#SOCIALTECH
NAVIGATING THE SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
LANDSCAPE
For businesses, the wide array of social technology platforms and
vendors is bewildering: what are social media engagement tools?
What is the difference between one enterprise social platform and
another? How can we use them?
This report will provide an overview of a number of tools to help you
make sense of the social technology landscape.
WWW.BLOOMSOCIALBUSINESS.COM November 2012

Contents
1. Overview 2. Social Technology in Detail
1.1 Key Takeaways 2.1 Technology Overview
1.2 Introduction 2.2 Social Intelligence Tools
1.3 Social Technology Landscape i. Analytics
ii. Listening Tools
1.4 Social Business and Technology iii. Engagement Tools
1.5 Social Business Intelligence Tools iv. Content Creation
1.6 Enterprise 2.0 Tools 2.3 Enterprise 2.0 Tools
1.7 It's not about the technology! i. Enterprise Social Platforms
ii. Enterprise Activity Streams
iii. Community Platforms
iv. E-Learning
2.4 Customisation
2.5 BLOOM Social Technology Consultancy
2.6 BLOOM Vendor Audit Process
2.7 Summary
2.8 Glossary
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1.1 Key Takeaways
The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the social technology
landscape as it relates to Social Business Intelligence (the progression from
Social Media Marketing) and Enterprise 2.0.
We will look at a number of social tools, from social media analytics tools to
enterprise social platforms and also at key vendors.
This report will help you to make sense of the types of social tools available and
how they can be used in your organisation. However, it is not intended to be an
exhaustive or detailed list of social technology.
We will also provide an overview of BLOOM's approach and methodology to
supporting businesses in choosing the right social tool for their needs.
A key consideration is that social technology should be about people and not
technology: technology should act as a facilitator. BLOOM will help you to
priorotise your business and user needs in the tool selection process.
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1.2 Introduction
The social technology landscape is constantly evolving: any overview of social
technology can be only a snapshot of the time. Many platforms have new
features introduced with each release and new technologies are being
developed all the time.
For example, Lotus Connections was released in 2007. It is now known as IBM
Connections and is on it's 4th version.
The technology used by Crimson Hexagon is a departure from traditional social
media listening platforms and keyword matching algorithms to a patented
pending algorithm that finds statistical patterns in words. Social technology is
therefore dynamic and responsive.
This report will provide an overview of some of the tools available in the context
of Social Business Intelligence and Enterprise 2.0.
No platform will fulfill every user or business requirement, so the chosen
platform will have to match the users' needs as closely as possible. User
requirements are therefore central to any social tool implementation and
should be considered before choosing any social tool to ensure best use.
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1.3 Social Technology Landscape
Examples of Social Tools
Content Creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
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1.4 Social Business and Technology
Social Business Intelligence is the natural progression from Social Media
Monitoring, the process of listening and monitoring social media
conversations.
Social Business Intelligence involves monitoring, analysing and engaging
with online conversations to derive insight and to take action on those
insights.
Enterprise 2.0 refers to a structure of using Web 2.0 technologies to
improve collaboration amongst employees and free flowing information
within the business.
Social Business Intelligence and Enterprise 2.0 therefore provide a
holistic framework for the true Social Business, one that is social on the
inside and the outside.
Social Business Intelligence tools support and drive external customer
engagement whilst Enterprise 2.0 tools support and drive employee
engagement.
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1.5 Social Business Intelligence Tools
Social Business Intelligence (SBI) Tools are used to manage a company's social
media presence and online brand. They also enable businesses to derive
insight from online customer conversations and to take action on those
insights. They are sometimes referred to as Social Media Management
Platforms.
Typical tools include Analytics, Social Media Listening Tools and Social Media
Engagement Platforms
SBI is an important consideration for companies as social is changing the world
of brand marketing and customer engagement.
With social engagement, companies now have the opportunity of deriving
meaningful insights from a large audience and to take actions from those
insights to improve business outcomes.
Social technology can help to facilitate social brand marketing, engagement
and insight gathering.
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1.6 Enterprise 2.0 Tools
AIIM defined Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) as:
"A system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile
collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in
the extended enterprise."
Enterprise 2.0 platforms are used to support internal processes and practices,
with an emphasis on collaboration and free flowing information. Typical tools
include: Enterprise Social Platforms and Activity Stream Platforms.
These platforms will typically have social functionality, for example wikis and
blogs.
E2.0 is an important consideration for 21st century businesses to help engage
their workforce by promoting greater collaboration and visibility.
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1.7 It's not about the technology!
