Open Spaces

Ever heard of Twitter? If yes, then you are part of the social networking software crowd. If not, there is still hope for you…

Twitter is a micro-blogging service where users post mini-updates on their whereabouts, what they are doing and how they are feeling. It adds another dimension to the personalisation of the internet. User can update their personal profile via SMS, instant messaging or email. This creates some kind of a blog, although the information content of the posting is only valid and valuable for a short amount of time, because of its immediacy in nature.

And why do I write about it? The mantra of Enterprise 2.0 is to “release early, release often” and to tap into the user community for feedback to drive your future functionality and releases. This makes it inevitable to have downtime on your site when you are rolling out new software.  But you can be funny and honest about it, as the guys at Twitter have shown us the other day:

A quick search on the internet for Twitter then showed me where we are in the hype cycle of Web 2.0. 9 out of 10 hits were talking about how to make money off Twitter-like technologies. Are we back in the bubble? Or is it different this time? If you believe the latter, then read on the Influential Marketing Blog about “a few non-boring ways to use Twitter for marketing“…

I just came across a KPMG whitepaper called Enterprise 2.0: Fad or Future written by Gary Matuszak. It contains a nice collection of case studies of companies using social software (wikis, blogs, RSS, mashups etc.). Gary sees the value of Enterprise 2.0 in:

• Knowledge sharing and management
• Problem solving
• Innovation
• Collaboration

I think we also need to realise that in the enterprise cost reduction, revenue generation and customer service can never be left out of the equation. Enterprise 2.0 performs well in these categories as well. Here are some simple examples for each category:

• Cost reduction – Wikis and blogs as customer-facing publishing tools improve customer self-service levels and therefore reduce help desk costs
• Revenue generation – Blogs can personalise a company and put a face with its services and products. This removes a barrier to engage with people in the online world and will increase online sales
• Customer service – Social software adds another channel to the communication with customers. Empowered customers are happier customers!

The full paper is available here.