Archive for the ‘groundswell’ Category

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Social Media for Accountants – the real thing

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Intro

To recap:

DFK is:

a major international association of independent accounting firms and business advisers that has been meeting the needs of clients with interests in more than one country for 45 years. The association now has over 300 offices across the world.

DFK International creates special value for clients with cross-border interests. DFK member firms enjoy effective cooperation throughout the world resulting in the ability to deliver international services on time and at a competitive cost.

Fascinating to find out that I should be speaking at an event for a far-flung business networking organisation!

The Burns Supper

I thought it might be a good idea to go up the night before – there was a set-piece Burns Supper with haggis. Our table had a great vibe, but not enough grub: maybe we were just being greedy [shurely not! – Ed.]

Speakers

Anyway, we had fine food, and speeches by:

Format

Followed the traditional form of Burns Suppers

Video of Rab Tait

Rab Tait – champion piper was on hand to pipe the haggis into our dining room. Also to give Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” – priceless, as you can see by the rough video below.

All in all, a very enjoyable evening, with good company on our table of Scott from Glasgow, Shane from Dublin, and Paul & Nick from London I believe.

Photos

The Morning

  • Some people were holding their heads in their hands, and I wasn’t sure whether this was because of
    • the content
    • my delivery, or
    • they had had a very enjoyable evening!

Slides

This is the deck I delivered:

Intro to Social Media – for Accounts (the real thing)

Video

I made a recording of my presentation, which is of better quality than the screenshot below. You can be your own judge of how informative it was… n.b. it’s probably 55 minutes, so if you’ve watched it all the way through – I’d love your feedback. Thanks!

Once piece of constructive feedback is that there was probably too much content on the slides. Unfortunately I haven’t reached heights of greatness akin to Tara Hunt or Stowe Boyd. :-(

Anyway, feel free to whack whatever comments you might have below.

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, blogging, business networking, collaboration, customer service, digital nervous system, education, enterprise 2.0, experiment, facebook, groundswell, ideas, marketing, technology, tools, twitter, video, work | Comments

Excellent Social Media case studies by Ron Ploof

Monday, September 21st, 2009

High recommended reading to see how large companies are using Social Media. Enjoy!

Social Media and PR

The Ranger Station Fire

Johnson & Johnson does New Media

Johnson &Johnson Case Study – Social Media

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Web 2.0, blogging, business networking, collaboration, education, enterprise 2.0, groundswell, ideas, innovation, marketing, technology, tools, twitter, work | Comments

Social Media numbers – c/o Marketing Charts

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Introduction

I put this document together recently when I was involved with a bid recently.

These incredibly useful numbers / quotes etc. were culled from the Marketing Charts website – brilliant site, although I do wonder if the companies involved ‘place’ the reports on it to further their own agenda. That said, the stats are great – in this case, about Social Media.

If you’re interested in which report I got the data from – go to the Marketing Charts website, and search using the exact words from the titles of a particular section: it should bring up the original report. As they say, Enjoy!

Document

Social Media Research (With Highlights) v0.2

Sample from Marketing Charts

You can also download data from this page, e.g.:

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, advertising, customer service, facebook, groundswell, marketing, research, work | Comments

The Social Media pendulum starts to swing back

Monday, July 13th, 2009

I was reading the Groundswell blog post below, and it got me thinking about my own use of Social Media, and how I haven’t been using Twitter quite so much recently – which is probably a *good* thing! ;-D

So, I thought it might be useful to reflect a bit and also relay a couple of interesting multimedia riffs on this theme:

  • Social Media as a lifestyle?
  • Gartner hype cycle
  • Twitter posters from Flickr
  • Spoof Social Media expert video

Social Media as a lifestyle?

Key quote from Groundswell blog post: Social technology: a way of life . . . or just a damn hobby?:

“As I see people immersing themselves in social technology I am reminded of this argument. Are you twittering all the time? Blogging every thought? Keeping up with every discussion about your topic? If this is your full-time job, you’re like the fans who landed the jobs in publishing — good for you. If not, your boss, your coworkers, and maybe your customers are wondering why you’re not fully there, even when you’re with them. If you’re working at Facebook maybe social is a way of life (SIAWOL?). Not sure if that applies if you’re at Best Buy or Accenture.

