The Squared Root

Creative Capital on the Social Web

mchapman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:43:07 GMT

Austin, Texas is the blogging capital of the United States. With approximately one out of seven, or fifteen percent of its citizens actively blogging, it's easy to find someone who is really active on the social web in our community. That's not too surprising considering that the population of the Austin area is relatively young and internet usage is high. We're also a tech savvy community with a half-dozen Universities and Colleges, including UT Austin, a world-class research University.

Add the number of Austinites using social websites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Plaxo you would probably get a much higher percentage of online networkers and consumers who live and work here. Then if you add the number of people, especially teens, who text message one another on their cell phones throughout the day and add them to those of us who are actively Twittering, Plurking, and using new microblogging technologies to communicate and share information, the numbers likely grow even more.

Austin is a very creative community. In fact, it's the creative capital of the country. So the number of creative people - professionals and amateurs - who generate content is tremendous. This is particularly true of the burgeoning gaming industry in Austin. Further, the Live Music Capital of the World is also the home of artists, actors, film makers, and really excellent advertising and marketing agencies.

Podcasting, online collaboration, video, audio, and all other forms of user generated content are not only common, they're rampant in Central Texas.

In the context of this very creative, socially networked, and tech savvy situation in the Austin community, Steve Golab, CEO and President of FG SQUARED, has initiated a new working group to focus on the potential for businesses and other organizations to effectively communicate going forward in the new environment.

Social Web Advisory Panel (SWAP)

The formation of the Social Web Advisory Panel, called the SWAP for short, is a natural extension of the successful Interactive Austin 2008 conference sponsored by FG SQUARED this past summer and is the result of Steve's ongoing conversations with social media enthusiasts from around the world.

Since Austin is such a hot bed of activity and because, in typical Austin fashion, old ways of doing things are always being challenged here, we believe that we have the perfect opportunity to utilize the enthusiasm and expertise we have in the academic, business, communications and creative communities to stretch our thinking and understanding of the social media space.

Also, being based in Austin gives us that unique view of the world that is ideal to understand the disruptive nature of the social web and how it is affecting the status quo. As I already mentioned, it's a creative place.

Initially, we will focus on the experiences of online activity and how they create social capital between the users who meet there. We'll dig deep into how we measure their impact by remembering that online and offline activities blend seamlessly in the lives of our creatives in Austin.

We will share what we discover with the rest of the world and organically expand our circle to include other interested individuals and groups.

Most importantly, we don't start with a presumption of knowing exactly what we'll find. In fact critical thinking is encouraged. We have no preconceived notion that we have all the answers. We're looking for them through you, by making use of the social computing that naturally occurs in social networks and from any other method of discovery that comes with our efforts to learn from our respective communities.

SWAP members include Cynthia Baker - President, Accolades PR, Jon Lebkowsky - Principal, Social Web Strategies, Dave Evans - Digital Voodoo, Ynema Mangum, John Curtis- President and CEO, Quotient Solutions, Inc., Wade Allen, Jason Fellman - Consultant and FG SQUARED Co-founder, Clay Spinuzzi - Associate Professor, UT Austin, Barry Rumac of FG SQUARED, Steve Golab and myself.

Please tell me what you think. Would you like to weigh in with your thoughts on the social web? I'll be updating regularly on our activities and always welcome input. Email me at mike.chapman@fg2.com or find me on Twitter @MikeChapman if you want to know more. Of course, comments below are always encouraged.

The Innovative World of Social Commerce

beth — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:34:22 GMT

If you ever wondered what social commerce's impact is on business, then you will be very interested in Steve Guengerich's keynote presentation tomorrow at the Interactive Austin 2008 conference. Steve, who is the Chief Learning Office at nGenera, will be discussing the intricacies of social commerce and what it means for the companies of today.

Steve is going to take the audience through the “perfect storm” that is Web 2.0 as it brings together globalization, talent and technology. He also will bring into light the necessary redefinition of corporate marketing, as well as the trust that consumers and clients have in companies, brands and individuals.

According to Steve, Wikinomics is the model for leveraging social commerce. He will use case studies to show how early adopters of wikinomics have utilized this social commerce tool in their business and the major impact that it has had on corporate trust and marketing.

Finally, Steve will introduce Interactive Austin 2008 attendees to the next generation enterprise. With the next generation enterprise, companies will be able to source talent both inside and outside the enterprise, as well as allowing the customer to come inside the enterprise to co-innovate.

Mr. Guengerich’s keynote is sure to bring excitement into the audience as he delivers them to the cutting edge of social commerce.

Before joining the C-level ranks at nGenera, Steve was the Director of Information Technology for Bridgepoint Consulting, as well as the President of Perceptive Sciences Corporation. He began his career with Accenture and PriceWaterhouse-Cooper's consulting group where he specialized in advanced technologies.

Steve also is an award-winning writer and has authored eight computer books and articles for publications like Computerworld, eWeek and NetworkWorld.

Bill Fields at IA08

beth — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:45:45 GMT

I just learned that Bill Fields, the former president & CEO of WalMart Stores Division, is going to be a part of Interactive Austin 2008. He is going to be on a panel with our very own Dave Evans and they will be discussing the new trends and technologies that are driving social interaction.

