Hi all,

This month we provide the definitive guide to empowering intranet
authors, and look at the importance of having an 'elevator pitch'
for the intranet and the intranet team. We also tackle the widely
quoted 'three clicks rule' (hint: it's a myth).

This will be our last set of articles for 2009, so we'd like to take
the opportunity to wish everyone the best of seasons greetings. May
next year be a little more settled, and we'll be back into publishing
in February.

In the meantime, please do send us your requests for future articles,
we're more than happy to cover needed topics and questions.

---

In this edition:

* How to empower authors
* The three clicks myth
* An elevator pitch for you and your intranet


New articles
======================

* How to empower authors
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/km_empowerauthors/index.html
    Intranet teams can never maintain a whole site themselves, and
    empowered authors will do much to deliver great content.

* The three clicks myth
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cb_threeclicks/index.html
    The ‘three clicks rule’ is perhaps the most widely known web design
    principle, but it’s a myth.

* An elevator pitch for you and your intranet
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cb_elevatorpitch/index.html
    It’s important to have an ‘elevator pitch’ to hand at all times for
    both the intranet and intranet team.

Related articles:

* Intranets: losing the language of enforcement
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_enforcement/index.html
    All too often, centralised intranet teams find themselves battling
    with decentralised authors to enforce consistency and quality
    standards.

* What do successful intranet managers have in common?
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_successcommon/index.html
    Successful intranet managers balance their technical skills, business
    acumen and leadership capabilities, and take a pragmatic approach to
    their sites.

We also provide an announcements list, which will ensure you find out
when we publish new whitepapers. To join this, visit:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/subscribe/

Finally, don't forget to visit "Column Two", my weblog featuring
news and opinion on all things Intranets & CM:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo/

Thanks,
James

Governments at all levels are gaining an appreciation for the importance
of establishing an effective web presence, whether to provide citizens
with accurate, timely information or improve the delivery of services
through web self-service. And with trends like social media gaining
momentum, the pressure on the teams managing those sites to drive
improvements on an almost continuous basis is increasing.

     * Date: January 28, 2010
     * Location: Online webinar

Successfully managing a government web project requires understanding
not only the significance of the project, but also the need to address
the importance of proving value, managing diverse stakeholder
expectations and requirements as well as anticipating the next evolution
of web functionality.

The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT)
experienced all of these issues when it undertook an overhaul of the two
websites it manages to interact with businesses in Ontario, as well as
companies interested in investing in the Canadian Province. Through the
successful management of the web redevelopment, the Ministry
significantly improved its web presence based on careful consideration
of its audiences' needs, a thorough review of the competitive web
environment and a clear understanding for how to link the website to its
overall objectives.

Maureen Hall, Team Leader, Marketing Branch, from MEDT will join Julian
Mills, Vice President of Client Development, Prescient Digital Media, in
this informative 60-minute webinar. They will provide insights on key
techniques for managing a government web redevelopment project supported
by best practices and real world experience.

Learning outcomes:

• The importance of, and techniques for, balancing the needs of
internal stakeholder requirements with external audience needs
• How to determine an operating model for a government website and
support the model with a measurable strategy
• An approach for assessing and improving website usability

Who should attend:

• Communications and Marketing professionals responsible for
government websites
• Webmasters and web managers who sustain and improve government
sites
• Government IT teams that support websites
• Management-level executives from within government who need to
make more effective use of their web presence


   <best-practices-webinar-registration> Register
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/events/upcoming-events/best-practices-w\
ebinar-registration>



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By Michael Marchionda - Our growing dependence on social media has
opened many doors for communications and marketing professionals. Never
has it been so easy to create a two-way dialogue between an organization
and its consumers. Recognizing this trend, marketers are shifting their
spending to new techniques. According to the 2009 CMO Survey,
organizations will allocate 13.7 per cent of their marketing budgets on
social media in the next five years, up from 3.5 per cent currently.

It's no surprise that organizations are beginning to approach social
media with open minds (and open wallets), but with dozens of leading
social media to choose from, which are most worthwhile? Current trends
suggest LinkedIn, as more organizations favour popular social networking
tools like it over blogging, podcasts, forums and other social media.


Though it offers DirectAds, a pay-service that allows advertisers to
target a specific demographic, the options available to holders of a
basic account are quite powerful. Knowing how to utilize LinkedIn's
features and applications can greatly increase your organization's
exposure and client-base, and your awareness of the industry you work
in. For skilled professionals, but especially for independent
professionals, freelancers and small businesses, LinkedIn is an
essential social media marketing tool. Here's how to get the most
out of LinkedIn:
Position yourself as an expert
There's no better way to establish trust than by asking questions
and sharing answers within your community. The answers
<http://www.linkedin.com/answers/>  page allows you to narrow your area
of expertise by choosing from a list of focused industries (e.g.
biotech, software development) and answering questions by people only a
few degrees away from you (e.g. your colleague's former colleague).
It's important to help people only a few degrees away from you, as
it helps establish your credibility with people with whom you are likely
to do business. If you post a question in the future, that person may
provide you with an answer, and the relationship may grow from there.

Providing a lot of detail in your answers is important as it will
increase your chances of earning expertise points
<http://linkedin.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/linkedin.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.p\
hp?p_faqid=150&p_created=1204043718&p_sid=AjhLhvPj&p_accessibility=0&p_r\
edirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19\
jbnQ9NDIsNDImcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0mcF9w> . Expertise points quantify
how knowledgeable someone is in their field of expertise. For example,
if your question is chosen as best by the person asking the question,
you earn a point of expertise in the category of the question. Earning
expertise is important because you appear higher on a list of experts,
increasing your exposure. Jason Alba, author of I'm On LinkedIn, Now
What?, believes that an answers strategy based around the offering or
messaging of your company is a great way to advance corporate
branding—as long as you're willing to deal with the opinions
they'll muster.

Groups
Join as many relevant groups <http://learn.linkedin.com/groups/>  as you
can. Regularly reading and participating in discussions will help
increase your exposure and more importantly, allow you to listen to what
people are saying. Listening to the problems, concerns and questions
posted in the group will help you identify any potential opportunities
and industry needs not currently being met. Even if you're not
looking for work, checking the job postings often is a good idea, as
it's a great indication of where the industry is moving.

If you're feeling ambitious and wish to create your own group,
remember to create a group for your industry, not your company. People
are more comfortable joining a group when it's not just for fans of
your company.

Polls
If you want to find out what people are thinking, the polls
<http://www.linkedin.com/opensocialInstallation/preview?_ch_panel_id=1&_\
applicationId=1900>  application is a quick and easy way to gather
information from your connections or from targeted demographics if
you're paying for the service. If you want to cast a wider next and
expand outside your connections, you can use the URL provided by
LinkedIn to share your poll. Polls are a great tool, but need to be
issued correctly as the size and responsiveness of your network will
dictate how many polls are completed.

Kill two birds with one stone
The Tweets
<http://www.linkedin.com/opensocialInstallation/preview?_ch_panel_id=1&_\
applicationId=2700>  application lets you share your Twitter status with
your LinkedIn status. The application also allows you to access your
Tweets, update your Twitter status, and access your Tweets settings.
What's good about this application is that not all of your Tweets
will update your LinkedIn status; just those that contain #in, which is
useful if not all your Tweets are work-related (whose are?). The new
application is a great time-saver if you're trying to promote
something quickly.

Get recommended
Requesting recommendations is important because it allows you to appear
in the service provider <http://learn.linkedin.com/service-providers/>
directory, allowing you to be found at the top of your industry if
people recommend you. When looking for a service provider, users can
narrow their search by industry and location, allowing them to search
for the most recommended service provider in their industry. If
you're looking to get recommended, but don't know where to
start, try this: recommend a person or service you were satisfied with
in the past, and hope they will return the favour.

Listen to the buzz
The company buzz
<http://www.linkedin.com/opensocialInstallation/preview?_ch_panel_id=1&_\
applicationId=1000>  application lets you listen in on what people are
saying about your company. The application aggregates tweets that
mention your company, allowing you to view the tweets all at once. If
your topic is large, it may be difficult to see the most common themes,
so pay attention to buzz words—these are the top five words
associated with the comments for your topic. Company buzz is a great
tool for PR practitioners especially, as it's a useful starting
point to gauging how people feel about your organization's products
or services.

Only time will tell if LinkedIn has real staying power, but the
popularity of LinkedIn is hard to ignore. The 53 million members
currently using it, the rate at which has grown, and current research
all suggests it's a viable networking source and will continue to be
in the near future. LinkedIn is a powerful marketing tool that can help
organizations conduct market research, stay on top of industry news,
identify potential business opportunities, ask and answer questions
visible to industry professionals, and listen to what consumers are
saying.
Related articles
Minding your Ps and you: The 4 Ps of marketing yourself in a social
media world
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/minding-your-ps-and-yo\
u-the-4-ps-of-marketing-yourself-in-a-social-media-world>
5 reasons to follow you on Twitter; 5 reasons to unfollow
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/5-reasons-to-follow-yo\
u-on-twitter-5-reasons-to-unfollow>
5 reasons why Twitter will overtake Facebook
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/5-reasons-why-twitter-\
will-overtake-facebook>
Web 2.0 Becomes Mandatory
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/web-2-0-becomes-mandat\
ory>
Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/web-2-0-intranet-2-0-g\
aining-traction>


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By Toby Ward - 1. SharePoint will continue to  dominate - All hail the
king, SharePoint.

SharePoint has become the single biggest, most pervasive intranet
platform of  all time (present in 50 – 60% of all medium to
large-size organizations). While  SharePoint is still minimally used for
department and team level document  sharing and collaboration, more
organizations are looking to use it as the  enterprise intranet
platform.

SharePoint 2010, due to market in late spring, is vastly improved over
the  former version, MOSS 2007. Many, many organizations will be
upgrading to 2010,  and begin to use the new platform as the enterprise
intranet platform. What's  more, the cost of entry for taking on
SharePoint has never been lower as  Microsoft SharePoint "in the
cloud" with SharePoint Online. SharePoint online  already boasts
more than 1,000,000 users, and unlike the previous SharePoint  Online
the 2010 version of SharePoint Online promises to "near feature
parity"  (with only small exceptions) to the install version.

SharePoint's market  share will soar with SharePoint 2010.

2. IBM will finally become more  aggressive with WebSphere Portal

As dominant and pervasive as  SharePoint has become, the market leader
is WebSphere Portal (measured in  license revenue. Although the
implementation and services revenue is undoubtedly  much higher than
what the anemic Microsoft Consulting Services group can  conjure).
However, unless you follow the portal market, you would think that
SharePoint is not just the leader, but a market killer.

Regardless, of  how you measure success, SharePoint is a massive
success, and so to is WebSphere  Portal, but you would never know it by
wading through the surface of most  technology news and blogosphere
punditry. WebSphere Portal however is arguably a  more sophisticated,
certainly more mature, product than SharePoint. And while  IBM is happy
with WebSphere's success, there are undoubtedly more than just a
few ruffled feathers by all the hype and attention SharePoint gets.
Never a  company to sit idly by, and as innovative as ever (IBM received
4,914 U.S.  patents in 2009, the highest for the 17th consecutive year),
the IBM marketing  machine is not as aggressive as Microsoft's.
Nonetheless, WebSphere is due for a  marketing makeover and may get more
attention and marketing dollars in  2010.

3. Social media will become mainstream at the enterprise  level

Social media on the intranet – collectively referred to as  Intranet
2.0 – is now present on about half of all intranets (in the Western
World). Once a nice-to-have or a future wish, intranet 2.0 tools such as
blogs,  wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream.

Despite the low cost of  entry, most intranet 2.0 tools are merely
experiments, pilots or limited to a  very small audience. Social media
has only been deployed at the enterprise level  in about 25% of
organizations (see the results of the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey
Intranet 2.0 becomes  mainstream
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-2-0\
-becomes-mainstream> ).

