SocialButterfly

Building a Web Site: Easy as 1, 2 OR 3?

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | Web Communications | 1 Comment

Today, I heard that fundamentally there are three main purposes of a Web site: 1) informational, 2) transactional and 3) community-based. An Informational Web site is one that is primarily a resource. A transactional Web site has a desired action, which is usually associated with e-commerce. And lastly, a community-based Web site is one that is designed to encourage people to interact, network and share.

I’m not one to put things into boxes and draw hard boundaries, but at first I liked this concept. It’s simple. It’s easy. But, after pondering for a second, I got to thinking: is it relevant? We all know the Web is an evolving beast, which is why I think today’s best Web sites pull the best components from each of these three “types”  to creates a stronger vehicle.

Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that Web sites don’t need to focus. In the world of the Web, I’m seeing the concept of “focusing” becoming increasingly important. For example, these Web sites have focused:

• Wikipedia–Informational
• Amazon–Transactional
• Facebook–Community

But Wikipedia is also a community of editors working together to create a service. Facebook has its own marketplace where transactions are worked out and don’t forget Facebook advertising or monetary exchange through Facebook applications such as Causes. Amazon–though primarily transactional–encourages us to give reviews, rate its products, create gift lists and in essence, build community around the purchases we make. Marinate on that thought for a second and then take this statement into consideration:

Considering current evolutions of the Web and comments such as Shel’s, I’m thinking the text books may need some updating. Web sites still need to focus, but at the same time, they need to add value to the end-consumer, provide products or services or action steps, while also building community. Just take a look around–the sites that we are all using everyday are Web sites that can serve multiple functions. So, get creative. Just because you have a ton of content you have to share, there are ways to not only “inform” people of the content, but also ways to generate actions, make the content interactive and build community. Thus, I answer “all of the above.”

What do you think? What’s your take? Is building a Web site easy as 1, 2, or 3?

flickr credit: Andreanna

Tags: Amazon, community, Community-Based, content, e-commerce, facebook, focus, informational, interactive, online strategy, transactional, web, Web Communications, Web objective, Web site, Web site building, Web strategy, Wikipedia

Scribd Your Own Script: Social Publishing Meets Collaboration and More

Sunday, January 18th, 2009 | Social Media, social publishing | 2 Comments

At DC’s Social Media Club event this past week, I heard many mumors about Scribd, so naturally I checked it out. I have yet begun to explore the site, but already I am impressed. With the self-description of “democratizing publishing” through its document sharing community, it’s hard not to be immediately intrigued.

Launched in March 2007 by founders Trip Adler, Jared Friedman, and Tikhon Bernstam, the platform now has greated that 50 million readers every month, with over 50,000 documents uploaded every day, and is available in 90 different languages. What rock have I been stuck under? I mean, individuals like Obama and groups like the New York Times and the World Economic Forum are on here too! This looks like a great community, that I look forward to interacting with more.

Not only can you

• Engage in collaboration,
• Expand your social network through your profile, searching for colleagues,
• Create and join interest-specific groups,
• Upload and/or download documents and files,
• Find and discover interesting documents by category, by topic group, by searching, or by browsing the library,
• Find interesting documents by category, by topic group, by searching, or by just browsing our library,
• Create potential ways to monetize through your documents and hard work

With Scribd having just raised $9 million, along with a new president for social publishing, I look forward to observing and experiencing how Scribd develops in the future. Granted, the term “social publishing” has meant the publication of documents from “many to many” or “one to many” through a variety of social software mixed with web content management in terms of what the technology offers, however, what would “social publishing” through a non-profit/social change lens look like?

Anxious for your thoughts, as with today’s excitement at the We Are One concert on the mall today, my mind is racing with ideas. Cheers!

Liked what you read? Feel free to share with others: and/or connect with me on Twitter - @socialbttrfly.

Tags: collaboration, content management, internet, obama, Scribd, search, social media highlight, social networking, social publishing, social software, web, Web content

Federal Web Council Reveals New Study: Putting Citizens First, Transforming Online Government

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 | government 2.0 | 6 Comments

“There are about 24,000 U.S. Government Web sites now online.”

“Only a minority of government agencies have developed strong Web policies and management controls. Some have hundreds of “legacy” Web sites with outdated or irrelevant content.”

