Engagement, Impact, Value: Measuring and Maximising Impact Using the Social Web

Engagement, Impact, Value: Measuring & Maximising Impact Using the Social Web Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Acceptable Use Policy Recording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2010/sessions/kelly/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/briankelly/ http://twitter.com/ukwebfocus/ Email: [email_address] Blog: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ Twitter: #iwmw10 #b6

About Me
Brian Kelly:
JISC-funded Web adviser to UK HE/FE sector
Based at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise in digital information management
Involved in Web since Jan 1993
Over 300 presentations given since 1997
~750 blog posts since Nov 2006
Current areas of interest include Web 2.0, Web standards & Web accessibility
User of various Web 2.0 services: blogs, micro-blogs, social sharing services, social networking services, …

About This Session
The Social Web (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, ..) is now widely accepted as playing an important role in supporting institutional activities .
There’s a need to identify emerging best practices in use of such services.
This session will review approaches to use of Social Web services. Participants will explore reasons for using the services and discuss concerns and dangers in such usage.
This session will explore ways in which usage of such services can be measured in order to provide evidence of their value & effectiveness . Ways in which such metrics can be used in order to enhance the impact of institutional activities will also be explored.

Draft Timetable Time Content Notes 16.00 Introduction Talk 16.10 The Social Web: Benefits and Concerns Group exercise 16.20 Report back 16.35 Exploiting Opportunities; Addressing Concerns Talk 16:45 Making a Business Case Group exercise 17:00 Presentation of the Business Cases 17:15 Measuring Impact & Value; Maximising Engagement: Next Steps Talk & feedback 17:25 Conclusions

Social Web: Benefits & Concerns
In small groups identify a reported and discuss
Key benefits which the Social Web can provide for your institution
Concerns you (or your institution) has over use of Social Web services
E

Why the Social Web?
Key approaches for SEO:
Apply various techniques to Web resources to make resources easier to find in Google, …
Resources may include organisational Web suites, third party Web sites, databases, …
Resources may also include real world objects and ideas (i.e. your museum, your research ideas, …)
Based on understanding of importance of Google to end users
Databases Web sites Real world Directories Google (Bing, …)

Beyond SEO
Summary of key approaches:
Make use of social networking services which people may use of discuss your services
Services may include Facebook, MySpace, Slideshare, Twitter, …
No need to touch your Web sites (so useful if you can’t!)
Based on understanding of popularity of SNs and people’s interests in chatting and sharing
Databases Web sites Directories Social Web (Blogs, Facebook, Slideshare, Twitter, …) Real world “ Recommendation is the new SEO!”

Opportunities & Challenges

It’s About The Individual!
Focus of the Social Web is the individual. Challenges posed:
‘ It’s my space’
‘ Sustainability
Privacy
Editorial control
Branding
…

The Paper In The Repository
The paper in the repository can fail to engage with potential interested parties (especially if the paper is embargoed)
Evidence

Facilitating The Discussion
The blog post about the paper can engage a wider audience …
and encourage discussion and debate .. Evidence and provide links to discussions taking place elsewhere

The Evidence
Statistics for the University of Bath Opus Repository
Blog post SEO ??? Evidence

The Evidence
Second most downloaded resource in Opus had been linked to from UK Web Focus blog
Evidence 735 views total

A Comparison
Does a blog post generate a ten-fold increase in the number of downloads?
Evidence

What Can Twitter Offer? Twitter Evidence

Evidence of the importance of Twitter for driving traffic to blogs
The Evidence Evidence UK Web Focus Blog: Total of 250,00+ views. Average 250/day over 3.5 years But how do they arrive at the blog? Evidence

“ The Power Of Passed Links”
The Value Of Twitter Is In “The Power Of Passed Links”
Wilson predicts that at current growth rates, Twitter “will surpass Google for many websites in the next year.” And that just as nearly every site on the Web has become addicted to Google juice, they will increasingly try to find ways to get more links from Twitter. Because Twitter equals traffic. …
Moreover, he asserts that these Twitter links “convert better” than search links because they are often pre-filtered and come in the form of a recommendation from someone you are following.
TechCrunch, June 2009

The Evidence
To conclude:
Social Web is working
Predictions are coming true
But concerns over:
Sustainability
Interoperability
Accessibility
“ It’s not for me”

Sustainability
See advice in Guide to Web Preservation :
Risk assessment
Backup copies
Acceptance
Risks for in-house services
…

You Don’t Need To Blog!
Perhaps blogging & twittering (and speaking at conferences) is best left to those with a passion for user engagement?
Suggestions:
Encourage the enthusiast
Lightweight bureaucracy: “Don’t be stupid”, emerging patterns of Twitter usage , …
Concerns

