Recently by Frederick L. Faulkner IV
Last year you may remember me writing about a project I worked on redesigning and launching a new website for our flagship periodical, ABA Journal. It was just announced that the ABA Journal website has become a finalist in the Law category of the People's Voice section of the Webby Awards (an online award for websites). So spend a little time, vote for the ABA Journal and help us win a Webby! Winners are announced on May 6th. I'll be going over for the Keynote today on Internet Privacy with my new team.
Tracks this year include:
- Advanced IT/Security
- Client Relationships - NEW!
- E-Discovery
- Going Green - NEW!
- Internet
- Large Firm / Corporate Counsel - NEW!
- Litigation
- Mac Track - NEW!
- Microsoft Office
- Mobile Technology
- Paperless Office - NEW!
- Records Management
- Roundtables
- Show Me How
- Solo/Small Firm I
- Solo/Small Firm II
Day one had a great line up of speakers and content. Day two looks like it will be no different.
Here is my Twitter Stream which I will be updating during the day. I'll then recap later.
LIVE! From Forrester Consumer Forum
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Online Community Sites of Note:
Dell CommunityIdeaExchange by Salesforce
Real World New Cast Member by MTV
IdeaStorm by Dell
Updated: 3:45pm
I'm at the Forrester Consumer Forum in Chicago today and tomorrow. I'll be writing my thoughts and observations on the content from the conference here.
So far there have been some great speakers. The theme of the conference is around the online world, social integration, advertising, and how your company can understand and take advantage of this medium. The format of the Forum is pretty cool. Short presentation on targeted topics, then a "coffee talk" type Q&A with the speaker (literally two chairs with an end-table on a stage w/ two large video screens on each side). The dialog is great and personal to those in the audience.
Kicking off the conference was Forrester Vice President and senior analyst Charlene Li. Charlene does a lot of her research around the social technographics. Who is using the social tools, how, and to what level of participation.
Christie Hefner from Playboy had a great keynote on how Playboy has truly been able to leverage the Playboy brand in ways that most companies would drool over. It is amazing how they have been able to integrate new solutions successfully from Print, to TV, to Online, and now Mobile. They have brought the brand beyond the print publication(s) to the real world, and now virtual world with an entry into Second Life. They also have been able to leverage a key demographic and target market by launching PlayboyU, a social space for college students with an .edu email address.
3:45pm
Richard Edelman, president and ceo of Edelmen PRgave one of the most forward thinking perspectives when it comes to PR/MR. It resonates with a lot of what I've been thinking about when it comes to control of messages, brands, and the interaction with your consumers (and in my work, members and consumers). One of the biggest take-aways was the reality of how the traditional media triangle works. It used (and in many corporations still is) to be that a few influencers controlled the conversation and distributed it to the masses. It has touch points of how it got distributed and they all came back to the same message. The internet, and social media such as blogs, ratings, reviews, etc. changes that model. Today if someone wants to have information about some topic, the influencers are now bloggers, customers, like-minded individuals who publish online. Companies have to realize that there is a limited amount of influential control they have left. Now, the mass audience make up their own minds--right, wrong, or in-different.
I also got to attend one of track sessions. It was about how User Generated Content, or UGC, can have a place in corporate strategies. The panel included representatives from Dell, QVC, and Baazarvoice. Each explained how they have taken UGC and integrated it into their company strategies. From Dell's IdeaStorm, a customer feedback site that allows users to rate feedback for popularity, to how QVC uses real-time feedback to inject into their programming. UGC is a tough cookie to crack and how to use it. Let alone if it really does. Many of us have wondered how to make it work. We are fearful of the backlash and if execs can even swallow the fact that they are not in control of what goes on. But that's OK. Rather, we need to find ways that work for us. For example, customer reviews. Having all positive customer reviews on a product page in reality is just product testimonials. You need negative reviews to show authenticity. Companies have to understand how UGC works, it is written by passionate individuals (for good or bad) and it is often intended to help like minded individuals (though companies can listen and learn from them). Monetizing on this type of feedback and content is still a challenge, but models are being formed and success is in the results--more products shipped and more revenue generated.
I'll be updating this more with my notes and perceptions. This is just the beginning so I can pay attention to the presentations and blogging at the same time.
Additional Coverage
Technorati
Forrester Marketing Blog
Flickr
This morning the ABA Journal launched a brand new website that fills a void in the legal news space that will be tough to beat. Summarizing 25 to 50 legal news items a day (RSS Feed), the Journal aggregates the legal news world in one spot. In addition to legal news, the Journal editorializes what is the "most important" legal news you need to be aware of by highlighting "Top Stories" (RSS Feed). Not stopping there, the new site brings their print edition online with full access to the current issue as well as archives back to 2005 (with plans to go even further). Finally, the Journal has a blawg (legal blog) directory which currently has over 1000 blogs categorized and more are added daily.
