Conenza’s passion is Enterprise Employee and Alumni Communities. We love this article by Dr. John Sullivan.

Economic downturns, mergers, and acquisitions all place pressure on organizations to curb labor costs. No time in the last decade has that tenet been more apparent than right now. Layoffs, large or small, force organizations to cut loose the talent in which they have invested salary and training dollars. While talent released during a layoff today may seem like little more than an expense, tomorrow it could be the difference between success and failure.

World-class organizations need to develop a process that will allow the organization to quickly and easily “re-recruit” alumni with proven track records of success when economic conditions warrant hiring.

The solution that makes re-recruiting possible is a corporate alumni program. Alumni programs allow you to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with former employees who may someday provide significant value again, providing you with an excuse to remain in contact and a mechanism to recruit them back quickly when needed.

Corporate Alumni Programs Can Also Increase Revenues
While the primary reason organizations develop alumni programs is recruiting-related, lots of research demonstrates that investing in corporate alumni programs increases the sales lead generation and deal closing capability of the organization.

Program Goals and Benefits
Well-designed corporate alumni programs can benefit the organization in many ways. Some of the possible goals of corporate alumni programs include:

HR-related goals:
* To improve the quality of hires by rehiring top performers and innovators (boomerang rehires are low-cost, typically have higher retention rates and reach minimum productivity much more quickly than most external hires).
* To increase the number and quality of employee referrals by expanding the program to include alumni.
* To strengthen the employer brand image throughout the industry.
* To increase retention rates among current employees by developing a stronger positive image.
* To increase the number of mentors available to current employees.

Business-related goals:
* To generate direct sales by making alumni customers.
* To increase the number of leads generated (customer referrals).
* To capture ideas and innovations from alumni.
* To get product assessment help.
* To get benchmarking help and to learn about industry best practices.
* To gather competitive intelligence.
* To get help from alumni in building strategic partnerships.

Get in touch with Conenza to discuss corporate social networking and the benefits of a Corporate Alumni Program.

PR firm Burson-Marsteller studied the 100 largest companies in the Fortune 500 list and found that 79% of then use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs to communicate with customers and other stakeholders. The firm broke its findings down by region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America) and network.

Twitter is the most popular platform that the companies use; two-thirds of the Fortune 100 have at least one Twitter account. Actually, they have an average of 4.2 Twitter accounts. Fifty-four percent have at least one Facebook fan page, 50% have at least one YouTube channel, and 33% have at least one corporate blog. Twenty percent of the companies use all four social media platforms.

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are mostly West-oriented; Asia-Pacific companies don’t use them as much, instead preferring corporate blogs. When they do use Twitter or Facebook, it’s usually to engage consumers in Europe and North America.

There are a bunch of other interesting stats in the study — including proof that consumers actually do like to engage with companies via social media, making all those channels worthwhile. We’ve embedded Burson-Marsteller’s presentation below. Read the full article here.

Global Social Media Checkup

Discover why the world’s leading Global 2000 enterprises rely on Conenza’s corporate social networking software and expert community-building services to build and manage their employee and alumni communities.

For more information please visit our site at http://www.conenza.com

Conenza is passionate about business social networking and loves this article by Don Tapscott, “Top 10 Themes from 2010 Davos”.  Below are a few highlights that we have pulled from the article that relate to corporate social networking:

The World Economic Forum has wrapped up and the small, Swiss town of Davos has been returned to the skiers. Among top concerns at the World Economic Forum: fix the global economy, sort out executive pay, create sustainability, and enhance collaboration

The state of the world is not good.
The theme of Davos was “Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild,” which may have sounded a bit grandiose to some people. I doubt many attendees think this now. The world clearly needs fixing.

Figures cited at the Forum show we’re a long way from being out of the woods on the global recession. Jobs are and will continue to be a huge issue. It is estimated that unemployment in the world jumped by 50 million during the recession, and that the number of working poor increased by 200 million.

Everywhere new collaborative models are emerging to solve global problems.
Our systems of global cooperation are not rising to the many challenges we face. The global humanitarian response to the Haitian earthquake is showing us what is possible. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake isn’t just a Caribbean island crisis, but a world crisis. Millions of people and thousands of institutions have responded in nontraditional ways, donating time, money, goods, and services via new technologies such as texting, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Social media have become the preeminent tools to connect people around the world, empowering them to become active participants in relief efforts.

There are 100 million people on Facebook Causes—the biggest application on Facebook. These are not just people talking to each other. They are organizing activities in the physical world. I heard of dozens of examples at Davos.

It turns out that the Internet does change everything.
The much-discredited phrase from the dot-com period is not just geek speak. The Internet and social networks were central to many discussions here. The digital age seems to be coming of age.

I  participated with CEOs of most of the important social networks in a session called The Power of Social Networks. A few minutes into it, we solicited questions from Facebook. In the first two minutes, 6,000 questions appeared.