Many of the experiments and pilots, the department and  team level tools
will be rolled-out to the rest (or most of the rest) of the  enterprise
in 2010. Still, more organizations that are sleeping through the  social
media revolution will jump on the bandwagon. Look for an explosion of
user-generated content on the corporate intranet.

4. KISS – Keep It  Simple Stupid

The "kitchen sink" design approach to the intranet home  page is
standard, but it's stupid. The more you throw on a page, the more
you  confuse and distract users. It might work for Amazon.com, which
relies on brand  and SEO, at the expense of user-friendly design.

People like Google for a  reason – it's dead simple. I've
had the pleasure to test dozens of intranet home  page designs, in many
dozens of focus groups. The highest rated and appreciated  home pages,
are the simple ones. The least popular designs are the busier  designs
that are best exemplified by IBM and Cisco (very good, and popular
intranets, but for highly web-savvy audiences).

I've seen a trend  towards simpler intranet home pages, just as
we've seen on the Internet, and the  trend will really start to
proliferate in 2010.

5. Outsourcing the  intranet to the cloud

Although it is only the beginning, some  companies will finally begin to
realize that professional hosts (ASPs) are  better at hosting and
security than their IT department.

The "cloud"  refers to cloud computing that, at the risk of
over-simplifying, is simply  hosting – computer, server, software,
and other hardware and infrastructure  hosting. You're already a
cloud customer, probably many times over (someone is  hosting your
email, website, blog, etc. In fact, 56% of internet users use  webmail
services such as Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo! Mail – hosted email in
the  cloud).

Microsoft is aggressively pushing its cloud services. MS already  hosts
the gigantic 200,000 user SharePoint intranet for GlaxoSmithKiline (and
it  estimates that the hosted solution has delivered big ROI and reduced
"IT  operational costs by roughly 30%").

Very few organizations have their  intranet hosted in the cloud today,
but perhaps as many as 5% of medium to large  organizations will look to
outsource their intranet to the cloud over the next  year or so.

6. Death to the portal

Microsoft stopped  calling SharePoint a portal solution sometime ago. To
Microsoft, and most of the  rest of the technology world, SharePoint is
a web development  platform.

Oracle killed all of its portal solutions. Now there's just  simply
"WebCenter Suite." Ditto with eXo which is no longer eXo Portal,
it's now  eXo Platform.

Now the word portal hasn't disappeared from the marketing
literature or the feature sets: all of these platforms and suites still
have  portal functionality and features. Compared to five years ago,
however, there  are very few companies left selling portal products.
They've been gobbled up by  other products, other companies, or
swallowed by the platform.

The only  big name left with a standalone portal product is IBM, with
WebSphere Portal.  Per my second prediction above, look for IBM to give
WebSphere Portal a  marketing makeover that might include the dropping
of the `portal' name from the  product label.

Additional Reading:
Intranet  Planning
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-pla\
nning-an-intranet-model-for-success>
Intranet 2.0 becomes  mainstream
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-2-0\
-becomes-mainstream>
Intranet  Blueprint
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/services/intranet%20services/web-bluepr\
int>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

By Toby Ward - Employees shouldn't waste too much time on the
intranet; social media wastes time; the Internet is a productivity
drain. These are common refrains and concerns expressed by many
executives, albeit the less educated ones, generally of an older
generation, nearing or past retirement.

The exact same concerns were made about employee bathroom breaks,
mealtimes, telephone use, etc. General Motors, that great stalwart of
financial prudence, used to hire people to time employees when they used
the bathroom (source: Negotiate This, Herb Cohen
<http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Negotiate-This/Herb-Cohen/e/9781615560\
998> ).

"When speaking to clients the issue of productivity is often a
concern," says Jonas Lood , senior consultant with Prescient Digital
Media <http://www.prescientdigital.com/>  (intranet consultants /
specialists). "I frequently get asked "how do we leverage our
intranet to improve information sharing, protect intellectual property
while at the same time reducing the cost per employee?"


Every organization wants to maximize profit (cash flow) and ultimately,
productivity drives profit; and so does innovation.


"When productivity rates leap, so do enterprise profits. In the past
century, we have automated blue-collar work, wringing more products out
of every worker hour," says Susan Feldman, IDC analyst and author of
the report, Hidden Costs of Information Work: A Progress Report.
"But in an economy that is now more information based than
industrial, increasing the productivity of the information worker has
become imperative."


Concerns about productivity, therefore, are real and valid. Although
often these concerns are misplaced: if employee compensation and rewards
models are all that they should be, and employees are accountable for
objectives and goals, then concerns over productivity drain from
activities such as using the Internet, or intranet, should abate (if the
intranet is in fact a sound system, and not the dog's breakfast that
many still are). In short, the corporate intranet (and use of the
Internet for activities such as research) can be a tremendous
productivity gain, not a drain.


"As organizations downsize in this year's financial crisis, they
will need to streamline and automate information tasks and processes if
they are to survive with fewer workers," adds Feldman (keep in mind,
real estate may be rebounding, and the stock markets may be unusually
high, but there is still a massive credit crunch, and there are many
industries still in recession). "They will need to ferret out
instances of duplicated effort, and they will need to invest in software
that can speed up processes like ediscovery, categorization, call center
support, publishing, and collaboration while reducing manual labor."


IDC conducted a survey of 706 knowledge workers. IDC asked respondents
about:
•    various information tasks performed by knowledge workers; and
•    repetitive tasks that might be prime targets for automation or
improvement.


On average, IDC estimates the average information worker salary of
$75,000 per year. They then took the data that we had gathered on the
average number of hours spent on each task and discovered the following
about the average information worker respondent:

•    13 hours per week spent on email (cost: $21,000 per year)
•    9 hours per week spent searching for information (cost: $14,000
per year)
•    8 hours per week analyzing information (cost: $13,000 per year)
•    6.5 hours per week communicating / collaborating with team
members
       (cost: $10,000 per year)
•    6 hours per week creating content (cost: $10,000 per year)
•    Nearly 4 hours per week publishing information (cost: $6,000
per year)


The survey and the data are imperfect, but the general picture is well
painted and the conclusion very clear: information workers spend a lot
of time finding and processing information, at a very high cost. If we
can make it easier to find information, employee productivity will rise,
and profits will soar.


Fortunately, technology is a productivity driver. And the technology
platform that powers this productivity is the corporate intranet.


"Even well tuned intranets can suffer from information fatigue,"
says Prescient's Lood. "A well planned intranet, with a strategy
in place that supports the business requirements will take you well on
your way in identifying the optimum information and communications
channels for your organization."


Moreover, IDC finds that new Intranet 2.0 tools are also a preferred,
and powerful technology of choice for driving productivity.


"With Web 2.0 applications creeping into the enterprise — with
or without IT approval — it's obvious that ingenious information
workers will find tools to help them accomplish their work no matter
where those tools come from," says IDC. "This year's survey on
the use and preferences for information worker productivity tools shows
that newer tools, particularly instant messaging (but also social
networking and blogs), were preferred over more traditional ones like
email or team workspaces."


The most preferred / valued tool according to respondents is instant
messaging; followed by the phone, desktop authoring tools (e.g.
MS-Word), email, web conferencing, social networking, and blogs. In
fact, email is rated only a shade higher than social networking. Many,
myself included, often look at email as a frequent productivity drain.


"Information work is costly, but it's also valuable, as long as the
time spent working is productive," says IDC. "Any dent that an
organization can make in the hours information workers toil
unproductively will have an immediate payoff."


If your organization is not embracing and investing in technology such
as the intranet and the new 2.0 tools then it in fact is threatened by
productivity drains (as compared to the competition). The classic
concern about productivity drains is well-founded, but misunderstood to
the extent that technology is often a gain, not a drain.
Additional ReadingToo much useless information
<http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/1/5/2622973.html>
Intranet ROI
<http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/10/18/1309095.html\
>
Intranet redesign: building a business case
<http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2006/6/17/2037726.html>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

How can I develop an intranet 2.0 strategy? Which tools best suit my
strategy? The number of social media tools available to organizations
today can be overwhelming. With your organization's efficiency and
collaboration on the line, it's important to pick the right one.
Despite their potential impact, the best social media tools are seldom
chosen by organizations looking to support their unique intranet 2.0
strategies.

- Thu, Feb 18, 2010 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST
- There is no cost to attend this webinar

Join Carmine Porco, GM and VP of Client Deliverables for Prescient, as
he walks through several social media tools, explaining their pros and
cons, their benefits to an organization, and the ideal intranet
environment to support them.

Learning outcomes:
• Learn the steps to developing an intranet 2.0 strategy (where to
start)
• Learn the correct methodology to choosing the right intranet 2.0
tool
• Discover which social media tools best suit your organization
• Learn how to maintain an effective intranet 2.0 environment
• See different technologies

Who should attend:
• IT professionals looking to implement a technology for a social
media tool
• Communications professionals looking to develop an intranet 2.0
strategy
• Intranet owners, managers, contributors and stakeholders in:
       o E-Business
       o Finance
       o HR
       o Marketing
       o Office of the President
       o Operations

Register now <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/659720242>
More on Prescient <http://www.prescientdigital.com/>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

by Julian Mills - Prescient Digital Media has been fortunate to have had
the experience of working with clients in a wide range of sectors on a
variety of projects—from multifaceted portals for complex,
geographically dispersed organizations to targeted social media
strategies for SMBs.

Included in that mix is government clients at various jurisdictional
levels, whose projects are often unique in terms of the sensitivity they
need to have toward risk. Their sites are a highly visible means for
engaging with and informing citizens and other stakeholders, and the
team managing the sites needs to ensure that the content is accurate and
credible. In addition, it's important the information presented on
the site is consistent with the overall objectives of the group it
represents. Errors on the site can undermine important credibility or,
even worse, become a lightning rod for controversy.

While it's essential that teams managing a government web project
need to consider risk, however, they must also guard against allowing
sensitivity to risk to become an excuse for inaction. In a world of 24
hour news cycles and minute-by-minute Twitter updates, web audiences are
expecting greater acceleration in presentation of content and deployment
of new functionality.

That's not to say that the answer is to simply launch initiatives
and hope for the best. Rather, it's essential that government web
teams learn and apply the basics of web project best practices: conduct
a strong assessment, develop a consensus-based plan, confirm roles and
responsibilities through a governance model and then execute the plan.

Ontario Ministry of Economic Development & Trade Case Study
Earlier this year, I was joined on a webinar by Maureen Hall, Team
Leader, Marketing Branch, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development &
Trade (MEDT). Prescient had worked with MEDT on preparing the plan for
the redevelopment of their web presence, and Maureen prepared a case
study based on the experience. During the session, she stressed the
importance of effective project management.

"We had to base everything on solid research and if we were going to
move forward, we needed a strategic plan that everyone bought
into—colleagues within our branch and within other divisions of the
Ministry—so that there was some sense of collective responsibility
toward the long-term success," Maureen observed. "We also needed
to formalize that support by initiating a governance model to give
people an opportunity to contribute and feel ownership."

The initial challenges MEDT faced when they undertook the project was:

     * They operated sites with two distinct audiences that had grown
organically and independently over time.
     * The sites were content rich, but poorly organized and lacking brand
consistency with each other and other marketing collateral.
     * Growth and maintenance of the sites was not integrated with other
marketing tactics – they were not strategically aligned and
didn't reinforce each other.
     * Inadequate metrics were being gathered and very little new
functionality (e.g. RSS, data capture) had been incorporated.
The "before" status of the sites are depicted below.