I’m not arguing you should give up social media. Staying connected is terrific. I’m blogging, twittering, facebooking and emailing (yes, that too) frequently. But it’s not a way of life, it’s a useful communications tool. (Would you ever say “email is a way of life?”) I love to connect in these social worlds. I also like to take a moment to step back and think once in a while, instead of being caught up in the whirlpool at every moment. And whether it’s a client engagement, a briefing, an event, or just a discussion in the hallway, I try to be fully present. People seem to appreciate it, and I learn things from those other interactions, just as I learn them within the groundswell.

Do you have trouble with this balance? How do you sort it out? I’m avidly interested in your answers.”

Gartner hype cycle

When I worked at Fujitsu Services, I had access to reports from Gartner and Forrester, amongst others [mmm, analyst report…].

Gartner had a great analytical tool, called the Hype Cycle:

Interpreting Technology Hype
When new technologies make bold promises, how do you discern the hype from what’s commercially viable? And when will such claims pay off, if at all? Gartner Hype Cycles provide a graphic representation of the maturity and adoption of technologies and applications, and how they are potentially relevant to solving real business problems and exploiting new opportunities. Gartner Hype Cycle methodology gives you a view of how a technology or application will evolve over time, providing a sound source of insight to manage its deployment within the context of your specific business goals.

This “Understanding hype cycles” page is a great explainer, as is this diagram:

Gartner Hype Cycle Slides

View more documents from Gartner.

Bottom line is that I’m wondering whether we’re at the Peak of Inflated Expectations for the whole concept of Social Media, but maybe just for mainstream businesses? Let me know what you think!

Think Dot com bust re Trough of Disillusionment – i.e. people asking “Emperor’s New Clothes”-type questions…

Check out this sneaky re-publish of one of their reports for an example.

Twitter posters from Flickr – style of WWII propaganda

Umm, I probably just wanted to publish these, as they’re rather good. But also worthwhile pondering the downside of too much opening of the kimono!

Hat tip to Al Smith

Spoof Social Media expert video

I think those of us who put ourselves forward as having experience / expertise in the Social Media arena need to have a) a sense of humour, and b) a sense of our own credibility issues. This clip is painfully perceptive!

Hat tip to Neville Hobson

So, a bit of an omnibus post with added multimedia, but sparked by Josh Bernoff’s musings. Thought-provoking IMO.

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Posted in Business, Social Media, blogging, enterprise 2.0, groundswell, ideas, technology, tools | Comments

SCL joins NEESPR!

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

A post to announce that Souter Consulting Limited has joined the North East Service Provider Register. Quick quote from the e-mail:

Dear Justin,

I am pleased to tell you that you have now achieved Full NEESPR approval. Your NEESPR Pin number is 12640. You may be asked for this pin number in the future by a broker.

NEESPR describes itself as:

… a regional register of service providers that can provide business development solutions to the north east business community. This is the only register being used by all Business Link Brokers to impartially source provision for their clients. Use of the NEESPR is also extending to other business support organisations in the region.

I was having a bit Google search re what others were saying about their membership of NEESPR. So, being in a hurry, and finding that Octopus Media Ltd had summarised the situation rather nicely, I’m quoting them saying that they’re:

[…] an approved supplier on the North East England Service Provider Register (NEESPR). This means we can help you take advantage of government funding which is available for North East businesses, including those based in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland and County Durham.

Applicants to the register are assessed and approved to ensure they are able to provide a high level of service to referred customers. High standards in both customer service and the quality of our work are required to ensure continued inclusion on the NEESPR register.

Funding is available for both start ups and existing business’ and can help pay for web development, web design, brand identity, logo design, print design, marketing, and search engine optimisation.

The availability of funding changes all the time and up to date information can be obtained directly from your local Business Link branch.

Good points, all of them! btw I’ve quoted Octopus & credited them because I’ve seen a couple of different companies who seem to be sharing very similar wordings [but different from the above]. Best pay credit where it’s due… ;-)

So, if you are looking for assistance around

  • Social Media strategy & fulfilment (e.g. how can I use blogging & Twitter for my business?)
  • Document, Information & Knowledge Management, and using collaborative technologies in general
  • Management of Change to help your people adapt to new technologies & new ways of working / thinking
  • Cloud computing strategy
  • High-level technical strategy for SMEs
  • Leading-edge tools like Virtual Worlds or those to support innovation

- please get in touch!

