Archive for category Adding Value
Quorus – helping sites connect with their users
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Startups, social media on June 18, 2010
Had a great meeting last at Caffe Umbria with Michael Dougherty, the CEO and Co-Founder of Quorus. They are doing some very cool stuff helping sites connect with their users including a couple of tools that allow real time chat between users viewing the same page (very helpful in allowing users to discuss products in real time) and simplified member sign ups. It is a great way to add value to your site. Get in touch with them to help drive engagement and conversion especially if you are in the e-commerce space.
Dan Hall
Sourcing Seattle
LinkedIn Launches Targeted Partner Messaging
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Human Resource Practices, Personal Brand, social media on April 17, 2010
I received my first sponsored message from LinkedIn today, delivered directly to my inbox. The message was for job opportunites with Accenture and was actually well done. See the message below:
- LinkedIn Partner Message from Accenture
I can see this being effective for both LinkedIn and the sponsor of the message. Sponsors will be able to track the effectivness of their message as they get their own custom landing page. From LinkedIn: “Partner Messages allow for extensive marketing copy on a co-branded landing page, an ad unit, and a call-to-action element.” You can check out their partner message page here.
I also think it is smart that LinkedIn delivers sponsored to the top of the member’s LinkedIn inbox “for high visibility” while only allowing members only receive one Partner Message every 60 days, “providing impact and exclusivity.” This also means they get to charge a premium for a service that only can be used six times per year per member. It will also prevent me, the member, from getting too pissed off at LinkedIn.
I would say that Accenture, while having a nicely designed landing page, could have provided a better targeted message to the recipients. Their message was clearly targeting an IT / Tech professional. While I ran HR and Recruiting at Visible Technologies, a tech start up, I am not an IT / Tech professional. I suspect they sent the message solely based off industry without any refinement based off title, which in my case on LinkedIn, is clearly as a Human Resources Manager. Hopefully, they were not paying on per member basis.
Regardless, I think we will see more and more sponsored messages in closed social networks. I think LinkedIn, in this case, did a pretty good job creating a new revenue stream.
Seattle startup, Qworky, offers a web app for better meetings
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Creating Efficiency, Startups on April 14, 2010
My wife sent over a clipping from TechFlash’s article about the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum, which included Qworky, a Seattle based startup looking to “develop software and advanced technologies to help individuals and organizations design a better workday, beginning with better meeting.” She knows how much I despise meetings.
I am always intrigued with companies using technology to improve processes so I decided to take a deeper look at Qworky’s website to see if they had a demo or more information about how they actually plan on help me have better meetings. Here’s what I found out:
1. “Easy to access agendas ensures your meeting tells for years to come. ” Mmm. Okay.
2. “A shared central location for meeting information means Qworky reduces email overhead, all while integrating email for clients and colleagues who live and breathe their inbox. ” Gotcha, central meeting location online.
3. “By incorporating positive cues proven to increase collaborative participation, Qworky Meetings is your ultimate brainstorm companion. Bring Qworky to the Table and the Ideas will follow.” Apparently, you haven’t met some of the people I sit with in meetings.
And that’s all they’re sharing. Fortunately, the meeting preview they used at NWEN is still available here. You can also go to their preview site and register to set up your own test meeting. It was pretty straight forward. Below is the end result.
So, here the problem. You are asking me to use another artificial process (Qworky) to better another artificial process (the meeting). I assume, eventually, you will even ask me to pay for it. It looks much like a B2C play which is a difficult play when tackling processes within organizations. You may get some adopters here or there but more than likely there will be significant obstacles for widespread use.
I like startups, I like them a lot. I also like to see them tackling cool issues like making meetings better. For that, I wish Qworky luck.
Dan Hall
Why the LinkedIn iPhone App Misses the Mark
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Consumer Advocacy, iPhone, social media on June 26, 2009
First, let me say that I am a fan of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great professional networking site that adds value to both organizations, professionals, job seekers, and recruiters alike. LinkedIn does have its limitations but it has done a good job carving out a fairly large niche market in the Social Networking space.
LinkedIn allowed me as a recruiter to directly source senior level executive candidates for Visible Technologies. This enabled the company to recruit for very senior positions without resorting to the use of a very expensive executive search agency. That is a very valuable resource.
