Mediaboss Marketing

Are you dreaming of a social enterprise?

At Dreamforce in San Francisco this week, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff trotted out executives from companies such as General Electric, Virgin America, Coca-Cola and Burberry to tell their success stories about connecting customers, employees, partners and, yes, even products.

"It's a fundamental change in business," Benioff told the crowd gathered at the Moscone Center, imploring them to get on board with the social revolution.

With the tagline "Touch the Social Enterprise" and boasting a record 95,000 registered attendees, Dreamforce turned out to be a social networking love-fest that featured a meandering interview with Sir Richard Branson and a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in front of City Hall.

Wielding Salesforce.com tools, CEOs and CIOs professed great returns on investment from enterprise social networking. George Zimmer of Men's Wearhouse said he had spent untold millions on television advertisements courting Baby Boomers but is transforming to social networking to reach Millennials and find out what they like and don't like.

"You're going to like the way Salesforce works, I guarantee it," Zimmer says in a riff on his famous line.

Coca-Cola showed off the power of mobile and the cloud with a "smart" soda machine that connects to customers via a phone and lets them mix and match flavors and share recipes on Facebook.

Then there's CEO Angela Ahrendts of Burberry waving her iPhone to the crowd and predicting that fashion advertising will link up with the mobile phone in scenarios reminiscent of the movie "Minority Report". That is, advertisements on a wall will connect with customers via the smartphone.

Behind the glam, though, the social enterprise isn't a dream come true.

Companies, for instance, talked about using Twitter to connect customers with customer service. When a customer complains on Twitter, someone at the company is listening and can respond. The underlying message: Air your complaints in a public way, and you'll receive help.

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Dreamforce reality check: The social revolution is not for everyone

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Everyone in technology thinks they have the next big thing, but two University of North Florida Seniors might be right.

They launched Open Leaf, an academic social networking site at the beginning of the school year.

"I think one time we programmed for like 27 hours straight. Just lots of coffee," said Co-Founder Eric Nopanen.

Nopanen and James Hamilton didn't waste any time launching their social networking site Open Leaf.

All told, the duo spent more than 800 hours to get the program off the ground.

"My eyes were hurting from programming for so long, I put on sunglasses," he said.

Just 3 weeks in to the school year, the site already has almost 1,000 subscribers.

It's open to any student at any college or university who just wants to learn. It connects people in similar majors to brainstorm, get tutoring, or meet up to study.

"Essentially it's like opening a big virtual classroom to every course around the country," said Hamilton.

"It's just meant for students to connect and share resources, discuss relevant topics," said Nopanen.

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UNF Students launch social networking site

20-09-2012 07:19 Five Talking Points of London Fashion Week 2012 Jess Cartner-Morley and Simon Chilvers look back at London fashion week, the biggest five days in the UK fashion calendar. There were highlights from the Christopher Kane, Mulberry, Burberry and Jonathan Saunders shows; a more significant role in the fashion world for social networking technology; and hints at some new trends

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Five Talking Points of London Fashion Week 2012 - Video

Geoff Rushton said Penn State's excellence in social networking platforms can't be attributed to one person or one department -- it is a University-wide effort.

The university was recently ranked No. 1 in social networking usage by Unigo, a company that partners with media outlets like USA Today and provides statistical data for colleges and universities, according to its website.

The specific poll was listed as the "Top 10 schools where the faculty is on Facebook more than you are," but Rushton, the manager of the Office of Social Media in University Relations, said it stems from all social media platforms throughout the university.

"This recognition is speaking to the work the entire university community does," he said.

He cited specifically faculty using social media in classrooms and student groups, such as Nittany Nation and the IFC/Panhellenic Council Dance Marathon, that provide a strong online presence in addition to the administrative offices using the tools.

"For us, and I think a lot of communications offices throughout the university, social media has become very important with what we do," he said, adding that professors are finding they can use the tools more in the teaching process.

Rushton expects even more collaboration from all Penn State departments and the social media sites to grow.

He said the university always is looking into new tools that are cropping up and it is focused to stay on the cutting edge of the landscape. But it must have a practical use.

"It really kind of depends what you want to use it for, what you could use it for and just how adventurous you want to be," he said of expanding the presence to new and upcoming online platforms.

Yale University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California rounded out the list's top five.

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Penn State Ranked No. 1 in Social Media Usage

The social-networking giant now charges merchants to posts ads along with deals on its site.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

Facebook Offers aren't free for merchants anymore. As the company seeks new ways to increase revenue, it has started charging businesses to run deals on its site.

The social networking giant launched Facebook Offers earlier this year as a free service that allows business to send promotions directly to user news feeds. A company's Facebook fans are able to redeem vouchers for discounts.

The offers remain free for users to redeem, but Facebook now requires merchants to spend at least $5 on related ads to accompany their vouchers, the company said today. The amount charged will depend on the budget of the business and how much it would like to spend to boost its offer, a Facebook spokeswoman said.

"The new features will help people find the most relevant Offers, such as in their local area, and help businesses better measure the success of their Offers," Facebook said in a statement. Reuters earlier reported the change to Offers.

Both before and after its IPO in May, Facebook faced questions about its ability to grow and to make money. Chief among the worries is doubt about Facebook's mobile strategy, as well as concern about a slowdown in advertising.

Today's move heightens competition with other daily deals sites, such as Groupon and LivingSocial. Such companies provide new offers to subscribers --or fans, in Facebook's case -- each day, typically with discounts. Through the deals, merchants are able to attract new customers, while the site provider typically shares in the revenue. But increased competition in the area is pressuring Groupon and its rivals.

Facebook declined to provide details about the number of companies participating in Offers, the number of vouchers offered, or other related information.

A spokeswoman said Facebook hasn't shared any data about Offers but said it has been a "very popular offering" since Facebook released it earlier this year.

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Facebook Offers no longer free