By Jill Pyle
BarCampOttawa4 is scheduled for Saturday, November 17. The event will be held at BitHeads, 1309 Carling Ave, from 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM. Francis and I will be hosting the “Where does the blogosphere fit in a PR strategy?” session. You can join us in the Room 2 (Social Media Stream) from 3:30 -4:15 PM.
To register, visit the BarCampOttawa4 wiki.
By Jill Pyle
At inmedia Public Relations, we work incredibly hard to generate media coverage that will help our clients meet their business objectives. Being in the high tech B2B space, industry-specific publications often make up the vast majority of our clients’ Tier 1 media targets. While company and product-launch announcements sometimes spark some interest from local, business or daily media, coverage in trade publications, though it can take longer to come to fruition, has proven to generate a far greater ROI for our clients.
The 2007 Forrester Research Study on B2B Media & Marketing, released in October, has some interesting figures about the media consumption habits of business decision makers. This finding really stood out for me: “Business decision makers find industry-specific media invaluable for informing and validating their business purchasing decisions and helping them do their jobs better. 40%-45% rely on traditional industry-specific media to validate purchase decisions – again, more than other options”
Also interesting to note was business decision makers’ adoption of new media. According to the report, business decision makers rely heavily on digital media, with 70% relying on industry-specific web sites for their jobs and over 75% having used or planning to use emerging media at work. View the following chart for more details:
Click to enlarge
By inmedia
A piece entitled “VoIP vs. TDM voice” in this morning’s ComputerWorld newsletter caught my eye. The clickthrough led me to discover Network World’s list of the 50 greatest arguments in the history of the networking industry. The fact that it’s currently the most read story on Network World’s web site shows that the audience is interested in these debates. Here’s hoping that some passionate yet insightful comments will provide compelling pros and cons for those readers debating between deploying competing technologies. The comments section on the article should be an interesting read in the days ahead.
By inmedia
Right now, the most popular headline on Information Week is Growing Pains: Can Web 2.0 Evolve Into An Enterprise Technology?
The article explores the benefits and risks associated with using Web 2.0 technologies like wikis, blogs and social networks in the workplace, apposed to solutions developed specifically for the enterprise. After weighing the pros and cons from an IT organization, business organization and business competitiveness perspective, Web 2.0 technologies are deemed a losing proposition. However, the article notes that because Web 2.0 technologies can be more affordable and have simpler administration, they can quickly overtake legacy platforms, and already have done so in some areas.
By Jill Pyle
Aditya Kishore’s article “Resistance is futile fatal,” published online at Internet Evolution and in the October 15 edition of Information Week, describes the dilemma many business technology managers are facing: restrict access to the “digital content ecosystem” or embrace it and use it to meet business objectives.
Kishore writes, “Today’s social networking and digital content sites are shaping IT users’ expectations and experiences for years to come. Rich media applications are becoming an essential part of the Internet experience, not just for entertainment but also for legitimate business reasons. Similarly, online communities and networking sites are becoming increasingly important for communication and interaction.”
For companies ready to acknowledge that times have changed and resistance isn’t the answer, Kishore shares a few recommendations. First, work with employees at all levels to define a clear policy on acceptable Internet use at work. Second, install network intelligence software that tracks the volume and type of network traffic. When monitoring networks, make sure employees are aware of the situation and proactively address privacy concerns. Finally, consider implementing filtering software but limit the number of sites blocked and communicate the rational for restrictions.
