Transcript Exploiting the Social Web to Promote Your Resources

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/sca-seo-20100602/
Maximising the Effectiveness of Your Online Resources:
Exploiting the Social Web to
Promote Your Resources
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath, UK
Acceptable Use Policy
Recording this talk, taking photos,
discussing the content using Twitter,
blogs, etc. is permitted providing
distractions to others is minimised.
Email:
[email protected]
Blog:
http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ Twitter:
Gowalla:
http://twitter.com/briankelly/
http://gowalla.com/users/briankelly/ http://twitter.com/ukwebfocus/
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
This work is licensed under a AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
(but note caveat) www.ukoln.ac.uk
About Me
Brian Kelly:
• JISC-funded Web adviser to UK HE/FE sector
• Based at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise in
digital information management
• Involved in Web since Jan 1993
• Over 300 presentations given since 1997
• 700+ blog posts since Nov 2006
• Current areas of interest include Web 2.0, Web
standards & Web accessibility
• User of various Web 2.0 services: blogs, microblogs, social sharing services, social networking
services, …
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UK
IWMW
Web Focus
2010
UKOLN’s Cultural
blog
blog
: main
aimsuser
to
Heritage blog:
engagement
encourage &
user
dissemination role
dissemination
participation
but also guest blog
channel
prior to & during
posts
encouraged
www.ukoln.ac.uk
event
More Tools I Use
Use of Web 2.0
technologies &
approaches:
• RSS feeds for
structured
information
• Geo-location data
• Exploitation of 3rd
party services
• Openness of
resources
• Risk assessment /
management
Talks given in 2009 covered Web 2.0, approaches
accessibility & standards.
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Revisiting SEO
Web sites
Google
(Live Search
Bing, …)
Real
world
Databases
Summary of key approaches:
• Apply various techniques to Web resources to
make resources easier to find in Google, …
Directories
• Resources may include organisational Web
suites, third party Web sites, databases, …
• Resources may also include real world objects
and ideas (i.e. your museum, your research
ideas, …)
• Based on understanding of importance of
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information
management
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Google
to end
users
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Beyond SEO
Web sites
Real
world
Social Services
(Facebook,
Slideshare,
Twitter, …)
Databases
Summary of key approaches:
Directories
• Make use of social networking services which
people may use of discuss your services
• Services may include Facebook, MySpace,
Slideshare, Twitter, …
• No need to touch your Web sites (so useful if
you can’t!)
• Based on understanding of popularity of SNs
and people’s
interests in chattingwww.ukoln.ac.uk
and sharing
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Opportunities & Challenges
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It’s About The Individual!
Focus of the Social
Web is the individual.
Challenges posed:
• ‘It’s my space’
• ‘Sustainability
• Privacy
• Editorial control
• Branding
• …
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Web 2.0
Web 2.0
What Is Web 2.0?
Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather
than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology”
Characteristics Of Web 2.0
• Network as platform
• Always beta
• Clean URIs
• Remix and mash-ups
 Syndication (RSS)
• Architecture of participation
 Blogs & Wikis
 Social networking
 Social tagging
(folksonomies)
Web2MemeMap, Tim O’Reilly,
• Trust and openness
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2005
Wikis
What Does Google Find?
Pages in Wikipedia
are Google-friendly
• First 3rd party Web
site for search for
‘British Library’ is
from Wikipedia
• Similar results
found for a search
for ‘British Postal
Museum’
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Wikis
Exploiting Wikipedia (1)
Is your
organisation
listed in
Wikipedia?
If not you are
missing out on
a (free)
marketing
opportunity.
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Exploiting Wikipedia (2)
The original page may have
been embarrassing.
How long might this page
have been promoting your
museum?
Your entry may have
created by someone
who doesn’t work for
your organisation
Here’s a simple
example of a
Wikipedia entry.
Looking at the page
history we can see
when it was created
and by whom.
Conclusions: Doing nothing may not be an option! And would
you allow inaccurate information to be published in a popular
print publications?
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Wikis
Exploiting Wikipedia (3)
How to proceed:
• How to create pages: See Museums and
Wikipedia paper, J Bowden from MW 2007.
• No Wikipedia reputation: Get ID and be a
good Wikipedia citizen first.
• Entry flagged as ‘marketing’: You’ve copied
your marking material, haven’t you! Work with
your peers to avoid ‘the best’, ‘the leading’, …
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Note:
This is
now fixed
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DBpedia
DBpedia:
• Linked Data version of
Wikipedia
info boxes
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DBpedia Relationship Finder
Find
relationships
between
items in
Wikipedia
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Wikipedia: Conclusions
Conclusions:
• Good for SEO
• A way of
joining Web of
Linked Data
Note that relationship isn’t described in
entries for Oxford or Cambridge, but is
provided
externally
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Blogs
Why Blog?
