SIPA UK Blog

Virtual friends?

Right. I've had enough of this debate about how it's good to meet people face to face.

I agree.

It is.

But this is interesting & I plan on playing with the technology behind it - Ning.

Folio Media Pro

My name is Rory Brown and I am a geek.

Twitter ye not?

Whenever I talk about Twitter my fellow committee members tend to laugh. I must admit that when I first came across the service about 6 months ago I was baffled and couldn't see the point. But now I am starting to..

For those who have not come across Twitter the basic concept is that it is a 'micro-blogging' platform. Users register accounts and then decide whose tweets they want to follow. The principle is very similar to instant messaging but instead of your messages being one-to-one they are one to how ever many people chose to follow you in return.

Now, this could all be viewed as a massive time suck. And it can be. But there are some interesting business applications - especially in the marketing and information sectors in which I currently work. I'll list a few of them:

1. Speaker recruitment. We have recently recruited several speakers for events as a result of pitching calls for papers on Twitter. They have either been recommended by people who have heard them speak in other places or pitched themselves.
2. Feedback. if hosting events you can set up a 'Twitter tag' where your delegates can post questions to the panel or give feedback on sessions via their laptops or mobile phones. It is also great for co-ordinating where the best parties are!
3. Reputation management. I guarantee that somewhere people are talking about your brands or competitors.Twitter posts don't currently show up in search engine results but you can search for posts by using specific search engines like Summize or Tweetscan.
4. The news finds you. My news consumption habits are changing. From reading a lot of magazines, to e-mail newsletters, to RSS feeds; my biggest source of information is now referred by my network. The people I trust and who have similar interests to me flag up things of interest and often people at the fringes of my networks prompt those slightly peripheral thoughts from other industries that develop into great ideas.
5. Driving traffic to websites. We now have Twitter channels for some of our major news sites - like ClickZ. Users of Twitter chose to follow the channel and  then get instant messages when new content is posted.
6. Product / supplier recommendations. I recently bought a new Asus eee pc laptop totally based on recommendations I received from people I trust on Twitter. The same principle applies when trying to source suppliers or products for your business.

I mentioned Twitter at SIPA's great "How to make money from online content" session last Thursday [if you weren't there you missed a great session & well done Lindsey Greig for organising], a quick poll showed that no-one in the audience was using it. That's a shame. While there will probably be a new fad along any moment I would urge all publishers to try these tools. You have to be operating in the new digital world if you want to really understand how everything fits together and how your business might need to adapt in the future.

www.twitter.com/rorybrown

SIPA UK Congress 2008

SIPA UK ANNUAL CONGRESS 2008
- the 14th annual conference for specialised information publishers
8-9 July 2008
The Tower Hotel, St Katherine's Way, London E1W 1LD

We're back! Many apologies for the brief hiatus on the SIPA UK blog - day jobs and all that..

You'll be glad to know that your committee haven't all been slacking. We've been working on the best ever programme for the SIPA UK Annual Congress. If you haven't already done so please register to attend and make sure you bring along colleagues, friends, relatives, pets.. anyone who is interested in the world of specialised publishing.

Full programme details can be found here. A few of the highlights:

• David Worlock, Chief Research Fellow at Outsell Inc., will give delegates and overview of the major trends affecting the b2b specialist publishing industry
• Tim Weller, Group CEO and Founder at Incisive Media, will explain why publishing 'narrow and deep' is the route to success for publishers
• Mark Ragan, CEO at Lawrence Ragan Communications in the US, will give a case study on the transition of a print publishing business online
• Nic Laight, MD at Canonbury Publishing, will tell us the story of how he was questioned about suspected money laundering when an e-mail campaign drove over £1m of orders in just 2 weeks
• Hugh Look, Senior Consultant at RightsCom, will explore the future of paid content in the revenue mix for publishers
• John Whitaker, Online Business Development Manager at DMG World Media, gives a case study on how to exploit your digital assets
• Grace Baynes, Corporate PR Planner at Nature Publishing Group, will explain how the Nature Network social platform was launched
• Richard Londesborough, MD at Business Monitor International, spotlights why site licences should become the most profitable and durable part of your business
• Ken McGaffin, CMO at Wordtracker, explains how keywords can be a rich source of creative ideas and help help you put firm strategies behind your search engine marketing efforts.

... there are many more influential and knowledgeable speakers throughout the day and delegates have the chance to tailor their attendance based on interest areas with breakout sessions, round-tables and discussion forums.

On the 8th July, the day before the main congress, SIPA will also be hosting 2 half day round-table discussion forums.

