PR Thoughts

Blogs & Wikis: Technologies for Enterprise Applications?

Frank Gilbane recently drop me an email to let me know about the last report his company has been publishing,  Blogs & Wikis: Technologies for Enterprise Applications ?  I am happy to post a short reminder here to make sure I'll have a deep look on it in the very next days as I am more than interested in that kind of topics...

Thanks for letting me know about the survey Frank.

Executive summary:

"Blogs and wikis are flexible practices and technologies that are increasingly being used within companies and organizations to ease the creation and dissemination of information, as well as making it easier for companies to communicate effectively with customers, partners, and the public. This article discusses some of the salient features of blogs and wikis, and give examples of companies who already have implemented one or more of these systems.

On speaking with several vendors and users, it is obvious that many companies are implementing blogs and/or wikis or hybrid systems successfully and I expect this to continue as the technologies and practices mature."

Download a PDF version of the report here

Is it a phone or a computer ?

As you perhaps already know, I've been given a Nokia 7710 to evaluate it and tell what I think about it. The last experience I'd like to share is a one day trip out of the office and out of France, say in UK.

This was a perfect opportunity to test the email client hosted on the 7710, which I must say , has worked very well during this day out and has been very helpfull. While in the Eurostar, the taxi, I've been able to check email thanks to my GPRS connection, first click to download headlines and second to download selected emails content.

I've been also happy to take pictures of places, people I met there, reminding me I still have to set up my moblog by the way...

I upload my power point presentation that I've been able to check directly on my Nokia 7710 and also use this way to back up any lack of my laptop batery.

As everyone knows, unfortunately it is not possible now to get any WiFi connection when traveling through Europe by train, so being able to use a "phone" to download emails without having to wait till the next jump in your hotel or any hotspot is great.

But at the end, is is really still a phone or is it a computer ? Where are the boundaries between mobile phones, camera phone, PDA, MP3 player and a 7710 that has all these functionalities ? Or perhaps even with a computer, as I had sometimes to reboot it ...

It seems to me by using it for several weeks now that it is about "communication" tools what ever the media could be. Today, you basically want to be able to call someone, but also to send pictures, text, videos, listen to radio, voice, music, share any kind of content at any time and in any conditions. That's what it is about.

But if you only want to call and use it like a basic phone, then that kind of "phone" is not the one you need: it's quite impossible to simply answer the phone if you have an umbrella in one hand and your kid in the other one, don't even try to put it between your head and shoulder, as you won't be able to take the line... It is not done for that simple basic use.

It's no more a phone, but it might be the best commmunication tool for nomade.

 

Launch of Photoblogs magazine

I am fan of Charles Bryant's photoblog and work since few months at the time I've been discovering his fantastic pictures. Charles sent me an email recently to let me know the launch of Photoblogs Magazine:

An exciting development in the world of photoblogging sees the first issue of the online magazine aimed at showcasing selected images and stories of photographers around the world. The magazine also offers the opportunity to post images in order to receive constructive critism.

I you want to escape, to dream, just get there.

Thanks for letting me know Charles !

Charle is co-author of African Trees with Brita Lomba, "an art book containing breathtaking images of some of the most extraordinary and beautiful indigenous trees in southern and East Africa..."

Should be available in June.

Surveys are in the air...

Surveys are definitely poping up those days...
Adam Bennett, a Master's Candidate at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, is conducting an online blog survey to understand "why bloggers blog."
Should you have 5 minutes to complete it, the results will be publicly published online.

Google News sources

Wonder what list of sources Google uses for it's Google News service ? Dan Gillmor pointed on a list being compiled via a programming script at the Private Radio blog.

At the moment I am posting this note, the list has a total of 777 sources.

RSS survey to be conducted soon !

There is a growing demand for a European survey on the use of RSS and weblogs in/by the media.

Nooked already launched a survey on this topic for journalists, analysts and bloggers. From a PR pro point of view, I definitely need to estimate at which point journalist are using these new channels to keep tracking news,whether it is simply by subscribing to RSS feeds or if they are used to tracking tools that can provide results directly in a RSS feed like PubSub or Feedster between many others.

I am actually in contact with several people/Association also extremely interested in sorting out some pan-european survey thanks to some joint/collaborative effort.

I've been lucky to get sponsored by WebSurveyor to use their online survey services to conduct any survey of interest to me in the next months, so this will be a perfect opportunity to launch this RSS/blogging survey.

But if we want it to be relevant, we'd need to be able to contact the widest scope of journalists, media etc... So any association or group that could provide some lists that I could include in the panel would be very welcome, I'll of course share the result of the survey here.

