I remember two or three years ago having conversations with colleagues about the eventual penetration of social software and web services into the work-o-sphere of organizations ... I called it something vague, like "blog-like derivatives".

Here, via Rob Patterson's link to an announcement by SocialText's Ross Mayfield, is an early example of the types of "solutions" that are now available to organizations.

As I and others have noted before, it's very likely that the use of such configurations will lead to interesting changes to the design of work, and lead to a greater need for organizational development initiatives ... coaching, moderation, workshops addressing corporate blogging (external and internal) and the use of wikis, etc.  Ley's call it eOD for now.

Today we announced SuiteTwo, The Enterprise 2.0 Suite powered by Intel. Intel is distributing the Best of Breed wiki (Socialtext), blog (Six Apart), Feed Aggregation (Newsgator) and Feed Publishing (SimpleFeed), supported by Spikesource, through its channels including Dell, NEC, Ingram, Novell and Red Hat.

This fulfills Andrew McAfee's vision of Enterprise 2.0. In a box. Made simple for Small-to-Mid-sized Enterprises. Extensible because we've all supported open APIs. Enterprise 2.0 is freeform social software adapted for organizations. SuiteTwo is the first offering to realize the SLATES paradigm:

SLATES = Search | Links | Authorship | Tags | Extensions | Signals

Powered by Qumana

Via Internetnews.com

Please remember that sociology will always trump technology ... I suppose what that means is that if 50% of organizations will be using wikis by 2009, a lot more organizational culture change and work re-definition is coming.

Why Wikis Are Conquering The Enterprise
By Michael Hickins

There used to be just one wiki known to all: Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that embraced user-generated content and its rejection of hierarchy.

Chief among the principles of Wikipedia is that everyone can be an expert.

In its simplest form, a wiki is a Web page that can be edited or created through a browser and linked to other Web pages.

Unlikely as it may seem, wikis are now being adopted by enterprises large and small more quickly than celebrities adopt African orphans.

So much so that Gartner analyst Kathy Harris predicted that by 2009, 50 percent of U.S. companies will be using wikis.

That helps explain why vendors large and small are lining up to provide enterprises with enterprise-ready wiki solutions.

Large outfits, such as IBM (Quote) and Microsoft (Quote) , are wrapping wiki functionality into their real-time collaboration tools, respectively Lotus Sametime and Sharepoint Server.

Smaller vendors like Jotspot, Socialtext, CustomerVision and Klir Technologies are among the vendors offering stand-alone wiki solutions.

Rather than being driven by senior management, however, adoption is coming mainly from project managers and department-level executives.

"In almost every big corporation, some group is already using a wiki," said Andrew McAfee, associate professor of technology and operations management at the Harvard Business School.

One reason is that wikis hold the promise of helping companies stimulate more innovation by their employees.

That's important: 80 percent of CEOs see collaboration as being critical to growth, according to a survey conducted by IBM last March.

Jeff Nolan, the former head of venture capital at enterprise software vendor SAP (Quote), agreed that enterprises are struggling to find ways to stimulate innovation.

"Large enterprises are at the barrier of how they can create new ideas," he told internetnews.com.

Powered by Qumana

... and various blogging platforms.

Exactly the same idea as publishing YouTube video clips using Qumana 3.0 and the new ad-and-video-clip insertion tool.

Slide.com is very very easy to use (the same basic idea as Bubbleshare, I think), and a great way to put up a storyboard as a blog post.

1.  Make the slide show (using pics, or jpgs or whatever)

2. Copy the code provided by Slide.com (or YouTube.com, or whomever)

3. Position your cursor, then open the small blue HTML brackets icon above

4. Paste the code into the box, hit OK

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Powered by Qumana

Here's a brief and interesting white paper titled "Making the Case for a Social Media Strategy".  It clearly lays out and reinforces that it's the end user - the personal publisher sharing their voice, ideas, or opinions - who is exerting more and more choice and control over the ways the media - including advertising - is being created and distributed.

This is an important element of Q-Ads' value to end-users ... the ability to exercise more choice and control over what advertising they use and where they place it alongside or within the content of a blog post.

Social media – online sites like blogs and discussion boards where consumers create and share information and opinions directly with each other -- are beginning to affect brands. Examples like the Kryptonite lock crisis and Intuit’s continued success have convinced marketers to incorporate social media into their plans. In many companies, marketers must convince their senior management executives who don’t understand the influence the social aspects of the Web experience is exerting on their brands.

Here’s the elevator pitch to give to a busy executive:

The influence traditional media and marketing have over consumer perception is waning as people use the plethora of digital technologies to circumvent traditional sources to obtain information and entertainment from each other. But these social media outlets are more than another channel through which to deliver messages to the marketplace. Companies like GM, Microsoft, Intuit and New Line Cinema are successfully using social marketing strategies to understand and engage their audiences more deeply – with demonstrable business results.

...

