A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Maximising the Effectiveness of Your Online Resources: Exploiting the Social Web to Promote Your Resources Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Acceptable Use Policy Recording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Acceptable Use Policy Recording this talk, taking photos, discussing the content using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Twitter: Blog: Gowalla: (new)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 2 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

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 Talks given in 2009 covered Web 2.0, accessibility & standards. Using Tools I Talk About Use of Web 2.0 technologies & approaches: RSS feeds for structured information Geo-location data Exploitation of 3 rd party services Openness of resources Risk assessment / management approaches Note also use of blogs, video blogs, YouTube, Twitter, …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 4 Revisiting SEO Summary of key approaches: Apply various techniques to Web resources to make resources easier to find in Google, … 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 Google to end users Summary of key approaches: Apply various techniques to Web resources to make resources easier to find in Google, … 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 Google to end users Databases Web sites Real world Directories Google (Live Search Bing, …)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 5 Beyond SEO Summary of key approaches: 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 chatting and sharing Summary of key approaches: 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 chatting and sharing Databases Web sites Directories Social Services (Facebook, Slideshare, Twitter, …) Real world

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 6 Opportunities & Challenges

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 7 It’s About The Individual! Focus of the Social Web is the individual. Challenges posed: ‘It’s my space’ ‘Sustainability Privacy Editorial control Branding … Focus of the Social Web is the individual. Challenges posed: ‘It’s my space’ ‘Sustainability Privacy Editorial control Branding …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 8 Web2MemeMap, Tim O’Reilly, 2005 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) Trust and openness 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) Trust and openness Web 2.0 What Is Web 2.0? Marketing term (derived from observing 'patterns') rather than technical standards - “an attitude not a technology” Web 2.0

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 9 What Does Google Find? Pages in Wikipedia are Google-friendly First 3 rd party Web site for search for ‘British Library’ is from Wikipedia Wikis Similar results found for a search for ‘British Postal Museum’

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 10 Exploiting Wikipedia (1) Is your organisation listed in Wikipedia? If not you are missing out on a (free) marketing opportunity. Wikis

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 11 Exploiting Wikipedia (2) 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. The original page may have been embarrassing. How long might this page have been promoting your museum? Conclusions: Doing nothing may not be an option! And would you allow inaccurate information to be published in a popular print publications?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 12 Exploiting Wikipedia (3) How to proceed: How to create pages: See Museums and Wikipedia paper, J Bowden from MW 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’, … Wikis Note: This is now fixed

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 13 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 … Blogs Jo Alcock (librarian at Wolverhampton University) has a blog which allows her to engage with her users on library developments and solicit feedback

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 14 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 Blogs

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 15 The Paper In The Repository The paper in the repository can fail to engage with potential interested parties (especially if the paper is embargoed)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Facilitating The Discussion The blog post about the paper can engage a wider audience … 16 and encourage discussion and debate.. and provide links to discussions taking place elsewhere

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 17 Best Practices For Bloggers 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 … See UKOLN’s Cultural Heritage IntroBytes briefing documents

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 18 From A Distance Blog Blogs 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

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 19 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 …. Blogs Some minor criticisms from Stephen Downes, a well-read Canadian e=learning guru A speedy reply, and a positive response

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 20 What Can Twitter Offer? Twitter

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 21 What Can Twitter Offer? Twitter Promoting blog post about possible event. Brief - designed for retweeting (RT) Should you add “Please RT”?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 22 What Can Twitter Offer? Twitter “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)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 23 Rationale: Allow retweeting in entirety Clause which can be removed (“in light of #digitalbritain report”) to allow for commentary (e.g. “great post”) 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 Second draft: “Respect Copyright (and Subvert It!)" Thoughts on copyright & openness in light of #digitalbritain report

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 24 Twitter – Some Evidence Personal experience Most popular post on UKOLN’s Cultural heritage blog in May 2009: “Explaining the Risks and Opportunities Framework” Announced on Twitter at on 21 st May 2009: Blog post explaining the Risks & Opportunities Framework published at Twitter “I haven’t got the time to use Twitter. And it can’t justify the ROI” Really?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 25 Twitter – Further Evidence Where are the visits coming from? Twitter As the top post has been tweeted, possibly the visits are from a Twitter client (rather than the Twitter Web site)

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 26 “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 pre- filtered and come in the form of a recommendation from someone you are following. TechCrunch, June 2009

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 27 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 to bookmark resources (no need to copy URLs) Slides The PowerPoint file is a live resource which can be easily accessed, discussed and provide links to relevant resources during a talk and subsequently.

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 28 Slideshare To Promote Ideas Slideshare I use Slideshare to maximise awareness of ideas in papers I deliver at conferences. Approaches: Slides uploaded in advance (accessibility benefits) Allow slides to be embedded in blogs, Web pages, … Text, tags, links & metadata to support searching & provide context I use Slideshare to maximise awareness of ideas in papers I deliver at conferences. Approaches: Slides uploaded in advance (accessibility benefits) Allow slides to be embedded in blogs, Web pages, … Text, tags, links & metadata to support searching & provide context

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 29 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

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 30 YouTube Want to make your University appealing to potential students? They’re likely to look at YouTube What will they find?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 31 YouTube Want to make your University appealing to potential students? They’re likely to look at YouTube What will they find? Student-published videos may appeal to potential students – but the approaches (drunkenness, copyrighted sound clips, etc.) won’t be used officially

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 32 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 YouTube follow well- established guidelines (e.g. title, description, tags, …) “Given that YouTube is by far the most popular video website, you should be publishing videos there (even if you are a B2B company like HubSpot ”

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 33 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 – 21,760 in Apr 2010

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 34 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?

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 35 Brooklyn Museum Case Study Brooklyn Museum blog – with post about their iPhone App. Also note ease of bookmarking, user feedback, …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 36 Brooklyn Museum Case Study

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 37 Brooklyn Museum Case Study Note their presence in Facebook …

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 38 Brooklyn Museum Case Study Brooklyn Museum have also developed a Facebook application (Artshare) which allows their resources to be embedded on other Facebook pages

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 39 Brooklyn Museum Case Study Flickr used to support Graffiti Exhibition: Reach large nos. Allow users to comment Allow users to upload related photos in group Supported org’s mission See “Building an On-line Community at the Brooklyn Museum: A Timeline”, MW 2007 and “Where Do We Go From Here? Continuing with Web 2.0 at the Brooklyn Museum”, MW 2008

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 40 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!

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 41 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

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Questions and Discussion Any questions? 42

A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 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? 43