Interview with Michael Wilson (Part II)

This is the concluding part of our interview with Michael Wilson of Small World Labs, supplier of social networking technology. The highly popular first part was published in our mid-January edition. Small World are represented in the UK by Protech Computer Systems.

8) What key premium features are you offering that aren’t available on free sites?

There are a lot. Some of the top ones are:
• customized profile fields - to capture and display information that is relevant to your members and the ability to offer different fields to different types of members.
• different member account types - which can be used to limit or grant access to particular areas of the network, as well as create an alter the information that is displayed on each page
• ratings & review section - where members can provide comments and ratings on things that are relevant to the community (e.g., products, service providers, partners, web resources)
• file sharing – to share reports, white papers, organizational collateral, or resumes with others
• user points – to identify your top participating member and encourage adoption in the community
• visual design – the creation of the online identity of the network that can mirror the organization’s existing website or differ and be more “web 2.0” looking.
• single sign on – if your website has an existing login area, members only need to login once and are automatically logged into the online community
• community strategy – a program to help our clients create an effective launch plan and ongoing community activities including member acquisition, member vibrancy, social media awareness, and customized reporting

9) How complex is the integration with various back office solutions?

Our platform contains an open API (application programming interface) which is available at www.smallworldalbs.com/developer. This API opens up our application to work with virtually any other system available. To integrate any two systems, we have a professional services organization that can do the work, or the client can do it themselves. It’s that simple.

10) What criteria made you select Protech as your UK/European distributor?

We learned about and evaluated Protech by leveraging our network. One of our clients in the UK (the Institute of Physics) was also using Protech’s member management platform. During an onsite visit with IOP, we were introduced to Protech. We liked the guys at Protech, liked their product, and most importantly a member of our network (IOP) vouched for them. That’s the power of networks and network recommendations.

11) Why do some social networks fail?

Some organizations approach the creation of a social network as a “check the box” activity. They concentrate on just picking a piece of technology and putting it up on the web, with the expectations that that is enough. While you need the software to create a social network, equally important is to have the skill and resources to build a vibrant community. It’s important to make the right decisions on how the network should be configured and how features can be rolled out over time to build excitement and freshness. In addition, it’s important to understand effective community building techniques like content seeding, leading by example, and using easy engagement hooks. We think this latter part is so important at Small World Labs that we have created a group that is dedicated only to helping our clients build effective social networks.

12) What cultural differences have you noticed/employed specifically for the UK market?

In general, the UK seems to trail the US in the adoption of some types of technology, and I think social networking is one of them. Non-profits and for-profit companies in the US have already aggressively embraced social networking as a way to better connect with and engage their constituents. This is now happening more and more in the UK.

13) How do you educate professional users against the dangers of social networking, e.g Facebook Flirts?

This is an interesting and important topic. If you look at the recent article by the BBC regarding “doctors and Facebook flirts” it underscores the fact that many professionals are unaware of the appropriate vs. inappropriate use of open social networks. The educational arm of membership organizations have an opportunity to create more protected member communities and use these communities as a vehicle to inform their members on how to effectively use social media.

14) What future developments do you see for social networking?

Social networks will continue to add capabilities to increase the ability of their members communicate and collaborate with each other in beneficial ways. This will take many forms from a feature & function perspective, but all will take into consideration the competing advantages of openness, relevancy, and privacy. Those are the three key items we keep in mind as we continue to develop our social networking software platform.

Small World Labs

Protech Computer Systems