Whilst technology is an important factor and underpins Social Business, Social
Business is not about the technology.
For example, social listening tools require people to process the aggregated
data to turn into meaningful insights for the business to action. Similarly, an
internal company blog is of limited use if employees see little point of blogging.
Social business is therefore driven by people, with technology as a facilitator.
Understanding user needs is one of the key elements of ensuring the
successful adoption and effective use of social tools and should be a
fundamental part of social tool selection.
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2.1 Technology Overview
The next section will look at the following types of social technology:
Social Business Intelligence
i. Analytics
ii. Listening Tools
iii. Engagement Tools
iv. Content Creation
Enterprise 2.0
i. Enterprise Social Platforms
ii. Enterprise Activity Streams
iii. Community Platforms (can apply to both employees and customers)
iv. E-Learning
The overview for each category of tool will be structured as follows:
① Description
② Example Platforms
③ Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
④ Case Study
⑤ Overview of up to 4 sample 'off the shelf' platforms. The platforms chosen will have good functionality and / or
represent best in class. Most platforms will have a degree of customisation available.
It is worth noting that there is a degree of cross-over in functionality, for example, engagement platforms often have an
analytics function.
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2.2 Social Business Intelligence Tools
i. Analytics
Content creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
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What are Analytics Tools?
Tools that facilitate quantitative analysis of social media metrics, often taking place on
owned social media platforms e.g. Facebook page.
Typical functionality:
- Facebook page engagement rate
- Owned platform fan growth
- Social interaction metrics
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Examples of Analytics Tools
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Analytics
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use
Case Problem Solu5on
Brand reach Do not know the extent of a brand's Volume, fan growth, reach metrics
online presence
Fan engagement Cannot quantify the extent to which Engagement rates, comments, likes,
users are engaging on owned platforms shares, people talking about
Content/engagement planning Do not know when best to share Engagement rates by time of day/day
content with fans of week
Fan demographics Do not know whether social media Demographics metrics e.g. fans by age,
fans match brand target audience gender, location
Content analysis Cannot work out what content Comments, likes, shares by post or
resonates best with online post type
community/fans
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Analytics
Case Study: Visa
"What can we learn from our social media performance for future campaigns?"
Solution: Socialbakers Analytics
Visa Business Problems
Pro
• Visa was the only credit card • Visa hoped to gain insights • Gathering metrics:
company to sponsor the 2012 from the performance of their Using Socialbakers, Visa
Olympic Games. main Facebook page to discovered:
• They measured the improve future campaigns. • Olympic related posts
performance of their main • They measured a number of increased both fan growth
Facebook page before, during Facebook metrics over the and engagement
and after the Games. space of 4 months (May – considerably.
September 2012) including: • They had a 0% response rate.
• Fan growth • Turning metrics into insight:
• Response rate Visa could learn from these
• Engagement rate metrics to improve their
Facebook presence and future
campaigns:
• Use content from large events
such as the Olympics for
future campaigns.
• Open their Facebook wall so
fans can interact and increase
the response rate.
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Analytics
Overview of Sample Platforms
" PageLever
" Google Analytics
" SocialBakers
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Analytics
Platform Overview
PageLever Social
Google
Analy5cs SocialBakers
Analy5cs
Pro
Strengths • Comprehensive
pla2orm
with
• Powerful
free
tool.
• Usable,
intui8ve
dashboards.
excellent
func8onality
to
analyse
• Range
of
'off
the
shelf'
reports
• Covers
Facebook,
TwiHer
and
Facebook
Pages
data.
available. YouTube
owned
pla2orms.
• API
access
available.
• Access
to
industry
benchmarking
to
compare
against
compe8tors.
Weaknesses • Limited
to
Facebook
Pages. • Only
direct
referrals
from
social
• Results
can
be
too
broad
and
channels
shown.
e.g
Hootsuite
and
difficult
to
drill
down.
URL
shorteners
not
included.
• Easy
for
data
to
be
incomplete
and
inaccurate.
Best
used
for • Analysis
of
Facebook
Pages. • Capture
an
overall
picture
rather
• Compe8tor
analysis.
than
a
comprehensive
view. • Engagement
rates.
• Performance
monitoring.
Key
func8onality "The
world’s
leading
analy2cs
"Integrated
web
and
social
data
“Mul2-­‐plaCorm
dashboard
to
solu2on
for
Facebook
Pages."
provides
a
holis2c
view
of
your
measure,
compare
and
maximize
Page
alerts;
Post
tagging;
Page
content
and
community."
social
media
performance.”
