May 2009 Archive

We here at RFI Studios are very excited and proud to launch the new website for PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). PARC, which was founded in the early 70′s as part of Xerox Research, was tasked with inventing the “office of the future” and in 2002 PARC was incorporated as an independent research business. As celebrated leaders in industry breaking innovations such as laser printing, the graphical user interface (GUI), ubiquitous computing and the like, PARC required a new web strategy to display its history, expertise and capabilities in helping businesses realize the potential of technology.

It’s an amazing experience to be part of a process that starts out rooted in web development but quickly becomes something bigger.  Conducting a comprehensive discovery period (usability testing, user research, web analytics, brand assessment) RFI learned that external site users were not aware that PARC is open for business, let alone, all of the services and expertise that the institution contains.  This became a core focus of the strategy.

As a result, we developed a unique and streamlined architecture, devised to display the entire content offering at one glance, effectively displaying the PARC universe for all to see. From here, contextual cues were utilized to engage users direct questions: How do I work with PARC? What are PARC’s areas of focus? What has PARC contributed to the Industry? The overarching goal was to ensure easy access of content and promote PARCs prominence.

The visual design is intended to display a cartesian layout, mimicking the strict rules of science and at times allowing the content and visuals to break the mold – a perfect metaphor for PARC, its scientists and the result of their innovative research.

Today concludes an intense, several month technology development process. Throughout each stage, from inception to completion, the website redesign process has involved an intense QA and usability review. The visual design, taxonomy, platform, code and related assets have all been tested time and time again. The end result is what we believe to be a fantastic website which will enable future growth and flexibility for PARC.

View the new site here: www.PARC.com

Americans for UNFPA (disclosure: client) works in the U.S. to support the United Nations Population Fund, the world’s largest multilateral source of funding for global women’s health. And tomorrow they are hosting a chat on Twitter to share ideas about global women’s health and rights.

(You can participate by adding #forwomen to the ideas you tweet, and you can watch the conversation at: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23forwomen.)

I’m excited to see where it leads and what the participation will be, as I have a hunch that there are a lot of people out there, particularly on Twitter, who will have a lot to say about the topic.

What does this have to do with digital business trends?

The connection is that there are new ways for companies to look at demographics online. The temptation with a topic like this would be to look first at the demographic and then at how to engage them.

But how we look at demographics is be changing. Online activities blend across demographics, and as Ruder Finn’s Director of Social Media recently noted in an op-ed for PR Week, intent is the new demographic.

This means is that age, race, gender, etc, are not the only ways to determine how to reach a targeted audience online. First you have to look at what people are doing online, and only then can you get a better idea of who they are.

As PR Week’s Nicole Zerillo pointed out in her recent Marketers continue to fall into gender-stereotype traps article:

criticism demonstrates how companies – including well-funded, marketing-savvy ones – still struggle in determining the right way to market to women.

The article highlights how “woman-targeted campaigns” don’t necessarily look at the underlying issues that create a need for the campaign in the first place.

The Wall Street Journal asked last week in “The Forgotten Market Online: Older Women“:

Are online marketers so youth-conscious — because it “feels right” — that they’re ignoring lucrative markets just when they’re most needed? The Internet is neither new nor young. The fastest-growing segment of Facebook users is women over 55, according to the Tracking Facebook blog. And the underlying assumption that young people are still the Web’s most fertile market doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

This underscores the need to look first at what people are using the Internet for, rather than who they are.

A recent study from BlogHer, a leading online network for women, looks at where women go online to find trusted information. They found that women are twice as likely to go to blogs as opposed to social networking as trusted sources of information.

This survey combines the ideas of intent and demographic, by looking at intent within a demographic.

How do you think this research can help formulate your next PR campaign?

A lot of great articles for you in this week’s digital business trends roundup:

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An exciting week for Ruder Finn and PR Week blogs. Ruder Finn co-CEO has been feature this week on PR Week’s ‘Insider‘ blog. Check it out here:
When pandemics go viral
and
Rebuild trust through strong leadership

Have already been posted, and another one is due up Friday. I encourage you all to comment.