That being said, I recently purchased an iPhone 3GS and downloaded the LinkedIn iPhone App. There are plenty of product reviews floating around on the web, so I won’t go into the actual product specs in great detail. However, I was surprised in doing a quick Google search on “LinkedIn iPhone App”, how positive the reviews were. See the reviews at AppSafari or SocialTimes; both of which are in the Top 5 Google search results. I think LinkedIn fundamentally missed the mark on their iPhone app.
First, whenever you launch an add-on product or service, you need to design it in context of your core product or service strengths and value. LinkedIn is not a communication platform whose value relies on connection or status updates, yet half of their iPhone App is dedicated to this. Having even a couple Open Networkers (see my previous posts on Open Networking), removes any desire I have to follow my LinkedIn contact connection updates. Of the current network updates I have in my LinkedIn iPhone App, 49 of the 50 updates are connection updates. Connection Updates are arguably the least interesting type of update on LinkedIn (vs. status updates, question / answer updates, or profile updates). Of those 49 connection updates, Open Networkers comprise of 45 of those updates.
Yes, 90% of my LinkedIn iPhone App updates consist of Open Networker connection updates, which has the same value to me as the phone company informing me that the White Pages just got updated. Even worse, every connection update is listed out individually. Why not incorporate the same feature as in the LinkedIn weekly emails updates where connection updates are aggregated by person? That way I don’t see every new connection that an Open Networker, who 35 new connections in one day, has, I only see they have 35 new connections with the option to drill down further.
LinkedIn is not the place I go to understand what people in my Social Network are currently up to. I don’t feel a compelling need to check LinkedIn everyday and certainly not with their iPhone App. Twitter and Facebook have a stranglehold on that space. I have a healthy number of LinkedIn connections (238, I am selective in whom I connect with), and of my connections three, yes 3, have updated their status on LinkedIn within the last 48 hours.
LinkedIn’s iPhone App is a useful tool with its connection and search capabilities, a tool to be used in specific circumstances. That is the area that LinkedIn is strong, being a great tool for specific uses, i.e. Recruiting, Finding a Job, Professional Networking, and Researching People and Organizations. Monetize what you do well, don’t create products that service the areas you don’t.
Dan Hall
Sourcing Seattle
Using the WordPress iPhone App
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, iPhone on June 20, 2009
I am writing this post using the WordPress iPhone App with my laptop sitting a few scant feet away from me. Why?
First, because I can. I received my first iPhone, the new iPhone 3G S, in the mail on the 19th and have been immersing myself in this new delightful world for the past couple of days much to the chagrin of my family. The iPhone blurs all traditional communication platforms. In doing so, my iPhone allows me to stay connected in so many ways away from my computer.
Secondly, I am previewing the WordPress iPhone App. I am quite pleased so far. It was easy to connect to my blog using my admin account and start blogging. The WordPress iPhone App allows me to tag and categorize my posts, which are requisite SEO and organizational features for me. It even saved a draft copy of my post when there was an interrupt (which is important especially since this post is longer than originally planned).
My only concern now is the carpal tunnel that I might develop typing on my iPhone. Good work, WordPress.
Dan Hall
posted from his new iPhone 3GS using the WordPress iPhone App
Reinforcing Leadership (Yes, Leadership)
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Human Resource Practices on January 6, 2009
All good things and all bad things must come from the employee’s first line supervisor. This is called leadership, to do anything else is shirking responsibility and undermining the supervisor’s authority. Oh yeah, and don’t make HR do it.
Dan Hall
Seattle Human Resources Manager
Tomorrow is Benefits Day…
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Benefits, Human Resource Practices on May 28, 2008
After many hours and days of research, discussion, haggling, and even some heated shouting matches, tomorrow is Benefits Day at Visible Technologies.
This means that I have been able to follow through on a theme that is very important to me, add more value and create efficiency while reducing costs.
When I came on to Visible, one key area that is always in the forefront of an HR Manager’s mind is benefits. In my research and discussions, I was convinced we could get a better rate if we shopped our program around, and sure enough we did.
You see health care providers are like any other service industry – they want your business and are willing to cut their prices to get it.
Fortunately, we had a number of factors in our favor, we had surpassed the magic number of 50 employees thereby allowing us to transition from a shared cost plan that lumps small employers together to a stand alone insurance plan tailored to our own company. Tech companies tend to have a low risk profile and therefore are attractive to providers.
