Social platform at work with Chatter

Salesforce Chatter might be the new way of communicating within a company. This business platform is like an internal company social network that allows for easy collaboration with colleagues. I'll explain some of its awesome features here (and relate them to similar Facebook options).

The tool greatly resembles social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook, with similar profiles, status updates, and comment features. You can also create feeds and groups, follow people, and share things much like on the popular social media sites.

Of course, the features on Chatter have been adjusted to fit the work space. So instead of posting a status update on daily events, you can state what you're working on, if you're in a meeting, and if you need assistance with a project. And instead of sharing pictures or videos, you can share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, to get instant feedback from colleagues on your work via comments.


And similar to a fan page on Facebook, you can also create a customer page or account record and people who are working on that account or project can join this page. This way, all information, documents, etc. related to this project can be shared privately within that group of people.

If you want to know more about the (other) cool Chatter features, you can check out this Chatter demo video on Youtube. (The guy is very... enthusiastic.)

Because Chatter shows updates in real time to all (following) colleagues and they can instantly post comments as well, this tool might replace email all together. Collaborating in teams will also be easier, more efficient, and even more productive. And probably more fun as well. It's like a corporate Facebook!

(For now, Chatter is not yet publicly available, but it is expected to be released later this year.)

iDonor

iDonor is a new online service (for Dutch people). This web-application allows you to create a digital donor profile ("Digitale Donorpas") and turn it into an iPhone application.

The current Dutch donor system requires you to carry around a donor card in your wallet, but it seems that especially young people would rather leave the house without their wallet than without their mobile phone. So it makes more sense to digitalize this process and using iDonor could be the way to do that.

So how to get and use this application? Simply go to the iDonor website and register. You can then create your digital donor profile online and send it to your iPhone. And it's all for free of course! (Yes, I spoke the magic words.)

You can also check out the iDonor Twitter account for information.

Even though it is an unofficial initiative for now (it's not supported by the Dutch Ministry of Health), I think it has great potential!

(Images source)

P.S. Can you believe iDonor was developed by a 19-year-old as a high school graduation project? I'm shocked! In a good way obviously. Oh, if only I could say I did something equally brilliant for my graduation project...

Winter Olympics Vancouver

Apart from the official Vancouver 2010 website, several social media sites have also been brought to life for the Winter Games! The International Olympic Committee (IOC) encourages spectators, athletes, and others to take part in social media and to post their experiences online. I'll highlight a few sites here.

Via Twitter, you can easily view what all the Olympic athletes are tweeting about on both Verified Tweeting Olympians and Winter Olympic Athletes pages. Athletes are allowed to tweet about their own personal experiences at the Games, so it's fun to read what they have to say in their 'mini blogs' on Twitter.

On Flickr, pictures can be shared via the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Photo Group, which is sponsored by the IOC.

There's a Facebook page, where updates, photos, etc. are posted. Over 1.4 million people have already joined this fan page. There's also a fan photo contest, awarding winners with free tickets to events.

Videos can be viewed on NBC Olympics and on a Youtube channel.

And there's even a Vancouver 2010 Official Minigame on Facebook, so that even as a non-athlete, you can still sort of 'compete' in the games! You can play snowboard cross, giant slalom, ski jumping, and short track speed skating.

Conclusion: It's no wonder the 2010 Winter Games are called the "Social Games"!

Create a donut for Dunkin' Donuts

Dunkin' Donuts has launched an online Create Dunkin's NEXT Donut contest! About a month ago, they posted a video about the contest on Youtube.

You can create a virtual donut on the Dunkin' Donuts' site by choosing a shape, dough, filling, frosting, and topping. After you have created your ultimate donut, you can save/submit it on the site and download it to share it with friends through social media sites (Facebook).

And what would a contest be without a prize? Yes, indeed, not much of a contest at all. So the creator of the winning donut will receive a grand prize of $12,000 and this donut will also be sold in Dunkin' Donuts' stores!



Seriously, how cool is this?! I can imagine this contest will be very popular. And last year, this contest was very succesful for Dunkin' Donuts. Even if it was costly, it generated online awareness as well as sales in the stores. Which is not surprising, because let's face it, just looking at the delicious donut image you're creating makes you want to eat a donut. So it's a good initiative overall!

Unfortunately for us Dutchies, this contest is only for the USA. How typical that they get all the fun. Maybe a Dutch food/snack chain should also come up with something like this? I would so join such a contest if there was one!

Hello online world!

This blog was brought to life for a university course. This is where I'll write about anything related to the use of social media by organizations (as you probably already guessed from the blog title).

Obviously, social media are incredibly popular nowadays. I'm guessing everyone (with internet access) has experience with online forums, blogs, social networks, and such. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube attract huge amounts of visitors. In fact, in the current world of all things modern and digital, 'to youtube' or 'to twitter' something are actual verbs used in daily conversations.

So it's not surprising that organizations are using social media as a direct communication link to consumers. How clever!

And because a picture is worth a thousand words:

(Image source)

I can't believe I never really paid attention to any of this. (And yes, I admit it, I even googled the exact meaning of the term 'social media' before starting this blog.) But I'll definitely be doing so from now on!

Conclusion: I'll be on the look out for blog-worthy stuff related to this topic to share with you!