Grouping
Report;
Reach
overview;
Social
conversions
report;
Social
Fan
growth;
Engagement
rates;
Custom
report
and
dashboard. sources
report;
Social
Plug-­‐ins
report
Industry
benchmarking;
Compe88ve
for
Google+
and
Facebook
Likes;
analysis;
Key
influencers;
Social
Standard
and
custom
repor8ng
interac8ons;
Response
rates;
available;
Ac8vity
Stream. Response
8me
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2.2 Social Business Intelligence
ii. Listening Tools
Content creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
WWW.BLOOMSOCIALBUSINESS.COM 18

What are Listening Tools?
Tools that pick out and filter online conversations.
Derive meaning and sentiment from mass of online 'noise.'
Typical functionality:
-Sentiment analysis
-Mention volumes
-Geo-tagging
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Examples of Listening Tools
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Listening Tools
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use
Case Problem Solu5on
Metrics
Repor8ng Cannot
quan8fy
the
volume
of
Quan8ta8ve
metrics
report.
sen8ment
or
market
voice.
Buzz
monitoring Do
not
know
what
customers
are
Monitoring
of
online
saying
about
the
brand. conversa8ons.
Conversa8on
Analysis
Don't
know
how
to
extract
insights
Monitoring
and
analysis
of
from
online
conversa8ons.
posi8ve
and
nega8ve
online
conversa8ons.
Iden8fying
influencers Cannot
iden8fy
who
the
key
Key
influencer
analysis.
influencers
are.
Campaign
Analysis Do
not
how
successful
campaigns
are. Analysis
of
social
media
data
related
to
the
campaign.
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Listening Tools
Case Study: Late Rooms
"How can we deliver great customer service?"
LateRooms Business Problems Solution: Brandwatch
• LateRooms used • LateRooms.com, • Customer Service
Brandwatch to improve needed a tool that • Brandwatch delivered
customer services and would help it manage its insight to improve
sales. reputation on the social customer service. E.g.
web by monitoring the LateRooms turned
conversations. around an incident
• The company needed a with a very angry
tool that would provide online customer who
real-time data to then removed all
complement its previous criticism.
customer service. • LateRooms Concierge
• They also needed • Concierge replies to
research and insight to customer tweets and
back up its idea for a posts.
new social media • Monitor opportunities.
“Concierge” service. • 30% of Concierge
deals become sales.
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Listening Tools
Overview of sample platforms
" Sysomos Heartbeat
" Brandwatch
" Engagor
" Visible Intelligence
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Listening Tools
Platform Overview
Sysomos Heartbeat Brandwatch Engagor Visible Intelligence
Strengths -Above average data quality and -Excellent segmenting, -Good geo-location -Excellent scalability
engagement. filtering & categorising of data. filtering. –Good spam filtering &
-Excellent geo-location -Good influencer analysis. – Very good social channel sentiment analysis
functionality. engagement functionality. methodology
Weaknesses -Limited data analytics. -May not work as hard as -Below average language -Social channel engagement
-Weak on non English language others to make insights easy coverage for sentiment not as strong as other
sentiment. to understand analysis. platforms.
-May be less suitable for -Not as much depth on –Limited workflow
inexperienced users data analytics as some functionality.
other tools.
Best used -Social channel engagement. -In depth analytics. -Social channel -Simple to use data
for -Real time monitoring. -Real time monitoring. engagement analytics.
Key "Providing constantly updated "Find, understand and use "One stop shop solution "Social insights when you
functionality snapshots of online conversations" for social media need them."
conversations." Real time monitoring; Flexible monitoring, & Real time monitoring; Topic
Real time monitoring; Key metrics query set up; Good scalability; engagement." discovery; Automated
measurement; Customisable Automtaic sentiment analysis; Real time monitoring, sentiment; Smart alerts and
dashboard; Influencer Categorising function; Publishing and Scheduling notifications, Customisable
engagement; Automated Dashboard. of content; Workflow; dashboard.
sentiment; Geography; Intuitive set-up.
demographics.
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2.2 Social Business Intelligence
iii. Engagement Tools
Content creation /
publishing Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
WWW.BLOOMSOCIALBUSINESS.COM 25

What are Engagement Tools?
Platforms where users can take action, respond, engage, interact and communicate
directly on social networks.