New business models are emerging in every industry and throughout society. I’ve argued that social networking is becoming social production and that a new mode of production is emerging—changing not only how we make software or encyclopedias but physical goods like motorcycles, too.

I was also a panelist at a private session asking the provocative question: “Will social networks replace the nation state?” Of course the answer is no, but it’s significant that we can ask the question. If Facebook were a country, it would be more populous than Russia. Nation states have based their authority on control of individual identity, association, and currency within territorial boundaries. Now social networks operating across geographical frontiers have the potential to offer all these things. They also offer the potential for power divorced from traditional political systems. What are the prerequisites for the emergence of the first digital nation-state?

Last month marked the entry of everyone’s favorite geek, Bill Gates, into the social media realm. The Microsoft tycoon launched a website and Twitter stream to discuss his philanthropic efforts. Though pundits feel Gates hasn’t added much to the conversation yet, his entry encapsulates a larger trend — the rise of the citizen philanthropist. Empowered by social media, individuals can now reach out, support and discuss their giving efforts with their immediate networks. Here are five examples of the citizen philanthropist’s immediate impact.

1. Citizen Philanthropists Provide New Donations
By enabling new social donations, such as the Red Cross’s impressive mobile giving program for Haiti, nonprofits have created a new method for fundraising. The citizen philanthropist that works their own personal social network represents the ideal fundraiser. They can motivate friends with personal, heartfelt requests that charities cannot emulate.

At the same time, there can be a sense of social philanthropy fatigue when one finds yet another request to give every time they open their Facebook (Facebook) account. “Their supporters are feeling fatigued each time they are hit with another e-mail to vote, or donate, or retweet –- so we must find a way for these methods to not feel like a burden,” added Saratovsky.

2. Social Giving Hasn’t Replaced Traditional Fundraising
The overall amount of giving created by social efforts represents a substantial new revenue source for charities. At the same time, the amount of giving represents only a small slice of a nonprofit’s fundraising efforts. Traditional solicitations of large donors and foundations remain their bread and butter.

3. Slactivism Rising!
The ease of social tools creates another phenomena: The rise of slactivism. Now anyone can think they are a philanthropist simply by sounding off with a tweet or texting ten dollars for Haiti relief. While the simplicity of such actions increases the likelihood of charity, an individual’s long-term impact can be considered negligible.

“I can see why people are concerned that if a person makes a quick online donation, and does nothing else, it is slacktivism,” said Britt Bravo, author of the Have Fun, Do Good blog. “On the other hand, why is it that just because something is easy, we define it as not ‘good?’ The larger question for nonprofits, and for all of us who use social media is: Are we using these quick and powerful tools not just to meet people, and ask them to listen to us and to do something for us, but also to build relationships?”

4. The Slactivist Opportunity
What can be an end, can also be a beginning. Many organizations see slactivists as potential long-term activists. The challenge lies in cultivating the casual social activist into a true philanthropist.

5. The Age of the Citizen Philanthropist Has Just Begun
It’s clear that the disruptive impact of social media is just beginning in the non-profit sector. From the eye-opening impact social media had on Haiti relief to the unprecedented insight into the Iran elections, society is experiencing new cause related breakthroughs every six months thanks to social media.

Who knows what’s next? With the power of social media, individual philanthropists can circumvent traditional charities and government organizations to affect change. Perhaps an even greater movement lies ahead in the near future.

“Just think — what would the civil rights movement have looked like if it were blogged and tweeted like the Iran (Iran ) revolution of 2009,” asked Hargro. “What if Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s passionate and prescient words were tweeted and retweeted worldwide? Enough said.”

As a social network design and corporate social networking expert, Conenza likes this thought provoking article.

Event Archive: The Application of Enterprise Social Networking to Talent Acquisition and Management
Speaker: Katherine James Schuitemaker , Chief Marketing Officer , Conenza, Inc.

Every day global organizations are adopting social networking technologies to increase collaboration and improve organizational efficiencies. These collective workforce communities can enable large companies to tap into the knowledge and connections of current and former employees to drive significant business impact. Successful implementations report enhanced collaboration and communication, increased recruiting and talent management efficiency, and retained access of valuable intellectual capital.

How can talent acquisition leaders leverage this and apply to talent management and recruitment efforts? We will walk through the different types of communities that are being adopted within the enterprise, and the impact they can have on talent management programs.

To view this webinar or for more information on Conenza’s corporate social networking solution or getting started with the Conenza Community Core, please visit http://conenza.com.

Conenza builds and manages trusted online communities where global enterprises and knowledge workers actively engage to collaboratively create and deliver value. Conenza’s brand values distinguish our company and its solutions from other social and corporate networks.

Trust:
The foundation of relationship and the assurance that those in your community are who they say they are and have a shared set of experiences that create a common bond. Once trust is established, we’re willing to listen, help each other and collaborate on things that matter to us.

Community:
More than a mere “network,” a community works together to draw upon the strengths each other brings to help create our respective and oft-times shared futures.

