Web Business by Ken Burbary

I just came across this great presentation by Chris Wilson, Designer/Marketing Strategist at Hester Designs. In it, he succinctly describes the critical steps businesses should take if they are considering establishing a Twitter presence and engaging with the community.

I’ve lived through many movements on the “web” since I began my career. Along the way there have been a countless number of trends, both successful and not, that have impacted how individuals and companies operate online. Two trends that emerged and have been adopted across the globe are outsourcing and crowd sourcing. I’ve separated them into the two major web eras to easily look at both trends.

Web 1.0 = Outsourcing                   Web 2.0 = Crowd sourcing

Outsourcing was/is mostly about saving cash.  Why try doing something in-house that isn’t a core competency? Instead go buy that product/service from the outside (Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency).

Crowd sourcing is different. The basic premise of crowd sourcing can be best described as the trend of leveraging mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. Smart professionals have been crowd sourcing problems to the communities they participate in for awhile. Like Chris Brogan. When asked, he was unable to pinpoint his first use of crowd sourcing, but responded that he has been successfully practicing it for over 2 years.

Recently Warren Sukernek, creator of the Twittermaven blog, wrote about the the growing interest in crowd sourcing on Twitter. His post provided several examples of individuals using crowd sourcing to solve both personal and professional problems. Example:

As Laura Fitton said in Clive Thompson’s great Ambient Awareness article, “I outsource my entire life,” she said. “I can solve any problem on Twitter in six minutes.”

The benefits are many. Increased innovation, productivity, new & stronger relationships, etc.. One could argue that some businesses are being built by effectively leveraging crowd sourcing. Whether you agree with that or not, there is a large body of evidence that demonstrates its value.

Interestingly enough, Crowd sourcing has evolved into a higher level of sophistication, called Community sourcing (coined by Zena Weist). Community sourcing differs from traditional crowd sourcing in one key aspect. Its purpose is to direct the efforts and collective intelligence of the community, for the benefit of the community. Now this may be true in some cases of crowd sourcing (both parties benefit), but not always. In the case of community sourcing, it is the primary focus.

Individuals tapping into crowd or community sourcing is one thing, but how are progressive brands using community sourcing? The most widely known use is the Dell Ideastorm. However, it is far from the only example. Brands big and small are jumping into the community sourcing pool hoping to do with the help of the community, what they cannot on their own. Two examples I’ve seen recently are the NBC4 news team in central Ohio, and the Detroit Red Wings.

Ryan Squire, Managing Editor of the NBC4 news team, wants to connect with his viewers throughout central Ohio. He asked them, “What Would NBC4 2.0 look like?” on the corporate blog? His viewers have an unprecedented opportunity to establish a personal relationship with Ryan, and provide  feedback that will influence, and in some cases direct shape what the future of NBC4. How many times have you watched your local news and thought, I wish they did (fill in the blank), or I wish they would stop doing it that way? Here’s your chance to let them know.

The Detroit Red Wings are a dominant brand among NHL teams. They have loyal fans in every city, who are passionate supporters of their team. Last week, Shannon Paul (the Red Wings new media guru), led the NHL franchise into community sourcing territory by tapping into the fan base with this question: “How should the Red Wings use social media to strengthen relationships with fans?”. Have ideas on how you would like to see your favorite team engage with fans online? Exactly, we all do. What sports fan hasn’t said to themselves, it would be great if my team did this new thing, or why aren’t they doing that online? This opens the door for the Red Wings to go in a direction they aren’t capable of doing without the fans. Because in community sourcing, ideas come from everywhere. And each idea exchange, discussion, and interaction strengthens the relationship one has with the brand.

Why aren’t more companies/brands doing this? Why not tap into the customers you know for collective widsom? It’s not always going to give you the answer, but it will always show your customers/fans that you’re doing one VERY important thing, LISTENING.

What brands do you see engaging in community sourcing? What tools are they using to engage? What social networks are they leveraging? Please share your findings in the comments, and I’ll update the post to include new examples.

Most importantly, are these brands backing up the listening with changes in behavior? Are they adopting the suggestions and implementing them?

Fact: Twitter is growing fast……very fast!

