Sony crowd-sources name for new online community Sony this week launched a beta version of it’s new online community this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The site combines company blogs with videos, photos and polls as well as allowing users to create profiles; it’s a site for users to engage with Sony as a brand and as a company. They’re using the site at the Show both to report on product launches but also to allow people to engage with their bloggers and content. From the perspective of launching an online community,

But only the most naive optimist could ignore the perils of having one company, driven first and foremost by a profit motive, effectively in charge of the most comprehensive collection of the world’s scientific and cultural heritage. Landmark cases like Sony v. Alliances like Google Book Search + Publishers, or Apple + Recording We are republishing an interesting contribution by Frank Pasquale. This first item is a critique of Google, while in the follow-up, Frank will tackle a ‘public’ alternative.

If you read a customer’s post about they just purchased a new gadget from your company, they are showing excitement, pride, accomplishment. When you come across a customer having trouble with your company, your product; they need attention and help. You might not be the person that can resolve the customer’s issue, but at minimum you can let the customer know you read their post and will make a connection back at the company to offer assistance. “Join the Conversation”, we have all heard these words. Makes sense, right?

Companies are looking for ways to reduce costs, and importantly for collaboration, this also means getting the most out of what they have already invested in. Sony has been outsourcing some of its customer service functions to a range of outsourcing companies in Asia. The people in each of the outsourcing companies thought it would make sense to get together to share what they knew about being a Sony customer The beginning of the year is a good time to take stock of where things are going and try and get a handle on the macro trends affecting our work. For me

The virtual world community was sucking its collective teeth last week, when it emerged that Sony was being sued for allegedly violating the right to free speech of Erik Estavillo, a 29-year-old gamer who suffers from agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Mr Estavillo alleges that Sony violated his free speech rights when it banned him first from Resistance: Fall of Man, and then from the entire PlayStationNetwork, for what he calls 'trash-talking'. He's claiming $55,000 damages to cover both the alleged First Amendment violation, and the pain and suffering that he says Sony caused to 'an already disabled plaintiff'.

was reading a paper by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras and they suggest an alternative set of questions (in my words): "What values do we deeply hold that reflect the essence of our company?" What I found really interesting was looking at some examples Collins and Porras gave and noticed how each company held a different set in that the usual suspects weren't repeated: they didn't all have to value innovation, or customer service, or integrity. Most organisations I know have a set of stated values. You know what I mean, things like integrity, professionalism, respect for the individual.

Vincent Boon , Community Team Leader at Sony Computer Entertainment agrees thinks roles and responsibilities will become more targeted and defined: “The role itself will become less broad, with community managers trying to cover all the bases, but instead companies will employ different community managers, for their different areas of communication.” Community and moderation company, TemperoUK, agrees: “Trend = CM will take on a bigger customer service/CRM role” Image by mira d’oubliette via Flickr As is traditional at this time of year, we’ve been

About Contact Web Strategy Vault Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing Jeremiah Owyang discusses how web tools and social media enable companies to connect with customers List of Social Computing Strategists and Community Managers for Enterprise Corporations 2008 –Social Media Jobs and Professionals June 20th, 2008 | Category: Career , Social Media Job , Web Team , On the move , Community Manager , Industry Index If you’re interested in jobs for this space, please read the

Participants represent a comprehensive sampling of organizations involved in building online communities, including: large software companies, large community destination sites, niche community sites, platform providers, media & entertainment, retail and independent consultants. Nokia, Quest Software, Sage Software, Seesmic, Sony Online Entertainment, The Knot, and Yahoo! This Last year, Forum One recognized that one of the key issues community and social media professionals face is that we (as an industry) are suffering from a lack of solid benchmarks, including compensation of online community and social media professionals.

About Contact Web Strategy Vault Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing Jeremiah Owyang discusses how web tools and social media enable companies to connect with customers Forrester Wave Report: The Leaders in Community Platforms for Marketers (Part 4/4) January 09th, 2009 | Category: White Label Social Network , Analyst , Forrester Clients can access the full report The Forrester Wave™: Community Platforms, Q1 2009 on the Forrester site, however the high level findings are available below,