As usual of BI headlines, they called this the BOMBSHELL. A 76,000 member company banned the use of email and instead relies on IM and internal social site for communication. The CEO himself has not used email in the past 3 years and still has his job. Now you can argue this is not the indication that email is dead, but it sure looks like people are overwhelmed by the high amount of email that hits their inbox, a good percentage of which is left unread. Using channels like IM for direct communication allows for a quicker response to questions and makes people productive. Having a group discussion via a portal keeps track of everything pertinent to the discussion in one single location. Makes the email-hell obsolete and users more productive.
Read more about it here.
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Why I'm Shifting Focus to Google+ for My Business
Owning a business today can be dizzying. We're in the midst of a digital revolution, but direct-mail seems to STILL be working for my business. Still, there's no question that SEO, SEM, and other digital marketing strategies are vital to remain relevant. So where does a business owner go?
I notice a lot of businesses struggling to use various social platforms, and not adding much value when trying to leverage their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, YouTube channels, or blog platforms. Personally, I've found YouTube and our blog to be the most effective, and I'm losing home in Facebook's ability to provide a truly meaningful outlet for business owners to connect with their customers. So what's better? Google+.
No offense to Facebook. I'll continue using you to follow my friend's birthday's, to be reminded of Marcel the Shell video updates, and probably even for photos, but you do not seem to be the platform to meaningfully connect me with my customers.
So why google+? Reuters has a good write-up today:
1. Connections.
I notice a lot of businesses struggling to use various social platforms, and not adding much value when trying to leverage their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, YouTube channels, or blog platforms. Personally, I've found YouTube and our blog to be the most effective, and I'm losing home in Facebook's ability to provide a truly meaningful outlet for business owners to connect with their customers. So what's better? Google+.
No offense to Facebook. I'll continue using you to follow my friend's birthday's, to be reminded of Marcel the Shell video updates, and probably even for photos, but you do not seem to be the platform to meaningfully connect me with my customers.
So why google+? Reuters has a good write-up today:
1. Connections.
More than 1 billion people use Google's search engine every month. Google Plus for businesses allows you to potentially tap into that traffic, as Google+ Pages are now showing up in search results.
With the launch of Google+ Pages, the website is also debuting a feature called "Direct Connect." Users who type "+" in front of a company's name in Google's search field will be connected directly to the company's Google+ Page, if there is one.
People with personal Google+ profiles can recommend your business with a "+1," or add your business to their "Circles" so they can follow your every post. They can even chat with you or your employees face-to-face over Google+'s "Hangouts" feature.
2. Collaborations.
"Hangouts" is more than just a way to video chat, it also lets your team work on shared files in Google Docs from remote locations, in real time. Businesses can also use "Hangouts" like a virtual whiteboard for brainstorming.
Customers can also collaborate via "Hangouts." Businesses can host live customer feedback discussions, for example, giving you insight into your products and your customer base, a columnist for Simply Business suggests.
3. Circles.
As you may have heard, Google+ features "Circles," which lets you pick which posts are sent to specific groups of followers.
This could be a boon to businesses that cater to certain demographics, The International Business Times suggests. For example, a business can create different content for different age group "Circles," or send special offers to customers in a certain geographic "Circle."
However, keep in mind that Google Plus for businesses are still evolving. Critics note that Google+ Pages are still in need of business-friendly features like website analytic tools and personalized URLs.
So while other business owners struggle to get people to "like" them on facebook, then find that their updates & attempts to reach people are buried along with photo, Spotify, check-in updates, etc, I'm focusing on a seamless way to have meaningful dialogues with my customers.Slow Growth for Foursquare?
