R2Integrated

By Chris Chodnicki on 8/29/2007 8:30 PM

Believe it or not YouTube has been around for less than two years. During this period they built a community that attracted over 20 million unique visitors per month. Today YouTube, Flickr and other such media sites are common and part of the everyday fabric of a web 2.0 experience. Mashups, or the mix of information such as images, data and documents on a site are also a relatively new but have quickly gained incredible usefulness. For instance most of us have used Google Maps, MapQuest or Microsoft’s Virtual Earth to locate a restaurant or get driving directions to a destination. Have you ever chosen the satellite view and zoomed in on your home? It is fun to do but not overly useful especially since the image is typically several years old and the zoom level is not clear. Now imagine multiple pictures of your home from various angles pieced together for a 3 dimensional view with the ability to zoom to a granular level from various angles. Read More »

By Matt Goddard on 8/22/2007 8:14 AM

I recently had a great opportunity to speak with Mark Hall at Computer World. If you haven’t already checked out his blog, you should. Mark’s blog is always filled with unique topics and great insight.  When I spoke with Mark, we discussed the impact of communities built around social media as it relates to consumer and business brands, products and services. Marketing professionals are trying to better understand the impact of these communities on their overall brand and many wonder how they can control them. Others are taking it one step farther, asking the question:  should I try to create a community of my own? Very interesting material when you really dissect it…which is what I am going to do right now. To read an excerpt of my conversation with Mark, Read More »

By Chris Chodnicki on 8/10/2007 4:43 PM

Several years ago, I would tell clients that websites without a content management system were typically high-maintenance and expensive. Today, that’s still the case, but you can add “outdated” to the list.

To compete for visibility and impact, today’s successful websites employ user-generated content, social networking, and community features, often called “Web 2.0” elements.  This type of content attracts bigger audiences organically via search engines and increases the time users spend on your site. Although this content is “free,” it needs to be managed efficiently, and DotNetNuke (DNN) enables you to plug-in popular social networking modules, such as blogs, wiki, and chat, with low development time, security, and professional performance.

Second-generation Web 2.0 tools aren’t just hype. Websites with social networking feature ... Read More »

By Dave Taub on 8/6/2007 4:43 AM

As R2i adds clients outside the Mid-Atlantic region I find myself doing more travel to meet up with clients and learning more about how to better assist them with on-going projects. I recently found myself visiting Montreal to kick-off a very exciting project for a mobile communications company. As I walked through the client doors for the first time it could of easily been a company down the hallway. What I mean by this is that the some things remain the same inside technology companies. For one thing they all seem to prefer an open office floor plan, no offices exist with very few closed doors at all. Just like at our offices, the coffee run seems to be an important ritual :) Some things are different of course in terms of process and workflow but after ending an all day kick-off session it became clear to me that it does not seem to matter where you work inside the technology start-up community some things remain consistent they include a certain energy level, a sense of ti ... Read More »

By Dave Taub on 8/6/2007 4:42 AM

As we continue to work with clients to design for online destinations I still find myself being brought back tot he "physical" world as we have come to call it. This physical world comes into play when our clients need to interact outside of the online platforms they are used to communicating with on a daily basis. One example comes to mind in particular with a project involving online security systems for complex database systems. As they were gearing up to head to their annual industry conference we started work on both the project interface and marketing based website. With only a couple of weeks until the event we shifted discussion to marketing tools for the event, we changed over to the "physical world" and developed trade show graphics, sales collateral, give-aways, business cards, PowerPoint presentations and a host of deliverables to support the event. The end product was a very well branded set of tools that took advantage of the o ... Read More »

By Matt Goddard on 8/2/2007 6:05 AM

There is an insatiable curiosity associated with social networks. I encounter it everyday. As more and more companies attempt to harness and capitalize on the power of social media, this topic continues to surface at almost every meeting I have with clients and marketing and business development experts alike. Sites like myspace.com and linkedin.com have made social networking mainstream, but social networking signifies different definitions to different people. Sometimes it is hard to understand what people really mean when they discuss this topic….Is myspace.com social networking? Yes. Is Flickr.com social networking? Yes. Is the local chamber of commerce social networking? Yes. Over the next six weeks, I will concentrate on a variety of concepts and philosophies related to social networking. Read More »

By Chris Chodnicki on 8/1/2007 11:50 AM

I recently attended an event that revealed a lot about how the general market views open-source technology. The title of the event was “Open Source vs. Microsoft,” and it included a panel debate between a successful open-source company and a well known Microsoft systems integrator. The goal of the debate was to give both sides of the fence an opportunity to present their arguments and perspective, so that the attendees could choose a technology platform with insight on the pros and cons of each camp. Read More »