“We have too much content to categorize, search, and manage effectively, and there is no comprehensive system for removing or archiving old or underused content.”

“Agencies should be required and funded to regular content reviews, to ensure their online content is accurate. relevant, mission-related, and written in plain language. They should have a process for archiving content that is no longer in frequent use and no longer required on the Web site.”

According to my twitter search RSS feed, the term “Government 2.0″ is increasing in frequency and popularity. More bloggers and more blog posts continue to emerge on what and how government should improve its online Web presence, leveraging social media. Thus, I was enthused to read last week’s report from the experts themselves: government, to accomplish just this.

Last week, the Federal Web Managers Council, comprised of Cabinet agency Web Directors released its study titled, “Putting Citizens First: Transforming Online Government.” Its purpose is to “recommend specific strategies for revolutionizing how the U.S. Government delivers online services to the American people.

One of the most exciting pieces of the report (in my opinion) is what I understand as the government’s endorsement for more social media:

“The Government should use social media, not just to create transparency, but also to help people accomplish core tasks…To do this, the government must ensure that federal employees who need access to social media tools have them, and that these new ways of delivering content are available to all, including people with disabilities.”

Within this document, the Federal Web Managers Council also reveal their shared vision for the government’s presence online. This vision is for the public to:

• Easily find relevant, accurate, and up-to-date information
• Understand information the first time they read it
• Complete common tasks efficiently
• Get the same answer whether they use the Web, phone, email, live chat, read a brochure, or visit in-person.
• Provide feedback and ideas and hear what the government will do with them
• Access critical information if they have a disability or aren’t proficient in English.

The list of recommendations is not limited to but includes:

• Establish Web Communications as a core government business function
• Help the public complete common government tasks efficiently
• Clean up clutter so people can find what they need online
• Engage the public in a dialogue to improve our customer service
• Ensure under-served populations can access critical information online.

For more information or to read the report in its entirety, the full report is available here.

Your Turn: What do think of the recommendations, how would you prioritize and what else might you include?

Liked what you read? Feel free to share with others: and/or connect with me on Twitter - @socialbttrfly.

Tags: communications, federal, Federal Web Council, government, government 2.0, internet, internet policy, Marketing, online, Social Media, social media strategy, web, Web policy

Is Everything Going 2.0?

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 | Blog Talk, Web 2.0 Wednesdays | 2 Comments

Is everything going 2.0?

Health, Science, Museum, Birding, Philanthropy, Reputation, Enterprise, Food and more! Feel free to add to the list.

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• Museum 2.0 is a blog itself by Nina Simon that talks about how Web 2.0 can be applied in museum design. Nina paints her vision for the revitlization for museums and future possibilities here, and in her video.

• Health 2.0: SocialButterfly’s own post sparked by recently released research studies, regarding the developments in the growing Health 2.0 field, offering numerous examples and resources.
  

• Science 2.0: SocialButterfly’s own post on Science 2.0, including a mini-case study on the OpenWetWare project, voicing both concerns and future possibilities.
  

• Birding 2.0: Michelle Riggen-Ransom as Social Media for Social Change wrote a great piece on Birding 2.0, about how Science 2.0 and technological developments are advancing great hobbies such as bird watching in the bird watching community.

• Phianthropy 2.0: New Voices on Philanthropy shares a quick observation while live blogging at a Philanthropy 2.0 event sponsored by the Case Foundation, EPIP and 3rd Wave.

• Reputation 2.0: Jeff McCord looks at the importance of one’s online reputation when entering the trenches of the job search in his post titled, Reputation 2.0.

• Enterprise 2.0: Business Technology Leadership looked at Enterprise 2.0 - What Good is it? the other day by offering a 12-step guide on how to get the most out of web 2.0 tools.

• Food 2.0: The LA Times posted an online book review on Charlie Ayers’ book Food 2.0, Secrets From the Chef Who Fed Google.

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Other topics I Googled with a ‘2.0′ added that found results include Love 2.0, Crafts 2.0, Education 2.0, Music 2.0, Church 2.0 …What others can you find?

Tags: 2.0, Birding 2.0, crafts 2.0, education 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Food 2.0, good, Health 2.0, internet, Jeff McCord, LA Times, music 2.0, network, online, online recruiting, philanthropy 2.0, science 2.0, SocialButterfly, web, Web 2.0