These are just a few of the highlights. In reality, there is a lot behind this redesign that is cool. Some of the "not so obvious" secrets include:
The Slider - an interactive sliding bar similar to what you would see on Time.com or Washington Post.com. It will highlight special features and parts of the monthly magazine.
Advanced Search - Most advanced search boxes take you to a separate page with new fields to check off for narrowed searches. Not this site! Click "Advanced Search" and get an AJAX slider presenting you with some new options for you to narrow your results.
Action Bar - Get directly to comments, Share/E-mail uses a similar AJAX slider feature, Permalink, and Print.
Commenting - Add your opinion to our posts and magazine stories. Comments will be open for 7 days past news items and 30 days past magazine articles. Name and email required as well as filling out a CAPTCHA and agreeing to some terms/disclaimer.
Mobile Edition - Stay up-to-date on the most recent posts with your smartphone. Be sure to bookmark http://mobile.abajournal.com.
This site was a large undertaking and in reality went from memo to launch in just about five months. This was very aggressive when you think about all the decisions that need to be made from functionality, to wireframing, selecting vendors to work with, design/comp, filling with content, beta-testing, fixing bugs, training, and launch. My work with the Journal was specific to translating business goals and functionality into working documents for vendors, developing some beta templates, and providing training on specific functionality and business processes.
The great thing about the web and a website like this is that it is never really "done" and believe me when I say that this site will continue to improve with new features, functionality, and reasons to visit on a regular basis. So bookmark the site (www.abajournal.com), sign up for a newsletter or grab an RSS feed or two and be sure to keep tabs on this site.
On a personal note, congrats to the ABA Journal (specifically to Ed, Molly, Deb, Martha, and Sarah) on a job well done.
Update:
A few other aspects I forgot to point out about the new ABA Journal website:
Daily and Weekly Newsletters & RSS Feeds - Pick your poison, get news via RSS feeds for top stories and daily news, or subscribe to the daily and weekly email newsletters. Daily will recap the last day's worth of content; weekly will cover the top ten posts of the week.
Tag Cloud - Having your topics sorted in alpha order is nice, seeing a tag cloud is better! See how many entries we have pertaining to a topic on the Topics page and on the Tag Cloud tab. Categories are alpha left to right and are weighted against the number of items in each category based on the news items and the magazine content.
Other opinions:
Read some other opinions of the new site:Denise Howell @ Bag and Baggage
Dennis Kennedy @ DennisKennedy.blog [Note: Dennis and I are friends as well as having previously worked together at the ABA, so this one is a little "slanted" in my favor. ]
Eric Turkewitz @ New York Personal Injury Law Blog
Ernie "the attorney" Svenson @ Ernie the Attorney
Mark Obbie @ The Carnegie Legal Reporting Program at Newhouse Blog
Example Scenario
This article originally was published in the May 2007 issue of LLRX.
You have worked for a large firm for many years and you have made the decision to either go solo or start a small firm. You were used to having access to all your information via an Intranet, file server, and your desktop. You could practice law and let the IT department worry about when the printer jammed or if you got a virus. Now that you are solo, you are the one that has to deal with all those problems as well as practice law.
As of 1:00 today FeedBurner was officially acquired by Google. I had a quick chat to day with Rick Klau today regarding setting up an account with them and was double checking about the Terms of Service when he mentioned that they would be updated at around 1:00 today. So the rumors were true! Yes, it seems they were.
I'm excited to see where this all goes. Google just continues to get bigger, but they are making strategic buys too. I mean just think what the JotSpot acquisition will do for them if they integrate it into Google Apps. RSS is the future of content distribution, and now advertising opportunities too. I believe that RSS subscribers are more targeted than regular website pageviews and traffic. FeedBurner has a great model and it will serve Google well.
Congrats to FeedBurner. They have long been a company I've admired, wished I could have worked for (and now you see why!). You can read more about the acquisition at the Burning Questions blog.
Update: Google's Announcement
Chicago Tribune Story (Free Reg. Req.)
A new feature of From the 21st Floor: Aggregator Addition. Aggregator Addition (AA) will highlight certain blogs that are in my news aggregator that I feel you might find beneficial to have in yours.
Kicking off AA is Web Worker Daily (feed. Web Worker Daily is a product of the GigaOM network produced by Om Malik. Web Worker Daily discusses tips, gear, how-to, and other productivity tips for young professionals (at least that seems to be the demographic). I've found several great tips here from Telecommuting: Not Just for Disaster Response to Your Eyes Want You to Multitask. Resist!.
So give Web Worker Daily a read and add it to your aggregator probation list to see if it makes the cut.