Also, Ged Carrol, Ruder Finn UK‘s new director of digital strategy has been hosting a blog on PR Week’s UK site:

Kittens, babies, sunsets or flowers? Life online

Some recent posts:
That ain’t Digg bait, it’s just good PR

The name of the game

Interview with Matt McGinnis of Dell Global Comms, Enterprise Products

Enjoy!

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New York Magazine: In Defense of Distraction:
Twitter, Adderall, lifehacking, mindful jogging, power browsing, Obama’s BlackBerry, and the benefits of overstimulation.

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WSJ (All Things D): Why Online Video Ads Still Don’t Work, by Peter Kafka

Extremely hilarious video on integrated eye-popping web placements to leverage buzz for up-leveled cascading paradigms.

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WSJ: From Moore’s Law to Barrett’s Rules, By Michael Malone

Intel’s chairman on antitrust silliness and the secrets of high-tech success. He say

- The business is bigger than the business.
- Don’t mess with Moore’s Law.
- Invest during hard times.
- Consensus is good — except when it isn’t .
- Follow the business, not Wall Street.
- When something works, don’t re-invent it, reproduce it.
- It pays to have good competitors.

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BusinessWeek: CEOs Who Twitter

50 CEOs who find tweeting a personal and professional delight.

Here’s the list boiled down: http://is.gd/BkPv

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WSJ blog, Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0: Empowering Natural Leaders in ‘Facebook Generation’ Ways
Asks some interesting questions:
What’s your advice to natural leaders who feel stymied by the formal hierarchy? How can they use the new social technologies of the Web to extend their influence and accelerate the pace of change?

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And finally, here’s a site that tracks journalists on Twitter:
http://muckrack.com/

It has a great interface, and helped me find @alansmurray‘s great feed.

There won’t be many digital business trends in the future if the world’s engineering and technology professionals pull an Atlas Shrugged on us. That’s IF we don’t run out of them first!

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional society, turns 125 today, while announcing the first Global Engineering the Future Day.

Designed to raise public awareness of the opportunities in the technology industry, Engineering the Future Day recognizes the contributions and impact that IEEE and its members have made for the benefit of humanity.

The IEEE saw the need to increase awareness of technological advancement and its impact due to global decrease of students entering the fields of engineering, computing and technology. For example, the number of engineering specialties in Chinese universities has decreased by more than half from 1997 to 2006, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education.

In the U.S., although university enrollments are at an all-time high, the number of students in science, technology, engineering and math programs has remained stagnant for the past 25 years.

This lack of growth can lead to America facing a shortage of trained professionals in fields that fuel tomorrow’s innovations in healthcare, alternative energy and communications. And that would spell doom for digital business trends blogs!

Take a visit to IEEE 125, and see what technologies are emerging, and what’s being done to encourage tomorrow’s engineers.

Enjoy this week’s Noodle Revue roundup!

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24/7 WallStreet: The Sun Sets On BusinessWeek, Forbes, And Fortune

The May 11 issue of Fortune Magazine is a perfect demonstration of what the three largest business magazines have done for decades. Its cover story, “How Bernie Did It’ is the culmination of a four-month investigation into the details of Bernie Madoff’s life and business operations written and reported by three of Fortune’s best editorial staff members, one of whom is a Pulitzer Prize winner. This issue of Fortune is also an example of why the magazine and its competitors Forbes and BusinessWeek, will soon no longer be able to publish these kinds of stories. The May 11 issue has 92 printed pages and covers. There are only 21 pages of paid advertising compared with more than a hundred pages in a spring issue 20 years ago.

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Speaking of Forbes:
Forbes: A Cloud In Every Garage

Written by Russ Daniels,  CTO of Cloud Services Strategy at HP.

In light of all of the historical comparisons about the current economic situation and its proposed fixes, I’d like to offer my own perspective based on technology trends that have the potential to re-ignite growth for decades. My analogy comes from what at first sounds like an unlikely source: the automobile industry.

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And speaking of HP:
PC Magazine: RIM, HP Announce BlackBerry Print-on-the-Go Tech

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Swine flu goes viral?
http://www.miniclip.com/games/sneeze/en/

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Social Media Today: Ethics and Facebook

Can a lawyer hire a third person to send a “friend request” to a witness? According to an opinion from the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Professional Guidance Committee the answer is no.