Multiple reasons for blogging (not all to
do with maximising access to resources
and ideas):
• Reflection
• Dissemination
• Engagement
• News and alerts
• Note-taking
• Experimentation
• ‘Think out loud’
• Personal development
• Syndication
•…
Jo Alcock (librarian at Wolverhampton University) has a blog which
allows her to engage with her users on library developments and
solicit
A centre feedback
of expertise in digital information management
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Blogs
Why I Blog
Reasons mentioned
previously.
In addition:
• Talk about plans for
new ‘stuff’ (events,
papers, ideas, …)
• Talk and ‘stuff’ I’ve
delivered (as
illustrated)
Use of a blog allows this
to be:
• Commented on
• Syndicated
• Repurposed
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The Paper In The Repository
The paper in the
repository can fail
to engage with
potential
interested parties
(especially if the
paper is
embargoed)
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Facilitating The Discussion
The blog post about
the paper can
engage a wider
audience …
and encourage
discussion and
debate ..
and provide links to
discussions taking
place elsewhere
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Best Practices For Bloggers
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cultural-heritage/documents/
See UKOLN’s Cultural Heritage
IntroBytes briefing documents
Examples of best practices:
• Have a blog policy (e.g.
‘Don’t be stupid’)
• Define the scope and
target audience
• Link to others
• Allow comments
• Respond to comments
• Decide on team or
individual blog
• …
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Blogs
From A Distance Blog
Chris Sexton, IT Service’s
Director at University of Sheffield
& current UCISA chair
Her blog:
• Outlines senior management
strategic thinking
• Embed title and link to my
most recent blog post
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Blogs
Reading, Even If Not Blogging
Negative impact –
the bad things they
say about your stuff
Can be useful to
monitor:
• Your brand
• Your ideas
• Your reputation
• Your stuff
• ….
Some minor criticisms from Stephen Downes,
a well-read Canadian e=learning guru
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A speedy reply, and
a positive response
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Twitter
What Can Twitter Offer?
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Twitter
What Can Twitter Offer?
Promoting blog
post about
possible event.
Brief - designed for
retweeting (RT)
Should you add
“Please RT”?
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Twitter
What Can Twitter Offer?
“OMG they’re
criticising us – and
this is being
retweeted to new
groups!”
Note you don’t have
to respond (but you
may address issues
raised)
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Twitter Writing Style
New blog post published which I hope to gain a wide
audience for.
Announcement tweeted.
First draft
“Respect Copyright (and Subvert It!)" My thoughts on
copyright and openness in light of the #digitalbritain report
http://bit.ly/4XOMJ”
Second draft:
“Respect Copyright (and Subvert It!)" Thoughts on copyright
& openness in light of #digitalbritain report http://bit.ly/4XOMJ”
Rationale:
• Allow retweeting in entirety
• Clause which can be removed
(“in light of #digitalbritain report”)
to allow
for incommentary
(e.g.
“great post”)
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Evidence
The Evidence
Evidence of the importance of Twitter for
driving traffic to blogs
UK Web Focus Blog:
Total of 250,00+ views.
Average 250/day over 3.5 years
But how do they arrive at the blog?
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“The Power Of Passed Links”
The Value Of Twitter Is In “The Power Of Passed
Links”
Wilson predicts that at current growth rates, Twitter
“will surpass Google for many websites in the next
year.” And that just as nearly every site on the Web
has become addicted to Google juice, they will
increasingly try to find ways to get more links from
Twitter. Because Twitter equals traffic. …
Moreover, he asserts that these Twitter links “convert
better” than search links because they are often prefiltered and come in the form of a recommendation
from someone you are following.
TechCrunch, June 2009
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Twitter Alerts
Twitter alerts for
keywords, etc
available using:
• Columns in
Tweetdeck
• Email alerts
• …
But this doesn’t
provide a historical
perspective
Note ukwebfocus Twitter account is used for
automated
of posts
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Exploring The Evidence
Twitter can
be a
significant
driver of
traffic
Where would blog be now
without Twitter? Twitter
seems to have decimated
RSS traffic.
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Further Evidence
Screenshots from
http://twitoaster.com/briankell
y
Aim:
to
get
feedback
ideas
in
post
–
Aim:
to get
feedback
on
ideas
in post
What
does
the
evidence
tell
ussuggestions
about
people
to on
provide
but(…
received
feedback
and
toofvaluable
get
post
read)
(a)
success
aims
&(b)
how to achieve aims?
for
TwapperKeeper.
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Beyond The Individual
Twitter is
used to
support
IWMW event
with IWMW
and
IWMWlive
accounts
(and
sword_app)
Official
transcript
plenary
talks
is useful
This
news
functionofwas
initially
carried
out for remote audience.
