10 Key Stats from the Optix Solutions Social Media Survey 2010 (UK)

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On Monday, I came across one this tweet from Chris Brogan:
@Chrisbrogan: I helped with this social media survey, if you're interested in the results - http://ow.ly/364w6.

That is how I found out about the interesting Social Media Survey 2010 from Optix Solutions in the UK.

Contributors - Experts
Optix did a great job involving some of the best thought leaders in the space, based in the US:
* Chris Brogan, President and CEO at   Human Business Works
(linkedin, twitter, blog)
* Scott Gould, Co-founder at  Like Minds
(linkedin, twitter, blog)
* Olivier Blanchard, Principal at  BrandBuilder Marketing
(linkedin, twitter, blog)
* Trey Pennington, Agency Principal at Trey Pennington, LLC
(linkedin, twitter, blog)
 
And a couple of social media experts from the UK:
* Julian Summerhayes, Social Media Consultant at Julian Summerhayes
(linkedin, twitter, blog)
* Garry Mackay, Partner at   Ashfords LLP
(linkedin, twitter, blog)

It will guarantee a great level of buzz online, and a significant increase of the number of followers for @OptixSolutions and traffic to the survey page. I invite you to check the conversation on twitter, using the hashtag #smsurvey.
 
Contributors - Respondents
The most popular sectors for respondents were Media, Creative, Marketing, PR and Advertising, followed closely by Management, Non Profit, IT, Recruitment and Retail. 51% of respondents reported having less than 100 customers, while 49% reported having over 100 customers, reflective of the power Social Media has to engage with audiences of all sizes.
 
I find it excellent that Optix shared the contact details for a fair number of respondents. It demonstrates the importance of being as open and transparent as possible, and how critical it is to reward people for their contribution, here by giving them more visibility.
 
Not surprisingly, most of the respondents work for small businesses. It is a shame so few large organizations took the time to take part to this initiative. I would love to find out which large UK companies are represented there.
 
Key Results
On Visible Banking, we keep track of social media in Finance (banking, financial services, insurance), monitoring over 2,400 initiatives launched by financial institutions in 65+ countries on twitter, facebook, youtube, blogs.
 
Banking concerns every single individual and company, in B2C, B2B, B2B2C, and our team are always keen to better understand how our clients' clients are embracing social media. And in this case, we are also a SME which happened to be based in the UK! ;)
 
SMEs Need Social Media
I have always insisted on the importance of social media for small businesses. Even though it is true that small companies have a lower cost structure, they also have a limited marketing budget and limited resources. Most of them don't have a proper marketing function. It is critical for them to build their reputation and generate qualified leads in a cost effective way.
 
Entrepreneurs haven't much time left at the end of the day, but they are prepared to spend time online as long as they understand the value of the service, and they are rewarded for their contribution. This is precisely why linkedin is so successful and useful and why professionals are prepared to spend significant amount of time updating their profile, inviting their contacts, responding to questions. They expect to build their reputation and create opportunities for themselves and for their company.

Online Communities for SMEs
In the last three years, most of the online communities launched by financial institutions all over the world targeted the entrepreneurs and the small businesses:
* Fortis' Join2Grow.biz (launched in 2007, and offline since January 2009),
* Bank of America's small business online community,
* American Express' OPEN Forum,
* ANZ's The SB Hub,
* ABN AMRO's flametree (offline since January 2010)...
 
My Comments
Please find below our selection of 10 of the key findings from the study.
 
* 75% spend under £500 per month for social media
It seems like a small number, but we are talking about SMEs. Moreover, I believe it doesn't include time allocated to monitor and produce content.
 
* 74% don't have a social media policy for staff
Again, most of the companies represented in this survey have less than 10 employees. Let's not find the best ways to slow social media adoption. Formal guidelines and policies are needed, but in much larger organizations.
 
* 73% linkedin, 57% facebook, 57% twitter (up to 1h spent on, every day)
Those figures show that 1. most of the respondents work for SMEs, 2. a huge proportion of the respondents are focused on identifying good prospects and building new client relationships. We are talking new business here. Linkedin is a goldmine of contacts, and could become your most precious lead generation tool, as long as you use it well and you know how to connect with fellow networks you have never met before.
 