You Might Need a ‘Policy’
Dangers:
A policy is bureaucratic,
Fails to understand new technologies
…
Dangers of no policy:
Over-the-top reaction
A lightweight policy:
Mosman Council page describes “ who is tweeting on behalf of the Council (the web team based at the Library); why they are doing it; their reply policy and how to stop them following you ”
Concerns

Policy For Blogs in the Cloud
Policies for UK Web Focus blog
Concerns

Risk Management
JISC infoNet Risk Management infoKit:
“ In education, as in any other environment, you can’t decide not to take risks: that simply isn’t an option in today’s world. All of us take risks and it’s a question of which risks we take ”
Examples of people who are likely to be adverse stakeholders:
People who fear loss of their jobs
People who will require re-training
People who may be moved to a different department / team
People .. required to commit resources to the project
People who fear loss of control over a function or resources
People who will have to do their job in a different way
People who will have to carry out new or additional functions
People who will have to use a new technology

Towards a Framework
“ Time To Stop Doing and Start Thinking: A Framework For Exploiting Web 2.0 Services ”, Museums & the Web 2009 conference
Note also JISC’s Scenario Planning work Biases Subjective factors Intended Purpose Benefits (various stakeholders Risks (various stakeholders Missed Opps. (various stakeholders Costs (various stakeholders
Sharing experiences
Learning from successes & failures
Tackling biases
…
Critical friends
Application to existing services
Application to in-house development
…

Using The Framework
Use of approach in two scenarios: Use of Twitter & Facebook
Note personal biases! Intended Purpose Benefits (various stakeholders Risks (various stakeholders Missed Opps. (various stakeholders Costs (various stakeholders Community support Rapid feedback Justify ROI Org. brand Community- building Low? Twitter for individuals Organisational Fb Page Marketing events,… Large audiences Ownership, privacy, lock-in Marketing opportunity Low?
Critical Friends / Friendly Critics
UKOLN blogs
Email list discussions
Learning
Many blogs Engaging with a Twitter community
Conferences
Papers
…

Making A Business Case
In groups you will now:
Prepare a case for funding (or approval) for implementation of a promotional strategy
Note that you will provide a summary to a panel(ist) who will approve best submissions
The panel(ist) comprises:
An enthusiast : a user of social media
A sceptic : it’s full of trivia
A neutral : who is open to persuading
E

Scenarios
1 Institutional / Departmental Challenges
Wolves are at the door. Will Poppleton Uni survive? What about the IT Services department? What will you do?
2 Opportunities for your Service
You’ve launched a great new service. How do you promote it? You’ve an established (old media) marketing team
3 Opportunities for your Project
You’ve received project funding for 1 year – and no marketing budget.
4 Opportunities for the Individual
You are (or manage) a brilliant researcher. But they’re shy and hate the ‘marketing’ word (snake oil salesmen). What do you do?
5 Your Choice
Select your own scenario
Scenarios

Your Proposal
You should prepare your case and make a brief (2-3 mins) presentation. Your presentation should address the following issues:
The key messages you wish to communicate
The user benefits
The resource requirements
The staff responsible for the work
Approaches to sustainability
The tools you will use
The evidence to demonstrate value
The risks & approaches to managing such risks
Ethical considerations

Possible Additional Concerns
Legal Concerns:
Tweets may be copyrightable – what are implications of Digital Economy Act?
Accessibility Concerns:
Multimedia resources which are not fully accessible may infringe accessibility legislation. How do you respond?
Sustainability Concerns (Services):
Ning changes its T&Cs. How do you respond?
Sustainability Concerns (People):
A key member of your team, who was an early adopter of Social Web, is leaving

You Presentations

Addressing Concerns
Legal:
Don’t fret! NB Oppenheim formula
Accessibility:
Doing nothing could be unreasonable. NB holistic & innovative approaches (e.g. use of Twitter for captioning videos )
Sustainability (Services):
Risk assessment. Plans for data migration. In-house concerns (AHDS, …)
Sustainability (People):
Policies on ownership of content. Mechanisms for migration of content

What Next?
We’ve
Explored opportunities
Considered ways of addressing concerns
Looked at approaches for gathering evidence
What next?
UKOLN work on evidence, value, …
Want to participate?
Want to host meeting?
Want to suggest areas for discussion?

Conclusions
The Social Web:
Can be used to enhance access to digital resources, real world resources and ideas and concepts
Ignoring the potential may mean you lose out to your peers, competitors or rivals
Can form part of your organisation’s mission and not just an added extra for dissemination
But there are risks

Questions
Any questions?

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Engagement, Impact, Value: Measuring and Maximising Impact Using the Social Web

by Brian Kelly on Jun 25, 2010

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