Member Article

Web 2.0: The 'When'

With Justin Souter of Souter Consulting

Part 4 of a series of articles on the application of Web 2.0

It’s happening. If you’ve got teenage kids - they will be using IM / SMS / email / Facebook / MySpace / whatever already - maybe at the same time.

I’m guessing that it will probably be happening in your organisation, even though you may have closed off access to Facebook. Your people are quite possibly commenting on blogs, writing reviews in their spare time, or tweeting whilst listening to a debate on social media at the Labour Party’s NEC…

So, when? The answer is right now. Wouldn’t it be better to channel that energy into making / saving money by building greater collaboration within your organisation, with your business partners, and your wider stakeholders? Web 2.0 tools are a great way to do this, as I have already explored.

The good thing is, you don’t have to throw yourself (or anyone else) in the deep end.

You can experiment, play with tools without being in the glare of publicity - perhaps under an alias. Or craft some blog posts without making the site live - no-one will notice if you are in ‘stealth mode’, and folk will be impressed once you’ve got a reasonably polished body of work to unveil. Learn as you go along, create some momentum.

I say “reasonably polished” because, in my experience, blogging a post that is 80% complete is better than never posting the 100% complete one. Anyway, it’s fine to update your post: a blog is a conversation, and timing is all.

Perhaps it’s a bit like joining a gym after Christmas: many blogs that get started seem to die quite quickly. That’s because blogs (and similar tools) require time and effort, and a change in your routine. I find that a blog post takes 60-75 minutes - even with the topic already in mind.

I’ve been reading this article about starting a business in a recession. I’d wager that now is not just a good time to be starting a business, it’s also about changing existing businesses, and they way organisations run in general. As Sainsbury’s supermarket says - “try something new today”.

So, although what I’ve discussed in this series may appear outlandish, even luminaries such as Stephen Fry are quoted on the ‘joys of Twitter’! Join us - this could well be the year of Web 2.0. (Oh, and see you at Thinking Digital in May, at the Sage Gateshead.)

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Supreme Ice Cream .