Category Archives: Community

Facebook Crowdsourcing to Improve Accuracy in Local Search

Posted on by
One of the biggest problems in local search is the sparseness and inaccuracy of location data. (Okay, I guess that's two problems.) Google uses the algorithmic route to determine when there are duplicate listings, but a computer can only do so much. Enter Facebook with their ability to put their 750 million users to work. Sometimes, you just need a human to tell you the answer. In the case of local, the majority of information about a location is stored in the brains of humans and not stored in yellow page listings, websites, directory services, and other entities that a machine could sort through. Historically, the local listings services have put up walls to ensure accuracy-- for example, Bing's version. While making it harder to get your listing approved (via long required forms and/or arduous verification) it will provide more complete data but discourages the entry to begin with, further exacerbating the local information problem. Has Facebook stumbled onto the key to ensure accurate search results by gamifying user-generated content? About the Guest Author:  Dennis Yu is Chief Executive Officer of BlitzLocal, an agency that builds social media dashboards to measure brand engagement and ROI, specializing in the intersection of Facebook and local advertising.

Why Supporting Customers is the New Marketing

Posted on by
The past few weeks have been quite the whirlwind of activity. My FourSquare badges and points have been off the charts with visits to Hartford CT, Springfield MA, Brandon VT, Keene NH, Charlotte NC and Tamasee SC. This travel spree kicked off in Boston MA for the Enterprise 2.0 conference. I was invited by Sameer Patel to speak with Kristin Hersant (StrongMail) on Why Supporting Customers is the New Marketing.  Our session featured the community efforts from each of our respective companies on how unified customer experience is imperative at every touch point - sales, marketing, customer service, innovation and more. Sameer Patel, Kristin Hersant and Michele Warther In today's networked economy, customers and prospects come armed with deep insight about your products and service levels well before they are ready to buy. Whether engaging with buyers who have similar interests on Twitter, or perusing third party or branded communities, knowledge about you and your products is widely available from other customers. So they expect timely and knowledgeable insight and service, to continue to do business with you or to become new customers. To respond to this new reality, organizations require tighter connections between those on the front lines (sales, marketing, support) and those designing, building and supplying products behind the proverbial firewall. While lots of large companies have a social presence they are still struggling with the operationalization of social efforts across different departments, domestic or international. Many thanks again to Jeff Nolan. We worked with the Get Satisfaction team at the end of last year on our community re-launch and more importantly is the one who put together the presentation.

Communication in A Community and Different POV’s

Posted on by
I have been a member of many online communities since I first fell in love with the technology. From BB's to the Well and GeoCities to email groups, all of which are more active than some cocktail mixers or networking events I've been too. After a particularly heated discussion in a technology group I got an email from a fellow member "We all have different experiences and different points of view; all are worth hearing." While I agreed in part, I wanted to talk a bit about community etiquette. So I replied: Very well put. I agree about fostering discussion. I think communication is a very valuable thing. Second only to compassion and honesty. My point however mangled it might have come out, was to open the communication channel, to engage in discussion, to listen. It just started to sound like "bickering" on the list, not communicating. There are a lot of things I love, hate, disdain and like in this world and that includes certain people's point of views. However, I will always listen, even if I don't understand or agree. It is very important to have that. I'll be the first one to admit there are certain cultural idiosyncrasies I am not partial to, hell some flat out disgust me but its for reasons like that I'm glad to be alive. It's all about striking a balance. I don't want to bust out on a moral tangent but I give and get enough to people that enables me to look myself in the mirror each day and still walk away smiling. I don't let people label me good/bad, right/wrong or otherwise. If you feel guilty, righteous, empowered or lame, it's because you made the decision to feel that way. You can't control what other people do or say, but you can CERTAINLY control the way you react to it or feel about. Empowering yourselves; you might find it quite liberating, I do.