Social Media | Core » technology

HiveLive Social Enterprise Platform – REVIEW

Cosmin Ghiu — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:59:21 +0000

I want to take this opportunity to write a followup blog post on my recent Top 10 Social Media Enterprise Companies. It had a great response and has been producing some great organic traffic. Social Media for enterprise is something that is very appealing to Fortune companies that have doven into this space or are looking to invest budget.

That is why companies that specialize in Social platforms for enterprise are sprouting up all over. The leaders among those are the ones that continue to better there business model and product.

I was fortunate to get an email from the PR folks of HiveLive.com to give me an exclusive demo of their product.

HiveLive is different than other companies in their space by the following four points according to their Business Development Director who gave me the demo.

Customizable web 2.0 building blocks (known as the hive).
Extensive permissions sets
Point & Click Interface
Partnership Approach

He led me via a remote desktop demo to the following examples:

1. Designers Accord Web Community – http://community.designersaccord.org

2. Serena Software – http://community.serena.com/pages/home

3. Rally Community – http://agilecommons.org/hives

I also got an opportunity to get a demo of the administrative back end which is very flexible and customizable when it comes to the modules and features that are used within a website. Areas of the website are viewable and able to be modified based on the user permissions set to each usergroup and/or individual.

HiveLive Admin area

There is no URL to the admin area but I was shown a default back end admin area to get a feel of the GUI and features.

When it comes to design customizations it is also very flexible via company providing creative assets and HiveLives intergrates it into the soluction. HiveLive is a SaaS (Software as a Service) model. Which means it must be hosted on their servers with URL forwarding/alias from your company’s domain.

I was told that most enterprise companies are understandable of this when I asked about this SaaS being a potential negative to the product especially since if it is a large Fortune company with established brand and security processes in place it may be a deterrant.

As many companies are now adopting SaaS products (Salesforce.com) not allowing an opportunity to deploy on a company enterprise server may not be a problem.

Overall I was impressed with the product and look forward to reviewing others like it.

REVIEW Verizon Blackberry Storm

Cosmin Ghiu — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:15:45 +0000

As a Social Media adopter the tools we use are critical to our way to stay connected and engaged. I am one of those gadget freaks that love to research the latest gadgets in technology. Especially when it comes to phones. I was one of the first ones that tried the first generation iPhone which I quickly returned the iPhone after it fell way short for a heavy business user.

That is when I embraced RIM’s Blackberry 8820 which I use to this day.

Since I have gotten my 8820 back in October 2007, I have been watching the new products from RIM. The Blackberry Bold recently launched in the beginning of November. I wanted to jump and get that one but I decided to wait to have the touchscreen Blackberry Storm to launch tomorrow November 21, 2008.

I ran across a great Blackberry Storm review from Dan Frommer of Silicon Valley Insider.

Also, here is a great Blackberry Storm video review from jkOntherun.com

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8aeT-MquFw[/youtube]

I am going to wait a few weeks to see what the feedback is on this phone but I tend to agree with the reviewer that the touchscreen keyboard may make or break this devise as it is a great step for RIM and the Blackberry products. Your thoughts?

Facebook Verified Developer 101

Cosmin Ghiu — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:41:03 +0000

Facebook has announced that they will give out of its current 48,000+ facebook widgets and applications a “Verified Developer” seal of approval.

This means that Facebook will charge $375 per year for an application that is verified. If your application is verified you get the following:

Badging

A verified badge graphic displayed on your application’s About Page indicating that it has been verified by Facebook.
A special icon displayed next to your application in listings within the Application Directory.

Distribution

Increased allocations for requests, notifications, and emails.
Increased visibility for News Feed stories.

Advertising

$100 of Facebook advertising credit.

Events

Discounted registration fees to events like f8, Facebook’s Developer Conference.

In my opinion this an excellent example of platform type sites that have open APIs in order for other developers to build upon and if the applications are successful (Facebook applications are a great example) the platform is able to associate a fee for the applications to be ‘verified’.

This seals an application and its authority on the website and seperates it from many of the applications that are a dime a dozen.

For more detailed information on the process and policies to become verified please visit the Facebook Developer Verification area.