Telstra’s social networking blunder and other cautionary tales

The Bigpond marketing team decided to try their hand at social networking, launching a Twitter stream – but their ill-thought out strategy received much criticism from those in the know. Michael Specht has a good overview of exactly what went wrong in Is any social media better than none at all?

Stephen Collins’ take on Telstra’s hamfisted attempt - Playing customer care in public – right way and wrong way – is that they should have consulted a social networking specialist first – and it’s not like Australia doesn’t have some of the finest minds in the area! Stephen Collins will be presenting at Edge of the Web on Enterprise 2.0 — Is it the new Age of Aquarius for Business? and fellow Sydney social expert Laurel Papworth will no doubt be covering some advice that Telstra could well heed in her presentation on How to Develop a Social Marketing Campaign.

IBM Bluehouse joins the business social networking race

IBM has launched a beta version of its business social networking platform Bluehouse. While the platform has a solid pedigree, it is a late starter in the business networking race.

What is Bluehouse and what are its prospects?

Bluehouse has entered a race with a large field of competitors, many of which are well ahead Bluehouse, announced at Lotusphere in January, is IBM's entry into on-demand social computing services for the small to medium-sized business (SMB) market. Think of a combination of Facebook profiles, LinkedIn contacts, WebEx web conferencing, Microsoft Office Live document sharing, SurveyMonkey online surveys, Rememberthemilk online activity lists and Twitter online chat, plus a few other things like online charts thrown in for good measure.

http://www.ovum.com/news/euronews.asp?id=7397

Lufthansa’s Social Networking Effort

For those who missed it, Lufthansa is attempting to reach the college kids of the world by launching a social networking site. Unfortunately, I think this is probably a misguided effort that won’t yield the results they’d like to see.

The site is called GenFly Lounge, and I’ll let them explain it in their own words:
GenFlyLounge is the new social networking site for Generation Fly and allows you to connect with like-minded travelers.

Get the inside information from other travelers you can trust and who share your interests and travel preferences. Explore destinations before your go there. Review, add and rate tips. Join now for free!

Unfortunately for Lufthansa, I think Evan Sparks has hit this nail right on the head. It’s not going to get much traction.