Not only is Twitter growing, but the ecosystem of tools and services that are based on the popular micro-blogging service are springing up more rapidly that one can keep track of. Everything from tools that grade your Twitter usage like Twittergrader, to a group Tweeting service like Tweetworks, down to some new services that provide real time updates if you’ve been “unfollowed” by another Twitter user. Twitterless and Qwitter are the 2 services that can do this for you. This post isn’t about explaining the nuts-n-bolts details of how they work. For those details, go here and here. Instead I want to talk about the effect these tools are having on Twitter culture.

Twitter culture? Come on, you kidding me? Absolutely not. Twitter has culture. Lots of it. And the culture is being subtly influenced by these “unfollow” tools. It seems their usefulness doesn’t come without controversy. You see, in the old days on Twitter, it was easy to unfollow someone without any mental or emotional repercussions. It was a simple act, a single click that left no trace or sign to the individual that was unfollowed. Their ego remained intact, free from the unfollow sting that now accompanies a notification that is delivered PROMPTLY to you only moments after it has taken place.

I’ve noticed this conversation topic is being discussed more frequently on Twitter lately. And as you can see below, there are a number of varying opinions ranging from preferring never to know when someone unfollows you, to taking personal offense.

Why does someone unfollow in the first place? It can be any number of reasons. Some Twitter users stop following because of too much tweet noise, not enough relevant tweets, list paring (following too many, social media fatigue). Whatever the reason, it’s clear that this is a highly personal and subjective decison. What works for me may not work for you.

The real impact is on the receiving end. Why did someone stop following after that last tweet? Am I not providing value to him/her anymore? Did I offend them? The questions are infinite. And this is precisely why knowing is changing how some users behave. Sure, not everyone will be bothered by it. But some simple research suggests many ARE. Why not let it roll off your back and avoid taking it personally? Because it’s easier said than done. When taking to a someone face to face, no one likes the feelings that accompany signs someone is ignoring you, or doesn’t like what you have to say. This human behavior is weaving its way into our social interactions online, because the feedback loops provided by these tools that were once impossible to obtain, are now being provided, with ever more detail and immediacy.

I’ll be watching this trend closely as we continue to forge ahead in our digital relationships. Logically, I know I will never truly understand or know why someone stops following me, so I won’t take it personally. Then again, we’re all human and knowing the gory details makes the sting real. Go ahead, unfollow me, I don’t care….I think
What is your opinion on being unfollowed? Do you want to know? Do you care? Do you ask why? Please share.

A recent article by Michael Arrington on TechCrunch made me stop to think about my own approach and attitude towards voicemail, the long time King of office communication.

The article’s premise is that voicemail is inefficient, out of favor, andhas been downright abandoned by some folks.

Typical voicemail messages today include things like “Please don’t leave me a voicemail, I rarely listen to them. Please just email me at xxxx@xxxx.com” Many people don’t bother setting up their voicemail accounts at all. Then there’s my favorite method, the one I use personally - let the message box get full and then don’t empty it. Caller ID still tells me who called, and I can simply call them back.

How many times have you called someone back and said “I saw that you called but didn’t listen to the voicemail yet, Is it anything urgent?”

I notice that I rely on voicemail much less too. In fact, I prefer to not use it unless in required to. There are simply too many better alternatives.  E-mail, Text Message/SMS, Twitter, or Instant Message. Text Messaging has become the defacto standard for team communication in my organization. It’s pretty common to receive messages from team members throughout the day, in and out of meetings, and even during the same meeting (ala the Twitter backchannel at conferences).

Why? Because it’s a heck of a lot faster for me to read a message than muddle my way through an ancient enterprise voicemail system until I am able to retreive the desired voicemail.  Besides, abandoning voicemail means one less password to remember and constantly change due to forced password rotation policies.

Are you still using voicemail as an everday business tool or has something replaced it? If so, what?

I found a fantastic presentation today on Slideshare. Then, immediately shared it with some colleagues on Twitter, and it took off from there. I encourage you to share it with anyone new to the social media/networking space, and anyone you know affiliated with marketing or branding.

Kudos to the excellent work by @mzkagan, the author.

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