Every time I check out Facebook or Twitter for my daily dose of ‘entertainment’, I’m bombarded with messages about ‘checking in’. I used to quite enjoy these, actually, because apps like Foursquare contributed to my love of secretly snooping on people I don’t really care about. But recently I’ve begun to get slightly agitated at all the check ins. Frankly, its taking over my newsfeed and the truth is- I don’t particularly care that you went to Pizza Uno before you stopped into the Loews movie theater on 68th street to watch Harry Potter last night. It’s too much. Too much information, too many details—the window into all of my ‘friends’ lives has grown so big, all I really want to do is pull down the shades. Only slightly though. I still want to peak. My feelings of frustration could very well be temporary (like the time I decided I had enough of FB and forbid myself from looking at it for a week, only to realize that FB had become a part of my ritual. Coffee and FB for breakfast. It was like a bad addiction I couldn’t quit. I even tried replacing it with smoking but the nicotine wasn’t as satisfying as photo updates)
Anyway, this brings me to the actual point of this posting which is to comment on the fact that only 5% of US online adults use location apps at least once a month, up from 4 % last year. Despite the fact that this article was intended to make the reader gasp at the astonishingly low number, I think the rate is incredible. 30 % of online audiences are familiar with location apps, up from 16 % last year. This means that not only have location apps successfully convinced people to publicly post exactly where they are (when I heard about this idea years ago I literally LOL’d) but if you’re not using apps like foursquare, you at least know what it is. 30% is a very high number and truth be told, I don’t know if the 5 % will ever reach the numbers foursquare wants it to. I mean, do people really want to expose themselves that much? From personal and professional information to photos of newborns (not cute- have you ever seen a newborn?) and extensive family trees to now publishing your exact location? Have house robberies gone up since foursquare was released? No need to check the lights anymore, just log onto Facebook.
Uggh, what do I know. All I can say is that 15 million Foursquare users enjoy checking in and that’s about 14.9 million more than I ever thought would. Makes me think about what’s next. Let me tell you something, folks, if people start checking in from the bathroom, I’m seriously done.
Monday, December 05, 2011
Creative Condom Ad sends Facebook Friend Request from future son
A new advertising campaign sends friend requests from potential future offspring. The campaign works by searching for male Facebook users, creates a new profile with the original users name tagged with a "Jr." at the end and then sends an unsolicited friend request to the original user. Very creative, but unfortunately also violates Facebook's terms of service agreement.
What Obama can teach you about list making
Although President Obama's social media strategy is commonly regarded as the most successful component in his 2008 election digital marketing campaign, evidence shows it was actually email and list building which was the most impactful. Obama's own social media site had 2 million followers but his email list had over 13 million. Most importantly, this email list had been intelligently segmented to reflect the different types of audiences. For example, Obama's email team knew who to ask for $10 donations and who to ask for $1000 donations. By segmenting emails and donation requests to right audiences, Obama's ensured that it was sending the most relevant messages. Evidence has shown that people do not mind receiving multiple emails as long as they are deemed relevant. By segmenting properly, you can email more and and increase your chances for success.
The Two Types of Viralities
When hears about content going "viral" this actually could mean two different things. The true type of virality, when people perpetuate a meme without any kind of reward, is known as "evangelism". The second type of virality, when people perpetuate a meme for some sort of reward, is known as "obligation". For example a obligation model for a gaming site may tie ability to play the game in exchange for placing an add in the players social feed. From a business perspective both types of virality are valid models, but typically the "evangelism" model is the most effective and successful. The problem is that with evagelism, you actually need to have a remarkable meme. Obligation viral models can work when others are not used to seeing the type of message you are sharing. But obligation virality doesn't create the same type of respect and perpetuating power as evangelism virality.
Sci-fi: what will the phones/ tablets and the targeted marketing be in 5 years?
It is always funny to watch the Sci-fi movies shoot 20 years ago and showing the expected life in the 2010’s. Afterwards we can see that the scenarists and decor-makers had a lot of imagination but the reality is often far from their expectations.
Reading many articles about the new technologies, I like to do my own Sci-fi projection and imagine the daily life in a few years. The today mobile phones and tablets are great, but they still take room in the pockets and bags. People like to feel light and free. So why won’t we get i-pads in self-service at Starbucks? Next to the counter, any customer will get an i-pad and use it during he/she is drinking an Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha? By entering a personal code you can connect to any of your websites and applications. The i-pad will get a related Wi-Fi headset allowing to telephone. And a keyboard will be available. The price of the mobile phones devices decreased a lot in a few years so we can expect the same trend for the tablets. We can also imagine such kind of self-service tablet in the subway, in the planes, cabs and cafeterias. I saw recently that P&G has launched recently a virtual store in the subway in Prague.
I read as well that the credit cards could become virtual soon, and same for the fidelity and rewards cards of the store. What does it mean? Much more convenient for the consumers to get a light virtual valet replacing all our credit and reward cards… and in term of targeted marketing there would be a tremendous increase of individualized data about consumptions. The ‘system’ could then analyze and cross-reference the restaurants where you go, if you go by subway or by cab, in what store you buy your apparels, whether or not you are an adept of sales… And the ‘system’ would be able to sharpen your consumer profile with regards the profile of the friends you’ve called or chatted with.
