I must feel ashamed, I have not written here for ages ... too bad, especially in times when i have some much happening and so much to share ..
This is changing, absolutely.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, June 30, 2008
WordFrame Partners meeting in Plovdiv
The last two weeks we, at ITBrix / WordFrame, had the privilege of having representatives of 4 partner companies visiting our Plovdiv office. The visits had been planned in the previous months and although Des Walsh from Australia and George Dearing from Texas could not make it for personal reasons, we had a lot done. Social Media Today could not send anybody this month but they are sending Mark Lazen to Plovdiv next month.
Here are the participants in the peaceful “invasion” we were so happy to host:
1. Paul Fox from GroupCom and the project that will really surprise a lot of people in the collaboration, social media and community building area – Neighbo.com
2. Eric Andersen from Parnassus Group and Blog Business Summit
3. Synergy3 had three representatives in Bulgaria last week, Liz Dietz, Vicki Tambellini and Tim Liu. The visit helped Synergy3 to meet in person the developers responsible for two of their most important projects – Edu1World.org and BellaSavio.com
4. David Terrar, who is also the latest addition to the ITBrix management board and owners’ list
There were two important events happening during the visits – the first one being that The WordFrame partners met in one place and began important discussions and interaction between each other; and the second one - all the participants were given the first demo of WordFrame2 Enterprise Platform. Jerry Bowles and Mark Lazen from Social Media Today participated via GoToMeeting Session. I will present more facts in the near future and leave David to be more specific for now. I will reserve the right to publish some nice stories and achievements by our partners soon. The meetings and discussions were of huge importance for all of us. We got to know each other better and we identified business niches and concepts that we could not have done so successfully by working separately. Isn’t this what the collaboration is all about?
We have planned another Meet-Up like that in the near future, before December 1st to discuss and implement the new marketing plan and policy of WordFrame. A marketing plan which is completely dependent on the WordFrame2 Enterprise implementation and our partner eco-system we are successfully implementing. I want to personally thank to all participants as well as to Jerry Bowles, Robin Fray Carey, Mark Lazen and Des Walsh for the continuous support and time devoted to the WordFrame partnership
WordFrame Advances ...
I was looking at the latest entries in our support and issue tracking system today. Although Rumen, Boz, Tanya and I are using this every single day something very important drew my attention. We have over 990 new functionality items implemented and issues solved for the past 200 days since we separated from our previous partners.
I think this is quite an achievement having on mind our heavy involvement with the development of the WordFrame Enterprise v2.0.
We have numerous requests from our customers that we have implemented into active functionality for all the WordFrame users . That of course had always been the way to grow all our products properly - WordFrame is not an exception at all. Starting with Social Media Today going through Wenatchee and finishing with ICAEW and Neighbo requests and functional improvements helped WordFrame present an unique and difficult to duplicate functionality set
The other important thing is that all our partners and customers benefit immensely while using the support system, taking active role in the decision making and the WordFrame future.
There are two important upcoming events in the very near future - the release of the WordFrame version 1.5 and the release of the Neighbo project.
I am certain those two events will help WordFrame get the deserved recognition and respect as one of the best solutions among the existing collaboration and social media platforms. Our fans should not forget that the world learned about WordFrame on February 21, 2008, not earlier. So we will just keep it going like that for now - create great products and keep our partners and customers happy!
I think this is quite an achievement having on mind our heavy involvement with the development of the WordFrame Enterprise v2.0.
We have numerous requests from our customers that we have implemented into active functionality for all the WordFrame users . That of course had always been the way to grow all our products properly - WordFrame is not an exception at all. Starting with Social Media Today going through Wenatchee and finishing with ICAEW and Neighbo requests and functional improvements helped WordFrame present an unique and difficult to duplicate functionality set
The other important thing is that all our partners and customers benefit immensely while using the support system, taking active role in the decision making and the WordFrame future.
There are two important upcoming events in the very near future - the release of the WordFrame version 1.5 and the release of the Neighbo project.
I am certain those two events will help WordFrame get the deserved recognition and respect as one of the best solutions among the existing collaboration and social media platforms. Our fans should not forget that the world learned about WordFrame on February 21, 2008, not earlier. So we will just keep it going like that for now - create great products and keep our partners and customers happy!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
WordFrame New Features and Release notes
We have implemented a couple of new things on the current v1.0 of WordFrame Community Platform in the last few months. This, of course, does not change our plans for major update to version 1.5 in July of our so-popular social media online application.
We are publishing this post as more of a reminder for some of our customers and partners who are quite familiar with the system but does not get to visit the WordFrame Help WIKI often – this way they lose the opportunity to check our monthly release notes based on all upgrades and updates we do in the course of each calendar month.
We strictly list all major improvements and bug-fixes but we certainly miss to mention some of them for one or another reason. Please, feel free to contact us for more details and information regarding all issues that you might have with the system. Sometimes we do miss to inform our fans and customers for various new things we are implementing.
Here is just a short list of some of the things we have implemented lately:
1. New report: "All Users" - The report presents full profile data for all users who have fully completed the login process. It does not include imported users who have not been logged in the WordFrame system yet.
2. Import Users / Extended Import Function - New Extended Import is now present in Admin -> Users -> Import Users. It helps you to import much more detailed information about the users.
3. Community Statistics - The Statistics shows the number of all community members, who have been logged in the system at least once.