* 71% lack of resource time (main reason for not participating)
I personnally believe that social media is not necesseraly a full time job. Start with the basics such as setting up basic processes and alerts for online conversation monitoring, build a presence on popular networks such as twitter or facebook, grow your network on linkedin after every single business meeting.
Yes, it takes time to reach a critical size and better understand how to commmunicate on those new channels.
 
* 60% use social media to find new customers
Again, I can't help to think that this proportion should be bigger. Indeed, most companies I came across see social media as a great way to sell more products and services. It is not the right way to apprehend social media at all.
Interacting on communities such as twitter or facebook gives companies, big or small, a perfect opportunity to support their clients via some active listening, turn angry customers into brand advocates and change brand perception, increase customer advocacy, improve your products... Eventually, yes eventually, you will drive more business. More business not only from new client relationships, but from your existing client base.
 
* 57% have started using social media in the last 12 months
It doesn't come as a surprise. Companies must start embracing social media asap. It takes time to understand where to focus your attention, how to engage with your market and adapt your tone of voice online.
 
* 56% respondent are self taught, only 7% spent £500 or more to training
I believe this is THE key mistake and definitely one of the key learnings from the survey.
I am strongly against outsourcing all your social media effort to an agency. To the contrary, you must build your "expertise" and spread your knowledge internally. Companies must adapt themselves and give their employees the opportunity to reach out to their customers how, where, and when the customers want. It is all about meeting your client's higher and higher level of expectations.
 
Focus on your growing your business. You are on linkedin, you are using facebook a few times a week, or you have an inactive account on twitter, doesn't mean you understand social media. Make sure to learn about the best and worst initiatives in your industry, and ask an expert to guide you and show you how to identify your key influencers and build an effective content strategy.
 
* 47% do not measure their social media ROI
This is a great find! So, what is all the fuss about ROI? ;)
Social Media and User Generated Content give companies, financial institutions included, access to an enomous amount of new, more relevant, "current" insights from the market, in real time.
The industry must appreciate the necessity of embracing social media to engage with their clients (B2C, B2B, B2B2C) who are already actively participating on communities such as twitter or facebook.

Moreover, the risk of not embracing social media is considerable, and should be compelling to most financial institutions and companies.
We have lots of "good" examples in the financial services industry from HSBC, BofA, Manu Life, ANZ...
 

* 40% are planning to allocate new budgets to social media
This is promising, but please be careful how you invest your money. You can achieve a lot with a minimal amount of budget:
* learn how your industry is leveraging social media (good and bad)
* create (free) alerts about your products, your brand, your competitors, your industry
* set up your goals and objectives on linkedin, facebook, twitter
* create your profile with the right level of branding, info and messages
* define the right content strategy (existing content, syntax, frequency, call to action...)
* identify your key influencers
* promote your social media presence on your own online assets
 
* 32% have a proper social media strategy
Again, this figure seems low. For small businesses, a social media strategy could be based on an active presence on just a couple of online communities and a clever content distribution or relay strategy...
 
Please call me (0044 7736 446 357), send me an email ([email protected]), or DM me (@Visible_Banking).
 
I am keen to talk to you about twitter, customer reviews, and social media in banking, financial services, and insurance.
  
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Top 10 Most Followed Financial Institutions on Twitter in October 2010
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube)

31% of Banks in EMEA are Already "Ready" for the Next Generation Customer. Really? (Survey by EFMA & Oracle)

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The European Financial Marketing Association (EFMA) and Oracle Financial Services have just released a report based on a recent survey answered by key executives in the top 100 retail banks in EMEA like CEOs, CIOs, SVPs, Heads of Operations, General Managers and Product Managers of Youth Banking.
  
I invite you to download the report below.


As soon as I go through the report, I will updated this post with my comments.
 
Please contact me to discuss into more details: [email protected], twitter, linkedin, facebook. We would be delighted to help you to successfully leverage social media, in a pragmatic way.
 
