Gartner, a leading information technology analyst firm, recently revealed their list of Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2009. Social Software and Social Networking made the cut. Many companies realize they need to get into the social software or social networking arena by establishing a presence on top social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn; by creating social features on their own web sites; or, most commonly in my experience, by doing both. Gartner advises:
Organizations should consider adding a social dimension to a conventional Web site or application and should adopt a social platform sooner, rather than later, because the greatest risk lies in failure to engage and thereby, being left mute in a dialogue where your voice must be heard.
Companies need to be engaged with their customers and prospects. It is no longer good enough to have a good product and use search terms to get business. Using SEO alone is the 21st-century equivalent of hanging a shingle over your door. Instead, how about enabling real human relationships between your customers and with your partners? Especially during an economic downturn, people will look to do business with people, not with nameless, faceless organizations. Soon, I hope to be able to profile some of the ways we at Sociodyne are helping people build these long-term, meaningful dialogs with their communities.