The project initiated with a thorough gathering of assessment data,
consisting of a detailed evaluation of the web sites utilizing
Prescient's unique methodology, combined with qualitative and
quantitative user data as well as business requirement interviews with
key stakeholders. In addition, Prescient conducted an environmental scan
to evaluate similar sites from various jurisdictions. Key findings from
the assessment included:
     * A desire to see the sites emphasize the user: "User doesn't
care which level of government is offering information, just want it
from their perspective."
     * Low engagement with and usage of the site
     * Narrow user interest

     * Users bring baggage about government to the site
     * Perception that MEDT focuses on larger corporations
     * Opportunity to be online aggregator
     * No clear online leader creating a leadership opportunity

Based on this assessment data, there was then a consensus-based
strategic planning process, in which the team had an opportunity to come
together and develop an agreed upon strategic plan. The summary of the
plan was to establish an on-line leadership position by:

1. Improving usability for users in all markets

2. Enabling users to interact with MEDT more effectively – more
self-serve options

3. Presenting a greater amount of content, and a larger percentage of
aggregated information

4. Encouraging shared responsibility of content

5. Boosting awareness of MEDT's web presence

One of the key elements in ensuring the plan was executed—and the
topic that attracted the most questions on the webinar—was the
development of MEDT's governance model for its site.

Web Governance is the structure of people, positions, authorities,
roles, responsibilities, relationships, and rules involved in managing
an agency's website(s). The governance structure defines who can
make what decisions, who is accountable for which efforts, and how each
of the players must work together to operate a website and web
management process effectively.

As Maureen observed, government is elaborate and complex and there are
already processes in place, which presents an opportunity to leverage
existing approaches. "We took the informal maintenance model and
formalized it within the governance model with clear lines of
accountability for content and functionality."

With governance completed, the team then turned to architecting and
designing the sites. As the screen grabs below indicate, key principles
were presenting information based on the needs of the users,
specifically on an Information Architecture focused on their business
decision making process as determined by their continuum of needs. In
addition, the team added more self-service elements to the sites.







Based on the case study, Maureen suggested that the key take-aways are:

     * A strategic approach based on sound research and clearly understood
user preferences and expectations is imperative to overcoming internal
biases – be prepared to challenge your own assumptions.
     * Well organized, high value content allows you to confidently drive
more traffic to your website and increase user engagement and exposure
to your brand – even more important with social media.
     * A governance structure does not guarantee all stakeholders remain
committed to the website - it does provide a formal structure to engage
them when necessary.
Related Presentation  Best Practices for Managing a Government Website
Redevelopment
<http://www.slideshare.net/Prescient/best-practices-for-managing-a-gover\
nment-website-redevelopment>
Related Articles  The best government intranet designs
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/best-practices/the-best-govern\
ment-intranet-designs>
Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/web-2-0-intranet-2-0-g\
aining-traction>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

by Carmine Porco - The number of social media tools available to
organizations today can be overwhelming. With your organization's
efficiency and collaboration on the line, it's important to pick the
right one. Despite their potential impact, the best social media tools
are seldom chosen by organizations looking to support their unique
intranet 2.0 strategies.

Social media on the intranet (Intranet 2.0) is present on about half of
all intranets. Once a nice-to-have or future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools
such as blogs, wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream.

Despite the low cost of entry, most Intranet 2.0 tools are merely
experiments, pilots or limited to a very small audience. Of the
organizations that have adopted intranet 2.0, only 25% of them have done
so enterprise-wide (see the results of Prescient's Intranet 2.0
Global Survey Intranet 2.0 becomes mainstream
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-2-0\
-becomes-mainstream> ).

However, the outcry for social media is at an all-time high and
continues to grow. Here at Prescient, we are continually requested to
add web 2.0 functionality to organizations' intranets. As well, we
are seeing a lot of homegrown or one-off solutions bolted onto existing
intranets. Many times this occurs because the overall intranet is not
satisfying the needs of the employees.


I have been compiling a list of over 70 specific web 2.0 tools on
Prescient's Intranet 2.0 Tools Matrix (a portion of it is
illustrated below). Within the matrix, we have listed the Intranet 2.0
tools or software (Note: these tools are specific to the intranet—no
Facebook, but a Facebook-like internal application such as Cubeless is
listed). Along the top, we have listed web 2.0 applications such as
blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging, etc. Now the fun part—we
have cross referenced each tool with each application.




This list is by no means complete, but it is quite comprehensive. If you
are looking for a tool that provides instant messaging, you can simply
look down the column to find a tool/software. Conversely, if you are
interested in a particular tool or piece of software, you can look
across the row to see what applications that tool will accommodate. As I
mentioned, this is by no means an exhaustive or precisely accurate list,
but it does illustrate that

     * there are a plethora of Intranet 2.0 tools to consider
     * there are many applications to consider
     * without the proper business requirements or strategy, you are
simply guessing at what tool can assist your organization's
particular needs
It's also worth noting that many of the Intranet 2.0 tools

     * claim to be full WCMS (Web Content Management Systems)
     * are Saas (Software as a Service). That is, you pay a monthly or
annual fee while the vendor hosts the hardware/software (e.g. Survey
Monkey or Zoomerang)
     * are free!

As in choosing a WCMS
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/content-management> , one
size—or in this case one tool—does not fit all.

What is required is a strategy of what your organization is trying to
accomplish. I have had numerous clients come to me and ask for a tool
rather than a business solution. For example, I have had clients ask for
a blog, not really knowing what it could do, when in fact all they
really required was a simple discussion board or want ad page.

An essential part of your intranet strategy must also encompass
corporate culture especially when it comes to Intranet 2.0. Each
organization has its own rate of adoption and needs to factor this in
when creating an intranet strategy. A recent blog posting from Posterous
<http://pointsofrue.posterous.com/>  states that "Providing the
tools is one big step to demonstrating a new level of trust in our
employees. But tools themselves are never the solution. Providing the
tools is going to be the easy part. Inspiring and sustaining their use
is something else entirely. Call it the Law of Corporate Cultural
Inertia: an organizational culture at rest tends to stay at rest unless
acted on by a force."

Choosing the right strategy
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-str\
ategy-planning-a-successful-intranet>  is the first and most important
step.

To assist in developing an intranet 2.0 strategy, I have drawn up the
following high-level illustration:




It's no coincidence that there is a strong correlation between what
Forrester is calling mature or successful applications and what
Prescient has found in its annual Intranet 2.0 Global Survey Intranet
2.0 becomes mainstream
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-2-0\
-becomes-mainstream> .

If we look at wikis, you can see that according to the Forrester
Enterprise 2.0 Tech Radar
<http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/techradar%26trade%3B_for_i%26km_pr\
os_enterprise_web_20/q/id/46894/t/2>  chart, they are quite mature and
will continue to grow. Correlating that with Prescient's survey, we
see that wikis are in fact, the third most popular Intranet 2.0
application. In fact, employee wikis were present in 45% of all
organizations (regardless of size), but only 17% of organizations had
deployed them enterprise wide.

We also see that social networking, although very popular outside the
enterprise, is still not mature or popular within the enterprise.
However, we see that social networking will gain in maturity and we also
anticipate it being more popular in this year's survey. As well, we
are seeing many new entrants in the market claiming
"Facebook-like" features and functionality for the enterprise.


By the way, we're once again conducting the Intranet 2.0 Global
Survey 2010 <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9>  to learn
the latest about what social media organizations are using, not using,
and the reasons for their use/disuse.

As I have tried to illustrate within this article, there are numerous
tools in the Intranet 2.0 space, and many of them do a great job.
However, unless you know what your organization really needs and is able
to adopt, you run the risk of alienating your employees. What is
required is a solid understanding of your user needs and a strategic
plan to get there. It must definitively illustrate how you are either
going to make the CEO money or save the CEO money.
Related Event Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
strategy (webinar)
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/events/upcoming%20events/social-media-t\
ools-the-best-for-your-intranet-2-0-strategy-1>

Related Articles Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/web-2-0-intranet-2-0-g\
aining-traction>
Web 2.0 Becomes Mandatory
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/web-2-0-becomes-mandat\
ory>
The Business Value of Intranet 2.0
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/the-business\
-value-of-intranet-2.0>
How long is a piece of string?
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/how-long-is-\
a-piece-of-string>
Intranet 2.0: The investment vs satisfaction corollary
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/intranet-2-0\
-the-investment-vs-satisfaction-corollary>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

by Jonas Lood - Last year, social media acceptance and usage grew at a
rapid rate. Today, Facebook has more than 400 million active users, one
fifth of which are using the newer and rapidly growing mobile platform.
Not bad for a company that started just six years ago. Similarly,
according to Nielsen Online, Twitter grew by 1,300% year over year
registering a total of more than 7 million unique visitors. As these
trends continue, users will also adopt new and innovative ways to
embrace social media as it becomes increasingly mobile, functional and
exclusive.

While it is true that social media grew as a web-based communications
medium for individual use, an increasing number of organizations are
beginning to take notice. Our clients are frequently asking us how they
can adopt new and innovative uses for social media at their
organization. In particular, how such an approach will result in
quantifiable, tangible and measurable results.

Whether you are a Business to Business or Business to Consumer
organization, there is a place for social media at your company.
According to Dan Schawbel, social media specialist at EMC Corporation,
and author of the book, Me 2.0: "It's all about aligning
business strategy to the use of each tool." How you embrace the
medium ultimately depends on your business strategy and approach.
Failing to do so means you will not reach your intended audience and the
opportunity will be lost.

A common trend we've seen is companies that are searching for
marketing and communication methods that optimize exposure without
breaking the budget. Case in point, Best Buy's TwelpForce
<http://twitter.com/Twelpforce> . It leverages the combined knowledge of
hundreds of employees throughout their store-wide network to provide
customer support and technology advice via Twitter. Using Twitter, Best
Buy has managed to position itself as a consumer electronics knowledge
leader. TwelpForce provides opportunities for customer communication and
service that would have been very expensive using traditional methods.

Both Dell <http://www.facebook.com/dellsocialmedia> , the world's
third largest PC maker, and VISA
<http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?sid=72a11fdc3ebe9b99a5c839\
e76dd85bb3&id=24249628048&ref=s.> have developed unique Facebook pages
specifically designed to `carry on the conversation' to better
serve their customers. The topics can have a general customer service
and feedback-oriented emphasis, as is the case with VISA. They can also
be highly granular, focusing on unique topics with "how to"
guides, company events and discussion boards. The goal here is to
communicate with your customers, not just as sales people but also as a
resource, raising the secondary possibility of a sale.


Companies who do not participate could be left out in the cold.
According to Brian Solis at Futureworks "If you're not part of
the conversation, then you're leaving it to others to answer
questions and provide information, whether it's accurate or
incorrect. Or, even worse, you may be leaving it up to your competition
to jump in to become the resource for the community."

Social media has come of age and can now be viewed as an essential
business tool. Those who insist social media is a fad and write off the
technology in favour of more traditional modes of customer interaction
are making a mistake. The start up costs for the technology is generally
nonexistent, and in some instances it is free. Companies are advised to
invest in social media and incorporate these programs into their
marketing mix. Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management coined
this term in the 1960's "The purpose of a business is to create
a customer." With that in mind, now imagine the opportunities social
media could bring to your business.
Related Event

Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0 strategy (webinar)
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/events/upcoming%20events/social-media-t\
ools-the-best-for-your-intranet-2-0-strategy-1>
Related Articles Afraid of using social media interally?
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/afraid-of-us\
ing-social-media-internally>
5 reasons to follow you on Twitter; 5 reasons to un-follow
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/5-reasons-to-follow-yo\
u-on-twitter-5-reasons-to-unfollow>
Minding your Ps and you: The 4 Ps of marketing yourself in a social
media world
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/minding-your-ps-and-yo\
u-the-4-ps-of-marketing-yourself-in-a-social-media-world>
Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/web-2-0-intranet-2-0-g\
aining-traction>
5 reasons why Twitter will overtake Facebook
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/5-reasons-why-twitter-\
will-overtake-facebook>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

by Cathy McKnight - Every enterprise has some sort of social media
touching it. Whether it is an officially sanctioned Facebook Fan page,
or employees Tweeting on the latest company gossip, social media is
being used by employees (and the public).

It is essential that companies establish clear guidelines and policies,
enabling employees, contractors and clients alike to understand the
responsibilities associated with social media offers.

