Social still booming?

Social ROI. Impressions. Retweets. And the effervescent “like”. Yes, they all still matter.

Social media is a shiny object that still glimmers. But now it’s time to figure out how to truly integrate it into our businesses.

I recently spoke at Social Media Today’s Social Shakeup Conference and had an inspiring discussion with Ray Wang, Chairman of Constellation Research.

He suggested that social media has been a magically exciting detour within an existing digital revolution, and we’re now only getting back to the core of digital. I  agree.

Digital has transformed business for years. Automation has made it easier to scale core marketing and sales efforts, helping businesses reach new audiences and increasing sales.

But now, social must become the underlying platform that powers growth and opportunity.

People drive technology, and people drive social, but integrating both to truly humanize your business, introduces a huge challenge

http://www.bryankramer.com/the-social-gold-rush-is-over/

The Biotechtouch Network

Social networks, global collaboration, and open innovation can be used as a cost-effective communication and problem solving environment.

We’re looking at business operations with a clear focus on customer requirements. Listening to their needs and day to day problems.

The Internet provides a lean management environment for global problem solving and a perfect platform for interaction with:

1. Local sales reps
2. The sales staff at regional headquarters
3. Engineering personnel
4. Project management co-ordination
5. Manufacturing of tailor-made solutions
6. Transportation safely on-time
7. Installation and proper documentation
8. Start-up support and training
9. Parts and sales
10. Technical support
11. Productivity and profitability enhancement services
12. Lowest cost over life-time

Digital Media Finland

Received an email today that catches my attention. First, it was in my SPAM-box and I almost deleted it automatically, but I’m glad I got in touch with the report and Tuovinen’s blog.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Digital Media Finland sends you once in a while reports from interesting trade fairs and other events and projects our consultants have participated in. 

Asia is the world's fastest growing media market with consumer's content uptake expanding on all platforms. You will find Timoteus Tuovinen's new report What’s really Going on inside Southeast Asian Media Industry here: http://bit.ly/GExIEZ. I hope you enjoy reading the report.

If you wish, you are welcome to forward the report to your colleagues. If you received the report from a colleague and wish to subscribe to our upcoming reports, please visit our web site  <http://www.digitalmedia.fi/inenglish.html> and click "Subscribe to Reports". However, if you do not wish to receive these e-mail alerts on new reports simply let us know about it by responding to this e-mail.

Digital Media Finland is an experienced team of consultants specializing in business, technologies and content creation in media and creative industries. We develop strategies, and do market analyses and technology studies for enterprise, SME and government clients.

Best regards,
Timoteus

Timoteus Tuovinen
Consultant, Partner

Digital Media Finland
Tel. +358-400-622824
E-mail: timoteus.tuovinen@digitalmedia.fi
URL: www.digitalmedia.fi

About Internet six years ago: the emerging power of social media

keskiviikkona 25. elokuuta 2004 [Wednesday August 25, 2004] I wrote about Reading blogs six years ago. What has happened since? What’s new? Are the changes so big as we tend to think?

The Internet is quickly becoming the world's primary source of information. Reporters begin every day by reading blogs. They're looking for the pulse of the people, for stories they might have missed. The blogosphere has become fundamental - the plankton of the information ecology.

Helge: That was big news at that time and routine for most journalists today.

But it's not just the media elite who are affected. Television took 13 years to get into 50 million homes. The Web reached that number in only five years. September 11, 2001, was the key moment.

Helge: Small and large businesses don’t yet know how to embrace the web and social media.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that in the days immediately after 9/11, just 3 percent of Americans who were on the Internet used it as their primary source of information. Less than two years later, as the US was preparing for war with Iraq, that number had risen to 26 percent.

Helge: Today, nine years after 9/11 the net is probably the primary source of information.

Now, 77 percent say they have used the Internet to interact with news about the war. They're not just reading the Web; they're emailing one another, posting messages, writing blogs.

Helge: Those figures reflected activities in North America, now the same is true for Finland.

The Internet has been revolutionizing business and culture for years - and that was just a side effect. Some experts believe: the 2008 election will be the first national contest waged and won primarily online.

Helge: Barack Obama was elected the president of USA and Social Media had a central role in campaign financing and his success. 