Senior Marketers Discussion Forum led by Louise White, Group Marketing Director, Incisive Media and Caroline Frost, Group Marketing Director, Informa Healthcare

Publishers Discussion Forum led by Lindsey Grieg, MD at Cecile Park Publishing

I would urge senior marketers and publishers to make the effort to attend these optional half days. They will be highly interactive and you will get to set the agenda with your peers from around the industry.

Finally, there will also be a small exhibition area at the congress featuring key suppliers including: Datamatics Financial Services; Adestra; Ant Marketing; Premier Print Group; WorksSiteBuilder; Abacus E-Media; AI Digital & PureLabs. There are a few remaining sponsorship and exhibit opportunities for any companies interested.

All details of the programme, sessions, speakers, awards programme (forgot to mention that earlier..), drinks receptions etc can be found here.

We expect some 200 people to attend the SIPA Congress and I very much hope you will join us. Phone Karen Hindle on 020 8288 7415 or e-mail uksipa@btconnect.com for any further information.

Look forward to seeing you in July.



Rory Brown, Incisive Media, UK SIPA Chairman and Congress Chair.

"Up to the minute, thought-provoking content delivered by speakers who know exactly what they're talking about"
Emma Warren-Jones, Marketing Director, Informa Healthcare

"A superb day, laden with value, practical advice and expertise - worth every penny"
Michael Smith, Marketing and Business Development Director, Kogan Page.

6 media blogs you could be reading

The B2B industry has never been well covered by the mainstream press but with the rise of blogging there are now some great, thought provoking sites to read. Here are 6 I read every now and again:

Paid Content

Publishing 2.0

Faster Forward

Paul Conley

B or not 2B

Asia Business Media

Anyone got any others they follow? Leave a message below.

Rory Brown, Incisive Media

New SIPA UK group set up on Facebook

Following an enthusiastic show of hands at the latest SIPA UK E-marketing conference a couple of weeks back, I have now set up a Facebook group for SIPA UK members.

This is the Facebook group for UK specialised information publishers, large and small, to discuss their challenges, share ideas and network with their peers.

If you are already a Facebook member, you can find the group at: SIPA UK Facebook group

Alternatively, you can join the rest of the world's population on Facebook by signing up now.

Although, I would be first to admit that take-up amongst Melcrum staff has been slow. Why? Because, a lot of people see Facebook as a place for friends. But those divides between work and play are tumbling down. After all, is work a place you go to each day, or something you do?

With more of us working remotely, social media brings colleagues and friends closer together.

But what do you think? Is Facebook a tool for business too?

Robin

Which magazines do you still read in hard copy?

I recently moved office. No great drama but so much stuff...

As I was packing up I realised it fell into 3 main categories:

a) Bits of random clothing (I think it was mostly mine...) **

b) 'Swipe files' full of good ideas to nick from competitors

& c) A load of unopened magazines.

It was then that it dawned on me, I had all but stopped reading the magazines.

So, how was I getting the information that I used to read in Marketing, Marketing Week, New Media Age, Revolution, dare I say it Hotline or any of the other titles that I used to consume so avidly? It's not quite as simple an answer as you might expect.

Initially I had switched to e-mail newsletters and Google alerts. I had set up a webmail account and used to scan it a couple of times each week to see if anything interesting was happening. Now, that webmail account is only rarely visited. 90% of my information comes from RSS feeds on a personalised Google homepage and the way in which they draw me back to key sites.

And your point, Rory, is?

I did a quick scan through a few publishers sites at lunchtime today. Very few seem to be implementing RSS effectively and making it easy to sign up. I would say that the Euromoney site was probably the exception with a big feature on the middle of the homepage encouraging sign up. Nice.

All too often when I visited sites RSS options were hidden away or made really difficult to sign up for. I don't know about you but I cannot believe how many sites I still visit where I want to sign up for a feed but when I click I am faced with a screen full of code - what's that all about? Make it easy for your users with a clear label and list all the chicklet buttons (Add to Google etc.). Watch your feed traffic grow.

I'd be interested to hear others thoughts about how they consume media. Which business related magazines do you still read regularly? Leave a comment below.

Rory Brown, Managing Director, Incisive Media

** I suspect I'm not alone on the strange office moves stakes. I saw one colleague pack a huge orange crate up and stick a label on the side saying Fragile - Champagne and Shoes. Naming no names but some of you might be able to guess...

Blogs & Social Media Forum

Yesterday the newly acquired VNU division of Incisive Media hosted our 2nd Blogs & Social Media Forum. It was a fantastic event which, unfortunately, I only managed to stay for the morning of.