Typical functionality:
-Content authoring and publishing
-Workflow management
-Analytics
-Real time routing
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Examples of Engagement Tools
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Engagement Tools
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use Case Problem Solution
Community management Online content from customers is Real time routing and content
not being moderated creation / publishing
Workflow Management No process concerning Workflow management system
responding to actions and process
CRM Online customer queries are not Real time routing and content
being responded creation / publishing
Content publishing Difficult to produce and publish Content authoring and
social media content scheduling
Building brand awareness Content publishing is ad hoc Content scheduling
Crisis management Cannot respond to high volume Real time routing and content
of posts creation / publishing
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Engagement Tools
Case Study: HomeAway
How do we streamline our global social media efforts?"
HomeAway Inc Business Problems Solution: Spredfast
• The online holiday • HomeAway had several • Content publishing:
rental company challenges relating to • Streamlined process
HomeAway represents their global social media to ensure users knew
640,000 holiday home programme: when and where
listings in 168 countries. • Manage social content content was due to be
publishing of more scheduled for
than 13 brands on publication.
multiple social • Monitoring
network channels. • HomeAway can keep
• Manage the workflows track of brand
for content creation. mentions across a
• Monitor brand range of platforms.
mentions. • Engagement:
• HomeAway can
manage interactions
engage with their
customers online
effectively.
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Engagement Tools
Overview of Sample Platforms
" Spredfast
" Synthesio Unity
" Sprout Social
" Conversocial
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Engagement Tools
Platform Overview
Spredfast Unity Sprout
Social Conversocial
Strengths -­‐Full
social
media
-­‐Number
of
languages.
-­‐'Social'
look
and
UX.
-­‐Clean
user
interface.
management
func8onality.
-­‐
Strong
integra8on
-­‐Data
visualisa8on
of
-­‐Easy
to
navigate.
-­‐Very
customisable.
capabili8es.
analy8cs.
-­‐Services
a
wide
range
of
social
-­‐Services
a
good
range
of
-­‐Internal
conversa8ons.
media
channels. social
media
channels
Weaknesses -­‐Number
of
func8ons
could
be
-­‐Not
for
content
crea8on
or
-­‐Permissions
level
is
-­‐Pla2orms
limited
to
confusing.
publishing.
currently
weak.
Facebook
and
TwiHer.
-­‐Cannot
post
pictures,
just
-­‐Pla2orms
limited
to
-­‐Limited
workflow
bit.ly
links Facebook,
TwiHer
and
management.
LinkedIn.
Best
used
for -­‐To
monitor
and
respond
to
-­‐To
monitor
and
respond
to
-­‐To
monitor
and
respond
to
-­‐For
smaller
brands.
online
conversa8ons.
online
conversa8ons.
online
conversa8ons.
-­‐To
monitor
and
respond
to
-­‐Engaging
on
social
media.
-­‐Workflow
management. -­‐Engaging
on
social
media.
online
conversa8ons.
-­‐Workflow
management. -­‐Workflow
management. -­‐Engaging
on
social
media.
Key
"Monitoring,
Engagement,
"One
simple
tool
for
social
"We
help
businesses
delight
"Powering
Social
Customer
func8onality Measurement
&
Co-­‐ordina2on
support."
their
audience
and
get
real
Service."
for
the
Enterprise."
Inbox
interface;
Conversa8on
value."
Intui8ve
user
interface;
Organisa8on
by
internal
teams,
history;
3
8er
permission
Easy
to
manage
inbox;
Priority
Response
Engine
to
customised
internal
workflow,
levels;
Monitor
conversa8ons
Powerful
content
publishing
filter
noise;
Content
Mul8
channel
content
crea8on
in
over
30
languages;
and
scheduling
including
publishing
and
scheduling;
and
publishing;
Internal
content
Integrate
with
enterprise
CRM
'Sprout
Queue;'
Team
Priority
inbox.
library;
Social
inbox;
Content
systems;
Real
8me
rou8ng;
members
can
discuss
on
calendar. Response
valida8on
process
internal
conversa8on
for
managers.
thread;
Visualised
analy8cs
reports.;
Monitor
compe8tors.
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2.2 Social Business Intelligence
iv. Content Creation
Content Creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
WWW.BLOOMSOCIALBUSINESS.COM 32

What are Content Creation Tools?
Tools that facilitate the creation and distribution of socially enabled and / or interactive
content.
Typical functionality:
-Content creation templates
-Distributing content to a number of social media channels.
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Examples of Content Creation Tools
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Content Creation Tools
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use
Case Problem Solu5on
Content
distribu8on Difficult
to
publish
social
media
on
a
Content
distribu8on
number
of
channels
Building
brand
awareness Content
publishing
is
ad
hoc Content
scheduling
Building
unified
brand
Style
of
content
on
sites
is
not
Content
crea8on
presence consistent
Real
8me
broadcas8ng Can't
share
conferences
online
in
real
Live
streaming
8me
Content
crea8on Crea8ng
content
that
is
engaging
Content
design
template
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Content Creation
Case Study: Canon
"How can we inspire creativity?"
