Social platforms in trend – 15th TEWI Forum
Everyone was talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other so-called social platforms with millions of users. While their own children were already registered on such platforms, parents often had only a vague idea of how they worked. Likewise, some companies knew how to use social platforms for their own purposes, while others had not yet recognised their potential, for example for marketing or innovation management. In addition to opportunities, social platforms then and now also harbour risks, for example with regard to data protection or the momentum of such networks.
But what is a social platform anyway? How do they work? What benefits do they bring privately or for the company? And what limits must be taken into account? Speakers from science and practice explored these and similar questions at the 15th TEWI Forum, which took place on 10 November 2010 at the Zeughaus Kultur in Brig.
The first speaker, Prof. Dr. Thomas Myrach, Director at the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Bern, spoke about the overview and classification of the phenomenon of social media. As a thematic introduction, the origin and understanding of social media was first explained. This was followed by an overview and classification of social platforms such as Facebook, Xing or MySpace and similar phenomena such as blogs. Their characteristics, benefits and possible risks for private individuals and companies were illustrated.
Next, Dr. Beatrice Paoli, research assistant at the Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS) in Brig, spoke about methods for analysing social networks. During the presentation, the most important theoretical concepts for analysing such networks were introduced. It was explained how to collect data on the social structure, how to prepare it for analysis and how to evaluate it. The network analysis was illustrated step by step with various examples.
Afterwards, Karsten Frey, research associate at the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Bern, spoke about online communities as a source of innovation. In his presentation, he showed how companies can use the creative potential of online communities for innovations.
Finally, Marc Schumacher, Account Planning Director, Contexta AG advertising agency in Bern, discussed success factors of social media campaigns. Using two successful examples of use by the Contexta advertising agency, he illustrated how such campaigns can be implemented. The opportunities and dangers that social platforms bring with them were explained.