4. Email notifications – Email alerts for comments. The users can now be notified, whenever a new comment is written on a post they have created or discussed.
5. Post Publish Date - The posts can now be published with a past date. (we know – even WordPress has had this for ages…)
6. All Posts Page - The post filter in “All posts” page now includes all categories in the current group.
7. Change Email - The new functionality enables users to change their login email.
8. New Admin Section: Wiki Home Page Content - New admin section is introduced in the Content Tab called Wiki Home Page Content. It is used for adding description, which will be displayed on Wiki Home page.
9. New Admin Section: Document Home Page Description - New admin section is introduced in the Content Tab called Document Home Page Description. It is used for adding description, which will be displayed on Document Home page.
10. New Admin Section: People Page Description - New admin section is introduced in the Content Tab called People Page Description. It is used for adding description, which will be displayed on People page.
11. Category Description - The new functionality is used for adding description, which will be displayed on the top of page when users review the posts in the current category.
12. User Notification Module - This Module notifies users when they receive new messages or invitations.
13. New Admin Module: Private Group Landing Page - New admin section is introduced in the System Tab called Private group landing page. It is used to set and manage the landing page description, which appears when a user, who is not a member of the current private group, navigates to it.
14. E-mail Campaigns - Saved or pending newsletter campaigns can now be edited.
15. Inbox - Email alerts on private messages can now be enabled from the Inbox
All WordFrame Community Platform Release notes are available on the WordFrame Help WIKI home page at:
http://help.wordframe.net/index.php/Main_Page
We are publishing this post as more of a reminder for some of our customers and partners who are quite familiar with the system but does not get to visit the WordFrame Help WIKI often – this way they lose the opportunity to check our monthly release notes based on all upgrades and updates we do in the course of each calendar month.
We strictly list all major improvements and bug-fixes but we certainly miss to mention some of them for one or another reason. Please, feel free to contact us for more details and information regarding all issues that you might have with the system. Sometimes we do miss to inform our fans and customers for various new things we are implementing.
Here is just a short list of some of the things we have implemented lately:
1. New report: "All Users" - The report presents full profile data for all users who have fully completed the login process. It does not include imported users who have not been logged in the WordFrame system yet.
2. Import Users / Extended Import Function - New Extended Import is now present in Admin -> Users -> Import Users. It helps you to import much more detailed information about the users.
3. Community Statistics - The Statistics shows the number of all community members, who have been logged in the system at least once.
4. Email notifications – Email alerts for comments. The users can now be notified, whenever a new comment is written on a post they have created or discussed.
5. Post Publish Date - The posts can now be published with a past date. (we know – even WordPress has had this for ages…)
6. All Posts Page - The post filter in “All posts” page now includes all categories in the current group.
7. Change Email - The new functionality enables users to change their login email.
8. New Admin Section: Wiki Home Page Content - New admin section is introduced in the Content Tab called Wiki Home Page Content. It is used for adding description, which will be displayed on Wiki Home page.
9. New Admin Section: Document Home Page Description - New admin section is introduced in the Content Tab called Document Home Page Description. It is used for adding description, which will be displayed on Document Home page.
10. New Admin Section: People Page Description - New admin section is introduced in the Content Tab called People Page Description. It is used for adding description, which will be displayed on People page.
11. Category Description - The new functionality is used for adding description, which will be displayed on the top of page when users review the posts in the current category.
12. User Notification Module - This Module notifies users when they receive new messages or invitations.
13. New Admin Module: Private Group Landing Page - New admin section is introduced in the System Tab called Private group landing page. It is used to set and manage the landing page description, which appears when a user, who is not a member of the current private group, navigates to it.
14. E-mail Campaigns - Saved or pending newsletter campaigns can now be edited.
15. Inbox - Email alerts on private messages can now be enabled from the Inbox
All WordFrame Community Platform Release notes are available on the WordFrame Help WIKI home page at:
http://help.wordframe.net/index.php/Main_Page
Startups and WordFrame
We had several nice meetings and business trips this month to close a number of customers as well as to work with several startups needing somewhat different customer/vendor type of relationship.
The very interesting fact, which two of those companies (future WordFrame users) observed and shared with us, was the type of reception they had got from some of our direct and not-so-direct competitors. The two companies, the first one based in Dallas and the second one based in LA, told us that the companies they approached before us were in fact targeting larger and more established enterprises. Fact – in some cases – it was almost impossible to talk to those guys over the phone or organize a meeting, let alone direct access to a project manager or live phone support. Well, we were told something that we had already known but it was anyway nice to hear that our efforts really gave great results not only for us as a company. It was good to know that our productive management and work was also making other people happy.
It turned out that most of the companies they had approached, really wanted to deal with bigger, both in size and volume, customers. Some of those companies believed that it was not economically viable to deal with communities featuring less than 10,000 users.
Well, welcome to WordFrame - we are happy to take care of customers of any size. Another interesting fact - both companies I am having in mind are actually well-funded (they have enough to pay their bills as well as to request customizations) and money is not an issue – service is.
Personal approach towards each customer alongside with clear identification of responsibilities, proper business attitude and care about all our customers is a primary goal and concern in WordFrame.
Facts like these make us wonder why others do that, but also make us really happy that we deal differently.
