Daily Archives: July 29, 2009

NewsGator today cited strong momentum in the growing enterprise social computing market, reporting that over one million paid business users now take advantage of its Social Sites enterprise social computing solutions. Social Sites helps a wide range of organizations harness the value of social networking, but the financial services, pharma/biotech, professional services, high-tech, and aerospace and defense industries have been the strongest adopters of the technology.
For example, NewsGator counts the top five pharma/biotech firms as Social Sites customers, including Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Other customers include two of the world’s top three banks, two of the top three U.S. manufacturers of network and communications equipment, eight of the top 15 U.S. pharmaceutical companies, three of the top seven U.S. aerospace and defense companies, and two of the top five consulting companies, among many others.
Social networking software like Social Sites is the top enterprise spending category among Web 2.0 technologies that will generate $4.6 billion in sales globally by 2013, according to Forrester Research. Social networking is also predicted to have the strongest annual growth rate in that span.
NewsGator Social Sites creates a business-class enterprise social computing environment for streamlined performance. When coupled with the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 collaboration foundation, it adds Facebook-like features for business, including networking, user profiling, people and content search, community creation, social bookmarking, activity streams, social graphing and robust reporting.
The multifaceted value proposition of Social Sites – improved collaboration, expertise discovery, knowledge management, innovation and overall agility – helps enterprises compete in their industries and empower their employees, customers and partners.
More and more organizations are discovering the value of social computing, industry-watchers confirm. “Business executives are paying more attention to issues like improving how employees work with one another and with partners, encouraging corporate innovation, and gaining wider participation in corporate decision-making,” said Gartner Inc. Research Director Nikos Drakos. “This focus is leading enterprises to take advantage of new opportunities offered by emerging forms of collaboration like social software.”
“The sheer efficiency of connecting experts across organizations, fostering instantaneous collaboration, and organizing knowledge as it’s created argue overwhelmingly for enterprise social computing as the new standard operating system for business,” said NewsGator CEO and President J.B. Holston. “Our customer success demonstrates that social computing isn’t just for early adopters anymore, and NewsGator is well-positioned to help more companies get their social computing environments up and running quickly and efficiently.”
Deeper engagement with Microsoft
NewsGator also reported today that Microsoft has named NewsGator a “depth-managed” independent software vendor (ISV) partner. Such status is achieved by fewer than three percent of Microsoft partners. This affirms NewsGator as a strategic business partner in one of the most important, fastest-growing markets for Microsoft, and it deepens the engagement between the two companies for the benefit of enterprise customers.
About NewsGator Technologies, Inc.
NewsGator Technologies helps enterprises and media companies leverage social computing solutions to deliver real business value. The company’s enterprise social networking and widget services are in use by hundreds of the world’s most recognized brands, including Biogen Idec, CBS, CNN, Discovery, National Geographic, Procter & Gamble and USA Today. NewsGator Social Sites and Enterprise Server give enterprises better ways to collaborate, share content, expand employee knowledge and improve productivity. NewsGator’s Widget Services and iPhone applications enable media and brand companies to better engage their audiences and extend the value of their brands through viral syndication of content. NewsGator also offers free, award-winning RSS aggregators for the desktop and mobile devices. For more information, visit www.newsgator.com.

