Make your business more social with a data strategy

No one would argue the fact that having a strategy in any business is important. How many businesses actually have a data strategy or understand the benefits of implementing one? It is important for businesses to think about using data with present and future needs, including future users.

Tim O’Reilly states in What Is Web 2.0;

The race is on to own certain classes of core data: location, identity, calendaring of public events, product identifiers and namespaces. In many cases, where there is significant cost to create the data, there may be an opportunity for an Intel Inside style play, with a single source for the data. In others, the winner will be the company that first reaches critical mass via user aggregation, and turns that aggregated data into a system service.

We are in a data driven era. The uptake of Social Media has been phenomenal over the past few years. In an online article News.com.au stated in 2009 that Facebook alone has 6.5 million visitors per month. With computers becoming more affordable and the increased power of portable devices makes access to social networking an “always on” reality for users. A study in the United States by comScore showed for the three month average period ending in February 2011,

234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices.

Social media sites are constantly being updated with information from users about where they are, what they are doing and where their interests lay.

The power of the network effect and software as a service mean that web 2.0 platforms become a great source for user data. This can provide competitive and market intelligence through the use of mashups and by bringing structure to unstructured data.

Understand the needs of future users

Bearing this in mind, companies need to think of how this can be used to their advantage.

Data Analysis can be helpful in highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making but what if data analysis could not only happen on archived data but be conducted in real time. Focus is now shifting towards social analytics which harnesses the real time thoughts of vistors to your site. Depending on the type of service you are providing the reason why the user visits your site may vary with each visit. The essence of using social media analytics would help to create a tailored experience based on what the intent of the audience is.

One such tool in this space is Kontagent.

Kontagent’s social analytics platform helps companies measure every aspect of the user experience. We capture deep insights into how people interact on the social web, so that you can improve the discovery and adoption of your social games and applications.

According to Matt LeMay, platform manager at bitly, companies could see what people are sharing and discussing on the Web in real time in order to deliver the most relevant content.

Kontagent focuses on 3 areas being Infrastructure, Intelligence and Interpretation.

Organisations such as Kontagent are seeing the power of data and how it is the next intel inside. Other organisations such as Demand Media are also operating in this space and can provide customers with social media tools, optimized content and domain tools to grow your online business.

As Tim O’Reilly stated, the company that first reaches critical mass via user aggregation, and turns that aggregated data into a system service will benefit. Kontagent and Demand Media are doing this using a comprehensive feature set which leverages off platforms that have harnessed the network effect such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and by aggregating all these and other data pools together they are providing structure to unstructured data that can benefit business into the future.

Power through aggregating functionality

Software developers are always striving to provide more innovative ways of engaging users. One of these ways is to created platforms that integrate functionality. In the cloud software developers utilise application programming interface (API) as a way to serve as an interface between different programs and facilitate interaction.

Photo courtesy of renjith krishnan

The definition of an API is the specific method prescribed by a computer operating system or by an application program by which a programmer writing an application program can make requests of the operating system or another application. An API can be contrasted with a graphical user interface or a command interface (both of which are direct user interfaces) as interfaces to an operating system or a program.

With the massive uptake of instant messaging in the enterprise across multiple clients it makes sense to deploy a single enterprise solution that will handle multiple IM clients. JBuddy Messenger by Zion Software is a multi-protocol, cross-platform instant messaging desktop client. JBuddy Messenger supports popular public instant messaging protocols as well as enterprise instant messaging servers and runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and other Java-enabled desktop environments.

The Jbuddy platform is an excellent example of how the benefits of API can provide innovation.

JBuddy API Stack

Through the use of the JBuddy API users are able to experience instant messaging from the following public services;
# AIM
# ICQ
# Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger)
# Yahoo Instant Messenger and
# Google Talk

It also supports Enterprise solutions in this space with the following platforms;
# IBM Lotus Sametime
# Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS 2007)
# Microsoft Live Communications Server (LCS 2005)
# Apple’s iChat Server
# Jabber / XMPP Servers
# JBuddy Message Server

By crossing multiple public and enterprise platforms JBuddy Messenger succeeds in providing an enhanced experience for the user. It also promotes growth into what is referred to as the mashable ecosystem. A mashup

If you build 2.0 he will come

The birth of Web 2.0 came to fruition in the year 2001 after the dot-com bubble burst leaving scores of companies bankrupt. A handful managed to survive and it was noticed that these survivors all had something in common. These commonalities were the defining characteristics of WEB 2.0, a term coined by O’Reilly Media who conducted the analysis along with MediaLive International.

A new revolution of how users would engage the internet was born. The era of Web 2.0 had arrived. Web 2.0 applications provided a platform that enabled collaboration and empowerment to its users.

This paradigm has been coined Harnessing the Collective Intelligence by Tim O’Reilly. There are two key principles that allow this process to prosper. The first key principle is that the users add value. Through the users participation on the web 2.0 platform by creating content, uploading and sharing their ideas and thoughts they are can both directly and indirectly add value.

The second principle is that network effects magnify this value.

Web 2.0 thrives on network effects: databases that get richer the more people interact with them, applications that are smarter the more people use them, marketing that is driven by user stories and experiences, and applications that interact with each other to form a broader computing platform.

By involving users both implicitly and explicitly the interaction will become more meaningful and enjoyable. Web 2.0 technologies should facilitate emergence by allowing the particular application to transform to suit the users needs. The ability for the application to be fluid and less structured will enhance the experience by the users. Web 2.0 applications have been developed to allow users to create web pages and content with little or no understanding of HTML.

Wordpress

WordPress is web software that enables uses to create websites or blogs. The platform is totally free and the core components of the platform were built by hundreds of community volunteers.

The success of Word press is attributed to their ability to allow users to feel empowered and to provide the platform for free. Although their are minor structural features to the platform each user has the ability to develop and create their own unique content which they can share online for free utilising thousands of plugins and themes.

By providing the platform for free Word Press have exceeded over 25 million users thus enabling the network effect. With more users comes more interaction and more content and a richer experience for its users.

There is ability for users to collaborate online with each other and also across other web 2.0 platforms through the adding of external content and links.

Word Press is an excellent example of how harnessing the collective intelligence of its users can enhance their experience and propagate further successful growth.