Canon Business Problems Solution: Thismoment DEC
• Canon USA inspired fans to • Canon and the Oscar winning • Project Imagin8tion
creativity with a YouTube user- director, Ron Howard, needed a • Thismoment's Distributed
generated photo contest. platform to facilitate the 'Project Engagement Platform was used
Imagin8ion' campaign. to power the campaign, a user-
• The project set out to prove that generated photo contest on
photography could be used as a YouTube.
creative vehicle to inspire the • Users could submit photos
production of a film. based on 8 themes to inspire the
production of a short Hollywood
film.
• A unified social presence
• The Imagin8tion brand channel
was linked to Flickr, Facebook
and Twitter and give users a
unified social experience in a
single, centrally located channel.
• when you find me
• After more than 150,000 user
submissions, 1 photo was chosen
from each category to serve as
inspiration for the short film
when you find me.
• The YouTube brand channel had
1.4 million channel views in the
space of less than 2 months.
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Content Creation
Overview of Sample Platforms
" Thismoment
" Buddy Media
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Content Creation Tools
Platform Overview
Thismoment
Distributed
Engagement
Channel Buddy
Media
ProfileBuddy
/
ReachBuddy
Strengths -­‐Best
in
class
content
crea8on
func8onality
-­‐Clear
delinea8on
between
types
of
content
-­‐Excellent
user
experience.
crea8on:
ProfileBuddy
to
create
interac8ve
content
for
sites
and
ReachBuddy
to
create
and
embed
social
content
on
sites.
-­‐Simple
back
end
templates
to
create
content.
Weaknesses -­‐Provides
the
infrastructure
to
create
pages
–
-­‐2
content
crea8on
products
could
be
confusing.
Thismoment
have
to
develop
the
backend
page.
Best
used
for -­‐Marke8ng
campaigns.
-­‐Marke8ng
campaigns.
-­‐Brand
channels.
-­‐Companies
who
want
to
design
and
publish
their
-­‐User
generated
content. own
content.
Key
func8onality "A
complete
social
content
management
"Power
social
content
across
the
web."
plaCorm."
Part
of
a
suite
of
5
social
enterprise
marke8ng
Robust
content
management
system
from
crea8on
products;
More
than
50
social
applica8ons
including
to
distribu8on;
Mul8-­‐media
Theatre
module
to
quizzes
and
sweepstakes;
Backend
templates
with
design
pages
with
mul8-­‐media
content;
Manage
exis8ng
themes,
assets
and
CSS;
Content
publisher
across
mul8ple
channels
–
earned,
paid
and
owned;
and
scheduler;
Anayl8cs;
Dashboard
Flexible
front-­‐end;
Customisable
and
easy
to
use
ProfileBuddy:
Create
and
deploy
customised
iframes
for
design
and
crea8on;
Analy8cs;
content.
Conversa8on
organisa8on. ReachBuddy:
Create
manage,
track
and
embed
social
content
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2.3 Enterprise 2.0 Tools
i. Enterprise Social Platforms
Content Creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
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What are Enterprise Social Platforms?
Internal platforms that offer portal like functionality in addition to social tools.
Typical functionality includes:
-Blog
-Document collaboration
-Profiles
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Examples of Enterprise Social Platforms
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Enterprise Social Platforms
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use
Case
Problem
Example
Solu5on
Content
Collabora5on
Version
control
of
documents
Wiki
based
system
Content
Management
Cura8ng
content
Document
management
system
Content
Publishing Difficult
to
publish
internal
Blog
informa8on
Employee
Collabora5on Lack
of
employee
collabora8on Wiki,
document
sharing
Knowledge
Management Informa8on
silos
Document
sharing,
blog,
profiles
Community
Building Cannot
connect
with
groups
of
On-­‐line
community
employees
Social
Networking Employees
cannot
network
with
Social
networking
site
other
employees
in
different
loca8ons
Intranet Intranet
is
sta8c
with
no
social
Social
intranet
site
features
Directory Employees
cannot
find
colleagues Profiles
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Enterprise Social Platforms
Case Study: Vodafone
"How do we break out of our information silos and drive synergies across our talented teams?"
