By Yann Gourvennec
big logos often find themselves in the middle of a love-hate relationship with Social Media. Sometimes they love it - not always for the right reasons - sometimes they hate it - not always for the right reasons either. I have analysed the phenomenon in an article which I have published in English (the French translation is underway).
- 8 reasons why we love Social Media
I have come across many executives from various countries and diverse backgrounds and it seems that they fall in either of 2 categories: those who love and those who hate Social Media (
née Web 2.0). To many a big logo, social media is fascinating in more than many ways, to others it’s a no go area for serious brands, and best left off to techies. However strong the opinions they may express, in either direction, these aren’t always backed up by fact. Let’s review some of these arguments and feel free to comment and add your thoughts. Part one of this article is dedicated to the …
8 reasons why we love Social Media- http://visionarymarketing.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/8-reasons-why-we-love-social-media/
In our previous article about social media, we have described the 8 reasons why managers love social media and we have also debunked a few commonplace myths. In this new instalment we’ll look at the flip side of corporate social media perception, the negative one, and we will also discuss the rationale behind each of these arguments.
- read on at blogs.orange-business.com/live/2009/04/7-reasons-why-some-managers-hate-social-media.html
By Yann Gourvennec
Media Aces is now on Facebook. We have created a ne Facebook group in order to enable members and fans to exchange information on the organisation. The group is a first stage in the building up of the community. The facebook group will also come in handy when it comes to exchange ideas and information about oru forthcoming events such as the Sept 14 unconference of the French chapter which will take place at the Grande Arche in La Défense in Paris.
By Yann Gourvennec
Of course, we knew already about it, but it’s been made public only recently that the late Blog Council has changed its name to Social Media Business Council (aka SMBC). We are very pleased to be able to relay that information (note: I am a proud member of smbc) and we wish our friend Bob (picture below) and the whole council a lot of successful un-conferences and blogwell meetings.
The aim of the name change is I believe obvious, that is to say to send a clear message to the business community - and the social media community - that social media isn’t just about Corporate blogging, it’s about a much broader range of subjects and tools including micro-blogging, social networking and others. This however - I can almost hear a few giggles here and there - that Corporate blogging is over and that we made a mistake by promoting Corporate blogging. Nothing could be more false. It means that Corporate blogging is one of the tools - and a powerful one at that - and that it cannot stand on its own without a few others on the side.
For your benefit, here’s the press announcement made by the Blog C… sorry, the Social Media Business Council 
Posted by on June 30, 2009
Big news from all of us here at GasPedal and the newly renamed Blog Council: Our community for social media leaders at large companies has officially changed its name to the Social Media Business Council and has moved from BlogCouncil.org to
SocialMedia.org. Here’s the press release with more details:
Chicago, IL — The Blog Council, a community of social media leaders at large companies, has officially changed its name to the Social Media Business Council and will call
SocialMedia.org its new online home.
“Every day, our members share advice on how to build successful, scalable and self-sufficient social media programs,” said Andy Sernovitz, CEO of the Social Media Business Council and its parent company, GasPedal. “This new name and domain better reflect the wide range of issues our community focuses on.”
The name change was a collaborative effort, with members sharing dozens of name suggestions before selecting Social Media Business Council through a vote at Member Meeting 4 in New York City.
note: picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/ on Flickr, this picture was made available by its author under the Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic creative common licence
By Herve Kabla
Media Aces was born during a rendez-vous. A social media rendez-vous, as you can easily imagine. Yann and me first met on a TV show, someday in february 2009. As every wednesday, I was doing interviews for Corporate Blogs, the online TV show produced and hosted by DecideursTV, a french web TV for professionals. Corporate Blogs is the place where french coporate bloggers come and explain how and why they started their blog. Several companies have joined so far: Poweo, BNP Paribas, Ben & Jerry, etc.
Yann was one of the people interviewed during those days. As head of the internet activity at Orange Business Services (OBS), he had been involved in OBS blogs since the beginning: the audience would clearly benefit from his views, knowing the role he plays within a major telecommunication company, coupled with a long experience of the Internet.
It was just after the last sequence was recorded, that Yann and me got to the same conclusions: the need for a global european association, where all people involved in "corporate social media" - and not only corporate blogs - would meet and share their common intreste in social media technology, usages, benefits … and barriers. Media Aces was born.
Just for the pleasure of remembering the early stages of our initiative, and for the benefits of our French readers, here is the video of the interview.