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Top 10 Most Followed Financial Institutions on Twitter in August 2010
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube)

Visible Banking News #12

On regular basis (ideally weekly), I will post a list of key news on web 2.0 & Banking.
As usual, please do not hesitate to get back to me with you comments!

NEWS - 02 July to 08 July 2007

BLOGGING
* Financial Advisor Blog - When Global Is Not Just Jargon! - 7 june 07

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
* Personalisation the old thinking or new - 2 July 07
* Moneysupermarket.com portends a new front in the provision of banking services - 1 July 07

EVENTS
* Internet Retailing conference - choose your focus - 1 July 07

FRAUD
* Land of Lincoln Credit Union target of Internet phishing - 6 July 07
* UK banks still high on the fraud hit parade - 21 June 07
* Phishing? Wot's that? - 21 June 07

INTERNATIONAL
* Korea lives on the Internet - 6 July 07
* Goulash and Online Banking - 19 june 07

INTERVIEWS
* Interview With Co-Founder of PPdai, The P2P Lending Service - 3 July 07
* Charles Schwab: Gideon Sasson, CIO - 16 Jan 07

LAUNCHES
* HSBC and Barclaycard talk up 'green' initiatives - 2 July 07
* Test drive: Rabobank RaboPlus - 2 july 07

MARKETING
* Alliance & Leicester account in 'Recommend a Friend' bonus - 2 July 07
* Give 'em Something to Talk About - June 07

MOBILE BANKING
* Is the Future of Mobile Banking and Payments in Kenya? - 5 July 07

ONLINE REPUTATION
* New company monitors online reputation - 1 July 07

REPORTS
* Online Banks, Missed Opportunities - 6 July 2007
* Full steam ahead for Internet banking - July 07
* Peer-to-peer lending – An Industry Insight - 21 June 07
* Bank CIOs face legacy systems dilemma - 6 June 07

SOCIAL LENDING
* Lendingclub reaches 250000 dollars in loans - 3 July 07
* The situation of social lending in France - 2 July 07
* Boober plans to finance mortgages via p2p lending - 30 Jun 07
* Cash in an hour - Wonga - 28 June 07

SOCIAL NETWORKING
* Is social networking influencing retail sales? - 4 July 07
* Waitrose turns Facebook - 1 July 07

VENDORS
* eBillme - 5 July 07

VIDEOS
* New fl2.0 App - CellRemit - mobile banking - video - 5 July 07

WEB 2.0
* Building the Bank of the Future - 2 - 5 July 07
* FIs -- Look to Amazon and Google for Web 2.0 Best Practices -- Tim O'Reilly - 9 May 2007

Visible Banking News #3

On regular basis (ideally weekly), I will post a list of key news on online banking & web 2.0.
As usual, please do not hesitate to get back to me with you remarks, or with any article I missed!

NEWS - 16 April to 22 April 2007

Events
* Net.Finance 2007
* Online Banking and Marketing Statistics from Net.Finance - 20-Apr-2007

Fraud
* Nationwide fights phishers with MarkMonitor - 18-Apr-2007
* Barclays to roll out smart card readers to online banking customers - 18-Apr-2007
* Two-thirds tell you their password for a bar of chocolate - 18-Apr-2007

Launches
* Aviva rolls out signature-free online underwriting platform in Australia - 17-Apr-2007

Marketing
* Bank of America's "Paid Placement" at Verizon Wireless Bill Payment - 21-Apr-2007
 
Mobile Banking
* mFoundry Launches Spotlight Mobile Financial Platform - 17-Apr-2007
* Person-To-Person Payment Goes Mobile - 19-Apr-2007
* BancorpSouth goes cellular - 20-Apr-2007
 
Social Lending
* Zopa Provides Update on U.S. Launch Plans - 19-Apr-2007

Surveys
* Online bill payment key to customer satisfaction - 17-Apr-2007
* Online Banking Matures - 20-Apr-2007
* Multiple Channels Trip Up Banks - 20-Apr-2007

Vendors
* Online Resources trials same-day online bill pay - 17-Apr-2007
* Norwich Union appoints FundWorks for Web site expansion - 17-Apr-2007
* Bank of the West selects Systemware e-statement tool - 18-Apr-2007
* Online Banking Dictates Customer Satisfaction - 18-Apr-2007
* Whitney Enhances Online Banking E-Archive Features - 20-Apr-2007

Web 2.0
* Web 2.0 to usher in business revolution - EIU - 17-Apr-2007

Visible Banking News #2

On regular basis (ideally weekly), I will post a list of key news on online banking & web 2.0.
As usual, please do not hesitate to get back to me with you remarks, or with any article I missed!