So if you're interested to participate, just ping me here. I am actually abble to work on the french territory but don't have tons of contact through european media unfortunately till now.

Update: Tom Murphy from PR Opinions is launching his second annual PR survey, take few minutes to complete it.

Blogs and Social software day in Paris on the 25th April

Paris to be the place of a fantastic "blog day". Loic Le Meur has organised a full day session around blogs and social software to take place in Paris at the Senat, inviting part of the most famous brands of the Internet 2.0 to participate. See the speakers list below:

Japan
* Joi Ito, CEO, Neoteny

China
* Yat Siu, CEO, "Outblaze"

USA & Canada
* Mena Trott, President, "Six Apart"
* Caterina Fake, co-founder, "Flickr"
* Meg Hourihan, co-founder, "Blogger"
* Dave Sifry, founder, "Technorati"
* Ross Mayfield, founder, "Socialtext"
* Gaby Darbyshire "Gawker Media"
* Jason McCabe Calacanis, WeblogsInc
* Darren Barefoot - "InsideBlogging"
* Stowe Boyd - President - "Corante"
* Halley Suitt - Worthwhile Magazine -
* Doc Searls - Senior Editor, Linux Journal, proprietor, IT Garage, co-author, The Cluetrain Manifesto
* Jeff Clavier - "SoftTech VC" & "Buzznet, Inc

Europe & Middle East
* Pierre Bellanger - France - President - Skyrock,
* Michael Breidenbrücker - U.K. - co-founder - "Last FM"
* Euan Semple - U.K. - Director KM at the BBC
* Neil McIntosh - U.K. - Assistant Editor Guardian Unlimited - "GU blogs"
* Paolo Valdemarin - Italy - CEO Evectors -
* Julio Alonso - Spain - CEO, "Weblogs SL"
* Jochen Wegner - Germany - Science & Technology Editor "Focus Magazine"
* Yossi Vardi - founder, "ICQ"
* Charlie Schick - Finland - Nokia
* Ludovico Magnocavallo - Italy - "Blogo.it"
* Christophe Labédan - France - "The Social Media Group"
* Lee Bryant - U.K. - "Headshift"
* Yann Chapellon - France - CEO "Le Monde Interactif"
* Andrew Carton - U.K. - "Treonauts"
* Dominique Busso - France - VNUNet

I am more than happy to provide Six Apart with my help for the media relation around this fantastic day,
we've been doing a very intensive work already for the "Coulisses du Blog" sessions those previous months in Paris, it's a nice recognition for our work at Six Apart's side. Thanks Loic for having ask our support this time again. We're more than happy to be on board !

Debbie Weil's Top 7 Tips to write an effective blog

From Debbie Weil's Blogwrite for CEOs Blog, an extract of her Top 7 Tips to write an effective blog

1. Start with a topic you're passionate about
2. Concentrate on shorter, more frequent entries in your blog
3. Let yourself go as a writer; let your authentic “voice” emerge
4. Use correct grammar and syntax (no misspellings allowed, just as on your resume or your site)
5. Purposefully organize the content of your blog
6. Post a new entry at least once a week, preferably two or three times a week
7. Include your key contact information on your blog

8. BONUS TIP

Have fun when you blog. Whether you're blogging your way to a new job - or to new customers - you may find that blogging is truly a creative outlet. Over time you might find yourself teasing clarity out of a complex topic or delving into subjects you didn’t know you were so interested in. Keep chipping away with each blog entry. Who knows? Your blog might turn into a book!

Read her full post as I only took the titles of the 8 points - Debbie is also author of several guides: Beginner's Guide to Business Blogging and ROI of Business Blogging.

Yahoo acquires Flickr

Yahoo has made a definitive agreement to acquire Flickr.

All the details from Caterina Fake on FlickrBlog's published yesterday.

NewCommForum Europe is postponed

Today we made the tough decision to postpone the New Communications Forum Europe. We have discovered that it is just too early in the technology adoption process here in Europe for PR and marketing professionals to invest in a two-day conference dedicated to blogs and other new tools.

We firmly intend on holding the Forum once we have judged the market is more ready, hopefully towards the end of this year. We are exploring a variety of partnerships as well, in order to broaden the audience and share the risk. If you are interested in talking to us, please drop us a line.

We want to thank our speakers, our sponsors and those who did register for the Forum for their support and hard work preparing for the event. We will do our best to make sure that work isn't in vain, through
planning a variety of online and other activities throughout 2005.

Please stay tuned by subscribing to our blogzine, which you can do at our website.