Facebook has replaced the BBC in the rankings for top 5 websites according to October's Comscore UK figures. In an attempt to regain its status, the BBC have announced they are going to introduce social networking across its sites to combat the feeling of "being alone" when looking at information online.
The BBC's director of future media and technology has expressed concern that bbc.co.uk in particular is not interactive enough. This comes from a website which was one of the forerunners in having tailored content.
Read the full story here.
Frances
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
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6 comments:
Why do they need to be in the top 5? Maybe they deliver a service that's not in the top 5 services in demand at the moment ?
I don't go to the BBC to network socially - and putting a social networking facility in the way is just going to make it more difficult for me to do what I want to do there. It's OK to be number 6.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your post - you're right, they don't need to be in the top five, but it's a very interesting move signifying the way comms strategy is changing. You might not want to network around news, but you can be sure a lot of people would love making connections with other people based on shared values - just look at the obama campaign. Again you're right about the barriers to actually looking at the news - let's hope access to social networking doesn't get in the way of the information.
What's interesting is that the BBC see social networking as a way of 'fixing' what it sees as a problem, i.e. not being in the top 5. This may be a reaction to the fact that it is a social networking site that squeezed them from the top spots, or it may be a recognition that social networking can have, when done effectively, a huge impact on a brand.
I think 'anonymous' has hit the nail on the head. I just see a disconnect more than I see a logical connect between what they are trying to do and who they are.
Of course it may just be as simple as it all being driven by a nervousness about missing the boat on what everyone is talking about all the time. 'We have to get into this social networking thing', based on (what I consider to be) a faulty vision of what their site means to people.
'Anonymous' was me, sorry forgot to post my name.
The BBC have always been a forerunner in creating a personal feel to its sites with the customisation facility for their home page. Perhaps they don't feel they have gone far enough, or that they need to go further to keep abreast of this trend.
It might work well but it will depend on execution. I agree that in principle it feels like it will be rather discordant with the rest of the BBC site. We will have to wait and see.
I guess a big thing for media brands is to make their audiences feel more like communities again. when i was a small my friends would come to school and say did you see......last night?
And I'd say Yes - even if I hadn't. The sense of "belonging" around programming was so big then. That for obvious reasons is no more.
The benefits to the BBC of being able to xsell programming and pilot material to fan bases has obvious benefits.
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