NEWS - 09 April to 15 April 2007

Fraud
* Fraudsters Are Starting to Score Successes Against Online Banking - 11 April 2007

Launches
* Google launches online payments service in UK - 13 April 2007
* Schwab launches money mentoring Web site for parents - 13 April 2007
* Online mortgage firm Giraffe launches in Northern Ireland - 13 April 2007
* Boubyan Bank launches online banking portal implemented by Al-Faris - 15 April 2007

News
* The Title Says it All: "Online Banking: Protecting the Earth and Yourself" - 11 April 2007
* Online Bill Payments Surpass Checks for the First Time Among Internet- Connected Households - 11 April 2007
* Green banking - just hype or here to stay? - 12 April 2007
* Ins And Outs Of New Online Checking Accounts - 12 April 2007
* E-bill payments surpass cheques among Web-connected households - 13 April 2007
* Banks target the young - 13 April 2007
* The Two-Way Peephole - 13 April 2007

Personal finance
* Buxfer Showcases Personal Finance 2.0 Features - 09 April 2007

Podcasts
* Building Better Online Brand Experiences - 11 April 2007

Reports
* Driving Online Sales for Motor Insurance - 10 April 2007
* Aite - The State of Online Banking Security - 11 April 2007
* Online car insurers driving away customers - 11 April 2007
* Mobile Money & Payments 2.0 Released: The Latest from Online Banking Report - 12 April 2007

Surveys
* CIBC Website tops Forrester rankings among Canadian banks - 13 April 2007
   
Videos
* Banks Roll Out High Interest Online Checking Accounts - 12 April 2007

Web 2.0
* Enterprise 2.0 - current state of use of web 2.0 tools in Banks and Credit Unions - 10 April 2007
   
And feel free to check the Visible Banking News #1.

Visible Banking News #1

On regular basis (ideally weekly), I will post a list of key news on online banking & web 2.0.
As usual, please do not hesitate to get back to me with you remarks, or with an article I missed!

NEWS - 02 April to 08 April 2007

Customer experience
* Customers want online ID protection more than reimbursement from banks - 04 April 2007

Fraud
* ABN Amro compensates victims of 'man-in-the-middle' attack – 02 April
* ABN Amro problem was predictable – 03 April 2007
* Barclays wins anti-fraud award - 04 April 2007
* Hackers Selling Their Dark Services to Highest Bidders – 05 April
* CIB urges Internet users to beware of computer hackers - 08 April 2007

Initiatives
* Banks Adding Products Online – 02 April 2007
* HSBC to plant trees for customers who switch off paper statements – 03 April 2007
* Sovereign, CheckFree Launch Electronic Bill Payment Promotional Campaign – 05 April 2007
* Banks and Credit Unions Go Green with Paperless Promotions - 05 April 2007
 
Marketing
* Citibank Buys the Top Spot for Google "Checking Accounts" – 02 April 2007
* Bank Web sites are marketing tools – 05 April 2007

Mobile banking
* HSBC Pushes Cell-Phone Ads to Branch Passers-By – 02 April 2007
* Citi unveils cell-phone banking - 02 April 2007
* Citi Mobile(SM) Technology Makes Everyday Banking on Your Cell Phone Effortless - 02 April 2007
* Citibank’s Mobile Services Will Impact Outside U.S. – 03 April 2007
* Citi Mobile Launches in Southern California – 03 April 2007

Reports
* Automating Account Opening In-Branch and Online: A Case Study of Alliant Credit Union - 04 April 2007
* Banks struggling with online sales – Datamonitor – 05 April 2007

Surveys
* Online banking users value security before convenience - 05 April 2007
* Potential of internet banking remains unfulfilled - 05 April 2007

Vendors
* Liberty Bank to Adopt Digital Insight Web Platform – 04 April 2007

Younger customers don't trust online banking

I invite you to read an extremely interesting article found on finextra on 29/03/07: Younger customers shunning Web banking.