The very interesting fact, which two of those companies (future WordFrame users) observed and shared with us, was the type of reception they had got from some of our direct and not-so-direct competitors. The two companies, the first one based in Dallas and the second one based in LA, told us that the companies they approached before us were in fact targeting larger and more established enterprises. Fact – in some cases – it was almost impossible to talk to those guys over the phone or organize a meeting, let alone direct access to a project manager or live phone support. Well, we were told something that we had already known but it was anyway nice to hear that our efforts really gave great results not only for us as a company. It was good to know that our productive management and work was also making other people happy.
It turned out that most of the companies they had approached, really wanted to deal with bigger, both in size and volume, customers. Some of those companies believed that it was not economically viable to deal with communities featuring less than 10,000 users.
Well, welcome to WordFrame - we are happy to take care of customers of any size. Another interesting fact - both companies I am having in mind are actually well-funded (they have enough to pay their bills as well as to request customizations) and money is not an issue – service is.
Personal approach towards each customer alongside with clear identification of responsibilities, proper business attitude and care about all our customers is a primary goal and concern in WordFrame.
Facts like these make us wonder why others do that, but also make us really happy that we deal differently.
WordFrame update
It has been almost a month since our last posts in the WordFrame Blog. Well, our absence both on the blogging and the Twitter arena was not without a reason. We were mainly engaged with business development and with WordFrame partner network enlargement, sales, demos and most importantly - the WordFrame Enterprise v2.0 planning and development.
We got a handful of new customers and partners and this kept us busy quite a lot. I will be happy to announce a couple of our new customers in the next coming weeks as well as all our new partners, together with some of the more significant projects powered by WordFrame. Some of the new ones - great communities and social media networks, include Synergy3’s Edu1World.org and bellaSavio, alongside with the blog site for Content Management Connection and GreenBlogosphere.com .
Another very important event was the latest update and upgrade of our CMS. The CMS is called PageTypes and we will be finally launching its website, featuring full-blown online help and documentation. The interesting fact is that when we had it ready for its first official release last year we were planning to call it WordFrame - but for one or another reason, after we split from our previous venture in the end of last year, we decided to use that name for our Social Media platform.
Anyway, the faith knows its ways better than us, as we are now implementing the fully-functional PageTypes CMS into the WordFrame Enterprise to create something really unique and powerful. David Terrar and I will be posting regular updates on our sites about PageTypes CMS and WordFrame Enterprise v2.0.
By the way – the PageTypes CMS should not be considered being the main or the only functional and structural addition to the new WordFrame v2.0. There is much more hidden up our sleeves to surprise you with.
I will be posting some more news in the next couple of days about events that were and still are part of our busy and happy month of May.
We got a handful of new customers and partners and this kept us busy quite a lot. I will be happy to announce a couple of our new customers in the next coming weeks as well as all our new partners, together with some of the more significant projects powered by WordFrame. Some of the new ones - great communities and social media networks, include Synergy3’s Edu1World.org and bellaSavio, alongside with the blog site for Content Management Connection and GreenBlogosphere.com .
Another very important event was the latest update and upgrade of our CMS. The CMS is called PageTypes and we will be finally launching its website, featuring full-blown online help and documentation. The interesting fact is that when we had it ready for its first official release last year we were planning to call it WordFrame - but for one or another reason, after we split from our previous venture in the end of last year, we decided to use that name for our Social Media platform.
Anyway, the faith knows its ways better than us, as we are now implementing the fully-functional PageTypes CMS into the WordFrame Enterprise to create something really unique and powerful. David Terrar and I will be posting regular updates on our sites about PageTypes CMS and WordFrame Enterprise v2.0.
By the way – the PageTypes CMS should not be considered being the main or the only functional and structural addition to the new WordFrame v2.0. There is much more hidden up our sleeves to surprise you with.
I will be posting some more news in the next couple of days about events that were and still are part of our busy and happy month of May.
Think twice before getting serious with Facebook
This is another post inspired in some way by Robert Scoble. He wrote a post and uploaded a recorded conversation with a guy who was kicked out from Facebook without a real reason. There are several comments that are valid and set the real situation - all the people are certain that people should not be banished like that while one of the comments done by Mike (no last name or a link unfortunately) points out properly that besides the fact that this is not right, Facebook owners and editors will not lose sleep over it nor this fact (which definitely is not the first occasion) will be a front page news piece. So far so good/bad … what is kind of important here, though?
These type of social networks must have some kind of spam prevention services or tools that really work, that is for sure. What the real deal for me is can be described like that – these type of managed /hosted publicly available and monitored/explored hosted social networks cannot be really trusted and used for serious business or important personal activities. They can get you down at any point. Absolutely. Sometimes (as in this case) without any real reason. They can always shut you down with the simple explanation that they do not like you. Since you “are not paying” anything, you cannot complain.
I do not want to diminish the value Facebook brings to the online community nor do I think it is useless. On the contrary, almost all WordFrame personnel have Facebook accounts and we also have a WordFrame group there. What I would like to point out is that one should have more than just warning lights lit when he/she plans to use Facebook for serious and important business or personal stuff.
There are at least a dozen companies that will help you create the proper business social network (WordFrame is one of them, (sorry, could not resist the bragging)). Some of the companies have business social networking tools for free, others have great offers for the software, plus the hosting or the maintenance after that. The software apps are different in type, functionality and usability - at least a couple are open source, some built on java, some on php, some on .NET/C# . The most important part here is that one can have a contract with any of these companies, and if anything happens – there is someone to take the responsibility.
