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Web 2.0 and the corporate communications website
18/02/2008
By Al Loehnis
Investis director Al Loehnis looks at Web 2.0 and its impact on corporate websites in an article written for Merchant's 'Who's Doing What' publication, Feb 2008
Have you ever Twittered or Dugg, got Poked or simply been lost in a Tag Cloud? If not, welcome to the wonderful world of Web 2.0 – a catch-all term for a new way in which information is created, distributed and consumed on the internet.
You may think this is really all about light entertainment social networking phenomena such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace. But we are already seeing Web 2.0 ideas enter the fabric of mainstream internet use and if its success in the commercial world is anything to go by then it is likely to reshape the way we manage corporate communications in coming years.
First things first, a definition from Wikipedia: “The phrase ‘Web 2.0’ can refer to a trend in web design and development – a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services (such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies) which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.”
Let’s look at some of the key types of Web 2.0 services referred to above.
Social networking sites:
These sites facilitate the development of online communities, based
around shared content and common interests. Examples include:
| – MySpace | |
Wiki:
A piece of server software that allows users to create and edit web
page content using a web browser. Examples include:
| – Wikipedia |
| – Wikinvestopedia |
Blog:
An online journal allowing visitors to post comments and start
online conversations. Another important feature is the concept of
syndication – making the content available as an RSS feed
which can be used elsewhere. There are 112 million out there!
Folksonomies:
Or collaborative tagging. An evolution of bookmarking where users
can tag and rate web content. The tags are then stored centrally
and can be accessed by other users of the service. Examples
include:
| – Digg | – Del.icio.us |
| – Furl |
The concepts behind many of these services are becoming increasingly relevant in the context of online corporate communications. Here are some examples.
Dell
Blogging has proved very effective for Dell in engaging with its
customers, taking on board criticism about its customer services
and addressing the issues. On the back of that success Dell
recently launched a dedicated IR blog
(http://dellshares.dell.com/default.aspx), the
first of its kind. Yes, blogging for Dell is clearly brand-aligned
in a way that it would not be for many non-technology companies,
but there is no denying the sense of transparency and the more
human feel that is given to their investor communications delivered
via this medium.
BASF
BASF has used some of the building blocks of Web 2.0 to good
effect. Its homepage (www.basf.com) includes a ‘tag
cloud’, visually representing the popularity of search
terms. The terms
are clustered, with the size of their font indicating relative
popularity. The website also has a number of other features which
give it an up-to-date feel:
- An excellent archive of podcasts, including quirky examples of chemistry in everyday life (e.g. “How does toothpaste clean our teeth?”)
- Lots of video, including financial communications, CEO interviews and operational videos
- A share price and news micro-site optimised for mobile phones
- Extensive use of RSS feeds.
British Library
Closer to home, look at British Library’s latest Annual
Report (http://www.bl.uk/about/annual/2006to2007/). It
is clear that this has been designed with the web rather than print
in mind and it really harnesses the benefits of the medium to bring
the organisation to life. Instead of the Board of Directors page we
are given interviews with the executives talking through their key
projects/activities. The online Report also features some
illuminating videos with users of the library’s services.
It’s not exactly Web 2.0, but it shares the informality of
tone and the sense of immediacy that characterise
many Web 2.0
sites.
So what are the main things to bear in mind when thinking about Web 2.0 and its impact on your corporate communications? Here are some practical ways to think about it:
Think conversations, not speeches:
Traditional communications patterns are being broken down as power
shifts to individuals to find their own voice and have it heard.
Bloggers are becoming more and more influential. Blogging is not
appropriate for all companies, but there are other ways of becoming
more conversational:
- Have an online poll on a topical question and publish the results
- “Ask the experts” – let people direct questions to senior management via the website, like Arriva do with their Expert Bank
- “Meet the CEO” – do a periodic online Q&A or ‘fireside chat’.
Keep the tone of voice informal and
personal:
If the idea of getting senior management engaged in this way is a
step too far, there are other ways to make the corporate tone of
voice more informal and more personal:
- Use more video to bring the people in your business to the fore
- Use it more informally – it doesn’t have to be TV-quality three-camera production
- Why not give some graduates a video camera and ask them to make a video diary ‘day in the life’ for your graduate recruitment section?
It’s all about sharing:
The network element is key to Web 2.0 thinking. There are easy ways
in which you can enter into the spirit of this:
- Facilitate collaborative tagging by offering links to the most popular tagging sites. It costs nothing, shows awareness and may also improve the ranking of the item in search engines.
- Provide content in flexible formats which can easily be reused: podcasts, RSS feeds etc.
Go beyond the PC:
Many people are now accessing web content via handheld devices. One
of the hottest Web 2.0 services right now is Twitter, which allows
people to update blogs or keep networks of friends up to date from
their mobile phone.
- Optimise pages on your website for mobile access – for example share price news and contact pages. Make it easy for people to bookmark those pages for quick access on the go.
The point of all this is that you don’t have to introduce full-blown social networking on your website in order to speak the language of new media communications. There are many easy and inexpensive ways in which you can create sites which go with the flow of technology and the changing patterns of internet usage rather than against them. And at the back of your mind remember that the fund management stars of tomorrow – and indeed all your future employees – have been brought up in a Web 2.0 world and they are learning about your company on your website today.
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