Solution: Jive Social
Vodafone Germany Business Problems
Business Platform
• Vodafone used Jive to • Problems due to data silos • Share documents
manage their online and little sharing of best Sales teams can easily
community of practice: share documents with
international operational other departments such as
companies. • Existing systems were not finance or IT.
intuitive and did not • People finder
• Further use by Vodafone provide integrated Profiles make it easier to
Germany’s enterprise information. find people with
business unit with a • Staff could not quickly specialised expertise.
salesforce of 1000+, in 8 find specialised expertise. • Broaden business
regions. • Best practice was not discussions
widely available to sales Uncovers business
teams facing similar discussions, a wider range
situations. of topics and people.
• Answer questions quickly
Enables staff to display
answers to frequently
asked questions.
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Enterprise Social Platforms
Overview of Sample Platforms
" Jive Social Business Platform
" Atlassian Confluence
" IBM Connections
" Microsoft SharePoint
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Enterprise Social Platforms
Platform Overview
Jive
PlaNorm
Confluence
Connec5ons
SharePoint
Strengths -Market leader (Aug 2011 -Best in class enterprise -Tested and scalable -Pervasive market
Forrester Report). wiki. (designed to solve IBM's presence.
-Full suite of social business -Free licence options for own internal challenges). -Integration with Microsoft
apps. not for profit sector. - Excellent integration software (e.g Outlook,
with email and calendars. Office).
Weaknesses -Number of functions can be - Not really a social -Reliance on other IBM -Poor user experience.
confusing and complicates the networking platform (but products to provide a full -Weak social features
look and feel of the user starting to develop social social experience. when compared with
interface. features) competitors.
-3 year product release.
Best used for -Social intranet. -Social intranet. -Social intranet, -A base to integrate with
-Knowledge management. -Knowledge management. -Knowledge best in class social software
-Community building. -Collaboration. management. -Document management
-Collaboration. -Community building. and repository.
-Social Networking. -Collaboration. -Social intranet.
-Social networking.
Key "A suite of social business "The Enterprise Wiki" "The 10 Components" "Makes it easier for people
functionality apps" Collaborative spaces, Page Communities; Files; to work together"
Document collaboration; hierarchy, Permissions; Wikis; Profiles; Blogs; Sites; Composites; Insights;
Social Profiles; Microblogging, Blogs. Bookmarks; Activities; Communities; Content;
Activity Streams; Blog; Home Page; Forums; Search.
Enhanced Search; Like / Social Analytics.
Ratings.
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2.3 Enterprise 2.0
ii. Enterprise Activity Streams
Content Creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
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What are Enterprise Activity Stream
Platforms?
Platforms that have a core microblogging functionality and focus on the activity stream.
Enterprise social platforms will however often have activity stream functionality.
Typical functionality:
-Social networking
-File upload
-Groups
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Examples of Enterprise Activity Stream
Platforms
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Enterprise Activity Streams
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use Case Problem Example Solution
Employee Collaboration Lack of employee collaboration Activity stream
Knowledge Management Information silos Activity stream
Community Building Cannot connect with groups of On-line community
employees
Social Networking Employees cannot network with Social networking site
other employees in different
locations
Problem resolution Help desk cannot respond to Microblogging
queries in real time
Directory Employees cannot find Profiles
colleagues
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Enterprise Activity Streams
Case Study: NASA
"How can we share and foster tacit collective intelligence?"
NASA Business Problems Solution: Socialcast
• The NASAsphere pilot • Becoming difficult to • Launch
programme explored the generate new ideas: • Users were asked to post
use of social networking in • Geographically dispersed: five questions or ideas.
NASA to facilitate increasing input required • Answer or comment on
collective knowledge. from people across NASA at least two questions or
centres to solve ideas.
problems. • Create personal profile.
• Ageing workforce. • Functionality:
• Needed to find a • Created groups and
convenient, unobtrusive uploaded publicly
and quick way for available material.
employees and
• File topics, add
contractors to record and
keywords to enable
share their tacit
content search.
knowledge.
• Online community grew
from 78 accounts to 295
by the end of the pilot.
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Enterprise Activity Streams
Overview of Sample Platforms
" VMware Socialcast
" Yammer
" Salesforce Chatter
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Enterprise Activity Streams
Platform Overview
Socialcast
Yammer
ChaQer
Strengths
-­‐Ideas
management
func8onality.
-­‐Content
collabora8on.
-­‐Workflow
approval
with
-­‐Clean
user
interface.
-­‐
Viral
adop8on
model.
Salesforce
CRM.
-­‐Integra8on
with
other
Salesforce
applica8ons.
Weaknesses
-­‐No
instant
messaging.
-­‐Security
levels
could
be
beHer
in
the
-­‐Less
func8onality
than
free
version.
Socialcast
and
Yammer.