Some of the key takeaways for me were:

1) The use of blogging and social media technology within all of our businesses is no longer a 'nice to have' or a whizzy geeky add on. Blogs are mainstream communication channels and when used properly can generate significant marketing and search exposure.

2) The prevalence and reach of blogs will continue to put pressure on paid content. One of my colleagues in the US always uses the phrase that content 'wants to be free'. The new waves of citizen journalism and efficient distribution mechanisms mean that it is increasingly hard to compete on (and charge for) news.

3) Embracing blogs, social media and user generated content means giving up large elements of control. This is a very uncomfortable things for larger corporates to do - especially when they are public companies. The view of the panelists was that you had to accept mistakes will be made and content will be posted that you'd prefer wasn't.

4) The software to implement some of this technology is cheap. The Economist were using a service called Pluck. It was the same service that USA Today had implemented in a fundamental revamp of how their news was displayed. Look at the way in which they embed personalisation, recommendation and feedback into every element of their new site.

One final point made by Ben Edwards, the Publisher of Economist.com was that in order to get momentum behind blogs an element of compulsion was important. He set minimum posting guidelines for everyone on the team who contributed - maybe a lesson for us here at SIPA UK?

Rory Brown, Incisive Media.

Reporting live from Washington

Well, OK, not quite live, but I am in Washington and still a-live after wandering the streets trying to find my hotel late last night after a sumptuous SIPA speakers' dinner with a Southern flavour.

Yesterday was day one of the 30th International Specialized Information Publishers' Association. Not only is attendance the highest for a number of years, if not ever, at over 625 delegates from around the world. Including, what seems like half of Germany. But the program looks better than ever.

Tip of the hat goes to our sister site, the new official SIPA blog. Nice to see our American cousins finally catching up with their European counterparts!

More soon from your Washington correspondent.

Robin.

Kinda cool or pretentious self-indulgence?

Talking of avatars and creating an alternate identity for the online world (because we all need one of those, right?), I stumbled across this great site that helps you do exactly that.

If, like me, you've ever wondered how Shel Holtz or Lee Smith came up with cartoon-like adaptations of themselves for their blogs, look no further.

For the modest sum of $40-$50, you too can have a cartoon-portrait done of your self at IconizeMe.com

But which is it? Kinda cool or pretentious self-indulgence?

I don't know about you, but perhaps no-one's life is complete without one. Or should I just get out more?

Anyway, I'll show you mine if you show me yours! I'm off to spend a hard-earned $40.

Robin Crumby (cartoon-likeness pending).

Are social networks just a flash in the pan?

An interesting piece this week appears on The Atlantic implying that the growth of social networks have all the hallmarks of being a gold rush, reminiscent of the dot-com bubble.

In the article titled 'The Web 2.0 Bubble', Michael Hirshorn writes that:

In the Web hype-o-sphere, things matter hugely until, very suddenly, they don’t matter at all. Thanks to the unprecedented growth of MySpace and Facebook, “social media” matters hugely right now, but it is likely only another in a long string of putatively disruptive, massively hyped technologies that prove just one more step in the long march.

He's right in pointing out that social media has been around since the early days of the commercial web with sites like Geocities proving popular in building niche communities of like-minded users.

Suddenly, everyone 'needs' a social network to support their brand online. But do they really and how many of these will fall flat within months? Time will tell.

There are already social network floozies with more links and 'friends' than seems feasible. The article names the dubiously dubbed 'Tila Tequila' as the most popular with 1.5 million friends on MySpace

So, back in the business world, should we skip social networks and wait for the next bus to come along?Never have to wait long in Web 2.0 for the next fad.

I say no. Business social networks give most of us, not all of us, the chance to make the communities  that already exist around our brands more efficient. They are perhaps unlikely to create community where none existed before. Human networks exist in lots of unusual places. Even accountants like to network, improbable as it sounds. So online social networks just allow this to happen quicker.

But as Michael Hirshorn concludes, there are soon to be so many of these social networks, that fatigue will set in fast. People will either be forced to make choices about where they invest time in uploading profiles to either the most generic or the most niche, depending on your purpose. So there will be opportunities for entrepreneurs to link the networks together to be searchable (already some sites are starting to do this, like Wink, Minggl or Social Grapes).

Surely, it's just a little early to be writing off social networks while they're still in their infancy? Perhaps the mainstream generic sites will start to peak, but the niche sites are just getting started. People are still figuring out where these tools fit into the mix.

IBM and Cisco are smart operators. They certainly wouldn't be investing millions in developing business grade social networking applications. Would they?

Robin Crumby.