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Posted in Business, Cloud computing, Social Media, Web 2.0, blogging, customer service, digital nervous system, enterprise 2.0, groundswell, innovation, mashup, metaverse, north east england, second life, technology, virtual worlds, work | Comments

Raising your Whuffie

Friday, June 12th, 2009

This post looks at the importance of Social Capital online.

For those of you who attended Thinking Digital recently, we were treated to Tara Hunt tour-de-force which, unfortunately, was too quick & snappy for me to live blog :-(. I’m therefore embedding the presentation so you can see for yourself. :-)

Happiness as Your Business Model

As a result of her presentation, I have recently read, and am now re-reading “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”, a classic IMHO. In it, Cory Doctorow introduces the concept of Whuffie.

Tara explains Whuffie in the Social Media context

Doing some business development-related research, I found this rather fine summary from Tara herself about Whuffie, and what it’s all about. Enjoy!

The Whuffie Factor from missrogue on Vimeo.

Tara is currently plugging her book The Whuffie Factor, of which this is a summary:

The book that will catch the crest of Web 2.0 and show how any business can harness its power by increasing their Whuffie, the store of social capital that is the currency of the digital world.

Everyone knows about blogs and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. And they’ve heard about someone who has used them to grow a huge customer base. Everyone wants to be hands-on, grass roots and interactive. But what does this mean? And more to the point, how do you do it?

As one who has actually launched a company using the power of online communities, and who now advises big and small companies, Tara Hunt is the perfect person to do this book. The San Francisco Chronicle, in fact, named her as one of the Digital Utopians who populate Web 2.0, along with luminaries like Jimmy Wales and Tim O’ Reilly and Fast Company named her one of the Most Influential Women in Tech.

While The Whuffie Factor will traverse the landscape of Web 2.0 and show you how to become a player, it is not just another book about online marketing. People see the huge business potential of the online world and the first impulse is: let’s throw a bunch of money at it. To which Tara Hunt says: “Stop! Money isn’t the capital of choice in online communities, it is Whuffie – social capital – and how to raise it is the heart of this book.” In the Web 2.0 world, market capital flows from having high social capital. Without Whuffie you lose your connections and any recommendation you make will be seen as spam, met with negative reactions and a loss of social capital.

The Whuffie Factor is a breakthrough book, providing the strategic map and specific tactics for success in the lucrative, but strange and elusive world of online communities. As Tara Hunt has found, online success comes from building a community and being part of it – not by pushing a product or service. If you want to learn the secret sauce behind Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, you have to use them until you love them.

The Whuffie Factor is already on my Amazon wishlist… ;-)

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Posted in Business, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, collaboration, customer service, enterprise 2.0, gateshead, groundswell, thinking digital | Comments

Thinking Digital live blogs posts #tdc

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Hello! Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Herb for the shout and link to my live-blogs of Thinking Digital. :-D

For your convenience, this is the list of posts which have embedded Cover it Live sessions:

  1. Social Media Masterclass hosted by Stowe Boyd #TDC
  2. Session One: (Present at the Creation) #TDC
  3. Session Two: (Disturbing the Universe) #TDC – apologies to Curtis Wong, I thought Tara’s talk was the end of the session, and couldn’t fire up CiL again to cover Curtis… :$
  4. Session Three: (Thinking Digital) #TDC
  5. Session Four: (Stop Making Sense) #TDC
  6. Session Five: (Unconventional Wisdom) #TDC
  7. Session Six: (Content and it’s Discontents) #TDC
  8. Session Seven: (Thinking Post-Digital) #TDC

Please refer to the bottom of this post, SCL & Thinking Digital (including Live Blogging info) #TDC, which has further details of Cover It Live and how I have used this rather good tool in the past.

I’m just about to edit sessions 1 & 2, as I recall I used the session 2 Cover it Live instance for session 1 and vice-versa. Oops! ;$

btw, the titles have #tdc in them because I use Twitterfeed to pipe the titles through to Twitter. Also, check out this link for Twitter Search for instances of #tdc use.

