So much talk about a few American companies and their adventures in social media. They're good stories, but what's happening everywhere else? I'm looking for some good examples for upcoming projects—both speaking and writing. Do you have a good example to help me avoid relying on the usual suspects?
This request started with an invitation I recently received to speak at SaskInteractive's Summit09 in March. I've accepted, and I think it would be good form to have more Canadian examples. I know there's more than Molson, but I don't have a good list of them, yet. And it's not just Canada; I'd really like to know more about what companies are already doing around the world.
Here's an example of what I'm looking for: Jon Husband wrote last week about the introduction of a community site by the French railroad company SNCF. I want more of those examples, and I know that the people who read this blog know some good ones.
So, all you folks who wonder why the American companies get all the attention, who's doing social media in your neighborhood?
Nathan, there are some problems outside the US.
First, there are almost no participation in local social networks, and main problem, the companies itself, still don't get the value of social media.
Let's hope it will change soon.
I wrote about this same thing today. We need to retire the same four case studies that are presented at every social media conference/event and start finding new ones.
I recommend checking out Shel Israel's blog. He's got some interesting interviews on there from people all over the world.
Hi Nathan,
Here's a great site for some other Canadian examples...
http://socialmediacasestudies.wetpaint.com/page/All
Cheers!
Tonia
@Aaron - which four case studies are you talking about?
@Avi - I talk to enough social media analysis companies around the world to expect that there are good stories to be found. Your comment is consistent with what I've heard about adoption beyond North America, though.
@Aaron - Thanks, I'll look again at Shel's examples.
@Tonia - Very nice, thank you. I should be in touch to talk about how things are working at Molson, too.
@Pete - There was a semi-serious suggestion last year about getting speakers to move on from the usual stories (except for speakers who work for those companies). Dell and Kryptonite were on the list; I'm not sure about the others. The short list of frequently-told stories starts to give the impression that those are the only examples. Plus, people are going to start memorizing them like it's Rocky Horror or something.
VanCity (a bank-like credit union in Vancouver) gets a lot of profile up here for its http:/www.changeverything.ca site.
The Toronto Globe and Mail (our one "national" newspaper) has just launched a Public Policy wiki, and is relatively advanced in its use of social media.
Don Tapscott's book "Wikinomics" featured the Cdn. company Goldcorp's notion of idea storms well before Dell did it, but it's a bit of an over-used example.
There are others but it's still coffee #1 early in the morning for me .. if I remember some of them I'll be back to let you know. You also might want to check with Joe Thornley or Michael O'Conner Clarke of Thornley Fallis in Toronto (a leading-edge Web 2.0 PR / Communications firm .. you can tell them I sent you along to them ;-)
Thanks, Jon. I was planning to check with Joe and others in my network after posting it here first.