Social Media and Cross-border Collaboration

Social media, Web 2.0, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, Google Docs, FTP, Jaiku, Qaiku, Ning, microblogs, Wiki, LinkedIn, etc. can be used to enhance and improve cross-border collaboration.

I’ll be speaking about this at Tallinn BlogFest 2010 May 25 and now writing a manuscript for success. What did we learn from the Innovationtrain? Where are the limits of self organization? How good is BarCamp?

What are the obstacles we need to overcome when we have long distances, cultural differences and the participants can’t use their mother language? 

Centralized Control of Social vs. Spreading Social Throughout the Organization - Digital Influence Mapping Project

Centralized Control of Social vs. Spreading Social Throughout the Organization - Digital Influence Mapping Project: "Centralized Control of Social vs. Spreading Social Throughout the Organization

Should there be social media marketing and communication experts within your enterprise or should 'social' be spread out across the business within existing job functions? This is a false question. Or at the least it is a question whose answer will predictably change over time.

Ultimately, business will identify and adopt best practices in the disciplines of social media and embed those in pre-existing job functions. 'Social' will be a way of doing things and found everywhere across the business.

Media relations professionals have already largely made blogger outreach a part of their job. For all the criticism of the public relations discipline, their early involvement in social media has led to this integration. Customer care professionals are adopting 'social customer care' most obvious in the use of Twitter handles as an initial outreach and triage platform."

More about this in John Bell's blog.

Secretary of state taps social media in blog, other efforts | StatesmanJournal.com | Statesman Journal

Government 2.0 in the making.

Secretary of state taps social media in blog, other efforts | StatesmanJournal.com | Statesman Journal: "Secretary of state taps social media in blog, other efforts | October 4, 2009

Secretary of State Kate Brown has begun a blog and revised her agency's Web site in an attempt to tap new social media.

There will be Facebook and Twitter portals.

The blog will offer an insider's take on the work of the agency's four program divisions: Archives, Audits, Corporations and Elections. Among the contents will be news, frequently asked questions, reports, and an occasional question-and-answer format with staff. There is also a section for public comments.

'I believe that social networking and media present a tremendous opportunity for government and the public to have a truly interactive discussion about the state and how it is run,' Brown said.

Blog: www.oregonsosblog.us. Web site: www.sos.state.or.us.

— Peter Wong"

More people centric blogging

I've a Seesmic account but I've not used it. Wanted to use it with my E71 but there is not a mobile interface so I continue to use Qik and Bambuser.

Haven't yet posted videos to my Flickr account either. Nokia's OVI doesn't pay an important role in my life yet. I feel OVI is complicated. Flickr isn't.

My blog postings could become little works of art and I work hard to personalize them.

The English language is certainly a challenge. It's very demanding to get into the flow. I've to struggle with the words. But life isn't easy either. I try to learn new ways of expression every single day.

I seldom hit people with products on my blogs but I've been inspired by buildings, nature, street pictures etc.

I would like to write more interviews about people but time is a limiting factor. Interviewing takes time.

This social media stuff is what we breath on a daily basis. My social media usage isn't expanding but I try to focus on the channels I've - which means a lot.

First step was blogging but the most interesting events take place in microblogs. I'm happier with the use of Facebook now.

With social media I can follow thousands of conversations on an annual basis. It could be used as sales funnel as well but I still concentrate more on socializing and expressing ideas.

My interest isn't in multilevel marketing. Social media is probably at best the most important learning environment I happen to have. Great ideas can be turned it into conversations and sharing ideas means very often that they become better when they are touched and commented by others..

Maybe I can tell someone else about things that are on my mind with all the pictures I take and have taken over the years. Drawings, cartoons, and old memos contain great and weird ideas. I've been posting a part from a huge archive.

A great way of communication happens with pictures transmitted to Brightkite and Qaiku. Flickr and Brightkite transport them to Friendfeed, Twitter, and Facebook where they get a second life. Or at least an extension.

Twitter has been low on my list lately and Friendfeed could certainly get more attention.

Flickr and KK-Net's Gallery, on the other hand aren't just my or KK-Net's family photo albums but a part of my / our personal exposure. My followers can see on a continuous basis what I'm involved in.

Old and new pictures have credibility and they can underline important historical events in my and KK-Net's life.