Well, too bad for that guy, I really feel sorry for him, but he was supposed to think twice when he trusted an online social networking solution which clearly states that it cannot be blamed for almost anything when it comes to their free services.
Probably, it is high time for the people that need social media apps or social networking software tools online and they are planning to use them heavily, to realize that there is no free lunch. If you are cheap enough not to even pay for the hosting of a free application that will do similar things – well, please do not complain in such a loud voice. If you want to do some serious work, both business and/or personal – be careful and expect to be treated differently compared to the way the paid solutions will treat you.
These type of social networks must have some kind of spam prevention services or tools that really work, that is for sure. What the real deal for me is can be described like that – these type of managed /hosted publicly available and monitored/explored hosted social networks cannot be really trusted and used for serious business or important personal activities. They can get you down at any point. Absolutely. Sometimes (as in this case) without any real reason. They can always shut you down with the simple explanation that they do not like you. Since you “are not paying” anything, you cannot complain.
I do not want to diminish the value Facebook brings to the online community nor do I think it is useless. On the contrary, almost all WordFrame personnel have Facebook accounts and we also have a WordFrame group there. What I would like to point out is that one should have more than just warning lights lit when he/she plans to use Facebook for serious and important business or personal stuff.
There are at least a dozen companies that will help you create the proper business social network (WordFrame is one of them, (sorry, could not resist the bragging)). Some of the companies have business social networking tools for free, others have great offers for the software, plus the hosting or the maintenance after that. The software apps are different in type, functionality and usability - at least a couple are open source, some built on java, some on php, some on .NET/C# . The most important part here is that one can have a contract with any of these companies, and if anything happens – there is someone to take the responsibility.
Well, too bad for that guy, I really feel sorry for him, but he was supposed to think twice when he trusted an online social networking solution which clearly states that it cannot be blamed for almost anything when it comes to their free services.
Probably, it is high time for the people that need social media apps or social networking software tools online and they are planning to use them heavily, to realize that there is no free lunch. If you are cheap enough not to even pay for the hosting of a free application that will do similar things – well, please do not complain in such a loud voice. If you want to do some serious work, both business and/or personal – be careful and expect to be treated differently compared to the way the paid solutions will treat you.
Monday, April 28, 2008
"Dark" workplace environment
This post was provoked (in a good way) by Robert Scoble. Robert wrote a post about something that he was impressed with when he passed the Rackspace Headquarters. He found a department there that was completely dark.
I wrote him a small comment but I also promised him that will blog about it. For one or another reason (lots of work, new WordFrame customers, new trials, ICAEW community grew to 80,000+ users and a vacation) I could not write earlier. I am back on track now and I am posting everything that I had on my mind for some time now.
So, back to the main idea … For the last 13 years (since 1996) ITBrix development offices were on two locations. We spent 10 years in two large apartments which we converted into one office where we initially started with 4 people in 1996. At one point we were over 30 people on about 2500 sq. f. !
It was in 2001 when 3 of our guys started to completely block the sun and put thick paper on the windows. When we talked about the dark room idea it turned out that they feel more comfortable, work more concentrated and generally feel better. We did not need to talk more about it and we made two rooms very dark, just the light from the monitors.
When we moved to our new own office which we purchased in 2004 and completely renovated by 2005 we already had the idea that one of the main halls will be a “dark” one. We did install two types of blinds, external roller plastic blinds and internal Hunter-Douglas type blinds on all the office windows. We now have 7 people working in the dark hall with two guys feeling “left on the bright side” as they were in the dark rooms in the old office. One of them is the WordFrame Product manager – Rumen Yankov, but he manages to get a similar effect using the blinds we have on the windows. Plus the fact that Rumen has to be around his 10-people WordFrame development team on one hand, testers and support people on another and close to the CTO Hristo Serafimov.
I wrote him a small comment but I also promised him that will blog about it. For one or another reason (lots of work, new WordFrame customers, new trials, ICAEW community grew to 80,000+ users and a vacation) I could not write earlier. I am back on track now and I am posting everything that I had on my mind for some time now.
So, back to the main idea … For the last 13 years (since 1996) ITBrix development offices were on two locations. We spent 10 years in two large apartments which we converted into one office where we initially started with 4 people in 1996. At one point we were over 30 people on about 2500 sq. f. !
It was in 2001 when 3 of our guys started to completely block the sun and put thick paper on the windows. When we talked about the dark room idea it turned out that they feel more comfortable, work more concentrated and generally feel better. We did not need to talk more about it and we made two rooms very dark, just the light from the monitors.
When we moved to our new own office which we purchased in 2004 and completely renovated by 2005 we already had the idea that one of the main halls will be a “dark” one. We did install two types of blinds, external roller plastic blinds and internal Hunter-Douglas type blinds on all the office windows. We now have 7 people working in the dark hall with two guys feeling “left on the bright side” as they were in the dark rooms in the old office. One of them is the WordFrame Product manager – Rumen Yankov, but he manages to get a similar effect using the blinds we have on the windows. Plus the fact that Rumen has to be around his 10-people WordFrame development team on one hand, testers and support people on another and close to the CTO Hristo Serafimov.
So here is how the "dark" hall in our office looks like:
You can see that the light is from the camera flash and all the office lights on the ceiling are off.
So, Robert - not a new idea, and I am certain this “dark work place environment” can be observed in many offices or home offices all over the world.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Three WordFrame partners and 5 WordFrame powered sites on AllTop.com
It is a great thing to see your product getting the recognition it deserves.
