Why (Some, Mostly Big) Businesses Don’t Get New Media

Saw a report today from the USC School of Business around social media and online initiatives - and the information was great.

All in all, the biggest reason why there isn’t an embrace of new media yet is that they don’t understand it… not to mention new media is still levels the playing field because the level of adoption of companies under 100 employees is higher than any other segment.

Following those reasons, we also see cost/staff issues (funny, as it’s usually cheaper and there are some great vendors out there to make it happen) as well as network security (seems like not a well-asked question; is it a concern of leaks or a technical concern?).

Big business in general didn’t always correlate new media to a competitive advantage; this tells me that this is the greatest opportunity for the small (Tier 5, Tier 4, etc) companies to use new media to establish beachheads and superiority in the online space before the big guys catch on.

That said, the three things that they saw most useful across the board was online video, RSS, and podcasting. (Editor’s note: glad we picked those areas to focus on) and blogs were near the bottom of perceived usefulness (Editor’s note: can’t pick’em all).

I’m sure, since it’s lack of understanding as the lead cause, since these decision makers don’t always use these tools themselves they fail to see how their employees and customers can benefit.  This USC information basically backs up what a pseudo-competitor (and overall good guy) said:

“They either get it or they don’t.”

My take is that those who don’t see it need to get on the clue train at the next station as it’s already left this one, if they want to be relevant and make money in the future.

The reality is that this is the way a whole generation of people connect; the playing field has changed.  From here on out, there is a line in the sand; a top-down approach as the past has been is less and less effective.  Of course, it still blows my mind that in 2008 over 15% of businesses we talk to over 10 people don’t have a website yet and close to 70% haven’t updated theirs in the last year.  It’s just not seen as a vehicle; it’s many times seen as a static brochure… and then they wonder why they don’t get any results.

I remember vividly a meeting a couple years ago where the potential client (this is more of a Web 1.0 story, but applicable) who was convinced nothing was wrong with their e-commerce store, even though they were only getting a couple hundred dollars a month on their $100,000 investment (obviously denial is not just a river in Egypt).

Their premise was that since no one told them their store was bad (it was atrocious - no product descriptions, no pictures, no search) that it’s not the problem.  Of course, online customers don’t always tell you it’s bad - most times they just leave and tell their friends.

They had no statistics or tracking package, no way to see where people abandoned their carts, what people did.. but it was still fine.  They did it their way with no input from their vendor; they did the graphics, the text, everything themselves because they knew what customers wanted.

Suffice it to say, they’re still failing in ignorant bliss.  Sad to see, but it’s their choice.  Go take their business from them, as the great equalization is still in effect.

Upgrade Your Installations… now.

With the apparent hacking of the Applephoneshow.com blog and others floating around, it’s become known that there are various exploits in older version of the popular Wordpress blogging/CMS platform running anything that’s older than version 2.3.3.

Frankly, if you have a Wordpress blog or any site (there are vulnerabilities for basically everything out there) you have a responsibility to others viewing your site and yourself (to prevent things like Technorati and other search engine de-listing) to upgrade, since obsolete code could allow hackers to inject unwanted links as well as code that can execute download spyware on your visitors’ computers.

If your host for some reason can’t support it, you should go change hosts or upgrade (it won’t be much money). Code does become obsolete; so it’s important to keep on top of things for the sake of your site, your search ranking, and your brand.. you don’t want to be known as the company that gave people who visited your site viruses.

p.s. - Some people think that it’s an intentional un-ending cycle by developers to keep having holes. It’s really not. It’s a cat-and-mouse game because no code is infallible.

Special thanks to @johnfoster for picking up the source article from Geek Ramblings, with a very cool header image. Fighting robots rock.

Addendum: Big blog ZDnet was hacked as well, and the problem is pretty wide-spread among non-upgraded sites.  Not to mention, here’s confirmation Technorati is delisting non-upgraded blogs.

Don’t update your software/services just to update

Last night, Wordpress 2.5 got released to the public, and although I’ve had a decent time with upgrading our internal mirror for testing purposes and a couple projects still in development, it’s fried a few people, especially with those with lots of plugins or plugins that are actually meant for a little bit older version but have skated by.

I don’t blame Wordpress for this at all… this is a good time for a lesson.

When it comes to any new software or service release, I think it’s wise on production systems that you’re counting on to wait until the bugs come out.   Whenever you have an environment (your setup of computers, servers, programs, etc) that you’re counting on, restraint should be shown unless it’s a critical security release.   There is no way to test everything in every configuration.  And of course, as always, make sure there is a backup of your site or materials before jumping into everything.

You could lose days when you monkey with things that are working.  Not a web site, but I know someone who lost two days because of inadvertently deleting a USB driver.  Now, if they had had a complete, bootable backup, they could of re-imaged his Windows (put the exact copy back… a great program on the mac is Carbon Copy Cloner, I’m not a Windows guy, so suggests are welcome) and be back in business.

Sometimes, when things are working, it’s really not a smooth move to start messing with stuff.  Have a second, non-crucial system if you’re going to do it.

p.s. - Go Tigers!

Security Counts: If it’s in the Cloud, It Could Become Public

Usually I reserve my security counts to Wednesday, but I think this one is very appropriate considering the timeliness of today’s news that Facebook has had a little leak in regards to allowing pictures to be shown that were supposed to be private (by the way, MySpace had one earlier).

Although, for the most part, there is a low chance that your photos of the keg party or even of just your kids you don’t want to have online becoming public due to one of these breaches, it’s important to realize that there is that possibility and to take that account when you put stuff online.

This also shows what is now an old axiom for the web… if you are very public about your “new” security features, you’re almost hanging a sign on your door that says, “try me.”

And the reality is that nothing is hack-proof… you just try to make the wall as high as possible.  Much like copy protection and DRM… they don’t stop counterfeiters, or even for that matter, hinder them.

Security Counts: Keep Security In Mind When Making A Web Presence

With the recent hacking of Trend Micro’s (and others) websites, it should put the forefront in folks minds fact that security is extremely important.

In an ongoing security series, we’ll be sharing (and soliciting) tips for making sure your web presence stays secure from the simple to the complex.  There should be something for everyone in this; but not every post will be for everyone… but I hope useful, nevertheless, to keep in mind.

The thing to remember is that no matter what some eager salesperson will tell you, your presence or site is never 100% hack-proof; but the key is to engage in habits that keep things locked down.  It’s sort of like using “The Club” on your car; the club doesn’t prevent your car from getting stolen, it makes it harder so that the crooks move on to easier targets.  Your behavior is the number one way for people to get your site or identity.

So here’s tip #1: Use Non-Dictionary Passwords

Common names and dictionary words are very easily guessed by hackers; why?  Because they just take a program that applies a dictionary listing to it and keep trying until they get in.

It’s wise to keep your passwords long and difficult; however, it can be very difficult to remember them.  However, over time, if you keep using it, your brain will eventually “burn” it in to your head.  Maybe have a formula, such as the reverse of a dogs name, a couple gibberish symbols, and then the reverse numbers of your home address.  If you want to be really random, here’s a link to crazily secure passwords.  What I do is keep them on secure media, and copy them when I need them for mission-critical stuff.

Although not perfectly secure if someone gets my device, the hacker a thousand miles away does not have access to it.