The Sterling Cross Group

I got this message. "Hi this is an automatic email from TwitterMail with some new replies: @digitalvillages social media is perfect for reaching niches, especially in the medical industries! You'd be surprised by the people on sm! MrChristopherL at 17-01-2009 18:41."

Learned about The Sterling Cross Group. The lesson is, we need to learn to talk with the audience. Writing and attracting readers isn't enough. Social Media should lead to a conversation.

Home | Sterling Cross Group: "Public Relations can’t exist as a news release alone anymore. PR requires full integration across all media. If you don't, you are missing out on reaching over half of your targeted audience.

We are here to help! Sterling Cross Communications is a fully integrated media provider taking your traditional story and telling it with today’s technology. We make it possible for you to reach your intended audience in the format of media they receive news.

From Traditional Media (newspapers, television, radio, and magazines) to New Media (internet, podcasts, blogs, webinars, web video, RSS, SEO and PPC) to Social/Viral Media (wikis, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Second Life, forums, intranets, livecasting, and more) Sterling Cross is your complete integrated media solution."

Social Media Monitoring and Engagement Specialists - 6Consulting - Radian6 » Latest Posts Social Media in sales » RIP Cold Calling

I learned through Twitter that this man has ideas. This man is saying that.

jowyang Talking to @6consulting (he's in London) about blog design, twitter and social media on Skype --he's got interesting ideas.


Social Media Monitoring and Engagement Specialists - 6Consulting - Radian6 » Latest Posts Social Media in sales » RIP Cold Calling: "Cold calling has been served notice, a new era beckons and with it an altogether different way of working. Social networking has arrived and will soon replace cold calling as the predominant method of prospecting in business.

Helge: I agree. I've changed. Most calls I make are based on a request. Actually, I make very few regular phone calls during a working day.

I have profoundly changed the way I do business and have firmly embraced social media and the networking possibilities it has created. To that end I have reduced to a very small percentage the amount of time I spend cold calling.

Helge: I like to write in advance. This also goes for Skype calls. I send a chat message to ask if a call is okay.

As someone who has been in sales all of my working life, has been a sales director and managed large teams of sales people, I know many people will think that there is no replacement for activity, specifically picking up the phone. Yet, no matter how intelligent you are about cold calling, it is what it is – speculative, scatter gun selling, not to mention costly and increasingly ineffective.

Helge: Calling to complete strangers doesn't lead to much...

Bad image

Cold calling has a bad image, forever associated with double glazing, and I believe the whole process has run its course. Over the years the return on investment from a team of cold callers has gradually diminished; much like the internet killed press advertising revenues so will social networking see the demise of large sales floors with people standing on desks, ringing bells or plucking £10 notes from washing lines (just some of the things I have seen in many years involved in telesales)."

Helge: Call Centers are trying to continue something that isn't needed anymore.

Why Social Media isn't Good for My Business

I got the inspiration to write this blog post from Andrea Vascellari's posting "Carve out a nice."

There're still numerous business owners who think that Internet is just for the kids and Social Media don't have any meaning for their businesses. I try to cover some of the arguments.

1. Internet is too big for my small business.
   - The message is, I don't want to grow, prosper, and by no means get rich
   - The business owner don't realize the nice marketing potential of Internet
   
   
2. Social Media is just for kids, my clients are not on facebook, twitter, pownce, myspace, etc.
   - The "adult industry" is one of the biggest on the Internet
   - There are all kinds of people on the Internet
   
   
3. People of my age don't have time with Internet
   - I guess the baby boomers are a big part of the Internet today
   - The Internet wasn't created by kids, even though they understood its potential early
   
   
4. My company's products are so unique and complex that they can't be explained on the net
   - Sales people like the idea that big ticket sales can only be done face-to-face
   - The message might be complicated when nobody tried to simplify the story
   
   
5. What if we get too many orders?
   - That would be a great problem for many businesses
   - There is something called "delivery time"
   - You can use "pricing" to control order flow
   
   
6. Our clients are not on Internet
   - They don't have the time
   - They just use email
   - Some might pay their bills on Internet
   - They just buy books, flight tickets, book hotels, order PC's, download music, etc.
   - We're not in that kind of businesses
   
   
7. We've to control our employees for not spending too much time on Internet
   - Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, you name it, they rob valuable working time
   - Employees should concentrate on their work and not "build relationships"
   - We're not in the dating business

I could continue with an endless list. Internet is dangerous, full of viruses, it's the devils nest with no or limited importance for any "serious business". What should we say about Microsoft, Cisco, Nokia, Google, Yahoo, IBM, and thousands of other businesses that have learned to use Internet to build customer relationships and loyality?