Having the proper policies and guidelines in place will help curtail
common issues associated with social media implementation in corporate
environments. Issues such as:

     * The release of confidential corporate information
     * Sharing of proprietary Intellectual Property
     * Effect on corporate reputation
     * Liability
     * Employee time/productivity

Social media governance is an extension of the typical intranet
governance documentation (Editorial Policies, Design Guidelines,
Intranet Policies & Procedures). It is also a bridge between external
and internal web resource use, as many of these rules and
recommendations are applicable in both environments. It is imperative
that social media governance documentation provides the details for use
of such tools that are integrated into the intranet, but must also
address how employees engage in social media externally. By
establishing, broadcasting and enforcing the policies and guidelines
surrounding the use of internal based social media tools, as well as
those outside the company's firewall, employees are less likely to
breach the trust that is inferred in their employment.

What documentation do we need?  Some organizations have a single page
outlining their rules of play for social media in the workplaces, others
have volumes that would make War and Peace look like an easy read.
Somewhere in the middle (closer to company A's approach) should
suffice.


A set of comprehensive social media governance documents tailored
specifically to your organization's social media environment will
help prevent unintended disclosures by employees, or inadvertent damage
being done by unknowing employees.

Corporate social media governance documentation should include:



1. Social Media Policies for Employees

     * Explains the purpose and "what's in it for me" of
social media
     * The do's and don'ts of using social media within the
enterprise
     * Details the legalities associated with blogs, wikis and other
social media forums
     * Which organizational group/department owns and is responsible for
social media forums within the company

2. Employee Best Practice Guidelines for leveraging social media
successfully
     * Setting up for success in social media mediums
     * Addresses the how's and why's of social media
responsibility
     * Social media audience analysis

3. Tips for successful Blogging, Tweeting and using other social media
outlets
     * Short, punchy headlines & sentences
     * Support your argument with statistics & quotes
     * Link to relevant sources & other information
     * Tips on when to use one channel over another (e.g. blogs vs wikis)





These policies should cover the core elements of content classification,
channel use, presentation of content and security parameters.




Many organisations have employees sign a code of conduct (electronic or
hard copy), which now include reference to the company's electronic
channel use, every year as a reminder of the rules in place with regard
to their responsibilities as an employee.

Many people use social media improperly simply because they don't
understand it. So as the old adage goes; an ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure. Or in this case, backing up some straight forward
social media governance documents, with a little bit of training, goes a
long way to preventing a social media disaster from ensuing.
Free Download

Social Media Checklist (Updated)
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/social-media-are-you-in>
Related Article  Afraid of using social media internally?
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/afraid-of-us\
ing-social-media-internally>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Upon reading your email, I browsed your site and found some good content. I
downloaded your "Checklist for Social Media" brochure.
I thought you might want to know that Blue Shirt Nation has closed.

Thanks,
Kelly Green




________________________________
From: ward_toby <toby@...>
To: intranet-user-experience@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 12:39:04 PM
Subject: [intranetUX] Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
strategy

 

by Carmine Porco - The number of social media tools available to
organizations today can be overwhelming. With your organization' s
efficiency and collaboration on the line, it's important to pick the
right one. Despite their potential impact, the best social media tools
are seldom chosen by organizations looking to support their unique
intranet 2.0 strategies.

Social media on the intranet (Intranet 2.0) is present on about half of
all intranets. Once a nice-to-have or future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools
such as blogs, wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream.

Despite the low cost of entry, most Intranet 2.0 tools are merely
experiments, pilots or limited to a very small audience. Of the
organizations that have adopted intranet 2.0, only 25% of them have done
so enterprise-wide (see the results of Prescient's Intranet 2.0
Global Survey Intranet 2.0 becomes mainstream
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/ intranet- 2-0\
-becomes-mainstream> ).

However, the outcry for social media is at an all-time high and
continues to grow. Here at Prescient, we are continually requested to
add web 2.0 functionality to organizations' intranets. As well, we
are seeing a lot of homegrown or one-off solutions bolted onto existing
intranets. Many times this occurs because the overall intranet is not
satisfying the needs of the employees.

I have been compiling a list of over 70 specific web 2.0 tools on
Prescient's Intranet 2.0 Tools Matrix (a portion of it is
illustrated below). Within the matrix, we have listed the Intranet 2.0
tools or software (Note: these tools are specific to the intranet—no
Facebook, but a Facebook-like internal application such as Cubeless is
listed). Along the top, we have listed web 2.0 applications such as
blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging, etc. Now the fun part—we
have cross referenced each tool with each application.

This list is by no means complete, but it is quite comprehensive. If you
are looking for a tool that provides instant messaging, you can simply
look down the column to find a tool/software. Conversely, if you are
interested in a particular tool or piece of software, you can look
across the row to see what applications that tool will accommodate. As I
mentioned, this is by no means an exhaustive or precisely accurate list,
but it does illustrate that

* there are a plethora of Intranet 2.0 tools to consider
* there are many applications to consider
* without the proper business requirements or strategy, you are
simply guessing at what tool can assist your organization' s
particular needs
It's also worth noting that many of the Intranet 2.0 tools

* claim to be full WCMS (Web Content Management Systems)
* are Saas (Software as a Service). That is, you pay a monthly or
annual fee while the vendor hosts the hardware/software (e.g. Survey
Monkey or Zoomerang)
* are free!

As in choosing a WCMS
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ content-manageme nt> , one
size—or in this case one tool—does not fit all.

What is required is a strategy of what your organization is trying to
accomplish. I have had numerous clients come to me and ask for a tool
rather than a business solution. For example, I have had clients ask for
a blog, not really knowing what it could do, when in fact all they
really required was a simple discussion board or want ad page.

An essential part of your intranet strategy must also encompass
corporate culture especially when it comes to Intranet 2.0. Each
organization has its own rate of adoption and needs to factor this in
when creating an intranet strategy. A recent blog posting from Posterous
<http://pointsofrue. posterous. com/> states that "Providing the
tools is one big step to demonstrating a new level of trust in our
employees. But tools themselves are never the solution. Providing the
tools is going to be the easy part. Inspiring and sustaining their use
is something else entirely. Call it the Law of Corporate Cultural
Inertia: an organizational culture at rest tends to stay at rest unless
acted on by a force."

Choosing the right strategy
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/ intranet- str\
ategy-planning- a-successful- intranet> is the first and most important
step.

To assist in developing an intranet 2.0 strategy, I have drawn up the
following high-level illustration:

It's no coincidence that there is a strong correlation between what
Forrester is calling mature or successful applications and what
Prescient has found in its annual Intranet 2.0 Global Survey Intranet
2.0 becomes mainstream
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/ intranet- 2-0\
-becomes-mainstream> .

If we look at wikis, you can see that according to the Forrester
Enterprise 2.0 Tech Radar
<http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/techradar%26trade%3B_for_i%26km_pros_enter\
prise_web_20/q/id/46894/t/2> chart, they are quite mature and
will continue to grow. Correlating that with Prescient's survey, we
see that wikis are in fact, the third most popular Intranet 2.0
application. In fact, employee wikis were present in 45% of all
organizations (regardless of size), but only 17% of organizations had
deployed them enterprise wide.

We also see that social networking, although very popular outside the
enterprise, is still not mature or popular within the enterprise.
However, we see that social networking will gain in maturity and we also
anticipate it being more popular in this year's survey. As well, we
are seeing many new entrants in the market claiming
"Facebook-like" features and functionality for the enterprise.

By the way, we're once again conducting the Intranet 2.0 Global
Survey 2010 <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9> to learn
the latest about what social media organizations are using, not using,
and the reasons for their use/disuse.

As I have tried to illustrate within this article, there are numerous
tools in the Intranet 2.0 space, and many of them do a great job.
However, unless you know what your organization really needs and is able
to adopt, you run the risk of alienating your employees. What is
required is a solid understanding of your user needs and a strategic
plan to get there. It must definitively illustrate how you are either
going to make the CEO money or save the CEO money.
Related Event Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
strategy (webinar)
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/events/ upcoming% 20events/ social-media- t\
ools-the-best- for-your- intranet- 2-0-strategy- 1>

Related Articles Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ web-2.0/web- 2-0-intranet- 2-0-g\
aining-traction>
Web 2.0 Becomes Mandatory
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ web-2.0/web- 2-0-becomes- mandat\
ory>
The Business Value of Intranet 2.0
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/ the-business\
-value-of-intranet- 2.0>
How long is a piece of string?
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/ how-long- is-\
a-piece-of-string>
Intranet 2.0: The investment vs satisfaction corollary
<http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/ intranet- 2-0\
-the-investment- vs-satisfaction- corollary>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Very sad to hear about Blue Shirt Nation!
Do you know what happened to it?