Read the rest of a white paper from Cymfony titled "Making the Case for a Social Media Strategy"

Powered by Qumana

Via CNN.com Technology

CEO bloggers communicate to the masses
September 18, 2006



SANTA CLARA, California (AP) -- Sun Microsystems Inc. CEO Jonathan Schwartz recently became "un blogeur" when he started publishing his Weblog in French and nine other languages.

Schwartz, whose online journal attracts 50,000 viewers each month, says going international will generate new customers attract prospective employees in Europe, China and elsewhere. That puts the 40-year-old chief executive at the vanguard of a trend in corporate communications, one that tears down barriers between executives and consumers.

"The blog has become for me the single most effective vehicle to communicate to all of our constituencies -- developers, media, analysts and shareholders," Schwartz said in an interview in his Silicon Valley office. "When I go out and have dinner with a key analyst on Wall Street or a key investor from Europe and ask them if they've read my blog, they almost universally say yes."

CEOs of smaller companies have already seized on blogs, and big companies are increasingly joining in -- despite the potential for disastrous backfires. In its unfiltered form, blogging lets them bypass the public relations department, journalists and industry analysts and speak directly to the public.

Powered by Qumana

.. will you use email as much, or do you think you'll use IM and blogs more often to communicate ?

When it comes to the workplace, my guess is that once several major organizations begin to demonstrate the effectiveness of project or research-oriented blogs, there will be a rush to a tipping point. 

Blogs in the workplace will, I think, come to be viewed as centralized bulletin boards for purposeful work, and group dynamics will take care of all but the most extreme cases of inappropriate use .. just as many comment communities on existing blogs have figured out how to deal with the behaviour of trolls.

Here's a peek into the future .. via the Globe and Mail pass-through of an AP story

Text messaging on rise with young people
MARTHA IRVINE
Associated Press


CHICAGO — E-mail is so last millennium. Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder — a parent, teacher or a boss — or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favour to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The shift is starting to creep into workplace communication, too.

"In this world of instant gratification, e-mail has become the new snail mail," says 25-year-old Rachel Quizon from Norwalk, Calif. She became addicted to instant messaging in college, where many students are logged on 24/7.

Much like home postal boxes have become receptacles for junk mail, bills and the occasional greeting card, electronic mailboxes have become cluttered with spam. That makes them a pain to weed through, and the problem is only expected to worsen as some e-mail providers allow on-line marketers to bypass spam filters for a fee.

Beyond that, e-mail has become most associated with school and work.

Powered by Qumana

... perhaps the deep currents towards organizational democracy will continue ?  Or maybe not ?

Via CNET News ...

Corporate America wakes up to Web 2.0
By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com


Big companies have for years installed industrial-strength content management systems in the hope of sparking collaboration among workers. There was just one problem: People didn't use them.

Now, tools that people are familiar with on the consumer Web, such as blogs and wikis, are staking out ground inside businesses, often led by the end users themselves.

Industry observers say these popular Web 2.0 technologies are an effective way to collaborate at work; they are simple and easy to use, making them very appealing to end users.

"The key part of Web 2.0 is that there is something about these new tools that enable new practices of collaboration," said John Seely Brown, a consultant and former chief scientist of Xerox, who spoke at the Collaborative Technology Conference in Boston last week. "Web 2.0 is a profoundly participatory medium."

Powered by Qumana

... to recognize that social software is used to communicate and build information between people ... even people at work.

Via ZDNet ...

RSS: The new intranet protocol?


In a story he headlined Web 2.0 sews grassroots collaboration, CNET News.com's Martin LaMonica wrote:

Like others, Seely Brown expects to see a wide range of techniques common on consumer Web applications–including blogs, collaborative Web page editing through wikis, tagging and RSS (Really Simple Syndication)-based subscriptions–to bleed into mainstream business applications….new Web standard products could push people to stop using e-mail to share documents and instead collaborate through shared workspaces like wikis….The onus is back on the incumbent providers, especially IBM and Microsoft, to (react). This stuff is beyond good enough, and it's easy to work with," [said Burton Group analyst Peter O'Kelly].

LaMonica's story goes on to say that Microsoft is responding by building wiki functionality into a forthcoming version of its Sharepoint collaboration technology. LaMonica also picked up on this zinger:

"This way of capturing collaborative wisdom, collective knowledge is a different take on knowledge management, which was fundamentally flawed" [said IBM Lotus Division general manager Michael Rhodin].

Powered by Qumana

Thanks to Eric Eggertson of the Mutually Inclusive PR blog for uncovering this interesting example of using blogging to reach out and listen to customers and the community from which the customers come.

VanCity to Launch Blogging Project

Canada's biggest credit union has never been afraid to try new things in the realm of community involvement. So it shouldn't be a surprise they're going to start "a user-driven blog" that has a community focus.

A recent job posting by VanCity called for a passionate blogger who can "animate an online community where people in the Lower Mainland & Victoria can find information, tools and connections to inspire and support change in their own lives, their communities, and the world."