Women’s Network Group held their mid-year annual conference in San Francisco and this year’s theme, “Growth in the Age of Social Networks,” attracted Internet, law and retail firms throughout the Bay Area.
Julie Davis, Aon Corporation, was the luncheon keynote and she explored, with the audience, risks that social network firms face. Reports indicate that Facebook has over 225 million people, Twitter over 8.8 million and LinkedIn over 30.1 million. But the market is much broader. “It now includes over 500 social media sites and many of those firms need assistance in better understanding their exposures and managing their risks,” reported Davis. Davis highlighted their unique challenges, including emerging threats in data breaches, various sources of liabilities, privacy and security exposures. She reviewed how insurance carriers quantify the risks and highlighted insurance coverages and risk management tools to help manage the exposures. Her keynote luncheon concluded with a unique glimpse of future changes in social media and additional corporate risks that may be on the horizon.
“Drawing on a wealth of experience from all of the participants, the California Women’s Mid-Year Conference was a success. Social media is a growing area and we are excited to have such a great audience,” stated Anna Smith, President, California Women’s Network.
For more information about the conference, please send an email inquiry to Anna Smith, California Women’s Network, at [email protected]. For additional information on risk factors for social media firms, please contact Julie Davis, Aon Corporation.
About the Luncheon Keynote Speaker:
Julie K. Davis has been with Aon Corporation (AOC) for fifteen years. Her business mission is to help innovative industries manage their business risks. She is the recipient of Chicago Innovation Awards and an Insurance Innovators Award, a finalist in the annual Stevie Awards for Innovation of Best New Product / Service, recognized by I-Street Magazine in their annual “Women in Black” Awards and recently named Who’s Who for Entrepreneurial Work in the Insurance and Risk Management Field. She attended the University of Texas and Rice University. She can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 408-439-2654.
About the California Women’s Network:
This women’s association is designed for leaders of new or rapidly growing companies with less than 1,000 employees and leaders of autonomous business units in larger organizations.
Contact: Anna Smith, President, California Women’s Network Group, [email protected]
This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com

Team Saxo Bank had another successful Tour de France with Fabian Cancellara winning the opening time trial stage as well as two other stage wins, and two riders in the top five in the overall competition rankings including a second place for Andy Schleck who also won the youth competition. This led to a high increase in online mentions, specifically on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Saxo Bank, the team’s main sponsor and a consistent winner of industry awards itself, launched www.saxotakingthelead.com prior to the Tour, a new and unique concept combining video, audio and text into a free website for cycling fans. The website helped accelerate Google searches to new highs for the online bank in Denmark, where the bank is headquartered and, also, in Luxembourg, the native country of the two Schleck brothers, as well as in France, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.

The news reference volume also rose during the Tour’s initial weeks when Team Saxo Bank’s Olympic Time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara won the Tour’s Yellow Jersey and kept it until the seventh stage of the Tour.

Statistics show that this year’s Tour de France became a Twitter-revolution for Saxo Bank, with an increase of tweets of more than 50% compared with before the Tour. Also, according to Nielsen Company BlogPulse research, the number of blog posts mentioning Saxo Bank quadrupled during the event.

Saxo Bank’s entry into the world of sport sponsorship was confirmed in June 2008 when its joint CEOs signed an agreement with Riis Cycling A/S. The agreement meant that Saxo Bank became co-sponsor of Team CSC, in time for Team CSC Saxo Bank to participate in the 2008 Tour de France.

In July 2008, Team CSC Saxo Bank won Tour de France. Other wins in 2008 contributed to building Saxo Bank’s brand in key markets, such as France, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. On 1 January 2009, Saxo Bank became the sole main sponsor of Team Saxo Bank. The duration term of the contract is three years.

In explaining their decision to sponsor the team, Saxo Bank’s founders and co-CEOs, Kim Fournais and Lars Seier Christensen said that, in addition to being one of the world’s most popular and watched sports with an audience of billions of viewers, cycling on this level expresses the same kind of values and attitudes that Saxo Banks identifies with. “Winning and team work, is what Saxo Bank has been about from the outset. Endurance and passion are some of the other features that we have in common. We are proud that we now will have the opportunity to highlight these values and show what sports and business can do together”

About Saxo Bank
Saxo Bank is an online trading and investment specialist, enabling clients to trade Forex, CFDs, Stocks, Futures, Options and other derivatives, as well as providing portfolio management via SaxoWebTrader and SaxoTrader, the leading online trading platforms. SaxoTrader is available directly through Saxo Bank or through one of the bank’s global partners. White Labelling is a significant business area for Saxo Bank, and involves the Bank’s online trading platform being customised and branded for other financial institutions and brokers. Saxo Bank has more than 120 White Label Partners and boasts thousands of clients in over 180 countries. Saxo Bank is headquartered in Copenhagen with offices in Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates.

