eRelations @ C2-MTL

C2-MTL EVENT

C2-MTL Website : http://c2mtl.com/

We were invited at the C2-MTL event on Friday May 25th. We were lucky because the ticket price for this 3 day event was 3200$. It was an event centered around start-ups, commerce and creativity and how those ingredients work together to achieve success. Some major Canadian stars were present like Julie Payette (the astronaut) and Guy Laliberté (Cirque du Soleil).

My honest opinion was that it was all about the glitters, the stars, the marketing, the shows and the place more than about the content. I went to a conference called the Start Up Mindset and then to a Question Period with some panelists. Well Julie Payette didn't seem very comfortable especially about the internet or start-up themes and was referring to her experience in space with no apparent link to the context of the conference... In space it is difficult to be creative especially when the spaceship has a technical problem and a detailed list is telling you what to do!

The Start Up team with Tara Hunt, Marc Gingras and Sylvain Carle was interesting. 

You could see that these people had a hands-on experience about this kind of business and the very real risk of failure. Still this part of the conference ended too soon (20-25 min) leaving the audience asking for more!

In perspective we had a very nice day at the C2-MTL event but would like to have more people who deal with the harsh reality of an eBusiness, a start-up or a social media website. It is through collaboration that we can learn from our mistakes and exchange valuable information to get our project further!

eRelations @ WebCom

eRelations were at the WebCom event on May 16th, 2012. Here is a short clip with eRelations' V.P. Monica Voicu.
***
eRelations étaient présents l'événement WebCom le 16 mai 2012. Voici une courte séquence vidéo avec Monica Voicu, V.P. de eRelations.

Data extraction from online social connections

Data extraction from online social connections

Lately I am reading Micheal Troiano's blog. A lot of SRM (Social Relationship Management) entries.

http://scalableintimacy.com/salesforcecom-twitter-is-not-social-relationship-management/

Very interesting, but a sense of fear. SRM seems to be the future but as many innovative things it can go into the wrong hands and shatter the equilibrium brought by online interactions. Data can be extracted from social connections and used by marketing companies to profile customers and learn more than they would never learn just by surveys. The truth is we are already there. Most of the start ups feed peoples' online relations to retain more data, more interactions and more participation. And online participation means power.  As a start up the more people connect through your channel and exchange the more power you got. All start ups know that. By empowering people online you empower your eBusiness to succeed. 

As relations offline, online relations have some main characteristics:


---- Are based on communication and mostly written communication

----- Are powered by participation (e-empowerment)

---- Information exchange

---- Knowledge sharing

---- Emotions triggered by powerful words

---- Instantaneous connections

---- Sense of anonymity that triggers desire to connect

Online relations & communications 21st century pure gold

Online relations & communications 21st century pure gold

Online interactions, relations and communications are rich of data. Very rich of information, that can be useful for any organization or business. 95% of that data is yet informal. No measure, no analysis, no compilation. Yet it is wasted. All the richness is lost so we need surveys, marketing, etc. to try to know what can be known and measured directly online. Pure gold yet there are not many gold-diggers yet. Measuring and analyzing online interactivity through the web 2.0 tools and the network science is a challenge that will sooner or later be conquered by large companies. 

Rendering at least 20% or more of that informal data accessible. This will empower businesses to do more, to know more and to access directly to their employees online interactions. Learn who are your online leaders, find the SME (subject matter expert) you need in your own organization, learn who influences who and why, etc. Still we have to make sure that so much data won't be used to spy on people and destroy our society by the uprising of a BIG Brother civilization where our online activities become a way of containing the freedom of speech and refraining our individual choices. 

"Knowledge is Power". And knowing that every one of our online activities and interactions can be used, analysed and compiled is essential to the survival of our modern society.

Social media tools are based on online relations

Social media tools are based on online relations

Nowadays the main use of social media seems to be about marketing. The truth is that social media tools are supposed to be first of all relational tools. Connect people and make them participate and communicate. That is the reason that they are called SOCIAL. It is not MARKETING MEDIA but SOCIAL MEDIA. What happened? Well one day a social media guru came along and saw the opportunity to make money. Plain and simple. A lot of money. Use online connections not as tools to make people connect or collaborate but to make them buy a lot of stuff.

I used Facebook from the beginning and it felt a like free space to communicate, exchange and connect. Now I feel like something is lost. More spam, more products, more visual pollution. Less interest in the people connected on Facebook than on the products businesses are selling. Can we get the SOCIAL back in the media? Is it lost forever?

Here at eRelations we want to do things differently by caring more about the people than the products. Because we believe that the online space needs to be fun, engaging and empowering. It allows people to connect and exchange about what is important to them. eRelations is a people first company and cares about online communities.