4 posts tagged “forrester”

Taking advantage of the new web in business - after all it's ultimately about the bottom line for business - is increasingly important. Forrester thinks that E2.0 could be a $4.6bn industry in the next five years. [Correction - make that $1.8bn - thanks Niall]

Enter Google - the world's biggest brand and cool enough and relevant enough to be more than a verb: Google links Gen X and Y. The former know its the de facto search engine, and for e-mail and maps, and the latter for a host of innovative applications and mash-up fodder.

Google has launched a new sandbox for iGoogle - and Scott Gilbertson believes it looks suspiciously like a proto-type social networking site. Scoble called it earlier this month, when he wrote how Google's five year plan to get into Enterprise was taking shape. Microsoft won't be too far behind.

Facebook has a real threat as heir-apparent to becoming the default social media homepage.

The volume around Groundswell - the new book from Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research on social media - is getting louder.

Those lucky enough to have grabbed an advance copy are fulsome in their praise, and the book/blog/movement should help crystallise the thoughts of many individual and collective minds about social media.

Collectively, companies can position themselves on a scale between Purist and Corporatist - though, like economists, they will not stand out in the comfort of the middle ground.

On the individual front, Dan Greenfield has highlighted something vital: the authors of Groundswell, he says, believe FastLane hasn't revolutionised GM or changed the competitive dynamics. What it has done is revolutionise the communications process.

Dan goes on to ask: "Is it possible for a revolution in the communications process to change the competitive landscape?"

From a corporate communications perspective - and before John Cleese starts to draft Barack Obama's speeches - the answer is a powerful and permanent "Yes we can."

If you/your organisation understands the importance of social media - despite some drawbacks - and you have plenty of reasons for your colleagues to have conversations, then you have the foundations for nurturing an online community.

Jeremiah's finished a piece of Forrester research that outlines online community best practice and charts the life process of a successful community. He points out: "Above all, remember that control is in the hands of the members, so put their needs first".

This is aligned to Hugh MacLeod's point about the axis of social media: social networks are built around social objects, where social objects are the reason that two people are talking to each other.

Life could not be better for internal communicators. Yes, budgets are low, demands are high, measures are scarce and information overload is abundant. Enter social media. As Hugh MacLeod says, "even the smartest people I know in this space have little idea about what's going to happen next...we're basically making it up as we go along. But that's what makes it so exciting."

Yet many internal communicators are defensive, either unconvinced or uncertain about what to do - something I witnessed myself earlier this year at a conference and the sad conclusion reached by Melcrum again this month.

If it's fear or lack of interest, then "the answer lies in trial and error and motivation and in overcoming the fear that makes us avoid the topic in the first place," says Seth Godin.

So, what's an internal communicator to do?

Besides the latest pointers from, say Forrester or McKinsey, and musing on some questions, the one practical piece of advice is:

• Try it out  - your opinion will count for more based on experience. No harm, no foul.

To move on your one-person fact-finding mission and into the company:

1. Get a little senior support
2. Start virally - social media is more culture change than technology, and can be easy
3. Build bridges across your company
4. Think big

Internal communicators are at the leading edge of E2.0 - more so than the geeks. If you are unsure or unconvinced then you need to find out how E2.0 can help your company.