We have been following AllTop.com, the latest venture of Guy Kawasaki, closely and we are happy with the way it goes. We are even happier to see three of our partners listed in the Social Media Category as well as 5 WordFrame powered sites. Des Walsh and Social Media Today have their separate section and most of the sites listed on those sections are powered by WordFrame Community Platform v1.0.
We are really eager to see what will be the case when we have the WordFrame Enterprise 2.0 up and running later this year as WordFrame 2.0 will be the real “killer” social media platform.
We have been following AllTop.com, the latest venture of Guy Kawasaki, closely and we are happy with the way it goes. We are even happier to see three of our partners listed in the Social Media Category as well as 5 WordFrame powered sites. Des Walsh and Social Media Today have their separate section and most of the sites listed on those sections are powered by WordFrame Community Platform v1.0.
We are really eager to see what will be the case when we have the WordFrame Enterprise 2.0 up and running later this year as WordFrame 2.0 will be the real “killer” social media platform.
Some update ...
I have not written in the blog for over two weeks now but I was extremely busy with a new product we are releasing – a brand new .NET based CMS plus I finally managed to squeeze a week of vacation within the very very busy schedule these days. So, I am almost back on track with all the things that happened in and around WordFrame and the super new products we are releasing this year. Whatever plans we had to do some new product releasing in 2009 are already changed – we are moving everything ahead. The WordFrame Enterprise Platform will start its test runs somewhere in Autumn 2008 guys …
Well, I am starting to post some stuff I had ready for weeks now – like the posts I did over three weeks ago and that were provoked from a couple of articles written by Robert Scoble (thanks Robert, you are always an inspiration) …
Well, I am starting to post some stuff I had ready for weeks now – like the posts I did over three weeks ago and that were provoked from a couple of articles written by Robert Scoble (thanks Robert, you are always an inspiration) …
Official WordFrame Community Platform Demos Schedule
This one looks more like an official announcement rather than a post in our WordFrame Corporate Blog.
There will be three official demos regularly scheduled during any given week.
The first Demo is directed for our prospects in Australia and Asia. The time for this demo is Every Friday at 1AM GMT (London time) or 12:00 at noon in Sydney, Australia.
The second Demo is directed for our prospects in Europe. The time for the European demo is Every Friday at 2PM (14:00) GMT, London Time.
The third Demo is directed for our North American prospects and is scheduled for Every Friday at 2PM Eastern Standard Time (New York).
We have made a table with the respective time readings in 5 different time zones so our prospects and customers can choose which of the three scheduled demos to choose and participate.
Suzie Cheel, David Terrar, Des Walsh and I have came up with the following times for the WordFrame demos that we are presenting on weekly bases:
Every Thursday (US), Australasia and China Demo
Before April 6th 2008 After April 6th 2008
Sydney,Australia (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
12 Noon, 12:00 (Friday Morning) 11 AM, 11:00 (Friday Morning)
Beijing, China
9 AM , 09:00 (Friday Morning) 9 AM , 09:00 (Friday Morning)
London, UK (GMT, International Standard)
1 AM, 01:00 (Friday Morning) 2 AM , 2:00 (Friday Morning)
New York, USA (Eastern Standard Time)
9 PM , 21:00 (Thursday Evening) 9 PM , 21:00 (Thursday Evening)
Denver , USA (Mountain Standard Time)
7 PM , 18:00 (Thursday evening) 7 PM, 19:00 (Thursday evening)
Every Friday, European Demo
Before April 6th 2008 After April 6th 2008
Sydney,Australia (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
1 AM, 01:00 Saturday Morning, 12 Midnight, 24:00 (Friday Evening)
(Daylight Saving time)
Beijing, China
10 PM 22:00 (Friday Evening) 9 PM, 21:00 (Friday Evening)
London, UK (GMT, International Standard)
2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon) 2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon)
New York, USA (Eastern Standard Time)
10 AM , 10:00 (Friday Morning) 9 AM , 9:00 (Friday Morning)
Denver , USA (Mountain Standard Time)
8 AM , 10:00 (Friday Morning) 7 AM , 7:00 (Friday Morning)
Every Friday, US and Canada demo
Before April 6th 2008 After April 6th 2008
Sydney,Australia (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
5 AM, 05:00 (Saturday Morning, 4 AM, 4:00 (Saturday Morning)
(Daylight Saving time))
Beijing, China
2 AM , 02:00 (Saturday Morning) 2 AM , 02:00 (Saturday Morning)
London, UK (GMT, International Standard)
6 PM , 18:00 (Friday Evening) 7 PM , 19:00 (Friday Evening)
New York, USA (Eastern Standard Time)
2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon) 2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon)
Denver , USA (Mountain Standard Time)
12 PM , 12:00 (Friday Noon) 12 PM , 12:00 (Friday Noon)
Guys, I have to tell you it was a challenge to coordinate the proper times and the business activities in the different time zones so we can accommodate as many prospects and customers as possible. We were doing those calculations by hand and with the help of a couple of planning apps we had, online ones too.
Part of the problem is that the US moved its Daylight saving time almost a month before Europe and a month before Australia and then … we forgot, Australia will just switch to normal time, as the Winter will be over there in a week, so they are removing an hour, not adding one as we did here, in the Northern Hemisphere. Oh, boy!
