Social Media Tools

Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker gives an excellent macro Internet presentation at Web 2.0 Summit each year. Internet trends and the economy - mobile impact on markets, retailers, advertising, e-comm.

Employees are able to collaborate and share what they know with other employees and learn what they don't know about customers. To go further, these social applications can be opened up so parts of the them (idea management) can help customers provide feedback, make reviews, or share ideas on how to improve products and services. This works. Take a look at Amazon.

The open-source software movement developed because people had an "itch to scratch". One that "off-the-shelf" software did not support or was too costly to use. In the open source community people want to contribute, learn and share their knowledge and experience. They want to participate in a rich learning environment. They want to be able to get their work done and make a difference. We know from experience that these ideas work in a business environment.

The following three posts have a wealth of information, ideas and tips for business managers and CIO's about social media, web 2.0, social networking, and online communities. The fact is, this stuff, social software has to be used to be fully appreciated. It takes time to grasp its power and usefulness. Workplace social software and communities need to be understood from both, a regular user view point and from an administrator (control) view point. You bet, this is work.

Wow - Check out this article, "Mobile Social Networking Revenues Could Reach Us$52 Billion by 2012", from Cellular News.

From CW, "Are You Obsolete? How to stay relevant in the world of Web 2.0, Wii and other wonders. According to a growing chorus of IT leaders, consultants and bloggers, IT needs to shift into a new role. It should continue its traditional responsibilities, such as governance, security and control of costs and return on investment.

Danah Boyd, apophenia, has taken up the discussion on defining social networking technology. Be sure to check out the comments.

"let's define our terms: what is a "social networking technology"?" by danah boyd.

Here's a how-to book on using the wisdom of crowds or "the global brain" to harness creativity and innovation. I haven't read it but the amount of academic research has florished the last two yeas so this new book probably has some new ideas for business development managers.

"Want to Create Innovative Products? Tap into the 'Global Brain'" [reg req]

Published: November 29, 2007 in India [email protected]

"The growing number of companies offering private-label social network solutions, as well as IBM's recent entry into the field with its Lotus Connections social software platform for business, is a sure sign of increased demand. Other companies, like LinkedIn and Ryze, have social networking at the core of product offerings that generate revenue by bringing offline business networking practices into the online world. And corporations are continuing to incorporate advertising on affinity networks in their campaigns to reach highly targeted audiences with measurable response rates.