Saara Laaksonen at saaralaaksonen.com

I learned about Saara Laaksonen through Twitter. Here is a short quote from her blog.

saaralaaksonen.com: "The X-Cell Project Written on 11 July 2008 by Saara Laaksonen.

At the moment I’m working on a project called X-Cell. The work we’re doing includes testing and presenting new social media solutions for the purposes of local and regional organizations, schools and companies. The project is going on pretty well. We have for example agreed to do this pilot case with local schools in which at least two groups of students will be testing the use of a virtual computer as a part of the course they are studying.

I think the possibilities that social media and web 2.0 offer are endless and I’m really excited about this project. In general the companies are really interested in the web 2.0 and social media tools in this region but the biggest problem to get them use these tools is TIME, the lack of time. The thing is that it might be easy and fast to take new tools in use but if you don’t do anything with them or don’t use them right, the tools are pretty much useless and you won’t get any benefit out of using them. BUT, if you put a little bit of time and effort in using them, you might get good results out of those tools."

I'll write more about SL later.

What Social Media Does Best | chrisbrogan.com

Chris Borgan writes about What Social Media Does Best in chrisbrogan.com: "If you’re still looking for the best ways to explain to senior management or your team or your coworkers or your spouse what it is that social media does, why it’s different than the old way people used to use computers and the web, why people are giving two hoots about it, here are some thoughts to start out the conversation. I look at this mostly from a business perspective, but I suspect you’ll find these apply to nonprofits and other organizations as well. Further, as I’m fond of saying, social media isn’t relegated to the marketing and PR teams. It’s a bunch of tools that can be used throughout businesses, in different forms. Think on this."

About

Chris Brogan advises businesses, organizations and individuals on how to use social media and social networks to build relationships and deliver value.

What Social Media Does Best

• Blogs allow chronological organization of thoughts, status, ideas. This means more permanence than emails.
  
  
• Podcasts (video and audio) encourage different types of learning, and in portable formats.
• Social networks encourage collaboration, can replace intranets and corporate directories, and can promote non-email conversation channels.
  
  
• Social networks can amass like-minded people around shared interests with little external force, no organizational center, and a group sense of what is important and what comes next.
  
• There is more about this on Chris Brogan's blog >>
  

It's easy to agree with Chris about "What Social Media Does Best". However, when are we going to see Finnish companies to replace their intranets with social media? His thoughts are applicable to non-profit organizations as well. Yes, SM can be throughout the business organization.

Assuming Too Much About The Web We See | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English

Assuming Too Much About The Web We See | Common Craft - Explanations In Plain English: "I wouldn't call it disappointment, but rather a dose of reality. I spent the last week in Las Vegas at the Community 2.0 conference and with my family thereafter. Coming back, I must say that the trip gave me some much-needed perspective. Let me explain," writes leelefever on May 20, 2008 - 12:59pm.

We work from home. We make videos, we put them on the Web, people watch them. We track our views, our Technorati links, our mentions in Twitter, our blog comments. A good percentage of people we see in social situations in Seattle are aware of our work. Most of the email we receive is about the videos and of course, it dominates our discussions at home. This is all misleading and a bit unhealthy."

France on my agenda

I think about the next best thing to do in France.

1. Bioenergy
2. New technology
3. Social Networking
4. Digital Villages
5. Social Intelligence
6. Alsace on my mind
7. New trends in tourism
8. Lifestyle
   
9. Food
10. Wine
    

Digital high-speed project management

The opportunity to share knowledge and information from all around the world really has created a whole new sense of what education, knowledge management and learning is all about. We sense it with clients, partners and associates, and it has ultimately resulted in more enthusiasm for new development projects.

1. we start to build a community
2. we bring people together
3. ensure that participants understand common goals, standards and values
4. better understanding of the whole
   

The concept of having a specialized plan for every client / user / project participant is nothing new, but its efficient processing is new. The critical point is, how ready we are on a mental level to go on a digitally supported journey and explore new territories.