Cheers,
James

On 26/02/10 1:55 AM, Kelly Green wrote:
>
>
> Upon reading your email, I browsed your site and found some good
> content. I downloaded your "Checklist for Social Media" brochure.
> I thought you might want to know that Blue Shirt Nation has closed.
>
> Thanks,
> Kelly Green
>
> ________________________________
> From: ward_toby <toby@...
> <mailto:toby%40prescientdigital.com>>
> To: intranet-user-experience@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:intranet-user-experience%40yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 12:39:04 PM
> Subject: [intranetUX] Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
> strategy
>
>
>
> by Carmine Porco - The number of social media tools available to
> organizations today can be overwhelming. With your organization' s
> efficiency and collaboration on the line, it's important to pick the
> right one. Despite their potential impact, the best social media tools
> are seldom chosen by organizations looking to support their unique
> intranet 2.0 strategies.
>
> Social media on the intranet (Intranet 2.0) is present on about half of
> all intranets. Once a nice-to-have or future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools
> such as blogs, wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream.
>
> Despite the low cost of entry, most Intranet 2.0 tools are merely
> experiments, pilots or limited to a very small audience. Of the
> organizations that have adopted intranet 2.0, only 25% of them have done
> so enterprise-wide (see the results of Prescient's Intranet 2.0
> Global Survey Intranet 2.0 becomes mainstream
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- 2-0\
> -becomes-mainstream> ).
>
> However, the outcry for social media is at an all-time high and
> continues to grow. Here at Prescient, we are continually requested to
> add web 2.0 functionality to organizations' intranets. As well, we
> are seeing a lot of homegrown or one-off solutions bolted onto existing
> intranets. Many times this occurs because the overall intranet is not
> satisfying the needs of the employees.
>
> I have been compiling a list of over 70 specific web 2.0 tools on
> Prescient's Intranet 2.0 Tools Matrix (a portion of it is
> illustrated below). Within the matrix, we have listed the Intranet 2.0
> tools or software (Note: these tools are specific to the intranet—no
> Facebook, but a Facebook-like internal application such as Cubeless is
> listed). Along the top, we have listed web 2.0 applications such as
> blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging, etc. Now the fun part—we
> have cross referenced each tool with each application.
>
> This list is by no means complete, but it is quite comprehensive. If you
> are looking for a tool that provides instant messaging, you can simply
> look down the column to find a tool/software. Conversely, if you are
> interested in a particular tool or piece of software, you can look
> across the row to see what applications that tool will accommodate. As I
> mentioned, this is by no means an exhaustive or precisely accurate list,
> but it does illustrate that
>
> * there are a plethora of Intranet 2.0 tools to consider
> * there are many applications to consider
> * without the proper business requirements or strategy, you are
> simply guessing at what tool can assist your organization' s
> particular needs
> It's also worth noting that many of the Intranet 2.0 tools
>
> * claim to be full WCMS (Web Content Management Systems)
> * are Saas (Software as a Service). That is, you pay a monthly or
> annual fee while the vendor hosts the hardware/software (e.g. Survey
> Monkey or Zoomerang)
> * are free!
>
> As in choosing a WCMS
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ content-manageme nt> , one
> size—or in this case one tool—does not fit all.
>
> What is required is a strategy of what your organization is trying to
> accomplish. I have had numerous clients come to me and ask for a tool
> rather than a business solution. For example, I have had clients ask for
> a blog, not really knowing what it could do, when in fact all they
> really required was a simple discussion board or want ad page.
>
> An essential part of your intranet strategy must also encompass
> corporate culture especially when it comes to Intranet 2.0. Each
> organization has its own rate of adoption and needs to factor this in
> when creating an intranet strategy. A recent blog posting from Posterous
> <http://pointsofrue. posterous. com/> states that "Providing the
> tools is one big step to demonstrating a new level of trust in our
> employees. But tools themselves are never the solution. Providing the
> tools is going to be the easy part. Inspiring and sustaining their use
> is something else entirely. Call it the Law of Corporate Cultural
> Inertia: an organizational culture at rest tends to stay at rest unless
> acted on by a force."
>
> Choosing the right strategy
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- str\
> ategy-planning- a-successful- intranet> is the first and most important
> step.
>
> To assist in developing an intranet 2.0 strategy, I have drawn up the
> following high-level illustration:
>
> It's no coincidence that there is a strong correlation between what
> Forrester is calling mature or successful applications and what
> Prescient has found in its annual Intranet 2.0 Global Survey Intranet
> 2.0 becomes mainstream
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- 2-0\
> -becomes-mainstream> .
>
> If we look at wikis, you can see that according to the Forrester
> Enterprise 2.0 Tech Radar
>
<http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/techradar%26trade%3B_for_i%26km_pros_enter\
prise_web_20/q/id/46894/t/2
>
<http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/techradar%26trade%3B_for_i%26km_pros_enter\
prise_web_20/q/id/46894/t/2>>
> chart, they are quite mature and
> will continue to grow. Correlating that with Prescient's survey, we
> see that wikis are in fact, the third most popular Intranet 2.0
> application. In fact, employee wikis were present in 45% of all
> organizations (regardless of size), but only 17% of organizations had
> deployed them enterprise wide.
>
> We also see that social networking, although very popular outside the
> enterprise, is still not mature or popular within the enterprise.
> However, we see that social networking will gain in maturity and we also
> anticipate it being more popular in this year's survey. As well, we
> are seeing many new entrants in the market claiming
> "Facebook-like" features and functionality for the enterprise.
>
> By the way, we're once again conducting the Intranet 2.0 Global
> Survey 2010 <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9
> <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9>> to learn
> the latest about what social media organizations are using, not using,
> and the reasons for their use/disuse.
>
> As I have tried to illustrate within this article, there are numerous
> tools in the Intranet 2.0 space, and many of them do a great job.
> However, unless you know what your organization really needs and is able
> to adopt, you run the risk of alienating your employees. What is
> required is a solid understanding of your user needs and a strategic
> plan to get there. It must definitively illustrate how you are either
> going to make the CEO money or save the CEO money.
> Related Event Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
> strategy (webinar)
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/events/ upcoming% 20events/
> social-media- t\
> ools-the-best- for-your- intranet- 2-0-strategy- 1>
>
> Related Articles Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ web-2.0/web- 2-0-intranet-
> 2-0-g\
> aining-traction>
> Web 2.0 Becomes Mandatory
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ web-2.0/web- 2-0-becomes-
> mandat\
> ory>
> The Business Value of Intranet 2.0
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> the-business\
> -value-of-intranet- 2.0>
> How long is a piece of string?
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> how-long- is-\
> a-piece-of-string>
> Intranet 2.0: The investment vs satisfaction corollary
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- 2-0\
> -the-investment- vs-satisfaction- corollary>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

--
-------------------------
James Robertson, Managing Director
Step Two Designs

Email: jamesr@...
Web: www.steptwo.com.au
Phone: +61 2 9319 7901

Hi folks,

Today's the last day for submissions to the User Experience stage of Agile 2010
- and we'd love to have some more submissions. So if you've been vacillating on
whether to submit or not now is your last chance.

You can submit sessions and find out details of speaker compensation at
http://agile2010.agilealliance.org/speaker.html

Submissions aimed at the User Experience stage should be submitted to the
Technical theme. Adding a "ux" tag to your submission will help us find your
proposal more easily.
If you have any questions please just contact us.

Our goals are to

* Put practical user experience skills into the hands of the people who need
them - whatever their role
* Communicate that user experience is a rich, deep discipline that can help
agile teams build better products

The User Experience stage has 11 session slots this year and we're relying on
you to fill them with some great sessions. Help us promote a shared vision of
user experience in agile teams by submitting:

* Experience reports of user experience practice in agile projects - whether a
great success or a dismal failure we want attendees to learn from your
experiences

* Demonstrations of user experience practices and techniques -  show attendees
how user experience methods can help agile teams build more successful products

* Tutorials on user experience practices for agile teams - help attendees
acquire the practical skills and knowledge they need to improve the user
experience of their products.

* Talks, workshops & panels - promote the effective application of user
experience skills and practices in agile teams

We want the stage to engage and inform. Something out of the ordinary where the
audience can challenge their preconceptions in an entertaining way and learn
something new. If you have an idea, even if you think it might a bit _too_ out
of the ordinary, please submit it for consideration.

Let us know what _you_ want to see in the User Experience stage. Is  there a
tutorial you would like to see or a subject you would like to hear discussed? Is
there someone from the agile or user experience world you would like us to
invite? If you have a topic or presenter in mind, please let us know.

Thank you for your interest. We're looking forward to meeting you in Nashville
this August.

Sincerely,

Adrian Howard & Darci Dutcher

PS If you know of a person who group who might be interested in submitting
something - please pass this message along or point them towards
http://agile2010.agilealliance.org/users

--
http://quietstars.com     adrianh@...     twitter.com/adrianh
t. +44 (0)7752 419080     skype adrianjohnhoward     del.icio.us/adrianh

I have no idea what happened. I just know that it's not at
https://mix.blueshirtnation.com/  and there is no referring address.
I got the address from Jason Falls:
http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/03/19/sme-tv-discovering-the-best-buy-bl\
ue-shirt-nation/
Gary Koelling's twitter page http://twitter.com/garykoelling lists the URL
blueshirtnation.com. I tried both that and www.blueshirtnation.com. Both of them
redirected to the page https://mix.blueshirtnation.com/  which has the text
below.

Perhaps the group still exists and the public site is defunct?  It seems strange
that Gary's twitter would display a defunct site. Perhaps there are technical
issues. I tried it again today with no success.
I poked around via Google and didn't find much beyond descriptions and
presentations.
This is what is at the site above:

BSN Mix has been discontinued.
Look for archived versions of BSN and BSN Mix on ETK in a few weeks.
Thanks

Now I am curious as to what is going on, since Gary has the site listed.

Kelly






________________________________
From: James Robertson <jamesr@...>
To: intranet-user-experience@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, February 25, 2010 3:12:33 PM
Subject: Re: [intranetUX] Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
strategy



Very sad to hear about Blue Shirt Nation!
Do you know what happened to it?

Cheers,
James

On 26/02/10 1:55 AM, Kelly Green wrote:
>
>
> Upon reading your email, I browsed your site and found some good
> content. I downloaded your "Checklist for Social Media" brochure.
> I thought you might want to know that Blue Shirt Nation has closed.
>
> Thanks,
> Kelly Green
>
> ____________ _________ _________ __
> From: ward_toby <toby@prescientdigit al.com
> <mailto:toby% 40prescientdigit al.com>>
> To: intranet-user- experience@ yahoogroups. com
> <mailto:intranet- user-experience% 40yahoogroups. com>
> Sent: Wed, February 24, 2010 12:39:04 PM
> Subject: [intranetUX] Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
> strategy
>
>
>
> by Carmine Porco - The number of social media tools available to
> organizations today can be overwhelming. With your organization' s
> efficiency and collaboration on the line, it's important to pick the
> right one. Despite their potential impact, the best social media tools
> are seldom chosen by organizations looking to support their unique
> intranet 2.0 strategies.
>
> Social media on the intranet (Intranet 2.0) is present on about half of
> all intranets. Once a nice-to-have or future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools
> such as blogs, wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream.
>
> Despite the low cost of entry, most Intranet 2.0 tools are merely
> experiments, pilots or limited to a very small audience. Of the
> organizations that have adopted intranet 2.0, only 25% of them have done
> so enterprise-wide (see the results of Prescient's Intranet 2.0
> Global Survey Intranet 2.0 becomes mainstream
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- 2-0\
> -becomes-mainstream > ).
>
> However, the outcry for social media is at an all-time high and
> continues to grow. Here at Prescient, we are continually requested to
> add web 2.0 functionality to organizations' intranets. As well, we
> are seeing a lot of homegrown or one-off solutions bolted onto existing
> intranets. Many times this occurs because the overall intranet is not
> satisfying the needs of the employees.
>
> I have been compiling a list of over 70 specific web 2.0 tools on
> Prescient's Intranet 2.0 Tools Matrix (a portion of it is
> illustrated below). Within the matrix, we have listed the Intranet 2.0
> tools or software (Note: these tools are specific to the intranet—no
> Facebook, but a Facebook-like internal application such as Cubeless is
> listed). Along the top, we have listed web 2.0 applications such as
> blogs, wikis, podcasts, instant messaging, etc. Now the fun part—we
> have cross referenced each tool with each application.
>
> This list is by no means complete, but it is quite comprehensive. If you
> are looking for a tool that provides instant messaging, you can simply
> look down the column to find a tool/software. Conversely, if you are
> interested in a particular tool or piece of software, you can look
> across the row to see what applications that tool will accommodate. As I
> mentioned, this is by no means an exhaustive or precisely accurate list,
> but it does illustrate that
>
> * there are a plethora of Intranet 2.0 tools to consider
> * there are many applications to consider
> * without the proper business requirements or strategy, you are
> simply guessing at what tool can assist your organization' s
> particular needs
> It's also worth noting that many of the Intranet 2.0 tools
>
> * claim to be full WCMS (Web Content Management Systems)
> * are Saas (Software as a Service). That is, you pay a monthly or
> annual fee while the vendor hosts the hardware/software (e.g. Survey
> Monkey or Zoomerang)
> * are free!
>
> As in choosing a WCMS
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ content-manageme nt> , one
> size—or in this case one tool—does not fit all.
>
> What is required is a strategy of what your organization is trying to
> accomplish. I have had numerous clients come to me and ask for a tool
> rather than a business solution. For example, I have had clients ask for
> a blog, not really knowing what it could do, when in fact all they
> really required was a simple discussion board or want ad page.
>
> An essential part of your intranet strategy must also encompass
> corporate culture especially when it comes to Intranet 2.0. Each
> organization has its own rate of adoption and needs to factor this in
> when creating an intranet strategy. A recent blog posting from Posterous
> <http://pointsofrue. posterous. com/> states that "Providing the
> tools is one big step to demonstrating a new level of trust in our
> employees. But tools themselves are never the solution. Providing the
> tools is going to be the easy part. Inspiring and sustaining their use
> is something else entirely. Call it the Law of Corporate Cultural
> Inertia: an organizational culture at rest tends to stay at rest unless
> acted on by a force."
>
> Choosing the right strategy
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- str\
> ategy-planning- a-successful- intranet> is the first and most important
> step.
>
> To assist in developing an intranet 2.0 strategy, I have drawn up the
> following high-level illustration:
>
> It's no coincidence that there is a strong correlation between what
> Forrester is calling mature or successful applications and what
> Prescient has found in its annual Intranet 2.0 Global Survey Intranet
> 2.0 becomes mainstream
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- 2-0\
> -becomes-mainstream > .
>
> If we look at wikis, you can see that according to the Forrester
> Enterprise 2.0 Tech Radar
>
<http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/techradar%26trade%3B_for_i%26km_pros_enter\
prise_web_20/q/id/46894/t/2
> <http://www.forreste r.com/rb/ Research/ techradar% 26trade%3B_ for_i%26km_
pros_enterprise_ web_20/q/ id/46894/ t/2>>
> chart, they are quite mature and
> will continue to grow. Correlating that with Prescient's survey, we
> see that wikis are in fact, the third most popular Intranet 2.0
> application. In fact, employee wikis were present in 45% of all
> organizations (regardless of size), but only 17% of organizations had
> deployed them enterprise wide.
>
> We also see that social networking, although very popular outside the
> enterprise, is still not mature or popular within the enterprise.
> However, we see that social networking will gain in maturity and we also
> anticipate it being more popular in this year's survey. As well, we
> are seeing many new entrants in the market claiming
> "Facebook-like" features and functionality for the enterprise.
>
> By the way, we're once again conducting the Intranet 2.0 Global
> Survey 2010 <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9
> <http://www.zoomeran g.com/Survey/ WEB22A68BBLLH9>> to learn
> the latest about what social media organizations are using, not using,
> and the reasons for their use/disuse.
>
> As I have tried to illustrate within this article, there are numerous
> tools in the Intranet 2.0 space, and many of them do a great job.
> However, unless you know what your organization really needs and is able
> to adopt, you run the risk of alienating your employees. What is
> required is a solid understanding of your user needs and a strategic
> plan to get there. It must definitively illustrate how you are either
> going to make the CEO money or save the CEO money.
> Related Event Social media tools: the best for your intranet 2.0
> strategy (webinar)
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/events/ upcoming% 20events/
> social-media- t\
> ools-the-best- for-your- intranet- 2-0-strategy- 1>
>
> Related Articles Web 2.0 / Intranet 2.0 gaining traction
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ web-2.0/web- 2-0-intranet-
> 2-0-g\
> aining-traction>
> Web 2.0 Becomes Mandatory
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ web-2.0/web- 2-0-becomes-
> mandat\
> ory>
> The Business Value of Intranet 2.0
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> the-business\
> -value-of-intranet- 2.0>
> How long is a piece of string?
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> how-long- is-\
> a-piece-of-string>
> Intranet 2.0: The investment vs satisfaction corollary
> <http://www.prescien tdigital. com/articles/ intranet- articles/
> intranet- 2-0\
> -the-investment- vs-satisfaction- corollary>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

