Social medias: What opportunities, what threats?

May 2010V. Bauwens, L. Kloetzer, S. Schlegel

With the Dundee team :C. Albrecht, D. Connelly, N.Gupta

What does the Business User Observatory do?

Business User Observatory: we observe how people collaborate daily at work

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Why are we here today?

Share learnings from our social media study, debate about future developments

We did a user study:• We met 45 lead users across Europe • To study how they use SNS daily professionally

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Our questions were:

•Are social media a buzz?

•Who is using them?

•What does it bring them ?

•What impact for Swisscom?

Who did we meet?

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Who did we meet?

Ryan : the Tweeter (London)

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Who did we meet?

Jule : the Busy Bee (Berlin)

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Key findings from our research

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Who are the Lead Users?

Entrepreneurs -no full time employee in large corporations

“As a permanent employee, you don’t need to be such an active networker. If you don’t do it, you still get a paycheck. If I don’t do it, (as a small business owner) nobody will do it, and I won’t get a paycheck”

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Which SNS are used ?

Rich, interrelated, almost for free media ecology

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How do they manage their tools?

With a very clear strategy

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How much do they use these sites?

MASSIVE amount of time

“It’s part of breakfast and it’s part of going to bed”

“It is not any more a tool, it is a way of life”

“People would probably think that I am dead if I stop posting on Twitter”

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Is privacy an old-fashioned concept ?

Not really… they hypermanage their public face

“I take seriously what I publish online, I know that this content will never disappear, it will still be there in 10 years and I must not be

ashamed of it.

But when you are aware of the ways these tools work, you can meanwhile be very free in what you decide to do. I try to be very

authentic not to regret what I wrote in the future.”

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What did they do with social media and why?

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Why do they use social media?

Because social media are extremely impactful and that, without any cash out

• Without any cash out

• Without any geographical constraints,

• They can potentially reach « millions » of people

• And manage a big part of their main operational activities

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Concretely, what do these expert users do with social media?

8 main use cases

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1. Business Promotion:

reaching customers

2. Business Intelligence:data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

And even supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

2. Business Intelligence:data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

Use case 1: business promotion, reaching customers

Reach partners or customers that you would not have been able to meet – and that for free

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1. Business Promotion

reaching customers

Jule has direct exchange with cooks in hotels about recipes with

honey

2. Business Intelligence:data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

Use case 2: business intelligence, data mining

Watch your market in innovative ways and that for free

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1. Business Promotion

reaching customers

Guru and downloaded 589 profiles on LinkedIn .

He made several graphs and charts highlighting regions of

interest, investment and potential opportunities

Use case 3: establishing a reputation, spreading influence

Become a reference for your peers, the base for selling one‘s product

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2. Business Intelligence:

data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

1. Business Promotion

reaching customers

„ I would not be where I am without my blog“

Use case 4: Testing ideas - prototyping

Getting fast and cheap feedbacks to improve one‘s roduct

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2. Business Intelligence:

data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

1. Business Promotion

reaching customers

•Akash tests his ideas by publishing them on his blog and then on the social media

•He then collects feedbacks, measures of interest, and tunes his ideas accordingly

Use case 5 : People sensemaking, getting to know people

Remain upadated about others, even without meeting them

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2. Business Intelligence:

data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:

Getting to know people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

1. Business Promotion

reaching customersGuru uses LinkedIn to gain in-depth knowledge about potential business clients, executives, vendors or buyers they are about to meet

2. Business Intelligence:

data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:

Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

Use case 6: daily collaboration, feeling together

An efficient communication channel

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1. Business Promotion

reaching customers

Ryan SNS replaced most emails, planned

meetings, exchanges on specific projects by

Twitter

Use case 7: customer support, even supporting each other

Solving on the spot issues before they spread,customers supporting each other

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2. Business Intelligence:data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

And even supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

1. Business Promotion

reaching customers

Stefan uses Twitter extensively for customer

interaction. If he sees someone

comment about a technical bug, he sends them a quick

message

Use case exemple 8: knowledge sharing, debate

Learning from others, sharing, building team’s knowledge, and reputation

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2. Business Intelligence:data mining

3. Establishing a reputation :

spreading influence

4. Testing ideas:prototyping

5. People sensemaking:Getting to know

people

6. Daily collaboration:Communicating feeling together

7. Customer support:

Customer supporting each other

8. Knowledge sharing:

Debate around topics

1. Business Promotion

reaching customers•Khiladi discusses telecom and stock market with the customers and talk about newly released products. •He calls it „active engagement“ with the customers which makes the dynamic interaction more meaningful as his team is always „on it“.

So what?

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Social media, a new communication channel?

Yes, and one that will remain

• Social media will remain tomorrow , – even though, they might not be called « Facebook » or

« Linkedin »

• They are too useful business tools to disappear

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Will Facebook and other social media replace the ubiquitous email?

No, it will decrease its usage but not replace it

• Emails will remain for:– Information: one to one or one to a limited user group– Coordination

• Social media will replace emails in specific situations:– When a debate between several parties has to take place– When one wants to inform an undefined range of persons

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Online supportSystematic brand or product watch

Looking for information about

someone

Are social media for any company?

Yes, BUT one has to weigh beforehand the risks and benefits and have a clear strategy

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Identify and follow actors in a community

Test ones product with customers

Open a Facebook page about one’s company

Less visible or passive presence: less risky

More active presence: more risky

Are social media for any type of industry?

Yes, BUT potential risks/benefits, strategy to adopt are different depending on the industry

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1. Business

Promotion

2. Business

Intelligence

3. Establishing a

reputation

4. Testing ideas5. People

sensemaking

4. Testing ideas3. Establishing a

reputation

2. Business

Intelligence

5. People

sensemaking

Less visible or passive presence: less risky

More active presence: more risky

6. Daily

collaboration

7. Customer

support

8. Knowledge

sharing

8. Knowledge

sharing

#Merci…

Valérie & Laure

Valerie.Bauwens@swisscom.com +41 79 244 04 21Laure.Kloetzer@swisscom.com +41 79 249 10 87