This would be a great tool for marketing and bundling: thanks to all these information the tablet at Starbucks could offer you a $2 discount for a new drink five minutes before the ‘system’ estimates you are going to leave. And the girl sat on your left would get not offer since the ‘system’ would asses she will re-order by herself. And the guy sat on your right would get an offer for a free marble pound cake since the ‘system’ knows he will take this opportunity to order another grande coffee.
A great improvement for the Marketing. But also a strong need of control in order to protect privacy.
Can Big Data Save Publishing?
Having worked for a large magazine publisher for much of the 2000's, I've seen them cede their once powerful market to others online. Traditional media was slow to get on the Internet and once there, didn't know how to leverage it. They haven't gotten much smarter in the last few years, allowing public ad exchanges to capture the largest benefits of their online offerings. For decades, traditional media had captive audiences that came to them. But with the ever expanding and change footprint of the web, these publishers of high-quality content have found it difficult to make the transition. Many of them sold their online inventory off to generic advertising exchanges on the cheap because they didn't know how to evaluate and price it.
Now more so than ever, they need to understand their large audiences and reclaim their online ad inventories. In order to accomplish this, they need to leverage big data to optimize their pricing, get much better analytics about their customer base and their own offerings. Publishers like International Data Group, weather.com, Forbes, CBS, Conde Nast and quadrantONE have formed private exchanges where they have found that real-time bidding on their own exchange increases their ad unit rate by more than 50% over Google's AdEx. The Financial Times is using big data to optimize pricing by section, audience, targeting parameters, geography and time of day. They also have found undersold areas of the publication that they can now capture premium pricing directly helping the bottom line.
For years now data-driven trading has benefited the buyers in the global media market. It's time the sellers employ the same tactics and use analytics to fully take advantage of their audience and benefit from the size of their audiences and the niche offerings they can deliver.
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/big-data-analytics-save-publishing/231363/
How marketers compare digital today with the next 2-4 years
Despite the massive amount of digital and online tools that we see companies employing today, a recent survey by McKinsey suggests that marketing execs see it still as a largely untapped resource. Most agree that digital is a huge opportunity, but they are still trying to figure out how to improve their bottom line. The most pressing challenge is in producing and using customer insights which they hope to use to drive sales and engagement. But despite the amount of data available to them, their biggest challenge remains in measuring the impact of their tools online.
To date the biggest impact on companies has been their ability to interact and serve customers in a new manner followed by increasing access to data and insights and exploring new customer segments. However leveraging these insights is also the biggest challenge that marketers face. They cite constraints on funding and the lack of proper IT infrastructure and tools as the primary reasons. This is the big data challenge that companies are trying to solve and represents a huge frontier for innovation.
The way that marketers interact with customers is also set to change. Right now the biggest ways that marketers are reaching their customers are through their home page, email communication and social media sites. However in the next 2-4 years they see this changing dramatically, with Mobile and social leading the charge to connect with customers. Currently 11% of respondents are using mobile applications to connect, but using mobile to connect with customers in the next 2-4 years grows this number to 48%. Social moves from 39% to 47%. Homepages on the other hand take a big hit. Right now 78% of respondents are using home pages to primarily access their customers but that number drops to 28% in the next 2-4 years. This seems to indicate that while marketers see it as a necessity, their efforts are going to be following the customers through mobile and social, not waiting for them to come to the company.
Harnessing the big data challenge remains the biggest issue for marketers, but once properly harnessed these new channels will be exponentially more powerful than they are today.
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Digital_Marketing/What_marketers_say_about_working_online_McKinsey_Global_Survey_results_2892
http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Technology_and_Innovation/Big_data_The_next_frontier_for_innovation
Political Ads Go Everywhere?
Political ads in the 2008 election cycle totalled over $1B, but the 2012 election cycle is poised to dwarf that. TV is going to capture the lion's share of ad spending, much to the annoyance of all viewers, but digital spending is going to make up a substantial portion. Estimates for this cycle's spending range from $2.5B to $3.2B with 5-10% of that spent on digital ads, making political advertising a large customer this year. In 2008, Google was the big winner, but their dominance may well slip this year with large spends on Facebook and on the new Twitter advertising platform.
A bigger difference might be where you experience your digital advertising. Obama broke through with texting ads during the '08 campaign, but this year political ads delivered through mobile devices will gain traction. The ability to geo-target mobile ads, particularly around large events is growing in popularity with politicians. This will give them the ability to target primaries and caucuses right through the time they head to the polls on Election Day.
http://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/ad-barrage-2012-race/230588/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/69239.html
http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/ISP/Kate_Kaye.pdf
Protect me from... myself!