--
------------ --------- ----
James Robertson, Managing Director
Step Two Designs

Email: jamesr@steptwo. com.au
Web: www.steptwo. com.au
Phone: +61 2 9319 7901







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi all,

We’re pleased to announce that the 2010 Intranet Innovation Awards are
now open for entries:

www.steptwo.com.au/iia/enter

Entries close on *Friday April 23*, and it shouldn't take more than a
day to prepare your entry.

Now in their fourth year, the Intranet Innovation Awards are the premier
awards for intranet teams. Drawing on the best of intranet work around
the world, these awards are unique in their recognition of individual
improvements, and not intranets as a whole.

Winning teams obtain widespread visibility, a magnificent glass trophy,
and more support within their own organisations.

If you're not sure what to enter, please do drop us a line and we'd
be happy to provide some feedback (awards@...).

Good luck!
James

--
-------------------------
James Robertson, Managing Director
Step Two Designs

Email: jamesr@...
Web: www.steptwo.com.au
Phone: +61 2 9319 7901

by Julian Mills - The hype around socialmedia can obscure two key
points: the complexity lies in adapting yourbusiness, not in the
technology; and leaders that listen have a massiveadvantage in the new
business environment created by Intranet 2.0.

Executive blogs have emerged as an important Intranet 2.0,
andunderstanding how to manage them has become an important competency
forinternal communications professionals (see Employee intranet blogs
wanted
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/employee-int\
ranet-blogs-wanted> ). But key to understanding what makes a blog
effective is grasping thecommunication skills of the leaders who author
those blogs,particularly their ability to participate naturally in
conversationswith their employees.

John Chamber, CEO of Cisco, is recognized as having one of theleading
blogs for employees. He's also famous for his relentless driveto
gather data about his business, and never missing an opportunity
tointeract with employees and understand their thoughts on the
business.There are stories about Chambers asking: "If Cisco could do
one thingfor you, what would it be?" Chambers typically follows up
on theresponse within weeks, and posts the story to his blog.

In doing so, Chambers shows a grasp for the fundamental principle
ofsocial media: success requires participating in a conversation;
nottrying to shout at your audience.

Participate in the conversationOne of the reasons why social media
technology has enjoyed suchrapid adoption is that the tools are
inexpensive and intuitive to use.As indicated in Presient's Intranet 2.0
Global Survey
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/Download%20Intranet%202.0%20Gl\
obal%20Survey%20Summary%20Repor> , the main barrier to adoption is not
technology; it's gaining buy-in within the organization.
A key source for the difficulty of gaining buy-in is that theconcept of
participating in a conversation with employees can be atodds with the
hierarchical, command-and-control culture that hasdominated some
organizations. Adapting your organization to become
morelistening-oriented is an important first step for preparing
forIntranet 2.0 success.

Bernie Charland from Thinktwice Communications
<http://www.thinktwicecommunications.com/> ,for example, gained valuable
insights into how to manage an internalcommunications strategy based on
listening to employees through hisexperience working for Dell and
IronMountain. Bernie has collaboratedwith Prescient on a number of
projects, and based on his experience hassuggested the following tips
for adapting a communications strategy soit joins the conversation and
is well prepared to benefit from Intranet2.0.

     * At minimum, find a way to listen to the conversation. If thereis no
logical or accessble forum, create one to drive efficiency (andavoid
folks going to a bunch of rogue or scattered platforms).
     * Ideally,organizations should find a way to contribute to the
conversationthrough information, comments and content. There is no real
way tomanage the conversation, but they can go a long way to influence
it anddirect it in productive ways.
     * Building on the point above,establish simple rules of engagement
(policies) that screen out abusesbut supports vibrant, transparent
conversation.
     * Finally, theultimate goal should be to leverage/foster the
conversation to supportthe company's goals - for example by promoting
relevant topics/issues,or supporting collaboration and innovation via
crowdsourcing.

How fast can you move?
In addition to understanding how to adapt your business toparticipate in
conversations, it's also important to assess how quicklyyou can
adopt Intranet 2.0 technology.

There's no doubt that social media introduces new technology intothe
organization, requiring communications professionals to rethinksome
fundamental issues about their job. These fundamental questionscan cause
confusion about how to introduce social media into the mixand how
quickly you can move.


When trying to answer these questions, remember that there arethings
social media doesn't change: such as employee engagement and
theconnection the organization's leadership have formed with
employees.Prescient's colleague Ralph Beslin of the Beslin
Communication Group <http://www.beslin.com/research.html> ,prepared the
table below for our joint social media readiness seminarin 2009. Ralph
based the table on a white paper he co-authored for theIvey Business
Journal called How leaders can communicate to build trust.


The power of the table lies in its familiarity. Ralph's white
paperlays out sophisticated techniques for measuring these factors, but
theunderlying concept is well established and intuitive: the leaders
whowin are those who communicate openly and often, have a clear
andcommitted communications policy, initiate formal and informal
programsand assess their own performance. These leaders, as we saw in
theexample of John Chambers, have always communicated openly
andauthentically. Social media simply enables them to do it
moreeffectively.

Gap between CEO & employees

Large

Small

Small

Engagement level: employees

Low

Low

High

Social media in integrated  communications, Go:

Slow: senior management buy-in strategy

Moderate: employee engagement strategy

Fast

After understanding how to adapt your communications plan toemphasize
listening and assessing your readiness to move, you can getserious about
evaluating how to prepare a Blueprint
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/services/intranet%20services/web-bluepr\
int>  for Intranet 2.0 success.

Related Articles
Minding your Ps and you: The 4 Ps of marketing yourself in a social
media world
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/minding-your-ps-and-yo\
u-the-4-ps-of-marketing-yourself-in-a-social-media-world>
5 reasons why Twitter will overtake Facebook
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/5-reasons-why-twitter-\
will-overtake-facebook>
Social media policies & guidelines a must for responsible empowerment
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/web-2.0/ahhhh-the-power-social\
-media-policies-guidelines-a-must-for-responsible-empowerment>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

by Toby Ward - If a tree falls in the forest will anyone blog about it?
Do blogs beget blog postings? As too many organizations are discovering
the hard way, employees don't want to blog. Approximately 1-2% of
employees are interested in blogging (today), but most don't have
any desire to pick up the proverbial pen.

Despite its massive size and extremely technology and web savvy
population IBM has found the same problem. About 5% of the employee
population blogs on the corporate intranet, but a far greater percentage
wants to read employee blogs. In fact, although there are more than
16,000 blogs at IBM, fewer than 900 people (less than one-quarter of one
percent of all IBM employees, or 0.25%) have blogged in the past 3
months, according to an internal IBM survey of employees.

Despite the lack of blogging, IBM knows there are many benefits to
employee blogs. "Employee blogging has benefits both for individuals
and the organization," say Werner Geyer and Casey Dugan of IBM's
T.J. Watson Research. "In order to inspire the creation of blog
posts, we developed a novel topic suggestion system that connects blog
readers with blog writers through sharing topics of interest."

IBM's Blog Muse is a new employee social media tool that connects
blog readers and blog writers by allowing readers to make blog topic
suggestions and requests of employee subject matter experts who blog at
IBM (visit Prescient's site
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/employee-int\
ranet-blogs-wanted>  to see an example).


Employees can "Ask for a blog post" online and Blog Muse will
automatically route the topic to those bloggers that are most likely to
write about it. If a blog post on the requested topic gets posted then
the requester is automatically notified by Blog Muse.

Blog Muse also encourages employees to take up blogging via a prominent
tab called "Get inspired to write" which recommends topics to
readers and potential bloggers. Employees can also search out content by
topic and vote on blog posts.

The preliminary results (300+ respondents) and data of the Intranet 2.0
Global Survey 2010 <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9>
reveal that 55% of organizations have employee or executive blogs on
their corporate intranet. However, the challenge for these organizations
and the owners of the blogging platforms is no different from IBM: you
can lead an employee to a blog, but you can't make him or her write.

Ensure you get a free copy of the Intranet 2.0 Global Study Report and
analysis by spending 5 – 10 minutes taking the Intranet 2.0 Global
Survey 2010 <http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A68BBLLH9> .


Related articles:

Executives should blog, not employees
<http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2010/2/23/4463839.html>
Do employees want to blog?
<http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2010/2/19/4460547.html>
Change management for Intranet 2.0
<http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2010/2/16/4457747.html>


Related Event:
Webcom Toronto 2010
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/events/upcoming%20events/webcom-toronto\
-2010>  for a number of presentations on Intranet 2.0


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Today's internal communications professionals are challenged to solve a
growing range of issues, from engaging a new generation of employees to
delivering a consistent message for a dispersed workforce to
understanding an ever-proliferating range of technology options for
managing communications. Fundamentally, they and the organizations they
support are exploring a world defined by social media, in which success
requires participating in the conversation rather than issuing commands.

     * Date:                  April 08, 2010
     *                  Location:                 Online webinar, 12:00 PM
- 1:00 PM EDT
Results from leading organizations demonstrate that communications
professionals who solve these challenges effectively have an opportunity
to add significant value by delivering important business performance:
improving recruitment and retention, for example, or enabling the
cultural transformation required to become a more collaborative,
innovative enterprise, one that engages its employees in meaningful
dialogue and motivates them to participate in corporate success.

The next webinar in Prescient's popular monthly series will feature
Insidedge, the leading agency specializing in internal communications.
Insidedge will provide insight on how the right mix of social media
tools can improve employee engagement when they're used strategically.
Prescient will then share real world case studies of organizations who
have delivered these strategies using Intranet 2.0 technology, and
present a methodology for planning and measuring for social
communication success.

