New Study Reports 96% Success Rate of Web 2.0 Technologies

Awareness Networks released study, "Trends in Adopting Web 2.0 for the Enterprise in 2007," based on 112 participants and here are the highlights:

• More than half of enterprise-size organizations utilize Web 2.0 technologies (54 percent), as do 74 percent of companies with less than 500 employees.
• The majority of respondents using Web 2.0 technologies employ a combination of internal- and external-facing tools (64 percent).
• Blogs are the most used Web 2.0 technology (selected by 87 percent of respondents), followed by communities, wikis, RSS feeds and social networking.
• Of companies that use Web 2.0 technology 37 percent are allowed to use social networking sites for business purposes at work.
• The most successful uses of Web 2.0 technologies in their organizations are blogs (44 percent), communities (42 percent) and wikis (39 percent).
• Ninety-six percent report that all Web 2.0 technologies they’ve used have been successful, with 83 percent reporting no clear failures.
• Two-thirds of respondents say limited internal resources to deploy the technology is the biggest obstacle in adopting Web 2.0 technologies. 53 percent say they don't know what social media can do for their company including 73 percent of senior executives - and 23 percent (or nearly one in four) of HR decision makers are unfamiliar with Web 2.0 technologies.
• Looking for proof of success? 91 percent of respondents report that internal-facing online social media will improve communication and collaboration and 47 percent of respondents plan to deploy an internal-facing community in 2008 or 2009.

The Inside Scoop to Creating a Facebook Group

Richie Fitz commented in my earlier post Cisco got Facebooked asking about the set-up process and tips - here's what I can offer:

• Set-up was easy. What we did was we set the group to 'private' initially so we could get it ready before the initial public launch (kinda like working in a staging environment). Everything but the title can be edited so make sure you choose your title carefully because it's final!
• Grassroots start. Because we decided against using one of Facebook's sponsored groups, marketing and promotion was up to us. We started by having the core group of administrators invite their 'friends' to join - then the viral nature of Facebook kicked in as people joined and their networks were notified. We also referenced the Facebook group to people who register for the March 4th event on the uber user site.
• Have a plan. We have a plan to update the group every week for at least the next 3-months. In week one we introduced Cupid along with a number of discussion topics, week two we introduced a new character, the Stork - complete with pictures and videos and we have more planned in the coming weeks (stay tuned).
• Be social and be open. If you're going to create a group on a social media site you have to be willing to open Pandora's box and allow users to participate. We created a top 20 "Internet Addicts" list that encourages users to generate ideas and get recognized if their idea is selected. Also be ready to respond back to users when appropriate - don't be a deaf ear.

Join the group to see for yourself!

Cisco got Facebooked!

I'm excited to announce that I was part of a team that launched a new Facebook group for Cisco Systems: Cisco Support Group for Internet Addicts. It's a fun group playing off the recent Über User campaign to promote - well - that's sort of a secret until March 4th so for now it's to promote the big event that announce how "life on the network will be better for everyone."

I know there are other marketers who occasionally read this blog - I'd be interested in any feedback (or suggestions) good or bad on the campaign and the set-up of the Facebook group. Also I hope that you'll join the group and participate in some of the discussions.

Lastly, in the light of the Valentine's Day (even though I'm a day late), I'd like to introduce Cupid, the Infatuation Specialist - enjoy!

Life in Real Time

Ryan Kuder twittered his last day at Yahoo! as they gave him the boot. You get a play-by-play update of this day from getting the news to backing up his files to getting his phone confiscated.

What's interesting about this is how real-time every aspect of our lives can be. Every meeting, every event, every conversation could be documented in seconds with the quick movement of one's thumbs across the keyboard on their phones. A private conversation with a customer or a meeting with an analyst can be 'Twittered' at anytime and posted for the world to see. This illustrates yet another way Web 2.0 is changing the way we communicate.

For marketing professionals the only thing scarier than someone twittering something negative about one of our campaigns is no one twittering anything at all.

Yahoo & Microsoft Deal is a Non Starter

Think Yahoo is worth more than 44B? Well, they think so which is why they will be officially rejecting Microsoft's offer tomorrow. I think this is a blessing in disguise for Microsoft because I don't see how two struggling companies equal a stronger one and Yahoo comes with a lot of baggage. As for Yahoo I think this may be the best offer they get as their downward spiral is not going to increase their market share with time.