Anyway – the table with the three regularly held demos is up – please take a look what suits you best and write a small note to sales@wordframe.com or just fill out the form available in this post so we can get in touch with you regarding a demo.
There will be three official demos regularly scheduled during any given week.
The first Demo is directed for our prospects in Australia and Asia. The time for this demo is Every Friday at 1AM GMT (London time) or 12:00 at noon in Sydney, Australia.
The second Demo is directed for our prospects in Europe. The time for the European demo is Every Friday at 2PM (14:00) GMT, London Time.
The third Demo is directed for our North American prospects and is scheduled for Every Friday at 2PM Eastern Standard Time (New York).
We have made a table with the respective time readings in 5 different time zones so our prospects and customers can choose which of the three scheduled demos to choose and participate.
Suzie Cheel, David Terrar, Des Walsh and I have came up with the following times for the WordFrame demos that we are presenting on weekly bases:
Every Thursday (US), Australasia and China Demo
Before April 6th 2008 After April 6th 2008
Sydney,Australia (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
12 Noon, 12:00 (Friday Morning) 11 AM, 11:00 (Friday Morning)
Beijing, China
9 AM , 09:00 (Friday Morning) 9 AM , 09:00 (Friday Morning)
London, UK (GMT, International Standard)
1 AM, 01:00 (Friday Morning) 2 AM , 2:00 (Friday Morning)
New York, USA (Eastern Standard Time)
9 PM , 21:00 (Thursday Evening) 9 PM , 21:00 (Thursday Evening)
Denver , USA (Mountain Standard Time)
7 PM , 18:00 (Thursday evening) 7 PM, 19:00 (Thursday evening)
Every Friday, European Demo
Before April 6th 2008 After April 6th 2008
Sydney,Australia (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
1 AM, 01:00 Saturday Morning, 12 Midnight, 24:00 (Friday Evening)
(Daylight Saving time)
Beijing, China
10 PM 22:00 (Friday Evening) 9 PM, 21:00 (Friday Evening)
London, UK (GMT, International Standard)
2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon) 2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon)
New York, USA (Eastern Standard Time)
10 AM , 10:00 (Friday Morning) 9 AM , 9:00 (Friday Morning)
Denver , USA (Mountain Standard Time)
8 AM , 10:00 (Friday Morning) 7 AM , 7:00 (Friday Morning)
Every Friday, US and Canada demo
Before April 6th 2008 After April 6th 2008
Sydney,Australia (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
5 AM, 05:00 (Saturday Morning, 4 AM, 4:00 (Saturday Morning)
(Daylight Saving time))
Beijing, China
2 AM , 02:00 (Saturday Morning) 2 AM , 02:00 (Saturday Morning)
London, UK (GMT, International Standard)
6 PM , 18:00 (Friday Evening) 7 PM , 19:00 (Friday Evening)
New York, USA (Eastern Standard Time)
2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon) 2 PM , 14:00 (Friday Afternoon)
Denver , USA (Mountain Standard Time)
12 PM , 12:00 (Friday Noon) 12 PM , 12:00 (Friday Noon)
Guys, I have to tell you it was a challenge to coordinate the proper times and the business activities in the different time zones so we can accommodate as many prospects and customers as possible. We were doing those calculations by hand and with the help of a couple of planning apps we had, online ones too.
Part of the problem is that the US moved its Daylight saving time almost a month before Europe and a month before Australia and then … we forgot, Australia will just switch to normal time, as the Winter will be over there in a week, so they are removing an hour, not adding one as we did here, in the Northern Hemisphere. Oh, boy!
Anyway – the table with the three regularly held demos is up – please take a look what suits you best and write a small note to sales@wordframe.com or just fill out the form available in this post so we can get in touch with you regarding a demo.
WordFrame Dynamic User Profile Management - part 1
WordFrame Community Platform released a completely new User Profile management module about a week ago. The new module gives the WordFrame administrators the unique capabilities of customizing the User Profiles the way they see fit.
This useful upgrade was implemented because a couple of our customers have requested specific changes in the User profile section. Having in mind the diversity of the companies and their users and audiences, it was clear to us that a unified profile setup will not do the job and cover the needs of all those guys.
We had Social Media Today and JustGetOut.net as one of the first requestors in December 07 and January 08 and then a couple of British customers and trial accounts followed with a set of customization requests concerning mainly and only the type of data gathered, stored and requested in the WordFrame User Profile. The latest request came from the Bahamas Tourist Network. We have made many conference calls and exchanged a series of e-mails with all our customers regarding the exact results and functionality they wanted to see and here it is, we are ready.
The User Profile management is done by the Dynamic Profile Management Section under the Users tab in the WordFrame Administration module.
The Dynamic Profile Management section gives the opportunity the administrators to create and set the desired number of sections in the User Profiles and manage them. The User Profile can contain unlimited number of sections.
Each section can contain unlimited number of data fields. The data fields can be chosen from the preset field types in the system. Those preset field types cover all the possible data or selection gathering field types.
A very important portion of the fields selector and user profile section creation is the ability for the administrators to set the required fields in the profile. Once a data field from the User profile is set as a “required” field, it automatically becomes part of the initial registration process. In the even when a new required field is introduced towards an already existing user base (users that are already registered and filled out their profiles ) the system cleverly asks this missing data to be entered by the existing users the next time they try to login.
We will be more than happy to show how this works in any of our regularly schedule demos of the WordFrame Community Platform.