This actionable 60-minute seminar has been developed for internal
communications professionals, and the IT team with whom they
collaborate, to deliver an understanding for:

• The business drivers for intranet 2.0
• A framework for evaluating best fit social media technologies
• How technology can help or hinder employee engagement
• Using storytelling in the digital age
• Key metrics for planning and evaluating success

Presenters:
David Duschene, Executive Vice President, Insidedge
Julian Mills, Vice President of Client Development, Prescient Digital
Media

Register <https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/158111578>

Prescient Digital Media Prescient Digital Media is a recognized thought
leader on all issues relating to the intranet. Its consultants present
frequently at events across North America and IntranetBlog, written by
company President Toby Ward, reaches thousands of readers every day.
Prescient constantly applies its knowledge by assisting organizations
including CA, RBC, PNC Financial, PepsiCo, Kao Brands, HSBC,
IronMountain and the Ontario Real Estate Corporation to maximize their
intranet performance.

Insidedge The Insidedge team believes that employee communications
success comes when organizations translate complex business strategies
and information into language employees can understand and act upon. Our
team marries the precision of research, the rigor of management
consulting and the discipline of PR and marketing to develop programs
that motivate employee performance. Because we strive to listen to and
understand employees through research, we are able to develop strategies
that work - because they are based on what employees want and need from
their employers. Founded in 1999, Insidedge has offices in New York,
London, Chicago and Dallas.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi all,

This month we share a case study from DSTA in Singapore, who have
extended their traditional staff directory to encompass a range of
KM objectives. We also look at how to structure the intranet, and
ways of measuring the effectiveness of intranet teams.

Don't forget it's only a matter of weeks until entries close for
this year's Intranet Innovation Awards. You have until April 23
to get your details in:

http://www.steptwo.com.au/iia/enter

---

In this edition:

* Creating MyHomepage at DSTA
* Measuring the effectiveness of intranet teams
* Structuring three types of content


New articles
======================

* Creating MyHomepage at DSTA
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_dsta/index.html
    MyHomepage enables better communication, dialogue and expertise
    sharing between employees, through the use of social tools.

* Measuring the effectiveness of intranet teams
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_measuringteams/index.html
    There are a range of practical ways of assessing whether the team is
    spending its time to greatest effect.

* Structuring three types of content
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_threecontent/index.html
    When designing and structuring intranets, it is useful to distinguish
    between core content, and business-unit specific information.

Related articles:

* Staff directories benefit from cross-linking
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_staffdirectorylinks/index.html
    Some of the greatest value in a staff directory comes from the cross-
    linking, within the directory and to other resources.

* Position descriptions for intranet managers
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_positiondescriptions/index.html
    Position descriptions describe the key responsibilities and duties of
    the intranet manager, fulfulling two audiences, the intranet manager
    as well as the organisation.

We also provide an announcements list, which will ensure you find out
when we publish new whitepapers. To join this, visit:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/subscribe/

Finally, don't forget to visit "Column Two", my weblog featuring
news and opinion on all things Intranets & CM:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo/

Thanks,
James

Join intranet expert Toby Ward, Prescient Digital Media, and social software
leader Dan Latendre, IGLOO Software, in this educational webinar as they walk
you through the definition, prevalence and importance of social intranets,
supported by recent statistics and case studies.

- May 06, 2010, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET
- Online webinar
- There is no cost to attend this webinar

In many ways, corporate information sharing has failed to live up to our
expectations. But there is cause for hope.

Social technologies are redefining what's possible for the corporate intranet.
Combining traditional intranet features with innovative social capabilities,
this much maligned application is quickly evolving to incorporate new and
innovative ways to share content, collaborate around projects and connect with
colleagues. Where past concepts have failed, intranet 2.0 will succeed.

During this 60-minute webinar, based in part on Prescient's Social Intranet
whitepaper, discover:

     * The business drivers for social intranets
     * Where your intranet stands in relation to others in the industry
     * What key metrics are critical for planning, deploying & evaluating a 2.0
intranet solution

       Why you should attend:
     * Social intranets are crucial to securing and engaging the younger
generation of employees entering your workforce
     * Limited accessibility to your intranet 2.0 tools may be preventing your
intranet from becoming a "social intranet"
     * Preview the preliminary results of the 2010 Intranet 2.0 Global Study
     * Learn what tools you can incorporate on your intranet (usually at a small
price)

Register Now: http://bit.ly/d5gkiZ

Hi all,

This month we share practical tips on how to educate the executive
about the intranet. We also look at intranet communications, and
the crazy idea of replacing the homepage with a Google search
page.


---

In this edition:

* Educating the executive about the intranet
* Three types of intranet communication
* Do intranets only need search?


New articles
======================

* Educating the executive about the intranet
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_educatingexecutive/index.html
    Executive support is critical for intranets, and there are a range of
    practical approaches for gaining this.

* Three types of intranet communication
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_commstypes/index.html
    Intranets are an important internal communications channel, and it’s
    important to get the right mix of news.

* Do intranets only need search?
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_justsearch/index.html
    Can we replace our intranet homepages with a Google-inspired search
    page?

Related articles:

* Choosing an intranet project sponsor
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_sponsor/index.html
    Lack of project sponsorship is one of the greatest causes of IT
    project failure. For an organisation-wide platform such as an
    intranet, the need is even greater.

* Nine ways to fix intranet search
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_fixingsearch/index.html
    This article outlines nine steps that can be taken by all intranet
    teams to improve the effectiveness of search, covering both design
    and under-the-hood changes.

We also provide an announcements list, which will ensure you find out
when we publish new whitepapers. To join this, visit:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/subscribe/

Finally, don't forget to visit "Column Two", my blog featuring
news and opinion on all things Intranets & CM:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo/

You can also keep track of us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/StepTwoDesigns

Thanks,
James

A new social networking community for intranet managers uses predictive modeling
to help people connect and share information. www.Communexions.com uses the
highly successful and award-winning social software cubeless™ from Sabre is
ideal for:

      *  Best practice sharing
      *  Problem solving
      *  Blogging and networking

Highlights:

     * No fees (only a 30-second registration).
     * Designed particularly for inside the firewall (intra-enterprise)
communications.
     * System built with a predictive modeling technology that allows the system
to help move information to the right people at the right time, ensuring
information and conversations within the social network are available and
actionable.
     * The inference engine automatically connects people based on their profile,
and their social activity.
     * Launched by Prescient Digital Media; powered by cubeless™ from Sabre

Site tour demo:
http://www.youtube.com/communexions#p/a/u/0/qS6hsOFSHzM

Links / URLs:

     * Main site: www.Communexions.com
     * Demo tour: Communexions.com DEMO / TOUR
     * Employee networking case study using cubeless:  Employee social networking
(case study)


Start your own blog or come join the discussion and network in some of the
groups:
     *  Intranet Managers Forum
     *  SharePoint Managers & Users
     *  The Social Intranet

by Catherine Elder - It used to be, not so long ago, you typed something in the
search field and hit search or "I'm feeling lucky" and in return you got ten
blue links, and you hoped that at least one was relevant.

But now, as searchers, we have expectations: we want personalized and highly
relevant results; the ability to search from mobile devices; we want real time
results (think Twitter streams); and we want it in the format we wish to consume
it in (think video).

With all those demands and expectations of the search engine it is no wonder
that search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEM) has become
more complex.

At the recent "Search Engine Tune Up" conference produced by Marketing Magazine
in Toronto, speakers talked about ways to be invisible to search engines and
guiding principles for SEM.

10 Ways to be Invisible

Just to be clear, you don't want your site to be invisible, but some
organizations seem to do it naturally. Andrew Goodman from Page Zero Media
outlined at least 10 ways to stay invisible.

1) Be a minimalist with no or little content on your home page so that search
spiders can't categorize your site.

2) Ignore the importance of information architecture and use uncertain or vague
categories. Search engines collect data on click streams so if all the visitors
to your site are confused there are no clear paths to denote important content.

3) Make sure your site is slllllloooooooow. Search engines look at the user
experience over time and how that relates to conversion, so if users are
abandoning or exiting quickly, there are no clear paths to mark.

4) Make sure you don't provide any indexing views like a sitemap so that search
engines can't understand the site.

5) Hide stuff; throw up a firewall just when the user thinks they may have found
what they want, and so the search engine can't index it.

6) Less is more – provide very little content on your products or services and
don't provide content in different formats (e.g. photos with descriptions).

7) Don't use title or heading tags – you don't want anyone to know what they're
looking at or how to reference it. That goes for search engines too.

8) Don't write for the web with search engine optimization and social media in
mind. Just keep those long, text-heavy, scrolling pages with no headings or
chunked text. And it doesn't matter if they aren't clearly written or updated…
they're invisible

9) Don't measure referrals or build them. If you want to stay invisible, you
don't want to build up your linking neighbourhood with relevant referring links.

10) Focus on having 10 blue links returned in the results and cross your fingers
that your site is one of them, or not if you want to stay invisible. Ignore the
importance of local search and universal search results that return photos and
videos, which get higher click throughs.

5 Guiding Principles for Search Engine Marketing

Yes, it is still easy to remain invisible. But if you do want to be noticed and
are exploring search engine marketing then consider these guiding principles:

1) Where you rank is incredibly important for getting visitors – people are less
likely to scroll or go to another page and are more likely to conduct a
different search.

2) Search today is blended and personalized and shows photos and videos
available on the topic (just to add to your challenges, search engines are using
partnerships and their own brand to add to the results – think
http://books.google.com). People notice photos in the results first.

3) Free is important as search becomes your funnel. The goal then is to collect
attention like currency and then monetize when you've built your bank of
attention (e.g. the restaurant review site http://www.yelp.ca/, which had over
26 million visitors in December and now sells ads on their site).

4) Consider mobile devices and the user experience. According to Tyler Calder at
Search Engine People, 41% of mobile users compare prices and read product
reviews on their device while in the store; 37% have made a purchase using their
mobile; and 45% abandon the sales process because the shopping cart didn't load
properly. He adds that "1.5 Million items were sold through Ebay's iPhone
Application through the holidays (1 item every 2 seconds)".

5) Get social – in the past year Facebook traffic has increased 185% and on
March 15, 2010 Facebook overtook Google as the most visited site. Remember,
consumers value other people's opinions higher than any advertisement.

Hide or Seek

As you can tell, it is easy for a site to stay hidden. There are now too many
pages for search engines to index. If you are not putting key words in your page
title, headings, content, alt tags and links and you don't have a site map or
relevant links why should search engines bother with you?

But if you do want to get noticed, seek out communities of interest like
Facebook. Social networking sites are where your customers are looking for
information, and keep in mind, they may well be looking with their mobile
device.

Read this article on our website: http://bit.ly/bUQPF5

by Toby Ward - The original intranet, intranet 1.0, typically began as nothing
more than a technology outpost under some techie's desk in the corporate
basement. The first version of this intranet was nothing more than a welcome
page, perhaps a name and a phone number, and a simple welcome message.

Intranet 1.0 grew and evolved rapidly, more so at some organizations than
others, but in some respects, faster than corporate websites who had a few
years' head start with the advent of the `super information highway':

-Version 1.0:  Welcome page (a welcome message and a phone number)
-Version 1.1:  Bulletin board (simple communications)
-Version 1.2:  Corporate newsletter (structured news & limited document
management)
-Version 1.3:  Help Desk (simple transactions like the employee directory)
-Version 1.4:  Corporate Store (more complex transactions such as e-HR and
self-service)
-Version 1.5:  The Portal (authorization, authentication, application & database
integration)

Though not every intranet has followed such a clear evolutionary path (in fact,
only 15% of organizations have a full portal solution, according to the 2010
Intranet 2.0 Global Survey, conducted in the Spring of 2010 by Prescient Digital
Media), the technology itself and many leading organizations (IBM, Cisco, and
Verizon to name a few) have blazed this enterprise trail.

The trail has lengthened considerably as of late with the advancement of social
media, and the intranet has made an evolutionary leap to version 2.0 – the
social intranet.

