what’s likely to bubble up. And it’s got me thinking. I believe that social media is in its infancy.
But I’m quite sure we don’t have it all figured out yet. FriendFeed is a perfect example. What could be an interesting utility is a lengthy stream of noise so far. The design is not very friendly. That’s just one example.
So, based on the assumption that we have a long way to go, here are 5 predictions on the future of social media, ranked from shortest time horizon to longest.

wowOwow is a free daily Internet website created, run and written by Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Liz Smith, Joni Evans, Mary Wells, Sheila Nevins, Joan Juliet Buck, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Reed, Joan Ganz Cooney, Judith Martin, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, and Marlo Thomas.

It’s easy to set up an online community. Buy some hosting, pick the tool of your liking and without too much effort you should have set up a ‘community’ in no time.

August 11, 2008 (Computerworld)
This article originally appeared in Computerworld's print edition.
Microsoft calls it TownSquare. Deloitte hosts D Street. IBM has its Beehive, and Best Buy its BlueShirt Nation.
No, it's not a real estate explosion. In industries from retail to high tech, banking and manufacturing, companies are increasingly building networks behind the firewall where employees can create profiles and connect with one another in ways first demonstrated by LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace.

Sarah Perez on ReadWriteWeb today argues that the next social networks will be powered By WordPress and Movable Type. She bases her conclusion on the excellent new release of MovableType that delivers a full social networking solution, and Automattic’s Buddypress acquisition for WordPress, a solution that turns WordPress MU into a social networking platform.
The offers from both WordPress (WP) and MovableType (MT) are positive steps forward in the evolution of the self hosted blogging platform, but availability doesn’t equate to takeup. Some social networks in the future may well use MT or WP, but the next wave of social networks will NOT be powered by WordPress and MovableType.

August 25, 2008 at 8:44 pm · Filed under Social Media ·Tagged Social Media, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 tools

The article pasted below is a very accurate portrayal of many of the conversations I have with businesses in my daily consulting practice. It doesn’t suprise me that:

1. Businesses use of Web 2.0 technologies seem to be slowing down

2. Web 2.0 techniques and even language is not embraced or understood at the executive level

...

Social media won't be disappearing soon.
This whole “blogosphere” thing
has gone from a social phenomenon to a full-blown media outlet.
Yet
today, many companies still do not measure the impact social media is having on
them—an issue Katie Paine, head of KD Paine & Partners and social media
measurement expert, runs into all the time and which she attributes to a fear of
measurement.

Corporations simply don't have the best reputation among consumers, despite
their claims of being "customer focused." With the growing popularity of social
media, however, comes an opportunity for companies to engage meaningfully with
customers and turn that perception around.

It seems like everywhere you turn - mass media,
blogs
,
conferences
(like London’s Social Media Conference pictured
here) all around the world - the story is consistent. Your business, large or
small, needs to harness social media to ensure success in today’s wired world.
A recent poll even suggests that almost half of the business leaders
polled felt that
social media was
more important than mass media
.

In ways large and small, in places near and far, the Internet is changing just about everything. Here are a few examples