The porous internet

The internet is porous; information and opinions flow freely to and from multiple platforms. They are redacted and added to along the way, and their consumption is also clouded by people’s personal knowledge, filters (religious, political etc.) and biases.

When developing a Digital Strategy, it is critical that consideration must be given to all these aspects.

What is the Interactive web?

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The interactive web is a development in web technology that has changed the way we use the Internet to facilitate creativity, information sharing and most notably, collaboration among users. It relies on the ability to import modular functionality as part of a larger system.

Personalising and customising the functions on the web allows user level profiling that generates a unique view of the system depending on the profile of the user or stakeholder. This approach facilitates much quicker adoption for any system as there are many people already using this web functionality it in their business and daily use worldwide.

The individual web components have simple functionality ensuring that systems can be designed to be ‘as future-proof as possible’ and adhere to emerging trends that will define the popular technology.

The Gartner Group describes the interactive web as “a transformative force that’s propelling companies across all industries towards a new way of doing business characterised by harnessing collective intelligence, openness and network effects.”

This two-way communication means that you have the opportunity to be more in touch with and responsive to your stakeholders and experience higher levels of support from their audiences.

Social networking

Social networking is about creating relationships through communication, collaboration, sharing ideas and concepts, discussion, enhancement and personal validation on the web. When social networking tools are used by an organisation, they are termed social business tools.

Organisational social networking brings the promise of making you measurably more agile, productive, efficient and innovative. Large organisations are realising that mastering process, information and data will only result in a certain level of excellence. To deliver sustained value to audiences, you are dependent on an engaging digital strategy. Elevating the community online to the same level of importance as data, information and process is critical. This is part of the interactive web promise because of its ability to enhance service delivery and the way people network and communicate.

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement is about effectively communicating to gain audience buy-in and commitment to active participation. In the context of the business this entails captivating and maintaining the interest of users so that their perception of the organisation is positive and that they behave in ways conducive to delivery on the organisation's mandate, for example by participating in investment programmes or sustainable impact projects.

The stakeholder engagement process provides stakeholders with balanced and objective information obtains feedback and makes recommendations on opportunities for coordination, it ensures that issues are consistently understood and considered, and builds relationships.

Blogs

A Blog is an online chronological log of thoughts, experiences, storytelling and instruction published by the creator of the blog. Viewers can post comments on each entry. For example, the you could blog about the economy and how shareholder activism impacts on it.

Social media

Social media is the broad term used to refer to media that allows users to change and interact with website content, style and the overall look and feel without changing the functionality. Popular examples include YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Each of them works differently and must be chosen according to your strategic objective, some are mainly short format content, commonly used more more up to the minute reporting and commentary, others may be video platforms, some are for engagement or advocacy. Some sites are themed platforms such as gaming or music, employment profiling and business communication.

Communities of Practice (or interest)

Communities of Practice (CoP) refer to online networking and interaction among a group of people who share a common interest. The networks are created to allow the sharing and exchange of knowledge and experiences related to the common interest. An example of a Community of Practice could be a dedicated CoP for Property Development Engineers.

CoP’s are an effective way to engage with audiences. The larger the community the better they are for meeting strategic goals.

CoP’s grow because the members perceive value in the community, and they engage within the community and invite other people to join.