While the love - hate relationship continues with Facebook, its redesign of the pages functionality has created some interesting conversation.

The Facebook pages are now more like personal profiles, easily populated with status updates, new images, links, notes, etc.

The change, which has again created a fair amount of angst in social media nation, has spurred some questions for universities such as ours and for companies and other institutions:

Continue reading "Info vs. personality" »

Will there be a silver lining in the clouds or will they turn dark and stormy? That is the question as more and more companies and organizations move toward cloud computing as a way to cut costs.

Even though the concept has been around for some time, it is gaining momentum as the recession takes bigger and bigger bites out of the bottom line. There are blogs dedicated solely to the topic and it's the topic dujour for folks who can still afford to attend conferences.

In a nutshell, the concept of cloud computing involves using on-demand services provided by companies such as Google and Amazon.com instead of paying for and maintaining computer hardware in-house and paying staff to maintain it.

Continue reading "Into the cloud we go" »

For all the heroics of pilot Chesley Sullenberger and the happy ending for all the survivors of the ill-fated US Airways flight that splashed-down in the Hudson, the parent corporation directing that flight does not earn a similar fate. Though US Airways did not completely fail the crisis, they did fail at web crisis communications.

Within moments of the plane landing in the Hudson, ferries began to redirect their sterns to the partially submerged wing tips of the big jet airliner; the only quicker response was the one by users of Twitter. The tweets were ringing through the Twitter website and PDAs across the planet faster than CNN could break the story. A simple lesson, really: the Web has become the ultimate quick response system in times of crisis. Though this lesson has been re-learned many times (the bombings on Mumbai are just one of countless examples), US Airways still had not learned the lesson.

Amongst the flurry of tweets were those from myself, who working from the greatest of distances, my building in Vancouver, was able to communicate more about the story than the airline itself. And while the Internet continues to prove itself amongst the fastest of communications channels, US Airways still did not have a response or a message on their website two hours after their accident. I was watching – and the company posted no message on their home page, and none to their press room.

Not surprisingly, three hours after the accident, I couldn't access the website... it was down (albeit temporarily). A crush of people including family and friends of those on board were clambering for information on the fate of their loved ones. And yet, no response from US Airways; no one or two paragraph message to let people know that there was an accident, that people were okay; no phone number to encourage people to phone for simple, basic information or to confirm simple facts that they did know; no apology that there was limited information at the time and that the company would communicate the information as soon as they could confirm it.

Nothing from US Airways on a website that is capable of distributing information to millions in mere seconds. The irony is that I could communicate to the world faster from the other side of the continent (namely that all the passengers appeared to be safe and accounted for), faster than US Airways could (even to just simply acknowledge that the accident had even occurred or that they were working diligently to confirm the details). A simple phone number for friends and family of passengers might have been nice. No, US Airways chose to or was incapable of communicating even the simplest of information hours after the fact. (Legal hawks will decry this and state that US Airways had a fiduciary responsibility to confirm the details of the accident and the whereabouts of all passengers before they issued any statement. Utter nonsense: the airline could have issued a simple statement confirming what they knew, with a phone number for more information, and a promise to communicate more as it became available).

Many hours after the accident, a few short, useless press releases appeared on the site accompanied by a lame, corporate-speak statement from the CEO. How embarrassing that a company in such dramatic financial trouble appears to have little or no soul for communicating the simplest of information and human emotion. Oddly enough, US Airways does have a Facebook site, but five hours after the crash (when I gave up on US Airways and monitoring their trifle response) there was no comment or message from the company. I also noted that company has no Twitter account.

Captain Sullenberger proved that heroes can be made in seconds, and that quick, thoughtful thinking can change how the world looks at you. US Airways has similarly proven that big, hollow companies can, in not much more time than it took one of its employees to become an icon, can communicate a lot by not communicating anything at all.

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Toby Ward is an Internet and intranet consultant who lives, blogs and podcasts from Vancouver. He is the founder and CEO of Toronto-based Prescient Digital Media.