We managed to negotiate with a leading national provider to provide similar if not better service while savings the employees and the company over 13% on an annual basis. For those of you not familiar with the costs of health care in America, this is a significant amount of money even in a small to mid sized company.
In reducing costs, I was able to add more value by also adding some low cost, high return programs to our employees with the cost savings realized through the major medical transition including supplemental insurance, flexible savings account, and a commuter benefit program.
So with much fanfare, and the due diligence of meetings with teams and individual employees (medical transitions can cause significant turbulence without proper address, although we minimized this impact through our choice of providers), tomorrow is Benefits Day where we roll out the red carpet and add value our most valuable resource - our Employees.
Dan Hall
Seattle Human Resources Manager
Confessions of an Open Networker
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Networking, social media on April 9, 2008
I read a good post by Scott Allen labelled Confessions of an Open Networker that included some musings and thoughts from a self-professed “notorious” Open Networker.
I think it does a good job summarizing the diminishing value that this practice can return while providing some tips on how to maximize the utility of your social network.
Hey! I didn’t know Open Networking Groups had Fine Print…
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Networking, social media on April 7, 2008
Imagine my surprise when I learned that Open Networking Groups actually have fine print. Once again, someone I don’t know sent an invitation to join their network on LinkedIn, which is fine. I don’t have anything personally against Open Networking. From a professional standpoint, I don’t believe this practice adds much value to my personal brand or my social network and therefore don’t participate in such behavior.
However, I am ever curious about people’s online social networking behavior so I studied the requestor’s profile and followed a link or two.
Here is a snipped of what I stumbled across from TopLinked.Com:
Did you receive an “I Don’t Know”?
Everyone who participates in TopLinked.com has agreed to never mark a LinkedIn connection invitation as “I Don’t Know” or “Flag as Spam” – if they do not wish to accept an invitation, they should instead just simply click the “Archive” button (or ask to be removed from TopLinked.com via an email sent to: toplinked@gmail.com)
If you come across someone who violates this agreement, please first contact them directly, remind them of this rule, and see if they are willing to remedy the situation.
If they are then unresponsive or unwilling to resolve the problem, please be sure to let us know via email: toplinked@gmail.com (thanks!)
Tips: To stay safe, only invite people by clicking over from the listings on this site and then look for BOTH the TopLinked.com group logo (the same as the logo of this site) AND the TopLinked.com wording displayed properly on their profile. That provides three levels of assurance that they are active TopLinked.com networkers who understand and play by the rules. It is also a good idea to mention TopLinked.com in your connection invitations to TopLinked.com people and remind them of the TopLinked.com rules.
We cannot help you if you receive an invitation from someone who is not officially part of TopLinked.com – and someone is officially part of TopLinked.com ONLY if they are linked to from this site or are part of the TopLinked.com group on LinkedIn.”
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Whodahthunkit. They have fine print afterall.
Adding Value to Social Media Sites and Your Network
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Social, social media on March 31, 2008
Why are current Social Network sites’ accessibility controlled a simple switch – an on and off switch of permissibility if you will? The major players in the field MySpace, Facebook, even LinkedIn – all have a common theme in whether or not you deem this person a connection / friend or not. If you do they have access to you – your information, pictures, posts in some cases or in others just communicating or networking with you (adding value to the network).
Is that old acquaintance from high school that you haven’t talked to in 5 years on par with your boss at work? Should they be given the same accessibility into your social network, your social media life as it is.
What about business partners who are at odds with each other, do you want them to see each other as mutual connections? What about the functionality of sharing more personal photos – such as your wedding pictures to your close friends but not to your co-workers?
Why do we use professional social networking sites for your professional connections but Facebook for your more peronably friend and why do they not overlap at all – it is your life and network isn’t it?
There should be an overarching social networking platform that address these issues. The Economist had a good article addressing the closed social media worlds based on proprietary standards and their historical precedents of AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy (is history doomed to repeat itself?).
Social media websites should be as easy to setup as blogs and they continuing will exist if there is enough of a demographic who is passionate about the space to add enough value to warrant its existence. Social Media is a digital world shaping movement. The monetary prize in online ads which have fueled many of the big buyouts may be debatable in terms of future viability also discussed in the Economist, but the utility of Social Media is undeniable.
It is our networks, our lives that add value to Social Media not the proprietary systems that give us the platforms to connect. Sooner or later open social and digital portability will gain enough movement to achieve this and Social Media and the Internet will never be seperate again.