I my consulting work I noticed a number of issues around digital technologies that lead me to develop this foundation course:
- Benefits of Digital Technologies not fully understood because people Lack a common language and understanding of Digital Technologies leading to lost opportunities
- Know body starts at the beginning some people think its not their job is IT or marketing job. Some mature people feel it's a young person thing but do younger people understand the business?
- The majority of Focus on the tactical side of digital technologies and little on the strategic
- Managers and staff being overwhelmed by the number of new digital technologies leading to confusion
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES - Guide for business - Part of Digital Ebook Series by Steve Nicholls
As technology moves forward, so must we. In this new edition, you will find some new subcategories within our business opportunities matrix that support the constantly changing landscape of social media. For instance, we have integrated the former Discussion Sites subcategory within the more general Ideas and Insights one, and added the expanding field of Crowd Funding as a new subcategory. Moreover, along with these subcategories come new examples. Social media is constantly moving; some companies no longer exist, others have been acquired, whilst brand new ones emerged on the social media landscape.
As technology moves forward, so must we. In this new edition, you will find some new subcategories within our business opportunities matrix that support the constantly changing landscape of social media. For instance, we have integrated the former Discussion Sites subcategory within the more general Ideas and Insights one, and added the expanding field of Crowd Funding as a new subcategory. Moreover, along with these subcategories come new examples. Social media is constantly moving; some companies no longer exist, others have been acquired, whilst brand new ones emerged on the social media landscape.
We look at specific applications through the lenses of the four opportunities discussed in Chapter 1 of Social Media in Business: Communication, Communities, Collaboration, and Collective Intelligence. (Best Selling Book by Steve Nicholls)
Online meetings or web conferences are meetings that occur through the use of the Internet as the medium of communication.
Popular Examples:
- Skype (currently suitable for up to 15-20 people)
- GoToWebinar (currently suitable for up to 1000 people)
Social networks allow people to share media like images, texts, videos, and slide presentations across different platforms.
Popular Examples:
- YouTube ( Share video)
- Flickr ( share photos)
- Slide Share ( share presentations and documents)
Location services are software applications for web-enabled mobile devices. They work by detecting the location of the user through their mobile device
Popular Examples:
- Foursquare
- Facebook Places
Broadcasting or webcasting refers to dispersing a single communication to the general public or wide
audience at the same time, live. Webcasting is broadcasting live audio and video transmissions via the Intranet or Internet.
Popular Examples:
- Livestream
- Ustream
An online marketplace is a site built around e-commerce; the buying and selling of a variety of goods between users on the site.
Popular examples:
- Apple Store and Android Market ( Mobile Phone apps Markets)
- Ebay (Auction site)
- Amazon (online Retailer)
- Alibaba (Business to Business e-commerce platform)
Social networks allow a particular company to easily connect with suppliers, customers, and other key individuals or organizations.
Popular Examples:
- Google Plus
A blog can be a stand-alone website or a part of a bigger website. It is a place where a person can share their thoughts and media, like pictures, videos, and audios. A microblog is a much shorter blog.
Popular Examples:
- Wordpress (Blog)
- Twitter (MicroBlog)
A virtual world is an online community that intends for its users to inhabit, interact, and create objects in cyberspace. The users often take the form of avatars, cartoon-like characters in a computer-simulated environment through which the user is visible to others graphically.
Popular Examples:
- Second Life (3D World)
- Active Worlds (3D World creator)
Freelance platforms are a breakthrough in the outsourcing of programmers, designers, writers, translators, marketers, researchers, and admin contractors to name a few of the skills available.
Popular Examples:
- Elance
- oDesk
Technological advances mean that employees are no longer confined to the four walls of their respective offices. Collaboration is now possible with the use of online document management systems, mobile phones, laptops, and other similar devices. This is all possible with the aid of the different online collaboration tools available today. These tools allow managers, project supervisors, and employees to:
Easily keep track of projects
Communicate with each other regardless of physical location Submit reports from various locations
Streamline the work process
Access files and important documents from different locations
Popular Examples:
- Wrike
- Zoho
The rising popularity of wikis, such as Wikipedia, has encouraged many companies to build wikis internally to help facilitate information sharing, collaboration, and better project management. Wikis are sites where people from all over the world can contribute and edit articles about certain topics.
