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c h a p t e r12: SOCIAL APPLICATIONS■Why This Matters in Business
In the previous examples, the firm’s business objectives (being more relevant to more
customers to drive more sales) and social technology strategy (being more relevant in
the places where customers are already spending time) are what lead to the implemen-
tation of the respective applications. Extending the functionality of an existing social
network in which you create an outpost, or creating new functionality for a white-label
or SaaS social application that you are building around can be an important aspect of
a business or cause-related effort to both build (awareness) and activate (collaboration)
customers and stakeholders.
Importantly, as you review and consider the examples presented throughout this
book, do so with your own business objectives and the behaviors of your own audience
in mind. Unless a specific example or social technology application was called out as
something to avoid, you can assume that if it’s in this book (or being talked about else-
where on the Web) that it is or was a “good idea” for someone. However, don’t be led
into the trap of chasing others’ good ideas: Instead, link the applications you see here
and elsewhere with the underlying business objectives that gave rise to them and then
see if your business objectives (and the behaviors and capabilities of your audience)
line up with them. If so, you’ve got a potential match: If not, note the idea for possible
future review (perhaps creating an entry for it on your internal “future ideas” applica-
tion) and then move on.Content Publishing and Sharing
In addition to outright social networks and the more tightly defined extensions and
functional tools that enable participants to accomplish very specific goals, social
applications include more generalized software services around which some form of
social interaction takes place. Examples of these types of social applications include
YouTube for general media sharing, along with services like Scribd, Google Docs, and
Slideshare. Scribd and Google Docs, for example, both support publishing and sharing
nearly any type of document; Slideshare is specific to—and therefore particularly good
at—sharing slide presentations. Slideshare and Scribd are excellent places to publish
thought-leadership content that your business or organization creates: You’ll benefit
from the social interaction (commenting and reviewing) and increased visibility (shar-
ing) that these social sites provide.
YouTube offers the immediate usefulness of posting content (rather than hosting
it yourself) and sharing it from that point both within YouTube and by embedding that
video content elsewhere. YouTube is an ideal place to post content that is then shared
through your other points of social presence (making content easier to manage, since you
don’t have copies floating about). YouTube also provides the built-in benefits of sharing
and exposure in its own social contexts: YouTube offers branded business channels, for
example, something you can use to organize and share sequences of related content.