Secure.me is launching a social privacy monitoring tool which is aimed at letting you know how the information that you put online about yourself is putting your privacy at risk. The service will scan you profile to identify potential risks and then publishes your potential risks, analyses of your photos and activities and scores you on your profile, network and overall privacy. It will attempt to determine the mood of conversations that are going on, to allow you to see if they are getting out of hand. The network analysis looks at your friends to see if there are potentially dangerous things being linked to their pages to ensure they aren't scams. It will also scan your photos and friends photos to identify you when you aren't tagged and tries to discover what might be considered compromising.
As companies like Facebook move to make more and more of what was once private available publicly, it might be a good idea to get a picture of what is out there about you. This might be particularly when services are being used by HR departments to vet candidates for jobs like reppify and identified do. It's also not surprising that this company is coming out of Europe where privacy rights are still held in much higher regard than they are here. As more and more of the privacy rights in this country are challenged, companies like these are likely to spring up to protect their customers.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/05/secure-me/
Do We Really Need Another E-Commerce Platform?
It seems like the holidays are the perfect time to launch new apps and products related to shopping. Recently, retail giant Walmart launch its first-ever “social gifting” platform called Shopycat. It is initially only available as a Facebook application and it access information from your profile (and that of your extended network) to suggest girts for friends based on their Facebook use, likes/dislikes. The app will also suggest gifts from other retailers including Barnes & Noble, ThinkGeek, RedEnvelope, NBC Universal, Hot Topic and more. The program is design to be smart enough to understand the sentiment behind a Facebook status update, too, not just the keywords involved. So, for example, if you posted “I hate Twilight!” as a Facebook status update, Shopycat won’t recommend that your friends buy you the “Breaking Dawn” Blu-Ray. It also discerns more “giftable” from others, using algorithms that examine a number of signals, including recent purchases, uniqueness (e.g., a collector’s edition over a standard edition) and the aggregate buying behavior of shoppers on Walmart.com.
The overall goal is to encourage traffic and purchases via Walmart’s e-commerce website and the outside recommendations serve to boost the viral nature of the Facebook app itself. The app currently is hosted on the Walmart website but by mid-2012 it will be an online store that can be accessed without leaving the Facebook page.
However, the popularity and scalability of such apps remains to be seen. Walmart is not the first in this space, having been preceded by Etsy (Gift Finder service), eBay (Hunch) and even Amazon.
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/30/walmart-launches-shopycat-a-social-gift-finder-built-on-top-of-facebook/
Creative Email Marketing
This is a great article on innovative email marketing to reinforce the brand messaging. Ralph Lauren, to promote it's Rugby line for the holidays, has developed customizable e-greeting cards which you can send to your network of friends. However, the novelty of this product is that the greeting cards are also shoppable--you can click on the virtual models that walk in and out of the thumbnail images, while holding block letters that spell out a greeting of your choice. The names and prices of the goods they are wearing are listed underneath and by clicking on the model, you can add specific items to your shopping basket. Definitely a multipurpose emailer!
http://mashable.com/2011/12/05/ralph-lauren-holiday-card/
http://mashable.com/2011/12/05/ralph-lauren-holiday-card/
LiveLead: a new pastime
A friend of mine from college, Christian Bendixen, and his company LiveLead, were featured in TechCrunch today. I've been following his path since he began, so it's nice to see him getting the press that he deserves.
Since we go to movies, concerts, and museums together, isn't it only natural that we'd want to explore digital content together? Christian thinks so, and since his product is a facebook plug-in, I envision a lot of people enjoying YouTube videos together in real time, while enhancing the experience with real-time comments. I wish him the best of luck with his start-up.
Since we go to movies, concerts, and museums together, isn't it only natural that we'd want to explore digital content together? Christian thinks so, and since his product is a facebook plug-in, I envision a lot of people enjoying YouTube videos together in real time, while enhancing the experience with real-time comments. I wish him the best of luck with his start-up.
An Open Letter to the Amy Marshall Dance Company
Every company at some point in the past few years has uttered the phrase, "let's make a video and have it go viral." As it so happens, the Amy Marshall Dance Company has appeared to do that with this little holiday gem, which will no doubt be THE holiday video of the season. When this video first appeared in my newsfeed on Saturday (the day after it launched) it had about 15,000 views. Today (three days after launch) it has had nearly 150,000 views.
The fundraiser in me struggles whether or not to send the following note to the Amy Marshall Dance Company to help them leverage this little piece of viral marketing gold they've created.