The term position will see the blogger reach out to community members, help them take part, write for the blog, encourage discussions, "moderate comments, defuse conflict and occasionally arbitrate disputes."

VanCity has brought in online strategy firm Social Signal (local Vancouver folks) to set up the blog.

Powered by Qumana

Anybody that will assiduously follow whatever and whomever Microsoft uses to replace Robert Scoble as an evangelist and *customer-listener* over the next year or so ... and develops metrics to chronicle whatever may happen ... will arguably have one of the most useful, and potentially most famous, case studies of the impact of effective externally-oriented blogging on the profile and perception of a high-profile technology company.

He's certainly done an awful lot for Microsoft in terms of positive relations with people and (potentially) customers.

Maybe Microsoft will make an offer to Dave Winer ?  That would be interesting !

Many people have reported on Scoble's departure.  The source I've used below is Mathew Ingram, to whom I offer thanks for his steady, balanced (imo), reliable and stimulating technology reporting.

The Scobleizer calls it quits — updated
Posted by Mathew Ingram @ 12:09 am on Sunday 11 June 2006

According to Tom Foremski at SiliconValleyWatcher and Andy Plesser at Beet.tv, the guy who is arguably Microsoft’s most famous person — at least as far as the blogosphere is concerned — is leaving the company. Robert Scoble, also known as the Scobleizer, is reportedly heading to podtech.net to be its corporate evangelist. Tom says that Scoble wasn’t happy working at Mister Softee, in part because they weren’t interested in paying for all his travels to conferences.

[Snip ...]

Update:

Scoble has posted a confirmation of his move, and goes on to counter the rumours about concerns over his travel budget and lack of support from Microsoft — totally not true, he says. He also says they “moved heaven and earth” to keep him happy, but he decided to make the move anyway. “It’s a rapidly-evolving part of my life,” he says. “I just made this decision and it got out before I was completely ready to talk about it.”

Best of luck to him.

Powered by Qumana

As re-published on News.com, the NYT articles talks about how business travelers don't really blog, and should.  But in all the reasons why the missed the best one ... keeping the team back home (or around the country) up to date.  Now you might be thinking ... "Hey blogs are public ... we can't do that!"  Ah, but blogs don't have to be public.  In fact you can have a blog that is both public and private.

Think about it ... a secure blog, post last-minute proposal changes.  Updates on clients, new selling strategies.  And all available to you and your colleagues with a couple clicks

Tags: business blogging

Powered by Qumana

One major point to developing a successful blog strategy is to keep it simple. A simply blog strategy is easy to understand and follow. It lays out what you can and cannot say, and encourages you to share your voice.

One great example of such a policy is for Opera, a web browser company:

1. Share your thoughts
2. Be active
3. We're not your mama
4. Don't give away the farm
5. Check your sources
6. Our friends are your friends

"Remember to use common sense. If you need help in a situation, don't hesitate to ask your manager. Your blog is meant to be an open window, but remember there are legal obligations."

It's all about enjoying the opportunity to speak about the company, not about mistrusting employees. That kind of trust speaks very clearly, and positively, about the company.

Here at Qumana we have our own blog policy. It's not a written one, but it's understood what can and cannot be said, on our own blogs and here on the Qumana blog. If we're building to a launch, we have team discussions about what we say and when. We're careful to be coordinated in our efforts to respond to comments. And we try to bring our insight and perspective into what we do. It's created a positive and dynamic blog that we feel is open, honest, and interesting to read.

Via Jeremy @ Blog Marketing ; Tags: blog, blogging, blog policy, opera, qumana

Powered by Qumana

Dave, your a good guy.  I really likereading your stuff.  Really.  Okay and this piece on Kryptonite made methink and did clarify some of the myths surrounding thewhole saga, but ...

First here's the intro ...

I recently chatted with Donna Tocci, Public Relations Manager for Kryptonite, a company well-known in blogging annals for some damaging information that was disseminated through weblogs back in the early days of blogging, 2004. She kindly consented to answer a number of my questions, some of which will serve to acquaint you with the situation, while others offer great insight into how to address damaging information in the blogosphere.

I'll admit up front that my bias is that the adverse effect of the blogosphere on corporations is much overblown, and as you'll see as you read this Q&A, Donna thinks so too. That's not to say that blogs and bloggers aren't an influential voice in the marketplace, but just to help clarify that there are still definite limits to its influence and it's well to keep that in mind as you craft your next marketing plan or public relations budget. [Link]

Fine, bias duly noted.  Actually this is a good thing to do up front.  Note to other bloggers ... sometimes getting that out of the way lets people read the article for the other things that are said and not just trying to find the bias.  Regardless.  I liked the detail and information of the piece.  I didn't like the tone that the whole thing was overblown.  I also don't like the condescending tone that Donna Tocci seemed to me to have.