1. create a sense of timely information and togetherness
2. enhanced quality and timeliness of communication
3. it saves time for people involved in the projects
   

There certainly is potential, taking full advantage of high-speed internet, efficient communication and timely electronic data processing to provide project managers and participants with opportunities to communicate about individual project segment needs, incorporate that in planning for entire projects, and then fine-tune efforts for individual participants within that project.

1. participants don't need to suffer from being lost in information black-outs
2. the experience of learning together is much a part of the process
3. the principle of common good and common understanding
   

Part of the advantage of the electronic and digital world is speed. There's a real energy and excitement about integrating electronic digital tools into all kinds of business ventures, personalizing daily interaction clients and partners based upon specific needs of individuals or groups, and managing knowledge sharing more efficiently and productively.

1. we see the evolution of the place where learning takes place
2. we integrate the science and art of teaching, knowledge transfer and learning online
   

Today, we are able to include mobile workers into nearly real-time processing of information. There are multiple tracks to be followed in preparing mobile workers and participants for digital exploration and collaboration.

One of the elements we're excited about is increasing customer / user involvement is providing them to have digital access and to have an online communication linkage with project managers and on-site workers through computers and the internet.

1. increased involvement and awareness
2. immediate ongoing access
3. the opportunity to communicate online 1-to-1, 1-to-M, M-to-M
   

Certain segments of the population are very receptive to using various new communication tools. Intelligent and adaptive business application of Social Media opens up new avenues into previously unknown fields and cross-country roads.

Social Networks at IST 2006 Helsinki

"Social networks are poised to shape the Internet's future, despite some skepticism about how they will make money. Social networks such as MySpace.com are already challenging traditional portals. MySpace, for example, has surpassed MSN and AOL by measure of monthly page views and its traffic equals roughly 75 percent of Yahoo's, the No. 1 site on the Web," I wrote 11/25/06 12:00 PM.

IST 2006 in Helsinki and the presentation of Affective Computing.

Business users are not the one's that will be looking at MySpace as their destination of choice. Social Collaboration comes in many choices and forms.

• Facebook emerged like from "nowhere" 2007
  

At the IST 2006 Congress in Helsinki I got an insight into CONSEN and what it could, might or should give innovative European microcompanies, SMEs and dispersed research communities.

• The use of microchannels wasn't an issue in Helsinki
• Blogging was still a new thing
• Wiki, yes, Mashup was a small issue
• Creative collaboration was more talk but the real action didn't start
  

The question remains how and if these companies make money, comparing the expectations around social networks and video sites like YouTube.com. Maybe this is leading to a version of the Internet bubble.

• Facebook emerged
• Twitter and Jaiku
  

The more niche oriented social networking environments can be monetized through funds, sponsoring, consulting or project financing. The consumer oriented social networking is quite a different game.

• Ning is the new thing 2008
  

Geography, social media and breakfast - Feb. 29, 2008

Geography, social media and breakfast - Feb. 29, 2008: "NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The next big thing is the integration of location-based information with social networking applications. At least that's one conclusion I took from a high-energy 'social media' breakfast for 100 techies in New York this week.

Helge: Social Media and location. Hi, here I'm in Loviisa, Finland. It's a small town in the southeastern Finland. It takes an hour to drive to the Helsinki Airport. One hour to the Russian border and 300 kilometers to St. Petersburg.

Not only will you see what someone is doing online, but you will know where they are doing it. That might significantly change how you relate to people in the real world.

Helge: The world becomes a fast-food restaurant. You can see the people from the window (screen) and what they are eating. Hmmm! Cool. Maybe.

The breakfast, which took over an entire mid-sized restaurant, was organized (using Facebook) by networker extraordinaire Jeff Pulver. The city's growing community of new media experts and practitioners came here from both bedrooms and giant corporations. The only agenda was exchanging business cards and ideas.

Helge: I got this information from my Facebook.

Like a surprising number of digirati, Pulver - a longtime Internet voice and video entrepreneur and evangelist - is devoted to getting to know people in the flesh. He thus cleverly attempted to bring online techniques to this real-world event. He spent the night before the breakfast stuffing plastic sandwich bags for each participant. Inside were nametag stickers, a bundle of post-it notes, and a sheet of tiny blank labels. (Here are what his bags looked like.)"