Popular Examples:
- Wikipedia
- PB Works
- Social Text
White label social networking platforms allow companies to create their own social networks (usually from scratch). This is a great option for companies with specific requirements who do not wish to use popular social media sites, or want to store their own internal knowledge for security reasons.
Popular Examples:
- Ning
- Yammer
Question and answer sites are exactly that a forum where users post a question online and members provide informative answers. Most question and answer sites require users to set up a free account before they are able to ask or answer questions. User ratings ensure the quality of answers that members give. Certain websites such as Helium and WebAnswers also offer a financial reward to people who have given the best answer to a particular question.
From a business perspective, question and answer sites are an avenue that an organization can use to generate brand awareness. Answering questions allows that company to become known as an expert in its field (particularly in professional forums, such as LinkedIn Answers). Proper answers to queries that are related to your industry can also bring in potential buyers and repeat customers.
Positive reviews and ratings have always been a powerful influence in a buyer's decision-making process (e.g. Amazon for their products and TripAdvisor for hotels). The collective intelligence of previous customer opinions influences future customer choices. Companies may spend thousands of dollars on marketing, but without the support of positive reviews, buyers may not purchase a product. In fact, most people rely on user reviews for product information or research before a buying decision is made. This results in an increased volume of sales of products that are positively reviewed. There is a corresponding drop-off on the sales of products with poor consumer ratings. Most reviews and ratings sites are free to use and are easily accessible to the public.
Popular Examples:
- TripAdvisor
- Disqus
- Yelp
Crowd funding refers to the collective cooperation of individuals, who each make a financial contribution towards a particular project they like or believe in - through online platforms.
Popular Examples:
- Kickstarter
- Indiegogo
Idea sharing networks provide a platform where different individuals can come together to brainstorm ideas in order to solve problems. The ingenious concept of idea sharing networks has helped countless businesses all over the world. It is a cost-effective and convenient way to share ideas and resolve challenges. These platforms target specific market areas, including:
- Research and development networks These networks focus on helping companies by providing solutions to research and development problems.
- Prediction platforms These are sites where a company can get an educated prediction about industry trends to help with its decision-making process.
- Online advocacy and fundraising sites Allow companies to get involved with different community initiatives. Sponsoring specific causes is also a great way of increasing awareness for a company.
- Crowd-funding platforms These sites bring together a group of people who pitch in to support a specific idea or business. This is particularly useful to small companies that need capital quickly and where a bank may not be inclined to fund them.
Popular Examples:
- Innocentive
- Crowdicity
Market intelligence tools show the overall evaluation of a given global market using economic and social statistics, such as demographics, population data, and total consumption levels. Market intelligence tools provide thebigger picturefor companies to better understand the environment in which they are competing. These tools also help business owners understand and take advantage of opportunities for the business, minimize the probable threats, and plan strategic actions necessary to succeed.
Popular Examples:
- Salesforce - Radian 6
- Hootsuite
- Given how quickly social media has exploded onto the scene for businesses, it is no surprise that the possibilities can seem overwhelming . Using the four key business opportunities explained in this chapter, it is possible to narrow the field to sixteen widely available applications or tools that businesses can easily use to their advantage .
- Managers are only limited by their biases or fears when it comes to the opportunities that social media applications afford .
- Because individual employees are likely to be familiar with one or more of these applications, there is an obvious strategy available to managers that would see staff members taking the lead, as individuals or in teams, to introduce and consult with colleagues on these various possibilities .
Case: Communication - Media sharing - Salesforce: Youtube video
Case: Communities - Market Place - Edx - Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Case: Collaboration - Freelance - Elance
Case: Collective Intelligence - Market Intelligence - 99 Designs
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