Confessions of an eBiz Junkie

Social Software and CMS

It's been hard to catch up with all of the blogs, tweets, emails, etc that piled up as I traversed the US and made my way to the Golden State. Of course, even when things are 'normal' I find it challenging to keep up with the plethora of nuggets coming from friend and Sr. Forrester Analyst Jeremiah.

Earlier this week, Jeremiah posted an interesting blog around CMS vendors and the opportunities afforded through social software. Thanks for starting this timely and relevant conversation, JO.

As you'd imagine, we've been discussing this topic for some time now (For context, EMC's Documentum Family of products is all about managing enterprise content). We use Documentum to manage hundreds of thousands  of web assets in over 50 locales across our web properties. Information life cycle capabilities ensure information is stored on the most appropriate storage tier, workflows allow information to flow seamlessly both inside and outside the enterprise, object model standards ensure the right information is delivered to the right audience at the right time, content versioning and protection ensures we adhere to regulatory compliance, etc;.

Suffice it to say the information across our web platforms is well managed.

On the other hand, we also have several instances of community offerings running throughout the company. Some part of a centralized effort, others having evolved through organic evolution. In virtually all cases, the data is unstructured. No capabilities to assign information policies, immature workflow capabilities when they do exist, etc;.

As social computing continues to establish footprint within the enterprise, it's become crystal clear that the same opportunities and capabilities afforded through traditional CMS systems are needed within the social landscape.

I look forward to the day when a product team can collaborate on messaging in a Wiki document; engage the community as appropriate through the creation process; once near complete, fire off multi-tiered workflow that runs the asset(s) through necessary review before taking it outside the enterprise for translation; and finally return to complete final review; then automatically be dropped in the most relevant spot online... Oh right, then to set off automated life-cycle policies some time later to re-engage the community to ensure the information is still relevant. The very notion makes me giddy.

I've seen products where 'total integration' means the vendor offers a handful of out of the box plugins. Beyond that, good luck recruiting a small army of IT folks to completely customize your environment to realize integration. I've yet to see the right solution where this is all brought together in a seamless offering.

But, now that I'm here in CA., I've had a chance to work a bit more closely with our Content Management and Archiving team. It's evident to me that these folks have been thinking about this.. a lot. The day I look forward to is much closer than one might think... Count EMC in on your show and tell event, Jeremiah. And again, thanks for starting this conversation.

The Way Back Machine

It's like pulling out your high school yearbook picture and realizing that indeed, you did wear one of those shirts with the giant collar. Looking back in time can be interesting and often humbling.

I was putting together a pitch on web evolution and needed a snapshot from the archives. I tend to use the Way Back Machine every year or two, and thought it worth a blog post for those unaware or who have simply forgotten. From Wikipedia:

"The Wayback Machine is a digital time capsule created by the Internet Archive. It is maintained with content from Alexa Internet. This service allows users to see archived versions of web pages across time -- what the Archive calls a "three dimensional index."

As of 2006, the Wayback Machine contained almost 2 petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 20 terabytes per month, a two-thirds increase over the 12 terabytes/month growth rate reported in 2003."

If you haven't popped by the WBM of late, it's worth a visit. It's nice to look back at the sites you had your hands in during the late 90's and get an appreciation for just how far we've come.

Some examples

The first public .COM I was involved with... There were earlier rev's (this is from '97), but this is the first that the Way Back Machine had... It doesn't make it through on a static snapshot, but we on the leading edge here with an animated gif. Also, you can sense the approaching apocalypse known as Y2K.

Here's a back to back of EMC.com from 1998 and from today. Just a touch of web evolution in 10 years...

Lastly, some real gems out there... Love the early view into Google in '98.. It's also impressive to see the simplicity of their early interface not that dissimilar from Google today.

And finally, a second (or third) gen of Devanna.com. The first had too many broken images and was far to embarrassing to share ;)

So take a nostalgic trip back in time with the Way Back Machine... It's a great tool to grab snaps of your early sites and include in PPT's as you discuss the evolution of the web in your org.

Social Media 101 by Common Craft

I missed this one while I was on the road, but just picked up the pointer on Jeremiah's blog. Another excellent video from the gang @ Common Craft... Rather complex topics presented in simple and easy to understand terms... Very powerful for helping evangelize in the enterprise. Also of note, Common Craft has opened a store where you can download high-res versions for wider distribution & training.

Alltop Part II - I'm a fan

Two posts - same topic - one day... Yup, Alltop.com grabbed my interest. I've spent a bit of time exploring the different categories. I've found some amazing blogs and my NetNewsWire subscription list has doubled.