Helge: Social Media turning into Social Realism. Great.

"I am someone who believes that the more virtual we become the more we need to have face to face meetings. So at the breakfasts I have been hosting, I have taken some concepts from social media which we typically experience when we are online and have brought the concepts to real life," Jeff Pulver writes in his blog...

February 26, 2008

Getting Ready for another Breakfast with “Real-Time Social Networking”

Nik Butler and Helge Keitel about Social Media

Nik Butler, thanks for the Skype call yesterday. We discussed "Social Media in UK", exchanged information about Social Media on the British Islands and what we Finns are doing her up in the green, green woods, and country of thousand lakes.

We both agreed, there are psychological barriers for rapid expansion of Social Media in business, project management, and marketing. You told about successful cases in tourism, entertainment, the travel industry, financing and insurance industries. I see a common nominator in all these businesses; industries They need to get in touch with a large and dispersed population.

Nik, you also want to expand into entertainment. We didn't define "entertainment" but I guess it's a huge business area and social media applications are emerging. Nokia started its www.ovi.com service platform to compete with iTunes. However, that's just a tiny little area of entertainment. It is a big industry in need for personalized services.

We spoke about visiting customers on-site or dealing through Internet and working from a distance and on-line. Finland as a location means that distance-work and teletravel is the way of life. We've five million people in a country that has a larger area than UK. The typical innovator don't find a single customer in his / her home town. When we step out of the door in the winter time there is just one meter of snow; no customers in sight!

People, customers, clients are living busy lives and don't have the time to visit sales offices and show rooms. Information about products and services has to be delivered to our computers, laptops, to mobile devices in our pockets and handbags. Television and traditional print media are too slow. The Net Generation don't watch television, they don't read the old medias.

We might watch soap operas, entertainment, and stand-up comedians on TV, but when it's time for the AD break, we all run to the fridge for a sandwich or a beer. TV News is like "Yesterday" from a Beatles vinyl album.

"Search engine optimization and the traditional Web 1.0 pages are still the focus for middle of the road marketing people in UK," you said.

"Businesses still don't grasp the idea of a continuous dialog with their clients. Even in Facebook traditional companies look for ways to place ads. Companies say, they want to listen to clients and prospects, but the CRM is still all about telling and selling to the customers, most are not investing in social interaction."

Companies are looking fro sales automation models but aren't yet ready to twitter, jaiku, blog and skype with "them". The customer is still an outsider (them). The role of the customer is to carry the pounds, dollars and euros to the company's cash register and in exchange "they" get a product or service. "Thanks, have a nice day!"

Transparent conversations with dealers, clients and prospects isn't a big mainstream activity yet, but we agreed, there is a strong under-current of change. Social Media as an effective global marketing tool is emerging. The power of SM is the promise for open and innovative dialog. The big companies need to rip down the walls and start talking live with real clients and not with demographical information and statistics.

I see opportunities in knowledge management and in handling complex negotiations on a global scale without the need to spend a big part of my life in airplanes and airport security check-lines. "The death of the salesman" is a valid play again. - He and she have to learn how to sell and tell online - and to listen.

We spoke about security issues as a barrier for big companies to enter the open and interactive world. Skype, chats, IM's, mysapces, and facebooks are banned by many corporations as security risks.

You said, "Companies need to refocus their emotional energy to better understanding of Social Media benefits instead of constantly thinking about the treats."

I agree, it's million times more important to talk with your/our clients and not get cornered in security traps where NDA's, corporate lawyers, firewalls, and horror stories about hackers looming for mystical and mythical corporate treasures are prohibiting people at all levels from talking with their clients.

What could we do together? How about networking? Would it be possible to create something new through cross-border collaboration? Let me present our operation a little more. KK-Net uses social media and virtual organizations for internationalization of innovative companies and start-ups. Ares of interest are: biotechnology, bioenergy, microbiology, health care, life science, etc. But social media can be applied to anything in the corporate jungle.

