social networking
Tuesday 5 October 2010
You’ll never walk alone
What exactly do we mean when we talk about community? It’s a really hard word to define (Wikipedia, rather bizarrely, tell us that “there were ninety-four discrete definitions of the term by the mid-1950s”), and many of the definitions you’ll find today – especially from social media consultants – are not so much descriptive as rhetorical. Here at SiftGroups, we use this definition:
Community: An evolving group of interacting people organized around common values and...
Thursday 11 March 2010
Give us the widgets
“We’ve got to have a Twitter widget” – one of the key phrases used by web teams in 2008 and 2009. Prior to that, the best thing since sliced bread was having a Google map on your Contact Us page, or perhaps a nice AJAX-powered dynamic postcode lookup gadget. The truth is, some popular new technical tools are here to stay and others will fall by the wayside. The challenge for any organisation looking to take advantage of these emerging tools is the sheer pace at which they...
Monday 1 March 2010
Previously we have exercised ourselves over the meaning of ‘social media’ and the importance of a ‘social media policy’. With that as background it was clear from a recent talk I gave on ‘Creating an integrated social media strategy’ at the TFM&A show that there were plenty of people looking for answers.
What is social media?
To get us all in the same place it’s important to clarify the words we use. In this context when we say ‘social media’ we actually mean ‘online social...
Monday 21 September 2009
On the outside it’s surprising how many businesses rely on the continuing buying habits of their customers when times are hard. For many the assumption is that inertia will prevail despite the economic gloom. On the inside it’s understandable. After all many business models are based on our inertia – our reticence to change.
The one inertia selling model that breaches the Distance Selling Regulations is the demand for payment for goods or services supplied when you haven...
Tuesday 11 August 2009
It’s tempting to imagine that our current ‘social revolution’ driven by the uptake of the Internet is changing who we are and how we behave. But like all other revolutions – political, cultural, industrial – it reconfirms just how adaptive a species we are. We continue to respond to and make the best of new environments and new opportunities just like our ancestors did. Celebrities with 50,000 ‘followers’ on Twitter, students with 500 Facebook ‘friends’, professionals with 300 LinkedIn...