Of most recent note - a fantastic blog by author Debbie Weil called BlogWrite for CEOs. Some great content and insight.

One of Debbie's posts pointed me to something you have to check out - Searchme.com. Still in beta, Searchme.com feels like a cross between Google and Apple's Cover Flow. Excellent interface and pretty solid results at first glance... Check it out.

Alltop - All of the Top Stories

Friend and fellow blogger Adam Cohen turned me on to Guy Kawasaki's latest project, Alltop. Alltop's tag line - "We've got all of the top stories covered all the time". I'd describe the service as a user friendly aggregator of relevant blogs organized around high level topics.

A screenshot of the main page:

Getting added as a source was as simple as drafting up an email with a brief description of who I am and what my blog's all about. The folks @ Alltop are very much open to feedback as they look to evolve existing categories and build out news ones. Once identifying a category that's of interest, you can jump right to it by going to (subject).alltop.com - In my case, Socialmedia.alltop.com.

An interesting approach on aggregation. Guy has a long track record of delivering interesting and innovative thinking. Thanks to the folks @ Alltop for being so responsive and for being open to suggestions for other future categories... Alltop.com is definitely something to watch.

EMC World Begins

Today's the big day. Following a concert by the Goo Goo Dolls last night, EMC World kicks off in full swing this morning with an action packed agenda over the next few days. I'll be watching activities in real time via Twitter and following thoughts from employee and attendees alike via #EMCWorld @ Hashtags.org.

Some neat media is starting to surface. This one caught my eye and I thought you'd enjoy it. more to come over the course of the week. Of course, many more cool vids available over at the EMC Channel on YouTube.

EMC World and Twitter

Walking the halls here in Hopkinton, there's a buzz in the air... EMC World in next week. This years event will see a record crowd, with over 9,000 customers, partners, technologists, journalists and analysts assembling from across the globe.

With some late breaking conflicts, it looks like I will not be in attendance this go. Probably just as well as I'm not 100% sure the statute of limitations has expired from last year's incident.

What's most exciting to me is the focus on Social Media this time around. A year ago, SM was but a concept in the fortune 500 space. Yes, we had flavors of forums here and there - but most had yet to embrace it as a core part of their business strategy. That's changed - and demand is bubbling up all around - EMC World is no exception.

Twitter in the Enterprise

Me - "Hi. My name is Len and I have a problem.

The Crowd (in unison) - "Hi Len..."

I think I might be on the road to becoming a Twitterholic.

I have to admit, when I first signed up to Tweet, I saw it as a bit of a novelty. My first impression, and many early Tweets supported the thinking, was centered around point in time activity (I'm having eggs for breakfast or Man do I hate shiny things..." ). Not sure if I just didn't see it then or if the Twitter crowd has helped evolve the overall behavior of the community.

It's since become a critical part of my day-to-day activity. I use it to gather business intelligence, ask questions to a wide variety of subject matter experts and expand my overall network.

IMO, the opportunities afforded by Twitter to the enterprise are huge.

EMC World Bloggers Unite!

It looks like I'll be attending EMC World this year - along with fellow EMC bloggers Mark Twomey, Barry Burke, Bill Petro and Steve Todd.

I thought we'd try something a bit different this time... I'd like to round up all of the attendees who will be blogging, Twittering, Flickr'ing, Utter'ing or (insert your favorite trendy tool here) their way through the event...

I want to gauge interest from the community and will work out logistics based on how many folks sign up... If two of you sign up, Storagezilla and I will be hanging out in the parking lot of the Manadalay Bay with a six-pack of Schlitz for a meet & greet and a game of kick-the-can. Any more than that and we'll find a formal venue where we can get together and have some fun...

I've put together a Wiki for sign-ups. If you'll be @ World and want to get together for a blogger meet & greet - please sign up here (The password to update is community). We'll use this Wiki as main point of information sharing as we try to pull something together.

There's also the EMC World community for attendees. If you haven't already signed up - check it out. There's a cool 'people finder' like app that let you find peers with similar interests and get together for a chat. Discussion forums are also available to help you interact with the minds behind the event and other attendees to help shape the breakouts and talk about what you'd like to see @ the event.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Edit - One more thing, Twiiter users, be sure to follow Twitter.com/EMCWorld for real time news & info during the conference...

The Candidates and the Community

I received a LinkedIn request today and followed the link to accept... And there he was, Senator John McCain asking me "What is the biggest challenge America faces?".

I've been impressed with the way the candidates have embraced Social Media to connect with the voters...