InfoInnovation

I'm judging the eContent 100...

...and looking for nominations in the three categories on which I'm focusing: social media; mobile content; fee-based information services.  Do you know about an emerging player that will be making waves in one of these areas?  Are there some usual suspects deserving of special recognition for their achievements over the past year?  Let me know!  And thanks.

Using Social Media to Increase [B2B] Revenues

 

If you’re interested in social media in a business and professional context (and you must be since you’re reading this blog) then it’s probably worth your time to watch this recorded video of last week’s SIIA Brown Bag session on the business drivers of social networking. 

A good cross-section of perspectives was represented,: AOL’s Platform A, incorporating social media into a broad online advertising mix; IT Toolbox, an established and profitable B2B social media provider recently by Corporate Executive Board (as noted here); Spiceworks, a new company serving IT needs in small and medium businesses; and McGraw-Hill’s Construction Information Group, experimenting successfully with social media as an extension of its traditional industry publishing roles.

While all of the panelists had valuable things to say, to me the most interesting remarks were those of Jay Hallberg, co-founder of Spiceworks.  Originally launched in 2006, Spiceworks IT Desktop and Community is a free, advertising supported set of tools for managing IT assets (What do I have? Is it working? How do I fix it?”) and a robust content-generating community (much like IT Toolbox but for smaller shops) that started out as a “feature” and has become a core element (“Which tools? Who is an expert? What information do I need and where can I find it?  What products should I buy?”).  

Spiceworks seems to be evolving as a network management dog that is increasingly wagged by its B2B social media tail. And it is already partnering globally with some of the biggest names in IT media.  This can serve as an inspiration to B2B and professional publishers, but also a warning: content providers are not the only players who can aggregate and foster valuable online communities.  With the applications software industry (including Google Apps and much more to come from Microsoft and many others) showing that SaaS can work on an advertising model, the business media and information space is going to become a lot more crowded.

"Previewing" promising information industry companies

I participated toward the end of last year in the selection process for an exciting satellite event to the Information Industry Summit, called SIIA Previews.  In its second year, this will feature presentations by the CEOs of 10 promising companies, with a keynote by Kevin Ryan, former DoubleClick CEO and current co-chairman of AlleyCorp.  Larry Schwartz, CEO of Newstex, and Ed Keating, Vice President of the SIIA's Content Division, are to be congratulated for creating this valuable new event, and spearheading the process again this year.  The ten selected Previews presenting companies:

· ArchieMD is a physician-led education company that has developed the most extensive scientifically credible library of health and science imagery in the world.

· Courtroom Connect is leveraging the “rich media” revolution by providing digital video coverage of major trials, depositions, orals, and administrative hearings, and establishing video databanks for on demand retrieval.

· ExpoTV has built the largest platform for authentic, user-generated video product reviews. The library holds 150,000 videos uploaded by unbiased consumers.

· FeeDisclosure.com is the premier real estate disclosure company that empowers consumers with comprehensive information to make smart real estate decisions and reduce their real estate and mortgage transaction costs.

· Health Monitoring Systems maintains online networks to collect real-time data from healthcare providers, and then offers analytics of the aggregated information to detect, pinpoint and understand current and emerging health and safety issues.

· Keibi Technologies provides power tools for the certification and human moderation of UGC, leveraging its patent pending holistic classification engine to quickly process and grade large volumes of images, text, animations, and video.

· Lingospot  is a search and content aggregation service that enables publishers to dynamically cross-link their content and increase their readers’ engagement.

· Linkstorm  is an advertising technology company that is pioneering a new approach based on the premise that advertising will perform better for the advertiser if it is more useful to the customer.

· TutorVista has a content creation group producing top quality eLearning courseware, simulations, animations and paper-based curriculum.

· Vator.tv is a professional network and marketplace for ideas and businesses. People use Vator.tv to pitch their ideas, businesses, skill sets or needs, such as capital, partner or staffing requirements.