"Around two thirds of younger consumers are shunning online banking services, according to a US study by Mintel, which found that 40% of these 18-34 year olds "don't trust transactions on the Internet".
"The study found that only one-third of consumers aged 18-34 are using Internet banking services, with the remainder preferring the human touch."

Even though we know that security is one of our key concerns when we bank online, I find those figures surprising. I thought that the younger customers, who are used to shop on ebay & amazon, were more confident online...

Web 2.0 & Online Banking
I created this blog to share my passion about web 2.0 and online banking.
Web 2.0 is all about giving the power to the people: a company provides its platform, but it is its clients/users/members who generate the content.
 
Young people are massively using "web 2.0 "technologies": they blog, they have a profile on several social networks such as MySpace, and they are keen to contribute and share their thoughts.

Web 2.0 & Youth Market: a good opportunity for the banks
I wasn't surprised when Gartner advised the banks to use web 2.0 technologies to target the Youth Market.

But we all know how important reputation is for a bank: currently, most banks still refrain from launching a blog or creating a social network, fearing the potential brand damage.

Bad comments must be seen as an opportunity to win back a customer
At the online_banking_summit_2007, during our panel on web 2.0, we insisted on the fact that nowadays an angry customer will always find a way to express its thoughts online, whether it is on your blog or on another one... With web 2.0 customers expectations have increased: now your customers expect you to show you listen to them, they want to be able to trust you.
An aggressive comment is not an issue, but it must be carefully addressed!

Younger customers are neither profitable nor faithful to their bank
At the summit, another speaker reminded us that the younger customers were not profitable, and that they had no problem switching to another bank. Being efficient & cost effective is extremely important.

Web 2.0 & Viral marketing: a cost effective answer
Young people are actively using web 2.0 technologies, and those technologies are relatively inexpensive to leverage. Banks can also make significant savings in marketing: there is nothing more efficient online than word and mouth & buzz...

Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 4)

Review - Join2Grow.biz (Fortis)
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 2): Registration, Profile, Contacts
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 3): RSS, Channels, Podcasts, Polls
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 4): Conclusion
___________________________________________________________________________________

GOALS & INTERESTS
* For Fortis: their goal is to be seen as the prefered financial partner for entepreneurs. This network is a fantastic source of info on their target market, and they leverage it correctly, it is an excellent (and cost-effective!) way to create new products, or enhance the way they do business and support the entrepreneurs.
* For Entrepreneurs: their goal is not as obvious as Fortis... Indeed, time is money, and I see a problem:
-> What if I am already a member of the excellent Linkedin or Xing, two bigger and more international networks, with members from all industries and backgrounds where I can find potential clients, business partners, suppliers, distributors, prospects, where I can recruit my future managers...
-> What it I also belong to some local and very active business associations such as NBI...
Why would I invest (again) my precious time on this new platform?
What would made me visit the website on regular basis? (quality of the members?, Useful resources?, Rich content?, Business opportunities?, Fame?...)

Nb: Launching a new social network to create a community around its key market, or around its products is a very good idea, and if successful, it could lead to a significant increase of market share.
But it is hard work, especially with big, well-known, generalists networks such as MySpace... For example, Google helped Nike design its soccer community site, called Joga.com, but it does not appear to have significantly attracted users.

CONCLUSION
First, I want to salute this initiative again: it is great to see a bank having a go at social networking! But Fortis need to do it right. If they want their new venture to be a success, they need to:
1. market their online community
2. reach a critical mass of members
3. engage their members, encourage them to post
4. involve them, ask for suggestions
5. enhance the platform accordingly, differentiate themselves
6. become one of the most valuable resources for european entrepreneurs

Fortis had some good ideas, but they need to improve the platform, organize all the valuable information, urge their members to contribute, and especially create more value for them!