Creating value:
This is the reason we’re all here—creating compelling value for members, whether enterprises, employees or alumni. It’s the magnet that draws smart professionals back again and again, as they draw upon their pasts to help co-create the future.

“Human” touch:
While the community is an online experience, what makes it work is knowing there are real people behind it who care about helping each member—and the enterprise—achieve their objectives.

We are passionate about these values and they permeate everything we do from product planning to UI design to how we engage in supporting clients and community members. Conenza’s corporate social networking solution enables employees to share knowledge, develop closer connections, and drive significant business impact. For more information please visit our site at http://conenza.com.

New Statesman Article
Published 08 February 2010

In four years, social networking services will replace e-mail for about 20 per cent of business users, according to Gartner, the information technology research and advisory firm. By 2012, over 50 per cent of businesses will be using microblogging to share quick updates with consumers and colleagues and to get quick answers to questions.

“However, it will be difficult for microblogging as a stand-alone function to achieve widespread adoption within the enterprise. Twitter’s scale is one of the reasons for its popularity,” said Jeffrey Mann, research vice-president for Gartner.

In five years, 70 per cent of communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after smartphone collaboration applications. Cell phones will replace desk phones, and most collaboration tools will be integrated with them, according to Gartner.

Through 2015, about 25 per cent of businesses will use social network analysis to improve performance and productivity. Such analysis allows companies to study communication patterns and information flow that occurs between staff and customers.

Get in touch with Conenza to discuss their business social network solution and discover the benefits of corporate social networking.

The Conenza Community Platform integrates the best of social networking functionality to give your company a vibrant online community that drives engagement and interaction with the site. Conenza’s corporate social networking solution provides your company with the technology and resources it needs to deliver a highly rewarding employee and alumni community with minimal impact on your internal resources.

Connections
Your employees and alumni will be able to create networks of trusted personal and professional connections that enable enhanced dialogue and active tracking of people and topics of interest. Connections also drive increased frequency of use—drawing members back to the site to accept invitations to connect with their colleagues, learn what’s new, and stay to explore what’s been added to the site. Connections also serve a powerful role in contributing to the viral growth of your community.

Groups
Your company, employees, and alumni members can gather, compare notes, post resources, and collaborate around shared interests via Groups. Groups can be set up to be open or private, visible or hidden. Groups facilitate deeper connections within the community and create new ways for members to interact, engage, and create value together.

Messaging
Conenza’s social networking platform features an embedded internal messaging system and the ability for members to opt to have messages sent to their personal email address.

Document and Rich Media Sharing
Your company, employees, and alumni can share documents, photos, and video files enhancing the depth of information exchange and collaboration within the community.

Discover additional features of Conenza’s corporate social networking platform and learn how Conenza’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution is the product of more than a decade of experience building and managing the corporate communities of Global 2000 enterprises such as Microsoft. For more information please visit our site at http://www.conenza.com

By David Coursey
Article link

In telling priests to become more web and social network savvy, Pope Benedict XVI is offering valuable advice for businesses, too. And if His Holiness thinks Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are good ways to spread his message, maybe his advice can help your company, too.

If you’re having trouble getting your bosses to adopt a social networking or some other online strategy for your business, the Pope may be your ally. Here’s what he has to say, and with a few word substitutions the advice would be at home in a business magazine:

“The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts,” wrote the Pope in his message for the 44th World Day of Communications, to be held May 16.

The Vatican already has a multilingual Web site, but has recently launched the “Pope2you” portal, offering a Facebook app, iPhone app, YouTube channel, and Papal videos. But, don’t let the cool “Pope2You” name and URL fool you. Like, like all good CEOs, Pope Benedict warned his managers that they can’t just talk the talk of social networking.

Connect and engage a global workforce and transform corporate alumni into strategic assets with Conenza’s corporate social networking platform. For more information visit http://conenza.com

Conenza’s corporate social networking software, deeply experienced insight and comprehensive consulting services enable you to foster meaningful relationships with your corporate alumni to fully realize the business value they represent.

When alumni can make valuable career and business connections, collaborate and exchange ideas with their peers, find out about exciting events, and enjoy privileged discounts and benefits on things that matter, you can count on them to be enthusiastic champions and brand advocates for your organization. Conenza has more than a decade of hands-on expertise in what it takes to engage and grow alumni communities with a combination of world-class technology and unique benefits and services.

The Conenza Community Platform provides a compelling member experience that keeps your alumni coming back to the site to:

* Make and renew trusted, personal and professional connections with former colleagues and friends

* Uncover hidden career and business development opportunities

* Connect, collaborate and innovate with peers on topics of shared interest

* Contribute to a community effort to create positive change in the world through corporate and collective philanthropy

* Take advantage of cost-effective individual and small business insurances, benefits and services, as well as other privileged-access perks

If you are looking to accelerate the successful launch of a new corporate alumni community, Conenza offers expert professional services to support every phase of the community lifecycle.

For more information please visit our site at http://conenza.com.