Sometimes you just have to hand it to the New York Post. This online headline caught my eye: E-BAMA OFFERS A LOOK BACKSTAGE. The article goes on to call him President 2.0.

Of course the conservative newspaper called him many other things during the campaign, but I suppose bygones are byones, at least during what I'm sure will be a brief honeymoon.

Anyway, the point of the article was the interesting use of the flickr photo-sharing site by Obama's campaign. The campaign posted 82 photos of the candidate taken on Election Night. The photos, particularly of the candidate and his family, provide a nice inside look at him as he waits to hear if he would indeed become the 44th president.

Continue reading "E-bama" »

(AARHUS, DENMARK: jboye08) Robert Cailliau is a Belgian computer scientist who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, developed the World Wide Web.

I was chatting with him before his keynote address this morning at jboye08 in Aarhus, Denmark. He told me he had to “tweak his presentation” on the “history of the World Wide Web.” I found it interesting that the co-founder of the WWW was “tweaking” his history… I joked that he shouldn’t forget to also “tweet” it (Twitter). Robert replied, “Oh, I don’t use those things!”

I like him!

Robert went on to address the subject of Web 3.0...

Continue reading "WWW founder shrugs at Web 3.0" »

So enough is enough, right? You've voted and you'll eagerly watch the returns tonight, a new president will be named (hopefully), and then we'll be done with this two-year odyssey. At least the campaign phase, then who knows what will happen.

But of all the SNL skits and sound bites appearing on YouTube and all the e-mails and all the rest, this little nugget stood out for me.

A way to personalize a video that was distributed by MoveOn.org. If you haven't received one yet, and there may be a couple of you out there, you should try this. It's hilarious. And, I think, a very effective means of using video as a targeted, personalized way to get out your message.

I'm already asking the Colgate IT guys to see how we could adapt similar technology to craft a video message that we could send to admitted students and others.

It’s not a virus, Trojan, or a denial of service attack. The latest threat to your browser, computer, and network is click-jacking. Click-jacking is the result of a visit to a malicious web page that allows the attacker to take control of your browser. Specifically, it can force your browser to click on any link it wants.

THE THREAT

According to the latest Wikipedia definition:

“Clickjacking is a malicious technique of tricking web users into revealing confidential information or taking control of their computer while clicking on seemingly innocuous web pages. A vulnerability across a variety of browsers and platforms, a clickjacking takes the form of embedded code or script that can execute without the user's knowledge, such as clicking on a button that appears to perform another function.”

In short, if you visit an unknown or unfriendly website then it could force your browser to click on nasty links that could take you anywhere (including the downloading of a virus or Trojan) or allow the attacker to take control of your computer. And it doesn’t matter which browser you use (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.), all the big ones are vulnerable.

Megha Dhawan writes for Indiatimes Infotech and best sums-up the threat:

”So while you might think you are clicking on your bank funds transfer link, or saving a favourite URL link at Digg, or some innocuous Facebook application, the reality could be entirely different, and dark.

An attack can invisibly hover these virtual buttons below the users' mouse, so that when they click on something they visually see, they actually are clicking on something else the attacker wants them to…”

The United States CERT has issued the following warning: "Clickjacking gives an attacker the ability to trick a user into clicking on something only barely or momentarily noticeable. Therefore, if users click on a Web page, they may actually be clicking on content from another page.”

PROTECTION

• Ensue your browser is the most recent version (updated and patched)
• Ensure Adobe Flash plug-in patches are up-to-date (download the latest version)
• Click on the above link and download in each of the browsers you use (e.g. Internet Explorer and Firefox… don’t forget about Chrome or Opera if you use them)

As always, regardless of the threat, you’re likely safe if you stick to only trusted sites and blogs (in other words, visit known sites and stay away from “free” sites that offer song lyrics, photos, clip-art, porn, and especially video.

(Live blog entry from Cary, North Carolina) “Instantaneous, on-demand is the new way… all kids want today is instant, fast-forward access,” says David Pogue, columnist with the NY Times (addressing the Ragan Web 2.0 conference here in N.C). “I recently spoke at the National radio association conference… and they’re almost suicidal!”

