What’s the latest business trend on the Internet? Conversation.

By Jan Hepola

Conversation on the Internet isn’t new. Individuals have been doing it since the Internet’s inception– but businesses have been a little slow to join the dialog. Businesses were quick to use the World Wide Web to promote their products and services but they have shied away from other applications – including email. Yet, email is consistently the most popular activity on the Internet, which means individuals are doing a lot of talking.

Tools are emerging that combine the promotional power of the Web with the interactivity of email. Businesses that are learning to harness these new tools are seeing a healthy return on investment.

Newsgroups

Newsgroups have been around for many years. There are literally thousands of groups on topics that range from wireless security to energy efficient heating solutions. Smart businesses have started to listen to newsgroups to as a means of gathering market research and competitive intelligence. (View a list of newsgroups at Tile.Net http://www.tile.net/news/.)

Blogs, short for web blogs, give everyone the power to be a daily columnist. Like newsgroups, there are thousands of blogs on every topic. Again smart businesses listen to blogs to gauge market trends. In some industries, blog authors wield great power in identifying winning and losing products, services or companies. Some businesses are sponsoring blogs from key users or staff members – to help given customers the “inside scoop” on their products of services. (View a list of blogs at the Blog Search Engine http://www.blogsearchengine.com/.)

Online Social Networks are a little different. They are like a universally shared online Rolodex or networking group, with a mission is to connect people in the real world. A member signs up, enters a profile, links to people within their personal network, and invites others to join. Upon joining, members can see their friends, and their friends’ friends, and so on. The network can be used a couple of ways: as a tool to locate a mutual connection for a personal referral (job hunting), or to locate an individual based on profile characteristics (staff recruiting). Social Networks are just starting to gain popularity and are generally free to join. (See a sample social network at LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/.)

Wikis are web sites in edit mode. Visitors are welcome to post information on the site to be read by others. It is a great way to collaborate on projects. A good example is the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/) a free encyclopedia, where visitors are invited to become authors.

RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication (or RDF Site Summary depending on the source). RSS provides an avenue to share short bits of information with a range of Web sites and end users. Often used for headlines and brief article summaries, visitors who subscribe will receive an RSS feed from you when you send out a new announcement. As a publisher, you need to have information you want to share periodically (like a “what’s new” section of a web site) and a method to broadcast it through RSS. For more information visit WebReference http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/rss/intro/.

The key to successful use of these tools is to consider them as conversations and not hard sales or marketing opportunities. Users are looking for real dialog – not a commercial. Become familiar with these tools by joining or monitoring the conversations that currently exist. Once familiar, consider who in your organization might represent your company’s voice in these arenas, and how these tools will benefit your business.

Ms. Jan Hepola is an E-Business Development Consultant with Minnesota Technology Inc.