Best
used
for
-­‐Social
networking.
-­‐Social
networking.
-­‐Social
networking,
-­‐Employee
collabora8on.
-­‐Employee
collabora8on.
-­‐Employee
collabora8on,
-­‐Ideas
management.
-­‐Document
collabora8on.
-­‐Social
workflow
management
Key
"A
private
social
network
for
your
"Extends
knowledge,
ideas,
and
"Make
business
process
func5onality
company."
experiences."
social."
Ac8vity
streams
from
across
the
Personal
inbox;
Instant
messaging;
Social
workflow
management;
network;
Polls;
'Town
Hall'
Plugin;
Conversa8on
feed;
Yammer
Pages;
Recommenda8ons;
Smart
Visual
org
chart;
Idea
management
Leaderboards
/
Praise
badges;
Polls;
search;
Instant
messaging;
–
create,
share
vote;
Thanks
Ac8vity
stream
8cker.
Strong
integra8on
with
badges.
Salesforce
CRM.
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2.3 Enterprise 2.0
iii. Community Platforms*
* Can be both used for customers and employees
Content Creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
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What are Community Platforms?
Platforms used to build online communities.
Can be used internally and externally for both employee communities and customer
communities.
Typical functionality:
-Forums
-User groups
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Examples of Community Platforms
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Community Platforms
Use Cases: Example Problems and Solutions
Use Case Problem Example Solution
Connecting to experts Customer has a technical query Experts' community
Customer self service Customer has a general query Peer to peer discussion forum
regarding a service
Collective community building Group of people with a common On-line community
interest want to share
experiences and thoughts
Employee Collaboration Groups of employees wish to On-line community
work with other groups
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Community Platforms
Case Study: Macmillan Cancer Support
"How can we give ongoing support to people affected by cancer?"
Solution: Telligent
Macmillan Cancer Support Business Problems
Community
• Macmillan
built
on
online
• Macmillan wanted to create • Online community
community
for
those
affected
an online space for people • Created an interactive
by
cancer
to
get
peer
advice
affected by cancer to online community for peer
and
support.
connect with each other. support.
• They wanted to give people • Peer engagement
the chance to share their • Members can create
experience and to access blogs, post status updates
information. and contribute to
discussions.
• Expert advice
• Macmillan provides
clinical information and
latest news via blogs.
• Reach
• Reach of more than
60,000 members from 3
countries.
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Community Platforms
Overview of Sample Platforms
" Telligent
" Lithium Community Everywhere
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Community Platforms
Platform Overview
Telligent Lithium Community Everywhere
Strengths -Range of community platform products for -Scalable 'apps' - can build branded community
both customers (Telligent Community) and space on websites, deploy in different areas on the
employees (Telligent Enterprise). website, link to Facebook and Twitter.
-Can connect employee networks with -Easy to customise and configure.
customer communities.
-Excellent integration capabilities.
Weaknesses -In the UK, need to source an external delivery -Integration with other content management
team to build the community. systems could be stronger.
Best used for - Creating a unified community experience. -Creating a unified community experience.
- Employee collaboration within a community -Adding a community 'layer' to existing sites.
platform.
Key functionality "Social community to enhance customer "Extends knowledge, ideas, and experiences."
relationships, build stronger brands & attract Easy to create and customise widgets; Social apps
new members." including forums, polls and gamification features
Online reputation management system; such as badges; Renowned for expertise in
Dynamic content scoring; Discovery of experts; community management.
Social tools e.g activity streams, hashtags; Polls
Telligent Enterprise - Central knowledge hub,
Profiles; Workspaces.
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2.3 Enterprise 2.0
iv. E-learning
Content Creation Enterprise Social Platforms
Engagement Tools
Enterprise Activity
Streams
Listening Tools
Community Platforms
Analytics
E-­‐Learning
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What are E-learning Platforms?
In this context, e-learning platforms with social functionality.
Typical functionality:
-Collaborative features such as blogs.
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Examples of E-learning Platforms
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E-learning Platforms
Use Cases: Example Problem and Solutions
Use Case Problem Example Solution
Online assessments Cannot create an engaging Interactive e-learning platform
platform for learners
Experience sharing Learners cannot share their Blog
experience
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E-learning Platforms
Case Study: Travelex GBP
"How can we get new staff up to speed quicker?"
