BIBA has just shared this video of Mark Huxley’s interview with BIBA Executive Director, Graeme Trudgill at the close of BIBA 2014.
Hux quizzes Graeme on his highlights from this year's conference, and the exciting pieces of work he’s brought with him.
Watch the video to hear their chat in full and to see the new guides launched by BIBA at the event.
This year's AIRMIC annual conference had some of our most impressive (random) stats yet. Check out our full infographic here:
Making work more fun “Facebook at work” usually refers to people wasting the day stalking frenemies from their desks instead of doing their jobs, but apparently this is about to change.
According to an anonymous source inside the company, Facebook is currently working on a way to position the social network as having a rightful place in the office.
“We are making work more fun and efficient by building an at-work version of Facebook,” says the source, who refers to it as “FB@Work” and says the effort is based in London.
What’s not clear is whether FB@Work is being built as an internal communication platform, or as a way for companies to leverage Facebook to drive new business.
Everyone at Facebook is doing it...
“Everyone at Facebook uses [it] for work,” explains one ex-Facebook employee. “Most of their communication and planning is done though Messages and Groups. It would be a pretty natural thing to try to expose this way of using Facebook to get things done at the office to the rest of the world.”
External companies are already using Facebook for work, too.
“Facebook Groups and Messaging have already [transformed] how we communicate,” Clara Shih, CEO of Hearsay Social told Ingrid Lunden. “We know 100% of our employees are on Facebook. Rather than...ask employees to login to yet another system, we [created a Facebook Group] to house many of our real-time company chats and conversations.”
But this project is not a new venture. Facebook has supposedly been stopping and starting the idea for 3 years, due to the battle between the potential opportunities and challenges of doing so.
Stopping and starting
“This is one of two projects that constantly get started and come close to being launched but have been cancelled at the last minute,” reveals another ex-Facebooker.
The other? A controversial version of Facebook for under-13s.
With the latter, privacy is the obstacle. Enterprise presents a different problem: “Facebook employees find using [it] for work communication really useful, but it wasn’t clear whether it would serve a broader demand.”
It as also been hinted at that Facebook has wider plans for an enterprise product aimed more at competing with LinkedIn.
“Facebook is thought of as a community and place for friends, and LinkedIn feels more transactional,” the source says. “Facebook has to be careful not to lose that community appeal.”
Obvious opportunities
Regardless of the challenges, there are obvious opportunities if Facebook did ever launch “FB@Work.”
“[The] blurring of personal/professional online identity creates opportunities for Facebook to play a role in enterprise services,” says Shih.
What do you think - would you 'add' or 'ignore' FB@Work?
photo credit: FACEBOOK(LET)
One of our Directors, Mark Huxley, has written a piece on social media which has been published today in Insider Quarterly as part of their Summer issue. Hux introduces his article by acknowledging the shift in the insurance sector's thinking, whereby the vast majority is now taking its digital footprint seriously and considering how social media can be harnessed as a channel to help spread company messages in a different way.
He comments that the sector is catching up quickly, and goes on to explore the various benefits generated by social media and the trends which have appeared amongst businesses who are using it effectively, with a particular focus on LinkedIn. But beware, there is an important need to take care with the "more publicly ubiquitous social media channels" such as Twitter or Facebook.
The final and perhaps most important point to consider is that, whether or not a company elects to engage themselves with social media, in reality there is not an opt-in or opt-out.
Brands across the globe are being spoken about every minute of every day across the entirety of social media in all its various guises, where news travels at the speed of light and where reputations can be made as well broken in quite literally a matter of minutes.
Read Mark's full article on the Insider Quarterly website.
photo credit: Jason A. Howie
Coffeehouses vs. Social Media
Social networks are constantly under attack for destroying productivity. This infographic claims that the use of sites such as Twitter in the workplace is costing the American economy a massive $650 billion each year.
But this is not the first time such concerns have been expressed. In the 1600s, worries arose surrounding a new social, media-sharing environment: the coffeehouse.
Coffeehouses were just as evil as social media
England’s first coffeehouse opened in the 1650s, with hundreds following suit. Coffeehouses offered more than just a hot beverage; people would visit to read and discuss the latest news and there were even specialised coffeehouses for discussions on specific topics, eg politics or shipping.
However, not everyone approved. Opponents moaned that coffeehouses were a distraction from productive work. Sound familiar?
Just like social media, critics accused the novelty of the coffeehouse of taking over lives and killing productivity. However, coffeehouse advocators saw it very differently.
Samuel Pepys would have been a Twitter-holic
Samuel Pepys made countless references to “the coffeehouse” throughout his diary, depicting the lively conversations he enjoyed there. This may have been due to their lack of recognition of social distinctions, where patrons were encouraged to engage in conversations with strangers from different walks of life.
This also sounds similar to modern social networking. Conversations on Twitter, LinkedIn Groups or even TripAdvisor do not segment contributors by social class. The nature of this widely open platform is what provides the scope for otherwise unattainable opportunities and knowledge.
This notion of facilitating the mixing of new people and ideas is what made coffeehouses ‘crucibles of creativity’.
From coffeehouse to Lloyd's
Businessmen used them as meeting rooms from which to transact business. Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse, popular amongst shipowners, captains and traders, became the famous insurance market Lloyd’s. Not quite the counterproductive enemy which the commentators had made out…
Although some bosses degrade the use of social media at work as “social notworking,” others embrace corporate versions to encourage collaboration, discover employees’ talents and reduce the use of e-mail. McKinsey (2012) found that the use of social networking within companies increased the productivity of “knowledge workers” by 20-25%.
The spirit of social media reflects that of the coffeehouses, which helps illustrate the potential for innovation and productivity, despite the negative commentary. It is therefore clear that, on the topic of dangers associated with new technologies, we can learn a lot from the past.
A final thought...
How many of you are reading this blog on your smartphone from your local coffeeshop?!
photo credit: NY Times
The insurance world is overcoming its fear of Social Media and realising the growing need for having a presence on channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter. However, knowing why and where to be on social media is not enough. The key to success is in knowing the types of content to deliver and how to deliver that content to the right audience. Social media is about engagement and encouraging your audience to, believe it or not, socialise with your brand. Although the clue is in the name, it is all too easy to forget that communicating via these networks should be focused on what your audiences want to gain from following you.
The buzz surrounding the #BIBA2014 and #BIBAFever hashtags last week demonstrated that brokers are catching up with the idea of online socialising and increasingly turn to these channels seeking relevant and timely information.
According to Insurance Age’s latest Spring Sentiment Survey, the majority of brokers (86%) want product information, implying that insurers’ content on social channels should be a visually appealing, informative showcase of their products.
However, content should never be 100% selling, and needs variety to spark attention and engagement.
Respondents could select more than one option, and over 45% said they follow insurers hoping for opinion or thought-leadership pieces via social media. 44% think the likes of Twitter and LinkedIn should be used for business updates during surge claims events, while only 11% are impressed by amusing posts.
What types of content do you engage with most??
[photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa]