The Social Intranet

The phrase social intranet has only appeared in recent months (late 2009) to
describe an intranet with social media features. Although with any emerging
technology there is likely to be disagreement on the precise definition of a new
term, I describe a social intranet as the following:

An intranet that features multiple social media tools for most or all employees
to use as collaboration vehicles for sharing knowledge with other employees. A
social intranet may feature blogs, wikis, discussion forums, social networking,
or a combination of these or any other Web 2.0 (intranet 2.0) tool with at least
some or limited exposure (optional) from the main intranet or portal home page.

However, a few employee or executive blogs do not make a social intranet. A
social intranet requires wide participation, or at minimum, opportunity for
participation, by most or all employees that have intranet access. Social
intranets require social media: blogs, wikis, and user comments, to name a few.
More advanced social intranets may incorporate multimedia, user-tagging, and
social networking that are integrated into multiple channels including user
profiles.

Read it on our website: http://bit.ly/aCaNW0

by Julian Mills - It's an exciting time for internal communications
professionals. The convergence of demographic shifts within the workplace, a
growing percentage of knowledge workers, and low-cost communication technology
creates ideal conditions for communicators to add value to their business by
adapting their knowledge and creativity to unleash the power of the social
intranet.

In a webinar (now available) presented by Prescient Digital Media and leading
global internal communications agency Insidedge, Dave Duschene, Executive Vice
President with Insidedge, laid out a common scenario for internal communications
professionals. They feel it's time "to go 2.0" because people seem to dig their
intranet, the CEO is hip to it and is on Facebook, and employees are already
building their own wikis and team sites. Plus, everybody else is doing and
they've got a lot to say.

What's your plan?

"That's all good, but keep this in mind," Dave cautioned. "While technology
offers new ways to share information, it doesn't increase the capacity to
receive information so you should proceed with caution and a plan." There are a
number of reasons driving the need for caution, not the least being the risk of
piling information on employees and taxing their already diminished time and
attention spans.

For communicators, the plan should start with an understanding that digital
technology does not change the road along which they will travel, but it may
entail new rules of the road. Dave has developed the following table as a guide:

Same Road

     * Employees need certain information to do their jobs

     * Employees want to share their opinions and be heard

     * Managers are the most credible communicators

     * People want information in different ways

New Rules

     * We must have discipline to prioritize information

     * New tools make it easier to give employees a voice

     * Easier to equip managers as communicators: do it!

     * Use all the tools at your disposal… wisely

Communicators should also remember that high tech should not replace high touch,
suggests Dave, and encourages them to understand that:

     * New channels and technologies can allow for more tailored, two-way
discussions with employees
     * You shouldn't just repurpose offline materials
     * Integration works: digital channels are most effective in concert with
offline media and in-person interaction
     * You shouldn't let automation replace interaction.

The plan should then continue with an assessment of whether or not to move ahead
with 2.0. To help with this decision, Dave suggests considering the following:

     * Are my employees online at work? To what degree?
     * Who are my employees: young, aging, blue or white collar, retirees, new
hires, families?
     * Am I reaching all my audiences?
     * How many languages do my employees speak?
     * What will my employees need to do with all the information I provide them?
     * Have I asked my people what they want?
     * What is my budget?
     * What are my existing resources?
     * What's the appetite for change?

Understand the social intranet

If you are ready for 2.0, and preliminary results from Prescient's 2010 Intranet
2.0 Global Survey suggest many companies are, that means you will be working
with the social intranet. Even if you've not come across the term before, you
are probably familiar with the concept of the "social intranet." As defined by
Toby Ward, President of Prescient Digital Media on his Intranetblog, it is:

"An intranet that features multiple social media tools for most or all employees
to use as collaboration vehicles for sharing knowledge with other employees. A
social intranet may feature blogs, wikis, discussion forums, social networking,
or a combination of these or any other Web 2.0 (intranet 2.0) tool with at least
some or limited exposure (optional) from the main intranet or portal home page."

In other words, the social intranet is based on social technology that millions
of us use every day, enabling an often neglected resource to address business
challenges common across all sectors, including knowledge worker productivity,
collaborating across silos, recruitment and retention of talent.

The increasing familiarity of the tools described by Toby is essential for
driving adoption of the social intranet. As the following numbers demonstrate,
the spectacular growth of social media stems from the intuitive usability of the
tools and their ability to enable us to interact with one another naturally.
When combined with seismic demographic shifts and a compelling cost-benefit
equation, "social intranet" is a term you can expect to hear in boardrooms
across the world.

Explosive growth in scalable, intuitive technology

Throughout 2009, according to comScore, Social Networking continued to gain
momentum with 21.5 million unique visitors in Q4, up 5% from Q1. With a reach of
88%, the category accounts for 2 out of every 5 visits over the Internet in
Canada. The category now accounts for 15 percent of all time spent online and 19
percent of all pages viewed in Canada, making it one of the most engaging
activities across the Web. In addition,

     * 75% of Americans use social technology (Forrester)
     * 66% of the global intranet population visits social networks (Nielsen)
     * 1,382% monthly growth rate of Twitter users from January to February, 2009
     * 5 billion minutes spend on Facebook every day.

With social media now an integral part of our day-to-day personal lives, we will
expect it to play a role in our professions.

The Next Generation is in your building

According to Neilsen, 93% of social media users believe a company should have a
social media presence, and that includes within your firewall. Millions of
people are spending billions of hours on social networking sites because they
want to share the OMG cat meme with their friends. But they are also doing so
because it enables efficient, productive collaboration with communities around
the globe. The Economist reported that Facebook has one engineer for every 1.1
million users, enabling the company to scale extremely rapidly to manage the
explosive growth of its platform. And have you ever heard of a suggestion that
Facebook needs a help desk?

The intuitive performance of social media technology creates the expectation
that companies will make it available to employees. As one client heard from a
new hire, "I have better technology in my living room than you're giving me
here."

Demographics are an obvious driver for the social intranet, given that a
generation that has grown up with digital technology is now on most company
payrolls. One Canadian financial institution, for example, has seen Generation Y
grow from 10% to 34% of its workforce in six years. At that growth rate,
Generation Y will account for over 50% of its workforce in 2012.

How does that affect the workplace? Research suggests that young people may
perceive inadequate technology as an indicator of an organizational culture that
does not offer them interesting opportunities. Consider a study conducted by IT
services firm Telindus, which found that:

     * 39 per cent of 18 to 24 year-olds would consider leaving if they were not
allowed to access applications like Facebook and YouTube.
     * A further 21 per cent indicated that they would feel `annoyed' by such a
ban.
     * The problem is less acute with 25 to 65 year-olds, of whom just 16 per
cent would consider leaving and 13 per cent would be annoyed.

But don't expect these concerns to only come from young people. The stats are
in, and essentially every demographic within your organization is participating
in social media.

To learn more about how to develop a plan for an effective social communications
strategy based on the social intranet, check out Prescient's Social Intranet
Success whitepaper.

Combined with the planning framework provided by Dave, and the compelling
numbers that demonstrate why the social intranet is concept rapidly gaining in
prominence, the matrix will assist communications professionals to harness the
power of the new technology to enhance their contribution to their
organization's performance.

View the whole article: http://bit.ly/9Zxx0E

We're having a webinar on June 9 with two guest speakers from a
Netherlands-based printing company that successfully rolled out several
social media tools on almost no budget.

The webinar is free and is a great opportunity to pose questions of your
own.

Here's how it'll go:

Toby Ward (our CEO) will introduce social intranets, elaborate on their
prevalence and importance, and then situate social intranets within the
changing landscape of the industry. Ria Breuer, Global Intranet Manager,
and Jan van Veen, Manager Internal Communications (both from Oce) will
walk you through the redevelopment of their intranet, a look at their
intranet today, and recommendations for cost-saving tips.

Here's what you need to know:

June 9, 12 p.m to 1 p.m. EDT (there'll be a Q&A session at the end)
Link to register: http://bit.ly/cQ06Vp

Hope you can attend!

If you have any questions please email Mike at
mmarchionda@...

Thanks

Hi all,

The intranet homepage is always contentious, and we dare to ask
the question: how long should it be? Squeezing it into a single
screen limits the effectiveness of the homepage, so can we make
it longer?

We also give tips on identifying staff tasks to underpin intranet
design, as well as finding compelling examples for an intranet
business case.

---

In this edition:

* How long should the intranet homepage be?
* Identifying staff tasks
* Finding compelling examples to build the intranet business case


New articles
======================

* How long should the intranet homepage be?
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_homepagelength/index.html
    It is widely assumed that intranet homepages need to be squeezed into
    a single screenful, but can longer pages be made to work?

* Identifying staff tasks
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_tasks/index.html
    Understanding common and important staff tasks underpins every aspect
    of intranet design and management.

* Finding compelling examples to build the intranet business case
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_compellingexamples/index.html
    Intranet business cases are more powerful when they draw on real-life
    examples of issues and needs.

Related articles:

* Seven roles of the intranet homepage
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_homepage/index.html
    There are many different uses for the intranet homepage, and a
    balance must be gained to meet business and staff needs.

* Improving your intranet, task by task
    http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_taskbytask/index.html
    By improving the way the intranet supports key tasks, immediate
    business benefits can be delivered in a manageable and cost-effective
    manner.

We also provide an announcements list, which will ensure you find out
when we publish new whitepapers. To join this, visit:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/subscribe/

Finally, don't forget to visit "Column Two", my blog featuring
news and opinion on all things Intranets & CM:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo/

You can also keep track of us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/StepTwoDesigns

Thanks,
James

Join Prescient Digital Media and Maverick Public Relations in this 90 minute,
in-person seminar.

In today's web 2.0 world, news both good and bad often travels faster than our
ability to manage the message. And while the advantages of using social media to
promote companies and brands are plentiful—networking, community-building, and
collaboration — the tools we increasingly rely on to spread our message can have
a dark side.

Today's PR strategies must consider many new scenarios — including how to react
when an issue takes on a life of its own online. In the era of Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn, the best PR strategies are those that advocate listening, not
shouting. With your brand popping up in online channels that didn't exist a
decade ago, organizations large and small are rethinking traditional PR
strategies in confronting a new era in how companies build, promote and manage
their brands and reputations.

In this 90 minute, free-of-charge information session, Stephen Rouse of Maverick
PR will discuss best practices for managing public relations in the social media
era, supported by real world case studies of companies that are succeeding, and
failing, to manage their brand in a social world. Julian Mills of Prescient
Digital Media will then review actionable examples of companies that maintain an
effective web presence to support a social PR strategy, and lay out a realistic
plan for developing and evolving your web assets.

Why you should attend:

     * Get practical advice on how to implement your own social PR strategy
     * See real-world case studies and examples
     * Gain insights into an actionable plan for managing your web presence to
support your brand in the social web world


When: Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Time: 8:30 to 10 a.m. or 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Where: Prescient Digital's Offices, 180 Bloor Street West, Suite 1102, Toronto

Seating is limited. For more info, contact jmills@...

Light breakfast/refreshments will be served.

There is no cost to attend this event.

Register: http://bit.ly/atWqsb

by Michael Marchionda - Before  inexpensive social media tools emerged
on the market a few years ago,  organizations looking to improve
internal communications were  hard-pressed to find tools that suited not
only their business  requirements, but their budget too. These tools
were expensive to buy  and implement, and many organizations'
business requirements went unmet  due to budgetary constraints.
Read more at Prescient Digital Media
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/social-media\
-tools-on-a-budget>

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by Cathy McKnight - Given that a social intranet can be built for a
fraction of the technology budget required for a traditional internal
site, the job of creating a case for a more interactive resource
developed on lightweight, highly usable tools should be easy.

While not entirely effortless, the task will be more straightforward if
you apply the KISS principle to the business case, and be sure to
anticipate and address management concerns early. When it comes to a
social intranet, the initial KISS principle is: Social intranets deliver
engaged employees, community building, increased site usage, and strong
voices, both employee and corporate. Who would argue against those
values? Management, if they think social intranets mean distracted
employees and business risk.

Read more at Prescient Digital Media
<http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/intranet-articles/applying-the\
-kiss-principle-to-your-social-intranet-case>

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