Social Media: Business Babblestorm
It seems my work life is filled these days with discussions of Web 2.0, social networks, CIOs, and the glue that holds it all together (for me at least), RSS (define).
I’ve read some very interesting articles recently (including two over on InformationWeek, one in the Startup City blog and one over on Attensa’s blog) on “Web 2.0″ and business.
I find the gnashing and ruminating I’m doing in my own mind pretty telling - everyone’s talking up a ‘babblestorm’ about the changing communication forces around us; but few are yet making sense to business decision makers. We’re all talking technology without talking business.
So I’m here (maybe to make myself feel better) to provide some concrete business examples of Web 2.0 tools in early adoption:
FAA:
The Federal Aviation Administration is using a feature called Activities (from IBM) for disaster preparedness. In the event of an emergency, the agency would be able to channel RSS feeds from internal blogs, relevant documents, and plans into an Activities page for everyone to see and discuss.
Thompson Financial:
The financial services firm holds meetings in Second Life - “We found that Second Life allows more user engagement than traditional video or phone conferencing,” says Thomson’s Warren Breakstone, who is testing Second Life as an environment for meetings. “One employee told me, ‘I’ve participated in lots of meetings and I tend to be very quiet, but I felt very comfortable opening up in Second Life.’”
Kraft Foods:
These folks are using Jive Software’s Jive Forums to allow their users to ask questions and share information about products, cooking and such - some of it is quite whimsical to a gal who’s been steeped in technology for too long… But users have embraced the idea - there are more than 16,000 posts on topics that range from “Ask Kraft Kitchens” (’Can I freeze cheddar cheese?’) to “Dinner Tonight” (’Tired of cholent’).
There are many, many other examples, but I’m heartened by these three for starters. One, a great use of collaborative software and RSS for crisis communication planning; another using SL to get beyond boring conference calls and increase collaboration among teams; and another to use consumer generated content (and enthusiasm) to help each other out while building brand awareness and engagement.
What’s for dinner for me tonight? Hmmm… what’s cholent? Maybe I should ask Kraft Kitchens…