• Market research, global field sales, marketing and business communication services

• Understanding how innovations emerge and what is needed to build successful global business operations

• Cost-effective business models and global collaboration, co-creation and open innovation

• Organizing international operations for shortest ways to new markets and success

• Working together in cross-border and cross-cultural projects on a global scale

• Social Networking, Knowledge Management and Social Intelligence accumulation combined with Open Source Methodology

• Sharing experience about what makes good ideas, excellent products and services to succeed and not to fail in the market place

• Visual Radios blogs about how we move towards the "Office in your Pocket" and Mobile user generated content and learning

Let me give you an insight into how we grasp globalization from the peripheries of Europe:

Let's start from Latin America. Mexico is a beautiful country and the long history, starting from Aztecs, Mayas and Incas. The book about Mexico is most exciting. We’ve been reading the book we received from you and are looking forward to visit Mexico soon. Macarena Pallares is coming to Sotkamo, Finland in May 2008. "Olli, Irja, Samuli, Annalena and I are wishing you very much welcome. It will be nice to meet you in Finland again."

This means that we're able to provide that we can provide on-line global networking, knowledge management and social intelligence combined with open innovation and co-creation services to Finnish and international customers. Our national network of expertise ranges over many sectors. Let me mention just a few:

1. Investment opportunities in real estate and innovative companies.
2. Organizing innovative projects based on open source collaboration.
3. How to approach chaos, accept the unstructured and let evolution carry work in progress.

• Open Social

• Hyperlocal

• Global

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SERVICES

- Macarena, we spoke with Olli a few days ago about your interest to work or take translation of other assignments from Finnish companies looking for business opportunities in Spanish speaking countries and / or Latin America.

- Looking at your excellent résumé, I think you and Olli could also provide blogging, social media, Wikipedia, knowledge transfer support to Finnish companies in need for fluent communication skills in addition to Spanish, also in French and English.

I also know from recent Skype conversations with Olli that you have a broad international network that has been developing over they years. Your and Olli’s studies at the Technical University of Troyes explains the French connection, and you mention in your CV about studies in Boston (Harward) and Texas, US.

Business Communication and Social Media Services

1. Finnish

2. Swedish

3. English

4. French

5. Spanish

6. German

SPANISH, FRENCH AND ENGLISH

I’ll send a copy of this e-mail to some of the companies we’re working with, and to Finnish business people we happen to know. I’ll ask them kindly to respond to you and Olli if they have assignments and work available.

It’s my understanding that you would both be able to start on a short notice, and you’re staying in Finland from May to August 2008.

I try to think about some companies and individuals in need for your skills, knowledge and experience. For those who would like to have Macarena Pallare's and Olli Kallio’s CV please take a look at the word documents.

Macarena, wishing you and your family a great week-end, we all hope to see you over in Finland again soon.

Greetings from Olli, Irja, Samuli, Annalena, Helge

Best regards

Helge Keitel
Phone + 358 50 309 2021
Skype: visualradio

Nik Butler, this blog is long like the Finnish winter used to be. I'd like to have your comments. Have a great day and, yes congratulations to the new child.

The Latest from TechCrunch: Flux and Ning

The Latest from TechCrunch "Flux, a new social network joint venture between Viacom and SocialProject, had a limited launch in September.

Helge: I know and use Ning, no idea about Flux.

The platform is the cornerstone of Viacom’s social network strategy. Instead of building independent networks for MTV and its hundreds of other brands, they’ve built a distributed platform that shares users, infrastructure and content, but allows for distinct branding and community building around each property. And Flux isn’t just for Viacom - third parties are using it as well.

Helge: Viacome, yes, and...

When Flux launched it had only a few hand picked non-Viacom partners. Today they are opening up the platform for anyone that wants to join. Like Ning, it’s fairly easy to create a Flux social network. The look and feel can be customized via templates or by uploading your own CSS, and the network can be mapped to your domain name.

Helge: I like the feel of Ning. Have some experience, but the full and broad scale usage is still waiting.

Once created any Flux member can join your network with a single click. Since Flux is already gaining users via their launched Viacom and other properties, this gives young communities a deeper pool of users to draw from.

Helge: Social Media made easy...

And the fact that new users do not need to create a new profile, friends list or login credentials gives them a greater incentive to join. User data is exportable, Flux says, if the partner creates a privacy policy stating that.

Helge: I blog this to have the information for future needs.