Dear Ms. Marshall:
I'm am one of the 150,000 people people who absolutely loved your video, Miracle on 42nd Street. I'm blown away by how you've been able to create something that is fun, interesting, a little irreverent, and still highlights the talent and mission of your company.
As a nonprofit fundraiser, I couldn't help but think of all the fabulous opportunities this bit of attention could afford your company if properly leveraged. If I may be so bold, below are a few easy efforts that you could take to hopefully capitalize on the success of your video:
(1) YouTube (Brand Awareness and Optimizing Search): Immediately, you should edit the information below the video to highlight your company and your website. Also, increase the tags for the video to capture anyone that's trying to find you. I recommend adding the following words and phrases: "Mariah Carey," "holiday," "christmas dance," "dancers," and "dancing."
(2) Facebook Posts (Shout it loud, proud, and often): You posted the video only once to your facebook page. (A) Post it again and let everyone know that 150,000 have seen this (which, according to your website is more than the total number of people that have seen your company perform in its first 10 years -- that's incredible). (B) Post it again and tell everyone to share the video, and comment on the youtube page so that everyone is talking about your company; (C) Post it again and tell the facebook community that if you get to 500,000 views, every facebook fan will get a discount code to your next performance; and/or (D) Do all of this and more...keep it going! It's incredibly exciting for you, your company, and everyone who can feel like they're part of the excitement.
(3) Your Website (Embrace it...And capitalize on it!): I understand that you want to really represent your brand here, but its crucial to update your homepage with a little wink (if not a big splash) to let people know "they've come to the right place" if they are looking to learn more about the people in the video. I'd love if you could craft a "like what you saw" functionality where people could be directed to sign up for the email list, like you on facebook/twitter, buy tickets, and/or make a donation.
(4) Email (Let your people know about it!): You have a fantastic (and fun) story to tell your email subscribers. I'm not sure what you may already be doing, but you should be telling them about all the buzz you're getting. People love donating (a) at this time of year, and (b) to a success story. I could only dream of having such a fun, engaging, and unique story to tell during my Year-End fundraising campaign.
(5) Bloggers (Keep getting the attention): Send that video and a mini-press release telling the great story to any blogger that will listen (read?). Any place where you can get publicity for the video while also letting people know that it was produced by a fabulous, nonprofit arts organization is incredible publicity...and given the time of year and the relevance of your video, it's an easy and fun thing for people to blog about.
Wishing you great success (and all you want for Christmas),
Karen
Okay, class...should I be so bold as to actually send this to Ms. Marshall???
The fundraiser in me struggles whether or not to send the following note to the Amy Marshall Dance Company to help them leverage this little piece of viral marketing gold they've created.
Dear Ms. Marshall:
I'm am one of the 150,000 people people who absolutely loved your video, Miracle on 42nd Street. I'm blown away by how you've been able to create something that is fun, interesting, a little irreverent, and still highlights the talent and mission of your company.
As a nonprofit fundraiser, I couldn't help but think of all the fabulous opportunities this bit of attention could afford your company if properly leveraged. If I may be so bold, below are a few easy efforts that you could take to hopefully capitalize on the success of your video:
(1) YouTube (Brand Awareness and Optimizing Search): Immediately, you should edit the information below the video to highlight your company and your website. Also, increase the tags for the video to capture anyone that's trying to find you. I recommend adding the following words and phrases: "Mariah Carey," "holiday," "christmas dance," "dancers," and "dancing."
(2) Facebook Posts (Shout it loud, proud, and often): You posted the video only once to your facebook page. (A) Post it again and let everyone know that 150,000 have seen this (which, according to your website is more than the total number of people that have seen your company perform in its first 10 years -- that's incredible). (B) Post it again and tell everyone to share the video, and comment on the youtube page so that everyone is talking about your company; (C) Post it again and tell the facebook community that if you get to 500,000 views, every facebook fan will get a discount code to your next performance; and/or (D) Do all of this and more...keep it going! It's incredibly exciting for you, your company, and everyone who can feel like they're part of the excitement.
(3) Your Website (Embrace it...And capitalize on it!): I understand that you want to really represent your brand here, but its crucial to update your homepage with a little wink (if not a big splash) to let people know "they've come to the right place" if they are looking to learn more about the people in the video. I'd love if you could craft a "like what you saw" functionality where people could be directed to sign up for the email list, like you on facebook/twitter, buy tickets, and/or make a donation.