This useful upgrade was implemented because a couple of our customers have requested specific changes in the User profile section. Having in mind the diversity of the companies and their users and audiences, it was clear to us that a unified profile setup will not do the job and cover the needs of all those guys.
We had Social Media Today and JustGetOut.net as one of the first requestors in December 07 and January 08 and then a couple of British customers and trial accounts followed with a set of customization requests concerning mainly and only the type of data gathered, stored and requested in the WordFrame User Profile. The latest request came from the Bahamas Tourist Network. We have made many conference calls and exchanged a series of e-mails with all our customers regarding the exact results and functionality they wanted to see and here it is, we are ready.
The User Profile management is done by the Dynamic Profile Management Section under the Users tab in the WordFrame Administration module.
The Dynamic Profile Management section gives the opportunity the administrators to create and set the desired number of sections in the User Profiles and manage them. The User Profile can contain unlimited number of sections.
Each section can contain unlimited number of data fields. The data fields can be chosen from the preset field types in the system. Those preset field types cover all the possible data or selection gathering field types.
A very important portion of the fields selector and user profile section creation is the ability for the administrators to set the required fields in the profile. Once a data field from the User profile is set as a “required” field, it automatically becomes part of the initial registration process. In the even when a new required field is introduced towards an already existing user base (users that are already registered and filled out their profiles ) the system cleverly asks this missing data to be entered by the existing users the next time they try to login.
We will be more than happy to show how this works in any of our regularly schedule demos of the WordFrame Community Platform.
Complete User Profile management and setup in WordFrame Community Platform 1.0
ITBrix / WordFrame is proud to announce the release of a completely new and functional upgraded User Profile Management Module under the Administration Section in the WordFrame Community Platform. The new features in the User management Admin module allow the administrators of any WordFrame community to manage, define and set the types of the user profiles and the data contained and gathered by the Community members.
I will post two articles today about this new module in the WordFrame administration. The first article will be short will have only two screenshots and will present really general information about the new WordFrame Profile management capabilities.
The second Article will be a bit longer and is directed towards current and future users of the system that are heavily interested in the Social Networking and User profiles building features of an extensive Social Media and Collaboration tool such as WordFrame Community platform. The second post will have more than 7 screenshots displaying the new management of the user profiles, the User Profile sections creation, the field selection and settings in each profile section. I will also specifically point out the way the “required fields” are set up. What happens after the User Profile is initially created or User Profile Edits are saved, how the registration process depends on the selected profile fields and how the newly created and set “required fields” are applied towards the existing WordFrame user accounts and profiles.
I will post two articles today about this new module in the WordFrame administration. The first article will be short will have only two screenshots and will present really general information about the new WordFrame Profile management capabilities.
The second Article will be a bit longer and is directed towards current and future users of the system that are heavily interested in the Social Networking and User profiles building features of an extensive Social Media and Collaboration tool such as WordFrame Community platform. The second post will have more than 7 screenshots displaying the new management of the user profiles, the User Profile sections creation, the field selection and settings in each profile section. I will also specifically point out the way the “required fields” are set up. What happens after the User Profile is initially created or User Profile Edits are saved, how the registration process depends on the selected profile fields and how the newly created and set “required fields” are applied towards the existing WordFrame user accounts and profiles.
WordFrame Weekly demos, schedule and info
Des Walsh, our Australian partner and I had a small discussion today in regards to the WordFrame Community Platform weekly demos. I realized that we do not have this properly announced on the WordFrame website and nor have I blogged about it. I will now try to fix the mistakes on our side.
We have a scheduled weekly demos every week, Friday at noon, 12:00 PM, Mountain Standard Time. This is respectively 2:00 PM Eastern or 11:00 AM Pacific time. The demos are done either by me or David Terrar. We do them online with either a skype conference or a Conference call number. The visualization is done via LiveMeeting.
David and I already planned another regular weekly demo for the rest of the world as this one is convenient for the interested in WordFrame on the North American continent. The other demo time and day will be announced later next week when we finish the planning and coordination for these regular events with David Terrar and Des Walsh. Our Asian prospects and customers seem to grow rapidly and we have to take care of them too. So, we will inform you guys about that next week.
The European and the Asian oriented WordFrame demos will be done on GoToMeeting as David is not very big fan of LiveMeeting.
We will post the demos’ details both on the Blog site here and on the WordFrame product site.
PS. Des would be mad at me calling him our Australian partner because the proper term, is Australasian. Sorry Des
We have a scheduled weekly demos every week, Friday at noon, 12:00 PM, Mountain Standard Time. This is respectively 2:00 PM Eastern or 11:00 AM Pacific time. The demos are done either by me or David Terrar. We do them online with either a skype conference or a Conference call number. The visualization is done via LiveMeeting.
David and I already planned another regular weekly demo for the rest of the world as this one is convenient for the interested in WordFrame on the North American continent. The other demo time and day will be announced later next week when we finish the planning and coordination for these regular events with David Terrar and Des Walsh. Our Asian prospects and customers seem to grow rapidly and we have to take care of them too. So, we will inform you guys about that next week.
The European and the Asian oriented WordFrame demos will be done on GoToMeeting as David is not very big fan of LiveMeeting.
We will post the demos’ details both on the Blog site here and on the WordFrame product site.
