Want To Learn How To Use Social Media For Business Benefits?

Want to know more about Twitter, Facebook, wikis, RSS, blogging and social bookmarking etc?I am running a workshop on November 17th called:

Social Business – Making sense of Social Media

Come if you would like to learn how to use social media for the good of your business, or even if you want to learn how social networking for personal benefit.

I will be joined by my Bright Beehive colleague Nick O’Doherty and the event is being put on as a joint collaboration with Idea Space. It should be good fun as well as hugely informative.

My other blog – Bright Beehive Blog – is a great source of information about this area. Click if you would like to become a fan of the Bright Beehive Page.

What Is Web 2.0?

Many of my friends don’t know what Web 2.0 is. Web 2.0 is basically the second generation of the web. The first generation was mostly broadcast based, i.e. You’d pay an agency tens of thousands of pounds to build you a website and then you’d leave it to go out of date immediately.

Web 2.0 incorporates funky features making it more rough and ready (and  therefore current). All this ensures that a website has less quality control some people argue but as Lee Bryant from Headshift says, “People take rough and ready more seriously than polished docs because they have authenticity.” Here’s some Web 2.0 characteristics:

• Blogs – one writer or writing team. (Usually anyone can comment on a blog post).
• Wikis – many writers/editors (e.g. wikipedia)
• RSS – the wee orange button. Set this up with an RSS reader and the web will COME TO YOU!
• Mashups – bit like things you hear on the radio like The Clash with a kid girl rapping over it except in web format.

There’s other characteristics also but that should do you. If you wanna read more try the ultimate Web 2.0 site here.

Web 2.0 and beyond

Last week I went to a conference of Web 2.0 and how it can be used within business. I could go on about it but Ricardo Sueiras has done that already, and he’s done it brilliantly. Check out Day 1 and Day 2. Thanks Ric!

Social Media Tools In Business

Notes from Lee Bryant’s presentation from Headshift:

• “Networking productivity trumps personal productivity” (I never caught who Lee was quoting).
• Companies are good at managing documents.
• Companies are not good at managing pre-documents. Wikis are.
• People take rough’n'ready more seriously than polished docs cos  they have more authenticity.
• Digital natives = the facebook and post-FB generation.
• eLearning is great for a McJob.
• Wikis and blogs are great for personal development.

Web 2.0 vs. Risk

As Euan Semple says “risk is the last bastion of IT”. It’s easier for risk to say no than it is to get them to do a bit of neck-putting-on-line and this is understandable. Today I was at the conference organised by David Gurteen called Web 2.0 and Beyond: Applying social and collaborative tools to business where I asked Headshift‘s Lee Bryant for ideas on how to get large organisations to adopt RSS and wikis more fully into their clunky-by-nature IT and business structures particularly around Risk. Lee advised to get board management onto the idea. The idea is not to get around Risk but to get the rules changed. Keep everyone happy. It makes for an easier life. (That was me talking at the end and not Lee).

Web 2.0: Tips On Getting Firms To Use Social Tools

• Run pilots.
• Create small.
• Limit the invites to create mistique. (Think of how gmail is rolled out).
• Better to give these tools and then deal with the risk afterwards.