UPDATE – right, I think the CiL sessions should match the blogs posts. :-D

Posted in Social Media, Web 2.0, blogging, customer service, enjoyable, enterprise 2.0, gateshead, groundswell, ideas, media, north east england, technology, thinking digital | Comments

Social Media Masterclass hosted by Stowe Boyd #TDC

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

At Eye on the Tyne, 9 – 11 Broad Chare, Newcastle, NE1 3DQ, 0191 261 7385

Panel

Live blog

Posted in Business, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, blogging, customer service, enterprise 2.0, facebook, gateshead, groundswell, ideas, innovation, north east england, technology, thinking digital | Comments

Is Spec Work Evil? The Online Creative Community Speaks

Sunday, March 15th, 2009
PRESENTERS
  • Mike Samson – crowdspring.com
  • David Carson – davidcarsondesign
  • Jeff Howe – Wired Magazine
  • Jeffrey Kalmikoff – skinnyCorp/Threadless
  • Jeremiah Owyang – Forrester
DESCRIPTION

The ‘no-spec’ movement has long held sway in the design community but the web has created a new model for design that allows a freer exchange of ideas and inspiration, and more ways to enter the design profession than ever before. What does social creativity look like?

Posted in Business, Web 2.0, bonkers, collaboration, digital mission, enjoyable, experiment, graphic design, groundswell, interesting, psychology, research, sxsw, technology, work | Comments

Web 2.0 articles in bdaily #8 – Conclusion

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

n.b. This was originally published on bdaily.

2007NOV221237

Photo credit to bootload

“Web 2.0: Conclusion

With Justin Souter of Souter Consulting

Part 4 [sic] of a series of articles on the application of Web 2.0

In writing this conclusion, I first would like to thank you for staying with me since January, and for your comments and informal feedback – much appreciated!

However, I feel this article is less a conclusion, more an invitation to go and explore for yourselves what I’ve discussed.

Please support further articles in this series – I am lining up at least one further contributor, so let me know if you’re interested or need help. You might also wish to sign up to the Tuttle North East mailing list, to network with others with similar interests in this area.

I’m conscious that I have mainly ‘accentuated the positive’, when there are numerous downsides and new rules to learn. Groundswell’s authors, for example, discuss Social Media tools and ‘How they threaten institutional power‘ . Psychologist Oliver James asserts that “Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity.” The preface to Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0 states:

“But Web 2.0 also embodies a set of unintended consequences, including the increased flow of personal information across networks, the diffusion of one’s identity across fractured spaces, the emergence of powerful tools for peer surveillance, the exploitation of free labor for commercial gain, and the fear of increased corporatization of online social and collaborative spaces and outputs.”

In an organisational context, many managers feel that Web 2.0 (and social media in particular) are lowering productivity and employee focus, and restricting access to these tools as a result. IMHO this is also the case for using the phone and checking personal e-mails at work, so at best this is a short-term measure, and at worst a longer-term mistake:

“In [Don] Tapscott’s view, many chief information officers (CIOs) do not understand the potential of tools such as Twitter, wikis, blogs and collaboration networks, as well as the cost involved in introducing systems that bring value to the business.

“There are many tools that can really aid effective collaboration and they are not necessarily costly. Those systems are every bit as important as customer relationship management systems or enterprise resource planning platforms,” he said.”

Jeff’s review of Groundswell states it “is about relationships, not technologies.” As David Coxon suggested to me, this can leave the IT Department in a bind because your team members might be using cloud-based tools which your techies don’t control or necessarily understand – and the details of contacts go with the employee when they leave.

On a more positive note, Jeff’s review continues: “The 7 lessons from great Groundswell thinkers are:

  1. Never forget that the groundswell is about person-to-person activity
  2. Be a good listener
  3. Be patient
  4. Be opportunistic
  5. Be flexible
  6. Be collaborative
  7. Be humble”

So, you’ve been tellt!”

Posted in Business, Cloud computing, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0, blogging, enjoyable, enterprise 2.0, groundswell, ideas, innovation, interesting, mashup, metaverse, north east england, second life, technology, thinking digital, twitter, virtual worlds | Comments

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