Social interactions are increasingly becoming “virtual,” always present and close as your mobile or handheld. As a result these virtual interactions are now a part of real life: people expect to be able to connect independent of physical proximity. Networks of friends, colleagues, partners, and suppliers are playing an essential role in the collaborative processes powering leading organizations.

However, I digress, back to Bill. What makes me so excited to hear Bill’s perspective on social interaction is his background. To put it simply, Bill is not new to the world of big business. Bill has served as Chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Entertainment, President and CEO of WalMart Stores Division, as well as President and CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, which at 332 years is the oldest chartered firm in North America.

Currently, Bill is the Managing Director of Field Texas Limited which is a consulting and investment company that specializes in consumer, retail, and supply chain in North American and in China.

Bill’s experience and vision in building larger organizations will no doubt provide a very unique and exciting perspective on how social media and social interaction are affecting the business world.

A Twitter A Day

beth — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:20:07 GMT

Twitter. If you consider yourself in the know of all things tech, than you probably have heard of Twitter. It seems to be popping up everywhere nowadays. Friends letting friends know what they are doing, giving insight to feelings on a certain topic, arranging plans for the weekend or even commenting on the article they are currently reading.

Even though Twitter was created for personal use, friends sending quick micro messages to friends; it is really starting to take off as a business tool. It lets companies update its followers on exciting news, new blogs, schedule changes, or just what the employees of that company are up to that day. Companies are also using Twitter to share and connect with others to listen to what is being talked about, in order to gain business intelligence and consumer insights.

Twitter has also taken off as a conference tool, allowing attendees to update their followers on all the interesting topics and speakers that they are encountering at the conference.

I have personally found myself addicted to Twitter lately, and get disappointed when I am not receiving tweets. Twitter gives me that wonderful “in the know” feeling; that great feeling of knowing that you can intelligently participate in almost all the conversations that are occurring around you. By having carefully chosen who I am following, I have a better understanding of what is going on in the political world, the interactive world and the social world (mostly my social world here in Austin).

If you haven’t experienced a tweet, I suggest you check out twitter and see what have you been missing in the world today.

Clickstream Data as a Marketing Tool

beth — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:59:17 GMT

Clickstream is defined as the recording of what a computer user clicks on while surfing the Internet. The data collected from clickstream shows what sites a user visited, what pages within the site they visited, what they clicked on and how long they were there.

The user’s clickstream data can be invaluable to marketers on determining what is of interest to their target demographic, what parts of a site seem to grab their attention, and their Internet habits in general.

During his keynote presentation at the Interactive Austin 2008 symposium, Pete Hayes will be teaching the audience about Clickstream as an alternative to driving traffic to their site and incorporating the data into overall marketing efforts.

As part of his keynote presentation, Hayes will present a Best Buy case study to show how corporations can insert content into consumer buying sites; he will also demonstrate how content can be syndicated into blogshere with a case study from GearLive; and finally, through a AMD game case study, he will show companies how they can intercept their own clickstreams and discover new uses for current visitors. With the AMD game, Hayes and his team were able to generate 3 million unique visitors per month in 90 days.

Not knowing a lot about the topic, I am looking forward to hearing Mr. Hayes' keynote presentation.

Hayes is the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Prior to his arrival at AMD in the summer of 2006, Hayes was with SicolaMartin for 11 years. During his time at SicolaMartin, Hayes worked in Business Development and general management roles of their interactive division His client experience includes 3M, AMD, Citrix, Compag, Dell, Freescale, Motorola and Novell.

Interactive Austin 2008

cynthia — Sat, 31 May 2008 04:09:47 GMT

Social commerce, the use of social media in business, is putting companies on an even playing field; and the companies that aren't getting on board are going to find themselves falling behind the competition.

Think about it - social media is everywhere! Wiki-ing, blogging, podcasting, twittering, FaceBooking, and MySpacing - this is how the world is communicating now. And if your company isn't playing along, your message is less likely to reach your target audience. For this reason, major corporations, like Austin-based Dell, Intel and AMD are integrating social networking and other social media into their marketing plans.

To help companies get to where they need to be, interactive professionals in Austin that understand the power of social media in today's world have converged to create Interactive Austin 2008. This forum which takes place on June 19th, is an event dedicated to educating companies on the advantages of Social Commerce, the importance of it in the rapidly changing corporate environment, and how to harness its power for profitability.

The event will feature two prominent keynote speakers. Brian Magierski, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of nGenera Corporation, will speak on "Social Commerce and It's Impact on Business." While the Vice President of Corporate Marketing & Communications for AMD, Pete Hayes, will speak on "Get into the Click Stream: An Alternative to Driving Traffic to Your Site." Aside from the keynote speakers, this will be a day full of educational and informative panel discussions and case study presentations from Austin's social media experts.

If you have a company, it would be a wise decision to attend Interactive Austin 2008. For more information about it, check it out online at http://www.interactiveaustin2008.com.

We will see you there!