Travelex Global Business
Business Problems Solution: Composica
Payments
• Travelex Global Business • Travelex had difficulty getting • Modules
Payments, a division of their UK sales team together • Produced 140 training
Travelex Global, has in one of its offices to modules taken in
implemented a complete induction training. conjunction with classroom
comprehensive e-learning • The induction period was 4 training.
solution, to meet their weeks – Travelex aimed to • Induction
induction and on-going reduce this to 2 weeks. • Composica was used for
training needs. • Travelex decided to use a Travelex's new induction
combination of classroom programme to train their
based training and e-learning. new sales staff.
• New starters were trained
more quickly and reached
targets sooner when
compared with previous
induction programme.
• Adoption
• Laid the foundations for the
adoption of e-learning
throughout Travelex UK.
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E-learning Platforms
Overview of Sample Platforms
" TOPYX Learning Management System
" Composica E-learning Authoring System
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E-learning Platforms
Platform Overview
TOPYX
Learning
Management
System
Composica
E-­‐learning
Authoring
System
Strengths
-­‐Best
in
class
learning
management
-­‐Social
content
crea8on
and
authoring.
pla2orm
with
social
func8onality.
Weaknesses
-­‐Cannot
create
interac8ve
e-­‐learning
-­‐Not
a
learning
management
system.
games.
Best
used
for
-­‐Learning
management
system.
-­‐Content
crea8on.
-­‐Collabora8on
in
learning.
-­‐Collabora8on
in
learning
and
content
crea8on.
Key
func5onality
"Embed
modern
social
learning
tools
"Powerful
web-­‐based
WYSIWYG
authoring
into
tradi2onal
LMS
features
and
watch
environment."
learners
thrive"
Content
crea8on
and
authoring
including
Content
distribu8on
and
management;
games;
Task
management;
Separate
Available
in
other
languages;
Social
collabora8ve
features
for
authors
and
features
including
blogs
and
learners;
Available
in
other
languages;
communi8es;
Course
management
and
Interac8ve
game
crea8on.
administra8on;
Integra8on
with
exis8ng
pla2orms.
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2.4 Customisation
Most of the platforms covered in this report will have a degree
of customisation available. However, there are options available
should a business want a more a bespoke approach:
Custom built platforms are designed and developed for the
business. These have the benefit of being tailor made for the Example of custom build (Ruby on Rails)
business but can be expensive.
-Example technology: Ruby on Rails; PHP
Open Source Platforms provide a framework to develop social
platforms – many are highly customisable to suit the business's
needs.
-Example technology:
Wordpress,
Buddypress;
Drupal;
Elgg
Example of customised Wordpress
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2.5 BLOOM Social Technology Consultancy
This report has outlined a number of social tools and vendors. It is, however, not
intended as an exhaustive or definitive list of tools and vendors.
BLOOM can provide social technology consultancy to help you to choose the
right tool for your business.
We will consult with you to understand your business and user requirements
and will audit suitable platforms for your needs.
We are platform and vendor agnostic and will recommend the best tool suited
to your business and user needs.
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2.6 BLOOM Vendor Audit Process
" BLOOM offers social technology vendor auditing as part of our core offering.
This service includes:
– Needs analysis research (department or organisation)
– Priority criteria evaluation
– Full technology vendor audit (we are vendor agnostic)
– RFP process management
– Selection consultancy
– Stakeholder engagement
– Implementation roadmap and education
" We have provided social technology consultancy to leading blue chip clients
including:
– End-to-end Pan-European social listening tool audit consultancy
– Pan-European engagement tool vendor audit and consultancy
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2.7 Summary
In this report, we have provided an overview of the social technology landscape and
a selection of tools for Social Business Intelligence and Enterprise 2.0.
Our key messages are:
" The social technology landscape is constantly evolving: be aware of changes and
developments to core functionality.
" There is rarely a 'one size fits all' platform.
" Social technology should not ultimately be about the technology but people.
" Understand the user and business needs to gain the best adoption and most
effective use of social technology. BLOOM can provide further advice and
information on choosing the right social tool for you.
For more information on how social technology can help your business and
BLOOM's social technology offering, please contact us!
jay@bloomworldwide.com
kate@bloomworldwide.com
This report was written by Miranda Man, Social Business Strategist at BLOOM
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2.8 Glossary
Analytics: qualitative or quantitative evaluation of online data.
Social Media Listening: listening to and deriving meaning from online conversations.
Community Management: engaging, interacting and analysing social conversations and branded activity.
Blog: enables lower barrier to web authorship.
Wiki: allows users to create and edit content in real time
RSS Feeds: pull based communication streams
Voting: Liking / rating content
Social Bookmarking: tagging and sharing interesting content
Social Networking: person to person connections
Online communities: fostering online groups
Microblogging: status updates, posting content in real time
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