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YouTube: Google founder Larry Page commencement speech at U of Michigan. The phrase “class of 2009″ send shivers down my spine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFb2rvmrahc

Larry Page’s grandfather was an assembly worker at the Chevy plant in Flint Michigan, and his dad thought that computers were a fad. A touching story about his dad.

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MediaPost: Murdoch Jabs At Facebook’s Fast-Growing Audience

Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch took a swipe at MySpace rival Facebook Thursday after News Corp. reported weaker-than-expected sales at its Fox Interactive Media unit, which consists mainly of MySpace. FIM online ad revenue during News Corp.’s fiscal third quarter ending Mar. 31 dropped 16% while the unit’s revenue overall fell 11% to $187 million.

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McKinsey Quarterly: Memo to the CEO: Why we need an annual report for technology

The IT organization and the business units should be much more in tune. Here’s one way to make that happen.

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Fire up those mint julep machines!  Kentucky Derby this weekend. Some horse-related items below for this week’s Noodle Revue on top of the usual (and whatever I do, I will NOT mention swine flu in this post).

Many thanks to Ruder Finn head of HR and avid horse fan Cathleen Graham (@cashcat1969) for some of these links.

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Knowledge@Wharton: Social Media for Social Causes: Alex Brown’s Passion for the Welfare of Horses

Alex Brown’s love of horses started long before he launched the blog, Alex Brown Racing, but it was Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro that pushed the blog into prominence — and eventually established it as a site dedicated to the welfare of horses. Along the way, Brown learned many things about creating and nurturing an online community by using tools like wikis, Facebook and Twitter, and following certain principles, such as: Be authentic, be transparent, be consistent and build trust. Brown, one of whose goals is to rescue horses destined for the slaughter house, talked with Knowledge@Wharton about his strategies for bringing attention — and money — to the cause.

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LinkedIn: Horse lovers of the Business world

A group for all us business folk who outside the world of hi-tech and commerce like to unwind and get back to nature with horses. No matter your discipline (Dressage, X-Country, Trail riding, Polo, etc.), or even if you don’t have a horse but like Equine events, then come join in and get together.

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AllTop: http://louisville.alltop.com/

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Twitter: #kyderby

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Facebook: Mint Julep fan page

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Chicago Tribune: Teen tweets way to Derby

Other than the fact that he’s already won $4 million in purses and may be on the verge of becoming one of the most famous faces in the sports of horse racing, Joe Talamo is like a lot of guys his age.

His horse is also tweeting! http://twitter.com/I_Want_Revenge

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And some great horse resources:

• www.thehorse.com
• www.chronofhorse.com
• www.horseshowspy.com
• www.ntra.com

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Ok ok ok, and now some non-horse Noodle Revue for you:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Executives exploring Twitter as business tool

Todd Brink’s cigar-bearing image and his thoughts about music, chick flicks and process improvement have made him a Twitter rock star of sorts.

The Wisconsin executive has nearly 3,000 Twitter followers. What’s more, he is ranked No. 1 among the Twitter Elite in Milwaukee on Twitter Grader, a free service that lets people measure their power and reach on Twitter

It may seem an unlikely classification, but Brink represents a growing breed of executives who recognize the power of the tweet as a way to connect with customers and build brand loyalty.

Brink (@toddbrink) is director of process improvement for Boldt Construction Co., a national contractor with 1,500 employees based in Appleton. Brink stressed he is representing himself on Twitter and not Boldt Construction, although many of his tweets are work-related.

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Slate: Barack Obama Sent Somali Pirates a Trio of Snipers

He also sent a friend request to Iran, became a fan of Stimulus, and deleted the group Guantanamo Bay Detainees 4EVA.

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Conversation Starter: 7 Things This CEO Hates About Business

They are:

1. Ego
2. Money
3. Travel
4. Business Speak
5. Meetings
6. Business Books
7. Time

The first point can probably apply to many in the digital business trends blogger industry.

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