Twitter TV Live Network a 24-hour TV network headed by Carlton Enoch, CEO of Connection Films is producing the all new Twriddle Treasures game show to be played by Twitter users.
Twriddle Treasures is an interactive game show that uses Twitter as the interface for the game. It gives tweeps worldwide the opportunity to compete for prizes based on their own intellectual genius in solving the Twriddles (riddles) that are posted daily by Twitter TV Live Network on Twitter.com.
There are two phase of the game.
Phase 1. Played daily on twitter.com. Sponsors provide fresh twriddles daily and tweeps guess the Twriddle (riddle) and win prizes; PS3, iPhones, iPods, computers, and a range of gift certificates from stores worldwide and lots more…
Phase 2. Tweeps can elect to go to the next level and be on Twitter TV Live’s on air Twriddle Treasure Hunt by use of the iPhone and iPhone apps and Ustream.com by submitting their twriddle answers for an opportunity to be selected to search for clues to solve the grand Twriddle and win Bonus prizes, which include Vacations, cars etc… and lots and lots and lots of cash. Because the game is not location specific, Twriddle Treasure Hunts will take place in cities all over the world so everyone has an opportunity to play the game.
The official game will begin in September 2009 as one of the show line ups for the new Twitter TV Live Network, which is currently in production with fourteen other television shows including Twitter Unleashed, Lipstick and Coffee and Twitter with the Flow. More information about all of the new shows can be found on the network’s website. twittertvlive.com
About Us:
Twitter TV Live is a Live Network focuses on everything Twitter, with several shows now in production, including Twitter Unleashed, Twitter ‘wit’ the Flow, Twriddle Treasure Hunt and Lipstick and Coffee. If it Ain’t on Twitter, it Ain’t on Twitter TV LIVE

http://www.twittertvlive.com

The Parnassus Group, creators of the world’s first conference series dedicated to the professional uses of Twitter, announced that they will again host the popular “Developer Launchpad” session at their upcoming Twitter Conference in Los Angeles.

“Promising new Twitter-based applications are appearing on a daily basis,” said Steve Broback, Founder of the Twitter Conference. “Our goal is to identify the most innovative and useful services based on the Twitter APIs, and expose them to our audience.”

The first “Launchpad” premiered at the sold-out Twitter Conference in Mountain View, CA in May. At that event, the developers of Flaggpole, Publicitweet, Jobaba, Chatterbox, Tweetfunnel, Twittylinks, and Twittfilter all debuted their new services to the world at large.
Developers are encouraged to submit their projects for consideration. A panel of conference speakers will then confer to select the eight most qualified applications to demo at the conference.

Submissions for the launchpad session will be accepted through Friday, August 21st, or when thirty submissions have been received, whichever happens first. See the full rules and submit your application for review at the twitter conference site: http://parnassusgroup.com/twitterconference/2009/launchpad2009/

Founded in 2004, Parnassus Group provides services to clients and partners seeking to participate in the social media space. We’ve helped everyone from Fortune 500 companies to sole proprietorships in their efforts to leverage technologies like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and more.

Companies should be utilising a hosted social network in order to reap the benefits of improved communication, both internally between employees and externally with their consumers according to Reality Digital, the leading provider of web community software for brands.

An online community can be used to facilitate internal interaction and communication, in an environment where files can be shared and used with ease. A social network presents the possibility for internal horizontal influence, whereby almost every individual within the enterprise enjoy the same level of influence within the network.

A white label social network also improves communication with the consumer fan base in the outside world, providing a wider platform for the delivery of brand messages and other content. On a broader scale, the social network serves as a focal point for a business online, improving customer engagement and brand awareness through the medium of the internet.
Robert Proctor, Head of EMEA for Reality Digital, commented: “Companies should see a social networking platform as a method of internal communication as well as a way of successfully engaging and delivering campaign messages to its consumers. Enhanced internal communications greatly improves productivity, meaning that the company will benefit from the network directly as well as profiting indirectly through commercial results such as sales.”

Reality Digital’s Opus platform offers the potential for a high quality social network, incorporating all of the latest networking innovations such as high definition video content, and mobile upload capabilities to facilitate the latest generation of user generated content.

The platform comes ready to be customised to integrate the look and feel of any brand, regardless of size, providing an extended level of flexibility that allows for further creative additions. All of the technology is managed by Reality Digital, meaning that brands can be sure that both internal and external communications will always run smoothly through the network.

To find out more about how social media can improve your prospects, please visit RealityDigital.com