9th Sep 2009
Ten Steps to raising your profile on Twitter

Like much of the digital world, we've been watching very closely the phenomenal growth of Twitter and whilst a proven revenue model is still to be found for the microblogging service, there's no doubt that it has no become a vital tool for the dissemination of information to niche or targeted audiences.

 

It should now be a key tool in an individual or organisation's armoury to not only raise their profile but also to communicate information and key messages to relevant audiences. So, with that in mind we've put together some tips as to how you can use Twitter better both in terms of adding new quality followers but also ensuring that you get heard in the Twitter-sphere.

 

Twitter should not be used for spam- marketing messages can be appropriate if to a select and opted-in audience but in the main, the key value of Twitter to any organisation is having an instant news and information service, whcih can both be proactive and reactive.

 

1. Add a good picture and relevant biog on your Twitter profile that you're happy for people to see.

2. Add your Twitter signature to your email signature and encourage people to follow you

3. Start to follow interesting people

4. ReTweet interesting things from interesting people and organisations

5. Don't tweet for the sake of tweeting

6. Mention people you follow- where appropriate- in your Tweets

7. Check out Twitter applications like http://wefollow.com and http://mrtweet.com for recommendations of relevant and interesting people to follow

8. Aggregate Twitter feeds through http://www.tweetdeck.com

9. Use hash-tags on topical Tweets

10. Monitor trending topics for areas you can react to or ReTweet with your viewpoint

 

3rd Aug 2009
Intranet's go social

Long gone are the days when the company Intranet was an unwieldy website with reams of information, which employees could never work out how to find or didn't want to use it because they didn't understand it or see how it would help them with their jobs.

 

According to the usability guru, Jakob Nielsen's latest Intranet report, companies are realising that as their employees are using social networks and tools to manage their lives outside work, they now want to do the same inside work and slowly Intranets are going 2.0. Yammer services (corporate Twitter) are starting to become common as are RSS feeds, social bookmarking and encouraging user generated content.

 

It certainly makes sense for companies to jump on the social bandwagon but they need to be careful how they embrace it. Rather than deploy as an add-on, they need to instead consider how the social tools and applications can help them and their employees and ensure that it's integrated across the Intranet and is not a stand-alone feature.

 

For example, Nielsen says that there's little point in developing a separate social network where employes have to sign in- to use and to connect- when tools already exist in the form of Facebook and LinkedIn. So instead, companies need to be thinking imaginatively and creatively as to how going social can help their employees and then deploy from there after all there is little point if these services aren't useful as they simply won't be used. In effect- they need to structure the Intranet around their employees, their employees needs and how they consumer and use social tools - outside of work.

 

The best bit of advice from Nielsen is the old adage that as on the Web- content is king on Intanet's and so there is little point having a slick and in-depth community or a great Wiki and yet have little or no content or activity within it. That's why, companies need to start slowly and build- rather than trying to do it all at once and going Intranet 2.0 straight away.

 

We, at Evolv have done a fair bit of work on Intranets and it always amazes us how some companies insist that Intranet's need to be information repositories and effectively a one-way communication platform. The best Intranet's strike a balance between information, tools and services and a lifestyle manager. They offer personalisation and services that employees cannot find elsewhere. They have to integrate with 'the best of the Web' and they need to be communicated across the company as useful destinations, which are going to help and not hinder employees,

8th Jul 2009
Google steps up its World domination bid

Overnight, Google announced what to many won't be a surprise but will send shockwaves across the digital industry. Google is to take its new but already successful Web browser, Chrome, which it claims has over 30m users and establish it as an OS  - a computer Operating System - taking the fight straight to Microsoft, which has enjoyed market dominance with Windows since what seems like the year dot.

 

Google Chrome OS will initially be targeted at mini laptops or 'netbooks' but from the end of next year, will be made available as an OpenSource browser and so you can expect it to start springing up across a nuber of computer brands. The focus will be to enable access to the Web and in true Google style give you better access to your information.

 

Microsoft will be worried. They still haven't got over the shockwaves that Google caused in the search market- despite the launch of Bing earlier this summer- and they will be very fearful that Google Chrome OS will be everything Windows is not. That is to say flexible, connected, integrated and of the 21st century.

 

Putting the competitive arguments aside, perhaps the biggest issue of this development means Google is staking a further claim to owning the computer and the Web and our information. Whilst Google is not foolish and is aware- having been burnt in the US- of just how sensitive the information issue is, you can be sure that they will be looking to exploit it in a way that is not just beneficial to the consumer but also, it goes without saying to them and their growing ambitions of being the World's largest media company.

 

19th Apr 2009
The Web and traditional media- a marriage of inconvenience

The Internet is the world's greatest innovation and yet it's strangling the life out of traditional media so what's the solution to stop the traditional media world imploding?

 

One potential answer is a Web licence fee, more details of which can be found here..

8th Apr 2009
The NHS - Time to catch up

Here at Evolv, we are keen on observing how our new connected society is emerging and the impact that Web 2.0 is having on more public facing organisations so we thought it would be worthwhile to see how the NHS is utilizing the web in these days of self diagnosis and of course NHS Direct!

 

On the face of it, the signs are positive, there are a number of new sites that are springing up like Myhealthspace- a nice play on Myspace where we, Joe Public are encouraged to store all of our medical records to help you organise your helth needs and access NHS services then there's NHS Choices, which seems to be a portal for all of NHS's services and a jump off zone to other NHS websites but we can't help but think that there are a lot of missed opportunities particularly on a local level. 

 

Take for example one of our colleague's recent experience post pregnancy or should we say lack of experience. Firstly, there seems to be no central pregnancy database or resource online where expectant mums can get all the information they need/and register for local services, secondly, having had the baby, no support network was apparent, which seemed a huge missed opportunity. Surely there's scope for a text message service telling you when clinics are being held and encourage you to participate? Overall, she was left feeling disappointed,

 

NHS Direct is a fantastic service but on a local level, it would appear that the health bodies are not using the tools at their disposal to both keep their public in the know but also to engage and involve them. So it got us thinking, how could we help?