SUGGESTIONS
1. market their online community
I would create a blog, and have a resource dedicated to monitor the blogosphere and create some buzz (comment other posts, make sure to appear on Google, Technorati and the blog directories...)
Moreover, I couldn't find no logo or link for Join2Grow on Fortis Merchant Banking's homepage: did I miss it?

2. reach a critical mass of members
You are not really urged to invite more people. Contrary to Linkedin, there is no ranking in terms of nb of connexions, no incentive to grow your network.
Fortis could think of special offers/incentives to identify the best champions: they could to promote a company or a service, or broadcast a commercial.
Also, they should promote the members with the more contacts and display a ranking of the "top networkers".

3. engage their members, encourage them to post
They should organize frequent competitions (entrepreneurs like competing) to post the most useful article on a topic, or the best advice.
They should proactively look for members willing to be interviewed.

4. involve them, ask for suggestions
They should ask their memberfor suggestions (new section, better display, new channel, missing communication feature...)
Again, they could organize a competition to reward the most useful/most creative idea.

5. enhance the platform accordingly, differentiate themselves
Create a financial advisory section: "Ask Fortis experts a question?" to create trust, confidence, and build profitable long term relationships.
Organize offline meetings, recruit moderators, identify a few champions... Follow Xing example!

Nb: Online networking is a fantastic creator of opportunities, but nothing will ever replace a good handshake, and face to face meetings!

6. become one of the most valuable resources for european entrepreneurs
They should create a link/resource section like a directory of useful resources for entrepreneurs. (a public page with limited info, which could be referred on del.icio.us, and urging you to register to access the full info)

Other remarks & ideas
Fortis obviously want their members to use their proprietary interface to communicate (like the old AOL walled garden) They don't give access to the contact details.
They should catagorize and differentiate comments and questions, and ask their members to rate how useful the comments/questions are (like online communities do, such as ebay or tripadvisor...)
Categorize your surveys, add some content from specialized websites. Add an event section, a calendar.
   
Fine tune the profiles: find the right balance between social & business
I think they put too much focus on hobbies and personal info. It looks "too social", and the search features aren't satisfying.

Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 3)

Review - Join2Grow.biz (Fortis)
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 2): Registration, Profile, Contacts
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 3): RSS, Channels, Podcasts, Polls
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 4): Conclusion
___________________________________________________________________________________

RSS Feeds
Excellent: most info is available in RSS feeds! It enables you to be kept posted of any changes directly in your feeds reader, without having to visit the website.

You have access to the following RSS Feeds:

Based on an Interest:
* Most recent Comments
* Most active users (how does it work?)
* Related interests

Based on the Entrepreneur magazine (everything or per channel)
* Entrepreneur magazine: New Trends
* Entrepreneur magazine: Travel
* Entrepreneur magazine: Profile
* Entrepreneur magazine: Enterprise

Based on your private messages
* New messages in your mailbox - Your Private Messages

Based on the survey
* You can keep track of discussions related to a specifc survey.

Channels
Web 2.0 is all about user experience and sharing info: files, movies, songs...
The peer-to-peer technology revolutionnized the way we communicate (skype), we buy music (napster), we get rid of second hand goods (ebay)...

Nowadays, the term channel is very popular. Mainly because of the fantastic success of websites dedicated to video sharing: the YouTube phenomenon is huge, and many other companies would like to gain precious market share in that space (dailymotion, buzznet, pod.tv...)

Videos are catagorized using tags, and could be regrouped as part of specific channels.


 

 
With the channels, Fortis wants to create a spirit, a community: they expect the members to share their experience, their advice. They started with the Travel channel, which makes sens: most european entrepreneurs travel, and are happy to find out about good hotels, good restaurants and good deals!

Podcasts
In the Entrepreneur magazine section, you have access to podcasts (text, voice or video)
I like the video interviews: quality is good, and you can access directly a specific question which saves you time.

You are invited to start a discussion and leave a comment/question.
When you leave a comment on an interview, is it also linked to an interest? How can you be aware of that comment without the specific RSS Feed?

