TamTamy Blog

We have verified that blocking the access to social networks and 2.0 consumer services is not an appropriate solution, because it creates discontent among employees, who will look for alternative solutions and use them without permission. So, you can consider introducing enterprise 2.0 solutions to renew and improve your company, but also to focus your workforce’s attention using their same tools.

We have seen how companies were in a way forced to modify their technological structure introducing social media of different kinds, as the generational change of the workers involved required it, more or less explicitly.

As a company decides to adopt the very tools that its employees have been using only for their personal interest, it makes a profitable use of a new form of collaboration in which people will take part more willingly and with less effort.

The language becomes more familiar and workers, besides being more encouraged and reactive in concentrating with tools they are familiar with, will hardly look for further recreation with other social networks.

Of course, the form of entertainment that communities such as Facebook or MySpace offer is very different from the one offered by companies, aimed at social collaboration in the work environment and not allowing any waste of time. As a consequence, it is unthinkable that there can be a total replacement. But no doubt, a decrease in the use of the mentioned consumer communities can increase the productivity of the individual workers without creating too much stress.

We have already seen how RSS feeds can be very effective if you want to find news about your company, understand who is talking about it and, above all, keep informed on the evolution of the market.

This presentation highlights how the combined use of RSS feeds and social media can be a perfect mix. Monitoring the conversations on a specific subject and being “social” are easily performed activities that, with the least effort, can help companies widen their horizons and make themselves known among customers and partners.

Paul Bradshaw, journalist and blogger for Online Journalism Blog, lays stress on the new types of information and journalist, which are no more connected only to press and websites, but are rather extended over different media and different characteristics of these media, which should not be overlooked if we want to have a more complete view of what is happening around us, in real time.

How has the scenario changed in the last years? And how will it be in twenty years?
This video highlights some essential information which shows how technology is accelerating the evolution of our culture inside and outside the Internet.
In 1984, for example, the devices connected on the Net were 1000, in 1992 they became 1 million, in 2008 they have reached 1 billion.
Did you know that it took radio 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million users, 13 years to TV, 4 to the Internet, 3 to the iPod and only 2 to Facebook?
Did you know that, at the moment, 31 billion searches are carried out every month on Google, while in 2006 they were only 2,7 billion? It is unbelievable that they have more than decupled in only 2 years.
But future is yet to be discovered.

In these days we have seen how different concepts which had a precise meaning up to some years ago have been completely reviewed with the Internet and in particular with web 2.0, expanding or segmenting their sphere of action until the latest evolution, represented by their application in the business world.
One of these regards distances.
In old-fashioned companies, it was strictly necessary to have large spaces to hold all employees who, in their turn, had a cost and needed offices, meeting rooms, canteens, organizaton of transfers and travels, etc.
Now this model could easily be discarded, as in fact has already happened and is happening for some developing companies, and for others which have been renewed based on the Internet concept of globality, though they do not strictly operate in the sector.
Having permanent collaborators around the world must not be seen as a disturbing element which could interfere with work, on the contrary, it often helps have a wider view. As if this wasn’t enough, we should consider that it is not always easy to find good partners and collaborators who are willing to move or who already live in your country or, even worse, in your city.
Imagine that you are recruiting within a precise target of people specialized in a complex activity in any metropolis. As big as this can be, the number of desirable candidates would be so small from the beginning that any company would have to lower their expectations and change their aims.
If the same search was extended to the whole world, you could have two important positive aspects:
1. a wider range of talents to choose from;
2. a continuous interchange of viewpoints belonging to different realities according to the geographical areas.
As we mentioned yesterday, using tools such as Skype®, the webcam or the videoconference we can easily communicate with partners, collaborators, possible purchasers and customers all over the world while we sip our cup of coffee. With a tool designed for corporate social networking (such as TamTamy), the possibilities are even higher, and new value will be created capitalizing knowledge and relationships.
During the same day we can follow a conference in New York, attend a meeting in Mumbay, and communicate with more people at the same time, with more tools, without ever wasting one minute to move from one place to another.

Nike+ is the Social Network that Nike has created to collect all the information connected to its customers’ training in running. A sensor installed inside the shoe records information such as time and distances covered, sends it to the iPod or to a special bracelet and puts it at the user’s disposal for upload on the site. With this idea, Nike has created a Social Network of lovers of running: a well-defined target, with huge possibilities to grow.

Every subscriber has the possibility to “compete” against the others, confronting his/her results or simply registering them for future statistical analyses.

Nike has managed to turn a synchronous sport such as running (to compete in a race you have to be in the same place at the same time) into an asynchronous event. Users can decide whether they want to compete on the best time, the longest distance, etc.

The idea was born in 2006, and since then about 93 million miles have been uploaded on the site. Nike has sold 1.3 million “Nike+ iPod Sport Kits” and 500.000 Nike+ SportBands (Source: How Nike’s Social Network Sells to Runners).

In this way, Nike has managed to delegate its sales to the Social Network. If you are a lover of running and you want to be part of this fascinating and winsome Social Network, you have to be Nike’s customer, that is, you have at least to buy its shoes and its sensor.
The community has become its sales force.
Today Nike is experimenting with a new Social Network to promote its basketball shoes.