Just returned from two weeks in Tuscany and Milan. I???m fairly lucky when I???m away in being able to switch off completely from the world of digital and online, however, one hat I never leave behind is my usability trilby.  Driving through Tuscany is wonderful, but finding places is another matter. The usability factor is just not there. A road sign for an historic monument will lead you part of the way to your destination then suddenly the signs are never to be seen again. In Museum???s I could find an exit sign but no entry sign! An advert for a highly touted restaurant had everything except the address and phone number! Like most tourists I make decisions based on how eager I am to see places. Some are ???must see??? and I work harder to find it. Some areas are ???of interest??? and I take some time, maybe ask for a direction but if I???m made to work too hard I won???t pursue. Others I never even get started on because it is just too hard to begin where to find them and I have other pressing demands on my leisure time. Users of intranet and portals have similar behaviour. There are some items they simply must find and will do anything to retrieve them. Other content would be nice to see but unless the road signs are good they won???t pursue. Other pieces of content are never visited simply because no-one knows they exist in the first place. Part of our role is not simply to create the content but ensure the signposting and banners directing users to the content are clear, concise and provide a logical journey path. Otherwise your content may have the same fate as that wonderful Tuscan restaurant that cooks a wonderful wild boar but can never be found on the map!

Young women are becoming more and more dependent on social media and checking on their social networks, according to a new study released earlier today by Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research. In fact, as many as one-third of women aged 18-34 check Facebook when they first wake up, even before they get to the bathroom.

Why is this of interest? When we talk about personalising content or targeting audiences, in professional service firms, we talk about the function, sector, markets, client facing or not etc. We rarely look at the gender or the age when looking at how to target. There is a minefield of legislation and risk issues that organisations would have to deal with but I???m sure in organisations of the future they will look at gender and age when selecting a tool to target a message.

Been busy few days so only now am I starting to muse on IBF 24 – the highs and lows and my takeaways For me the two themes that stood out were:

Leadership – much of what we witnessed on IBF 24 was not about how technology, digital platform or systems had worked but how passionate, motivated people , providing leadership succeeded in creating something of value to their business. It wasn’t about Sharepoint, search or CMS that shone through but the social aspects of people communicating, collaborating and coming together to create something – whether it be on a laptop, mobile or whatever type of app is used. The stewardship of Stan Garfield (Deloitte) and Jamie Pappas (EMC) was impressive in using technology in bringing people together. The human skills were paramount to getting this to succeed. It was not technologists that were leading the next stage of development but leaders with ‘social’ attributes (dare I say ‘socialists’) that were getting traction within organisations. Goodbye ‘taylorists’ and hello socialists (may need a better word to stop some CEOs thinking of the red flag!).

The other aspect I took away (other than the need for a good night’s sleep!) – is to make these functions work we need to think about ‘humanising technology’. Loved the way GreenNuture have taken an issue and built a platform around their beliefs (something humans need) and also comments by Loic Le Meur, Euan Semple and others. The platform is the enabler, not the controller and to make something work it needs to appeal to our behaviour patterns and thought processes. Read something yesterday about twitter being more valuable in finding content than google. This reflects my use. To find something I go to influencers that I have a basic understanding of – what they look like, their interests etc, not a search engine that I have no idea how it found that conclusion.

Finally on IBF 24 I was so impressed by everyone’s dedication, commitment and passion about this platform we all engage with. just loved it.

One of our largest communities launch the next stage of their knowledge sharing strategy on Thursday. Every member of the community (approx 800) will be greeted with a cadbury creme egg, a chicken, a knowledge sharing toolkit and a link to a video asking “Knowledge – how do you share yours?” On 7th April the Managers of the community will have a virtual forum to support their quarterly meetings. The knowledge approach considers the physical, social and virtual areas of knowledge and collaboration, ensuring their is symmetry between all areas.