(4) Email (Let your people know about it!): You have a fantastic (and fun) story to tell your email subscribers. I'm not sure what you may already be doing, but you should be telling them about all the buzz you're getting. People love donating (a) at this time of year, and (b) to a success story. I could only dream of having such a fun, engaging, and unique story to tell during my Year-End fundraising campaign.
(5) Bloggers (Keep getting the attention): Send that video and a mini-press release telling the great story to any blogger that will listen (read?). Any place where you can get publicity for the video while also letting people know that it was produced by a fabulous, nonprofit arts organization is incredible publicity...and given the time of year and the relevance of your video, it's an easy and fun thing for people to blog about.
Wishing you great success (and all you want for Christmas),
Karen
Okay, class...should I be so bold as to actually send this to Ms. Marshall???
CNet: Dare you rent toys online for your kids this Christmas?
This article is abit of holiday fun. It shows the trend to rent—movies, dresses, apartments, even children’s toys is still very much on the rise. While some companies (Netflix) may be showing serious customer fall out, there seems to be no shortage of online retailers hoping to capitalize on the rent and return business. The success or failure of Toygaroo and others like it will say a lot
about how much the trend can continue…and will people show different patterns of purchase online than they do in physical retail stores? Spending on young children has been one of the mainstays of retail even in a poor economy…while overall book sales have tanked….children’s books continue to do well. How will people feel about loaned out toys for their kids? Good enough or gross?
Wired: RIM’s Troubles Continue: BlackBerry PlayBook Costing Company $485 Million
More from the battle between smartphones and how utterly dead-in-the water RIM. It seems that they gambled big on the sale of their own tablet, the PlayBook. For many of the reasons that we have discussed in class, that seems that comfort and marketing of the operating system to customers and programmers a like is a big part of the problem. And since bosses aren’t footing the bill for tablet purchases, inflated numbers for Blackberries don’t apply here. People are buying what they want, and that isn’t the PlayBook.
TechCrunch: EyeEm App Picks up the pace
This article talks about the competitive landscape in
development of apps particularly focused around photo taking and sharing. Here
too, you can see the gambits made by smaller firms to make apps that either
cater towards the android OS or the Iphone. The next few years of this will be
quite interesting.
development of apps particularly focused around photo taking and sharing. Here
too, you can see the gambits made by smaller firms to make apps that either
cater towards the android OS or the Iphone. The next few years of this will be
quite interesting.
BI: Why The iPhone's Market Share War With Android Actually Matters
This article had a very interesting discussion following our class on the market for smart phones and specifically the battle between the Iphone and Samsung's android. It talks about many of the things that we were going over in class...operating system comparisons, market domination, etc and where the battle between the two is going.
Ultimately, the outcome remains unsolved, but it clearly seems as though the competition is good for users particularly in product innovation, and at the lower end of the market.
A Big Switch from Email to Social Media Platforms
Atos is a huge French company that just recently banned the use of email within the company, which is a huge bold move. They decided to only use social media “Facebook-like” platforms instead for basic communication since they believe that email is a waste of time! An article on Business Insider by Henry Blodget discusses this incident in detail. Blodget wrote “Susanna Kim of ABC reports:
CEO Thierry Breton of the French information technology company said only 10 percent of the 200 messages employees receive per day are useful and 18 percent is spam. That’s why he hopes the company can eradicate internal emails in 18 months, forcing the company’s 74,000 employees to communicate with each other via instant messaging and a Facebook-style interface. Caroline Crouch, a spokeswoman for the company, told ABC News the goal is focused on internal emails rather than external emails with clients and partners. Atos has already reduced the number of internal emails by 20 percent in six months. When asked how employees have responded to the policy, Crouch told ABC News the overall response “has been positive with strong take up of alternative tools.”
Chatter of Salesforce.com is one of those “Facebook-like” platforms that companies are interested in. In the last super bowl ad, they showed the Black Eyed Peas and what they can do in 15 seconds or less. They showed how they are more productive without email. Chatter is best described as a hybrid of Facebook, tweeter, instant messaging, and NetMeeting to allow people to collaborate in the cloud, ties directly to your CRM system so that data like reports and deals won can speak to you and give you updates. The real question is: Can we do away with email? My personal thought is: probably not yet. The French company Atos is gradually working towards that in 18 months. If we look at the big picture even salesforce.com that created Chatter still needs email. Facebook and chatter both offer email like services that allow private messages so how is that different from email? Not really different, but embracing social media is the next step and big email providers like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo need to be aware of this kind of corporate shift.
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