We also
intend
to use
it information
for captioning
using
RSS
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of expertise
in digital
managementvideos of talks
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Observing Patterns
Twitter used
by Mimas
Twitter used by
EDINA for several
of their services
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Next Steps: Implementation
History:
• Use by early adopters
• Use to support events
• Claiming ‘ukoln’ Twitter ID
• Gathering evidence of benefits / ROI
Now:
• Planning use of ukoln and ariadne_ukoln Twitter
accounts
• Agreeing responsibilities and scope
• Documenting and sharing best practices:
the ‘voice’; the scope; do we follow; do we autofollow; do we respond; …
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http://paper.li/ariadne_ukoln
Further Benefits
Further benefits include the paper.li daily
newsletter – see http://paper.li/ariadne_ukoln
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Collective Approaches
What benefits can be gain
by actively collectively:
• Sharing best practices
and experiences
• Exploiting virality of
social networks –
services that get better
as nos. of users grow
What about the ethical
aspects?
ukwebfocus Twitter account follows JISC Twitter accounts.
paper.li provides daily newsletter based on links posted – see
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Slides
Slides To Engage Users
Slides designed to allow
users to make use of
content and links:
• AUP giving permission
to reuse content &
exploit WiFi network to
discuss content
• Hyperlinks in slides
• Link to master copy
provided in title slide and
footer in handout
• Tag used in del.icio.us
The PowerPoint file is a live resource which
to bookmark resources
can be easily accessed, discussed and
(no need to copy URLs)
provide links to relevant resources during a
talk and Asubsequently.
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Slideshare
Slideshare To Promote Ideas
I use Slideshare to maximise
awareness of ideas in papers
presented at events. Approaches:
• Slides uploaded in advance
(accessibility benefits)
• Allow slides to be embedded in
blogs, Web pages, …
• Text, tags, links & metadata to
support searching & www.ukoln.ac.uk
provide context
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The Researcher
Slides uploaded on behalf
of Professor Carole Goble
Carol Gole’s
slides
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What About Video?
Increasingly
users want video
content – and are
likely to use
Google or
YouTube to find
videos
Google Video might have been an obvious place to
store videos – but it is how being deprecated
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YouTube
Want to make your
University
appealing to
potential students?
They’re likely to
look at YouTube
What will they find?
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YouTube
Want to make your
University
appealing to
potential students?
They’re likely to
look at YouTube
What will they find?
IWMW 2010 session
From Apr - Oct 2009 Sheffield Uni ran competition encouraging students to
upload videos to YouTube (£3000 prize). Aim was to get the students to
express in own words what they thought of the University & how Sheffield
had made
them.
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Your Institutional Video
Is it worth trapping
your marketing videos
in your institutional
Web site?
The SEO tips for
enhancing the visibility
of your videos in
“Given that YouTube is by far the most popular YouTube follow wellvideo website, you should be publishing videos established guidelines
there (even if you are a B2B company like
(e.g. title, description,
HubSpot ”
tags, …)
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What About Facebook? (1)
Should you have a
Facebook presence for
your organisation?
What are the reasons
for having a presence
in Fb?
What are the
concerns?
Do the advantages
outweigh the
disadvantages?
Nos. in June 2009 –
24,200 in May 2010
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Social Web & Linked Data
Will Social Web
services helpto popularise
Linked Data?
Notice how
sig.ma
provides
access to
structured
content from
many Social
Web services
It knows my name … but can get it wrong!
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Risks of Doing Nothing
Webinar held on
16 June 2009
Advice for US
Universities on how
to exploit social
networks
What are the
risks of being left
behind?
Must a service
be 100% ‘pure’
before choosing
to use it?
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What About My Organisation?
50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on
Social-Media/Social-Bookmarking Sites
Share your favorite sites on the Web with potential clients and business partners by
commenting on, uploading and ranking different newsworthy articles. You can also
create a member profile that directs traffic back to your company's Web site.
Reddit, Digg, del.icio.us, Stumbledupon, Technorati, Ning, Squidoo, Furl,
Tubearoo, Wikihow, YouTube, Magnol.ia
Professional-Networking Sites
Sign up with these online networking communities as a company or as an individual
to take advantage of recruiting opportunities, cross-promotional events and more.
Linkedin, Ecademy, Focus, YorZ, Xing, Facebook, Care2, Plaxo, …
General Social-Media Sites
The following social-media sites provide excellent opportunities for businesses to
advertise; promote specials, events or services; and feature published,
knowledgeable employees.
Wikipedia, Newsvine, 43 Things, WetPaint, Twitter, Yahoo Answers
Don’t go for them all!
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Conclusions
The Social Web:
• Can be used to enhance access to digital
resources, real world resources and ideas
and concepts
• Ignoring the potential may mean you lose
out to your peers, competitors or rivals
• Can form part of your organisation’s
mission and not just an added extra for
dissemination
• But there are risks
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Questions and Discussion
Any questions?
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Discussion
Possible areas for discussion:
1. Who’s already doing this: What
experiences can you share?
2. Who’d like to do this: What barriers do
you envisage?
3. Who feels that more evidence is
needed: What evidence is required?
4. Who thinks this is a wrong approach:
What concerns do you have?
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