* Eric Weaver – Account Director and Strategist at Tribal DDB Worldwide
* Dave Hanley – CEO & Principal at Banyan Branch
* Daniel Rasmus – Author of “Listening to the Future”
* Kristen Ruby – CEO, Ruby Media Group
* Dr. Udi Schlessinger – Managing Partner, U Labs
* Darren Williger – President & CEO, Regillo Consulting Group
* Bille Baty – COO & Managing Partner, Phi Concepts
* Jeff Dance – Founder, Fresh Consulting
* Joe Kennedy – Founder of Eastside Entrepreneurs and AKA “The Connector”

Social Media 201 is sponsored by the Microsoft Local Engagement Team and Comcast Business Class. Supporting organizations for Social Media 201 include Fresh Consulting, Eastside Entrepreneurs Social Network, Ruby Media Group, Banyan Branch, Regillo Consulting Group and Tribal DDB Worldwide.

Mike Whitmore, President of Fresh Consulting from Bellevue, Washington explains, “the concept for Social Media 201 stemmed from the Social Media 101 Conference the Eastside Entrepreneurs and Joe Kennedy hosted last September at Microsoft. The 101 Conference helped educate business owners about what social media is and why companies should participate. The new Social Media 201 Conference is designed for those businesses that have begun to delve into social media and want to take it to the next level, find a path to profitability and measure return on investment.”

Registration for the event is available at www.SocialMedia201.com. Use the discount code FRESH to get an additional discount.

Twitter feeds on the event are available from Twitter.com/SM201CONF and you can follow the event tweets via the hashtag #SM201

The Microsoft Conference Center provides free wireless Internet connectivity. A complimentary lunch is provided for attendees thanks to Comcast Business Class.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT

www.SocialMedia201.com

To learn more, check out the first part, second part, third part, and fourth part of our 5-part series.

To see an even more comprehensive list of Twitter tools, visit Web2Review and click here.

To learn more, check out the first part, second part, and third part of our 5-part series.

We scoured Web 2.0-related videos and storyboarded what we thought to be the key concepts. Interestingly enough, the sequence of the compilation seems to fit together and tell a comprehensive story of the impact of the new web.

• Did you know? (Aug 2006)
• The Machine is Us/ing Us (Jan 2007)
• Information R/evolution (Oct 2007)
• Social Media Revolution (Jul 2009)
• Social Media Marketing (Jul 2009)

Web 2.0 is worth it for business

McKinsey Quarterly’s “Global Survey” analyzed responses from 1,700 executives to derive the business benefits gained from using Web 2.0 tools across three areas: internal within the organization; external with customers; and with suppliers, partners and experts. Now in its third year, the study has found that respondents who use Web 2.0 tools most often reported “greater ability to share ideas; improved access to knowledge experts; and reduced costs of communications, travel, and operations,” in addition to decreased time to market for products and improved employee satisfaction – these benefits are nothing to snide at.

Companies who have tasted the benefits are continuing to invest

Now, it is easy to feel confused given the inundation of noise and buzz about Web 2.0 and how it equates or even relates to real, tangible business benefits. After all, we as consumers and personal users of Web 2.0 tools have embraced these technologies adding friends and sharing information on social networks, rating and reviewing restaurants on review sites, writing about life events on blogs … but we are just beginning to see true adoption in the enterprise. However, this study by McKinsey is continued proof at even the executive-level, of some of the largest companies, that full-fledged adoption of the right Web 2.0 tools, at the right time, with the right strategy will indeed bring business benefits. If you don’t start dipping your feet in the water to get on board and become a more networked company now, you could be left behind, trying to surf ahead.

Those who are on board (networked companies) “report that their companies have gained measurable business benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues.”

And not only are they adopting now but the study found that even in the midst of this current recession, “respondents overwhelmingly say that they will continue to invest in Web 2.0.”

In fact, McKinsey’s study found that the more you use Web 2.0 technologies, the more you network and collaborate with others, the greater the benefits – something John Hagel, John Seely Brown, Lang Davison of the Deloitte Center for the Edge elaborate on in their Harvard Business School article, “Introducing the Collaboration Curve .”

Three areas are driving benefits

Although networked companies all use a blend of Web 2.0 tools, those that are most often used range from automatic information feeds such as RSS or microblogs, to traditional blogs, wikis, and podcasts – the same tools that are popular among consumers.

So exactly what do networked companies do with the tools to realize benefits across the aforementioned three areas (internal, customer, partner)?

1. Networked companies integrate Web 2.0 tools into the work flows of their people and experience powerful internal benefits. The increased “interactivity promises to bring more employees into daily contact at lower cost. When used effectively, [Web 2.0 tools] also may encourage participation in projects and idea sharing, thus deepening a company’s pool of knowledge”
2. Networked companies look outside the four walls of the firm and experience shared benefits with their customers. The new and tighter relationships created have “increased customers’ awareness and consideration of companies’ products and has improved customer satisfaction.” These companies treat their customers differently and collaborate to “jointly shape and cocreate products using Web 2.0 connections,” resulting in net, new revenue.
3. Networked companies leverage learnings from using Web 2.0 tools internally and with customers to generate better ties with suppliers and partners. These closer ties enable the ability to gain access to expertise from within the new network and they also equate to “lower costs of communication with business partners and lower travel costs.”

It’s not just new technology, there’s more to it

Obviously technology alone will not give you all those benefits. Management practices, a Web 2.0 strategy, and organization and cultural characteristics contribute significantly. McKinsey in particular found that: “three aspects of management were particularly critical to superior performance: a lack of internal barriers to Web 2.0, a culture favoring open collaboration (a factor confirmed in the 2009 survey), and early adoption of Web 2.0 technologies”

The study goes on to elaborate on adoption reporting that informal incentives such as ratings by peers and recognition of status have been most effective in addition to modeling active Web 2.0 use by executives.

Simply speaking, Web 2.0 delivers benefits by multiplying the opportunities for collaboration and by freeing up knowledge to spread more effectively.

Since the term Web 2.0 was coined back in 1999 and then made popular in 2004 by O’Reilly, what Web 2.0 really means has been debated over and over across the blogosphere while adoption and use of “Web 2.0 technologies” have continued to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace. The question we’ve all been asking is, is it worth it? Three years of analysis later, McKinsey says yes. And we would agree – call it what you will, Web 2.0 is worth it for business.