Nb: Again comments or questions are good: it creates traffic and generates activities on your site. But members need to know they exist!
They need more channels (probably a resources/links section), and I am not sure of the way existing articles are categorized: the Have you read article is currently in the Entreprise section, which contains mainly interviews of Entrepreneurs... The difference between Profile & Entreprise is not obvious to me.

News
I don't find the BBC World Business news feed useful. It just look like they wanted to fill up the screen. They could have used that place for more useful links for instance, or to better promote an article based on the tags of the contact in context.

Polls
Excellent tool for Fortis. And I like the fact that it is visually nice, quick, and you can comment. Again, it is messy and you need to check every single message to make sure there is something appealing... Or if you don't want to say something again.
 
And you have to check a couple of different pages if there are more than 5/7 comments... Waste of time. Other people that have responded -> displaying the title of the comment would be more useful. Here, I will click randomly...

Nb: Categorize your questions, and display all the categories on the first page.

NEXT: Review - Join2Grow.biz (Conclusion)

Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 2)

Review - Join2Grow.biz (Fortis)
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 2): Registration, Profile, Contacts
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 3): RSS, Channels, Podcasts and Polls
Review - Join2Grow.biz (Part 4): Conclusion
___________________________________________________________________________________

Entrepreneur survey

Entrepreneur magazine

Entrepreneur network

REGISTRATION
From my laptop at home, I had some strange problems when I tried to register. I filled in all the fields, making sure my ID was unique and my email not registered, but I couldn't go to the next stage of the process.
I stayed on the same page, with the following error messages:
* This nickname is already taken, please choose another one
* This email is already associated with another account
* You have to accept our terms of use

I decided to try again from an internet cafe, and it worked perfectly well! How Weird...

EDIT YOUR PROFILE
Please find below a slideshow of the main screens you have to go through to create a good profile.

Nb: again, that is one of my key messages when I talk about social networking and online visiblity: your goal is to be visible! People must be in a position to find you! Be as specific as possible, and use efficient key words.

SOCIAL or BUSINESS?
I have nothing else to add about the profile, except that I find the positionning of this platform quite unclear: is it a social network? a business network? a hybrid network?

Nb: Sharing a hobby or a passion is a good way to create strong relationships quicker, but in that case I think quite a lot of questions are too personal (but you can choose to make your answers available to everyone or not)

GROW YOUR NETWORK
There are three different status for your Contacts: incoming, outgoing, and yourcontacts.

There are two ways to grow your network: either invite your personal contacts, or contact existing members. When you add an existing member to your contacts, you send an outgoing contact request, pending member approval.

Leaving a private message ("Leave a message" box) or adding someone as a contact are two different things here.

Nb: I think Fortis don't urge you to develop your network. On Linkedin, the more direct contacts you have, the more members you can reach. It is a smart way to make you want to grow your network!

There is a limitation here as there is no notion of degrees of separation. It looks like now the only way for members to differentiate themselves is to be "active", which means to post a lot of comments or questions!
 
SEARCH CRITERIA: THE INTERESTS
The main "search criteria" is the interests: an interest is like a tag. So far, they have based their search methodology solely on those tags: currently, you don't have access to an advanced search page with selection criteria such as country, city or industry...

I hope it is going to be part of the next release. You select one or several interests -> you find all the members who have the same interests.

LEAVE A COMMENT OR A QUESTION?
Then, you are invited to leave a comment or a question? They are both identified as Comment.
The "Answers service" is quite popular (companies like Yahoo! or Linkedin are using it to urge their members to use the website and create more traffic)

But here, I find it messy: the comment/question is linked with an interest. How can you easily identify the questions, and take part of a discussion if you don't have a proper title, and just rely on a tag which is quite generic?

Nb: I am really surprised they used the same categorisation for a comment or a question!
Comments should be linked with a question which should be linked with a tag.

MOST ACTIVE MEMBERS
The notion of "Most active entepreneurs" is interesting: what does it mean? Are they the people who posted more comments/questions? Couldn't it be the people who sent the most invitations? People with the more contact?
I believe it is the members who posted the more comments/questions for a specific tag/interest.

Nb: then, they should display the number of comments per interest per user, it would be useful.

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