Skyhook and the future of location data for outdoor advertising

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Skyhook Wireless is a software-only location system that quickly determines device location with 10 to 20 meter accuracy. It uses it’s worldwide database of mapped Wi-Fi access points to provide quick and accurate location results where GPS and Cell tower triangulation drop the ball. Shyhook is relatively unknown by customers, but the driving power behind modern location services and included in many mobile devices from big brands.

The battle for location data has started recently with Apple and Google moving into Skyhook’s turf.  Skyhooks seem to be entering some interesting times and is well prepared to defend their turf. Continue reading →

Social Shopping: Most Liked is the new Top Rated

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Levis social shopping

When Levi’s launched their Friends Store they were the first webshop to fully integrate Facebook social tools to create a personalized social shopping experience. Now Urban Outfitters and other webshops seem to be making some first steps by integrating Facebook Like buttons to their product pages and offering overviews of the most liked products. The benefit compared to old Top Rated functionality is that customers can discover if their friends also like a certain product.

Continue reading →

The alignment of web 2.0 and social media with business strategy – Thesis Pdf

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One year ago I wrote my bachelor thesis on social media and business strategy alignment. This thesis is a literature research and offers a solid theoretical and historical background for the definitions of web 2.0 and social media. I also developed the first steps towards a social media strategy and governance framework.

By publishing my thesis in parts on my blog i received much feedback in the reactions and on twitter. Special thanks to Michiel Hartman for pointing out that the evolution of web 1.0 to 2.0 hasn’t been a linear process.

You can download the ‘The alignment of web 2.0 and social media with business strategy’ (van der Weel, A. T. ,2009) pdf here.

For those who want to read the short summery and conclusions I included them here at the end of the blogpost. I also added the references for those who are interested in finding more academic research papers on social media and business strategy. Continue reading →

Business types and approach to use Social Media – Thesis part 4

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This is the fourth part of my thesis serie of blogposts. In this part the internal and external approach to the electronic business environment is studied and applied to approach social media. We also take a look at the possible uses of social media based on existing literature. In the end I will make a pdf available of all the blogposts and possibly an updated summery based on the feedback.  So please share your views in the comments!

Internal and external business approach to the electronic environment

The strategic alignment model states that strategy must be addressed in an Internal and external domain. The research that follows on electronic strategies and business types also indicate organizations can have an internal or external focus. Continue reading →

My views on where Social Media is going – Dutch interview

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social media questionsLast week I was approached by a Dutch student to answer some questions on Social Media for his thesis. This student did his research well. On twitter we discovered many of the people working in social media got the same email.

We answered the questions and collected them in a blogpost to compare our answers. Here follows my contribution. The whole article can be found on bijgespijkerd (in Dutch). International readers could try to make sense of this google translate link. Continue reading →

Business Strategy and Social Media (IT) alignment – Thesis part 3

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In this third part of my bachelor thesis we take a look at IT and business strategy theories. First I’ll explain why internal and social media (and IT) strategy should be formulated in an internal and external domain. And why these need to be aligned together and with the business strategy of the organization. Further I argue why Value Disciplines should be used to form a social media strategy. Please share your views again!

Aligning business and IT strategy

Now that we have definitions of web 2.0 and social media and the importance of them for organizations we continue the research on how organizations can approach these and align them with their organization strategy.

Organizations can adopt an internal or external focus, for their business strategy as well as their IT strategy. This chapter will present evidence Continue reading →