Chat / Cell Terms to Know:

• LOL
• MORF?
• BRB
• IMHO
• RTFM
• POS (parent over shoulder)

Pogues recommended chat / cell terms for parents:

• WIWYA: when I was your age
• NCK: not a chance, kid
• LODH: logg off, do homework

Pogue’s recommended sites:

• Prosper.com (business plan funding)
• CarLoco (car pooling site)
• E-Petitions (UK government sponsored petitions against the Gov.)
• TripAdvisor.com
• WillItBlend.com (check out the iPhone smoothie)
• Google Alerts

Institutional blogs: much more trustworthy (see Microsoft’s Vista blogs with employees candidly discussing Vista problems… see http://shellrevealed.com/blogs/shellblog/archive/2006/10/09/Features-that-didn_2700_t-make-the-cut.aspx)

Web 2.0 Challenges

• Copywrites
• Trademarks
• It won’t stay put (see NBC’s Keith Olberman’s email on Rita debacle)
• You can’t contain it (yes, text messaging can be recorded and distributed)
• They’ll trust you once (Longelygirl15’s YouTube scam)
• When it turns on you (Jill Carroll hostage video… and public response)
• Short sellers (Apple CEO Jobs heart attack hoax… blog attack by short seller)
• Get involved

Pogue’s mock songs:

• “I want an iPhone” (Tune: I did it my way)
• “RIAA” (Tune: YMCA)

(Live blog entry from Cary, North Carolina) “So many intranets such because its being used as a storage bin,” says Jim Ylisela is president of Ragan Consulting. “The storage bin is the lowest common value.”

Read my full blog hit The problem with intranets on www.IntranetBlog.com.

(Live blog entry from Cary, North Carolina) “The employee-company relationship – this is the thing we do very, very well at SAS,” says Jim Davis, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer of SAS (delivering his keynote “Faster than a speeding bullet” at Ragan’s “Corporate Communications in a Web 2.0 World” conference”). “You have to think about your employees as your most important and valuable asset.”

Business analytics / business intelligence leader SAS is an incredible success story that owes its success to many factors, not the least of which is its employees:

• Profitable every year since 1976
• Revenue growth every year since 1976
• 10,000 employees, 44,000 customers
• 4,000 employees at headquarters in Cary, North Carolina
• Continually ranked by Fortune magazine as a top employer
• Average employee turnover is 4% (average in the software industry is 22%)
• Privately owned company – at SAS we don’t care what we say
• Don’t use outside agencies – all creative is done internally
• No technology is out-sourced – the people cutting the grass are employees
• Internal marketing team of over 1000

Employee tools at SAS:

• SAS Wide Web (intranet in multiple languages)
• Using SharePoint 2007 (MOSS)
• Employee Blogs
• Employee Wikis
• SAS Video portal (executive updates, podcasts, webcasts, town hall meetings)
• Two sound stages at SAS working every day

“People blog like crazy here now,” says Davis. Blogs are monitored and governed by an Employee Code of Ethics. In short, the blogging is self-policed. “Very few problems…” adds Davis. Training is also available including a program on “How to blog better.”

SAS encourages web use that is not necessarily directly related to the business: “I hate to hear companies that are blocking Facebook, YouTube and other sites…. It’s dumb! The only thing we block at SAS is porn!”

Four Critical Dimensions (Insight into change):
1- Human Capital
2- Knowledge Processes
3- Culture
4- Infrastructure
…
What’s next?

• “The data explosion – what are its sources and how can organizations cope?”
• “Is your organization ready for Generation Y?”
• “How are companies leveraging unstructured data?”
• “Is it technology or attitude?”
• “Web 3.0?” (speed and latency independent of the platform)

Davis cites Professor Deming: “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” (W. Edwards Deming)

“Change is a must; we have to change,” says Davis.

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Editor’s note: SAS is a very progressive organization that is well worth watching (and reading about). I’ll be speaking in a little over an hour on “The latest and greatest in WCM: Trends, traps & tips.”

More to come…