DISQUS

Web 2.0 and Social Media: Agencies lack Web 2.0 technology expertise

  • jeffparks · 1 year ago
    As Andrew Hinton discussed at the IA Summit "Conversation is king!" Agencies can only better integrate technology when they begin to spend more time listening openly to each other and their customers for how technology can support employees and customers.

    Technology is but a tool to aid in the conversation - and in many cases a poor choice depending on what people want / need to communicate.

    30 years ago, less than a generation, we had very little reliance on technology and in my opinion, people were much better at communicating.

    I've argued several times over the past couple of years that technical skills will become less important than soft skills - and I think we've been seeing that play out since the dot com bubble burst.

    Listen carefully. Question for clarity. Build Accordingly.
  • deanwhit · 1 year ago
    The problem at the agency level is more tactical. As new sites are being conceived and launched for major brands its rare that these solutions are keeping up to technology. There's hardly the platform to aid the conversation because in many cases there isn't a well constructed social media component. Web 2.0 as a concept touches social media, user interface and service architecture. Following the cluetrain manifesto "A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.", by not understanding Web 2.0 technology and social change opportunities for brands to participate as humans are being lost along with brand affinity.
  • John Bergdoll · 1 year ago
    Dean,
    Excellent insight! I love the phrase 'a global conversation has begun.'

    John
  • Paloma · 1 year ago
    Wow Dean, very interesting. My answer would be: "having the best people".
    Regards
    Paloma
  • sjalloul · 1 year ago
    Take risks and embrace open source technologies and standards to full extent, those people are already in these agencies and unfortunately their skills aren't put to action. That has been my experience so far, and I regret not being able to spend my day in LAMP stack.

    In addition agencies don't find themselves in the role of enabling these areas as an internal competitive advantage, which is in many ways damaging.

    Sam