1. Wiggio Comes Out Of Beta With A Yammer For College Students
2. Dell Goes Niche with Ideastorm for Healthcare

The two articles have very little to do with each other unless you read between the lines. The word “niche” crops up yet again. As I mentioned in a previous post, business is going niche – but so too is Social Media. I believe as the Oprah’s of the world invade and misuse Social Media channels, business folks are going to migrate to more niche Twitter like applications. Focus will allow users to..well..be more focused!

As it is-I find myself inundated with Twitter messages. They range from work, to baseball, to movies, to family members asking the supposed “social media expert” how their business can use Twitter. If I let it, I can become overly unproductive. But how nice would it be to be able to delve into focused Twitter areas where I don’t have worry about conversations outside of my focus? I personally would value that ability and not have to do a keyword search on Twitter and log that RSS into my Netvibes. Like it or not, the Twitter we know today is going to evolve into a 2010 version of old school AOL chat rooms. It has already started in the form of Wiggio which provides a Twitter-like message stream from all the group members. But it also includes a ton of valuable  features such as a shared calendar, mass text and voice messaging, file-sharing (including online docs and spreadheets) and polling.
Dell is simply burrowing down their Social Media offering to a niche of interest for their marketing team. I suspect this will be the first of many micro-Ideastorms on the horizon.Please excuse the silly metaphor.

What is your take? Are you an early adopter of Wiggio? Are you already tired of the mainstream media disregarding the real value (listening, learning, adopting, innovating) of Twitter? If you were Dell, what would be the next business area you would penetrate?

1. Create an Ideas area  like Dell’s Ideastorm. This can be open to anyone who wants to share ideas that will help America get out of this financial mess. As I mentioned in the video, it could be sharing something another government has had success implementing. Or maybe there is a brilliant nugget in the mind of some 10 year old political whiz kid. Either way- the “we” has been proven to be smarter than the few. Might as well give the masses the vehicle to present the American Government with the nuggets that could really instill “change”.
2. Events- Conduct live Chats with Senators and key members of the Government. The purpose of these chats is to give people a chance to ask tough questions. Obviously not all of the questions can be answered. But within those questions is valuable Intelligence. Intelligence the Government can use to understand what is really on their citizens minds. For the citizen, it is a way to be heard. For the very reason ESPN is successful using sports chats, so too will the Government. Use Recognition Rewards to drive participation.
3. Instill empowerment through the use of Recognition Rewards- Great participation should be rewarded in the form of their very own blog post on the WhiteHouse.gov website. Also, Barack Obama is very popular right now. I am sure there are hoards of folks that would share their thoughts for a right to dine with the big guy!
4. Live Chats During Speeches & Press Conferences – This gives folks a reason to come back to the community. But for the same reasons outlined above, it will give the Government an unfiltered look in the minds of the citizen. It is also would be great if 3 questions from the chat are asked after the speech or during the press conference. I never understood why the media was the only people allowed to ask questions. And I understand that many of the questions are seeded questions. Let’s put an end to that! Every day I get asked questions from customers off the cuff and I am no worse for wear. Government officials are paid a hell of a lot more money then I- they can handle it!
5. Profiles – Each Citizen can create their own profile. This way they can favorite the topics that are important to them. They can track the progress of the agendas right from their profile. They will also be able be ranked as citizen, and will be able to set reminders to return for events that are important to them. Lastly, they can buddy up with other citizens to create and organize events to push the causes or candidates that they are passionate about.

In the end this takes money. Tax money! But  much of this can be outsourced away from the Government. Community management and moderation can be had! Just ask me and I will send Barach & Co. in the right direction. Come to think of it- wasn’t Macon Phillips hired to be the Director Of New Media for the Obama Administration?