PS. Des would be mad at me calling him our Australian partner because the proper term, is Australasian. Sorry Des
Ornithologists in Siberia
This has been in my mind for some time now and I was wondering how to start it. I was thinking to start it with the unique look at life from Hughes “What happens to a dream deferred …” but decided not to. I think that I should be as straight as I can be, as I saw too many people twisting their moral values only because they do not want to be honest enough to call events and people with their proper names and definitions.
What happens when you lie to your colleagues and friends? You either get fired or get very, very lonely…. What happens when you stand in front of the people that helped you become someone and offend them? Well, what happens when you do it more than once and keep doing it on different occasions over and over again? What do you do then?
What do people that forget where they have started from, who has helped them and how small and insignificant they actually are - what those people do when they are left all alone? When any sense of reality and trust is gone? What happens when they are exposed and they are also lazy and moreover: have never managed to learn how to work in a team? I do not know. That is why I am asking that question to all of you, because being a part of such a great team and organization as ITBrix / WordFrame makes me unable to comprehend how the not-being-yourself part works.
My partners and friends gave me the proper answer to that question of mine about three months ago. When all this happens and you are that type of person - arrogant, lazy, hypocrite and your lies eventually get exposed, you can become only one thing for sure - an Ornithologist in Siberia. That is it. Period. That is what you can do!
Interesting, I wanted actually to write about how happy I am with the guys and girls around us and the introduction turned bigger than the punch line, no problem, my guys know me. Well, I am happy with the clear results on the sales and the development sides for the last three months – I can not be happier for the WordFrame project and venture. Thank you guys and girls!
Thank God and Faith our growing team has managed to save itself from people like the ones above and we happily move ahead for 14 years already. The interesting thing is that when we hire new people to work in ITBrix / WordFrame or we partner with new individuals and companies we do spend the time to see how will the bond work and what are the responsibility levels the both sides are willing to cover. Simple… and very productive. I am so happy that we have great people and teams around us.
Boz, Svetlyo and Ivan are doing the team pages on the WordFrame site later next week so our visitors and customers will be able to actually match a name to the faces of those great and hardworking people
As I have a small celebration today, I would like to make a toast for all our colleagues, partners and friends all over the world and to all the past, present and future Ornithologists in Siberia!
What happens when you lie to your colleagues and friends? You either get fired or get very, very lonely…. What happens when you stand in front of the people that helped you become someone and offend them? Well, what happens when you do it more than once and keep doing it on different occasions over and over again? What do you do then?
What do people that forget where they have started from, who has helped them and how small and insignificant they actually are - what those people do when they are left all alone? When any sense of reality and trust is gone? What happens when they are exposed and they are also lazy and moreover: have never managed to learn how to work in a team? I do not know. That is why I am asking that question to all of you, because being a part of such a great team and organization as ITBrix / WordFrame makes me unable to comprehend how the not-being-yourself part works.
My partners and friends gave me the proper answer to that question of mine about three months ago. When all this happens and you are that type of person - arrogant, lazy, hypocrite and your lies eventually get exposed, you can become only one thing for sure - an Ornithologist in Siberia. That is it. Period. That is what you can do!
Interesting, I wanted actually to write about how happy I am with the guys and girls around us and the introduction turned bigger than the punch line, no problem, my guys know me. Well, I am happy with the clear results on the sales and the development sides for the last three months – I can not be happier for the WordFrame project and venture. Thank you guys and girls!
Thank God and Faith our growing team has managed to save itself from people like the ones above and we happily move ahead for 14 years already. The interesting thing is that when we hire new people to work in ITBrix / WordFrame or we partner with new individuals and companies we do spend the time to see how will the bond work and what are the responsibility levels the both sides are willing to cover. Simple… and very productive. I am so happy that we have great people and teams around us.
Boz, Svetlyo and Ivan are doing the team pages on the WordFrame site later next week so our visitors and customers will be able to actually match a name to the faces of those great and hardworking people
As I have a small celebration today, I would like to make a toast for all our colleagues, partners and friends all over the world and to all the past, present and future Ornithologists in Siberia!
Demo and first testing of the latest version 2.0 of the ITBrix CMS
It has been great 10 days although I was traveling the whole week and neglected the blogging and the tweets. David Terrar and I had a demo on the latest version of the ITBrix CMS (Content Management System) this weekend and we were pleasantly surprised. At least I was … The demo was done by the CMS project manager, Mitko Dyulgerski and took about an hour.
I must admit that I was very, very surprised as our own CMS Project has always been in the second priority level for me. That is a product/service we are maintaining since 2001 and we usually build between 20 and 80 sites per year depending on the type of the customers and the industries they are into.
The ITBrix CMS is a very important part of the future of the company as this product will be an important part of the WordFrame Enterprise Platform we are developing at the moment. The CMS part is really what’s missing in the WordFrame Community Platform and this addition will give us a really competitive edge compared to what else is available on the market.
I will include a couple of screenshots here in this post while I am describing the product. I will start with some retrospection and show you what we had and have until now because the ITBrix CMS version 1.0 is still powering well over 300 sites built by us between 2001 and now.
The ITBrix CMS v1.0 is a PHP /MySQL based product and delivers quite some functionality in regards to simple and medium-functionality level websites building.
(I apologize for the poor quality of some of the screenshots but I am trying to show bigger screens taking quite much more real estate on their original locations so the images are a little condensed. I am sorry)
You have general management of the menus, pages, news, image galleries, administrators, roles and a lot more.
I must admit that I was very, very surprised as our own CMS Project has always been in the second priority level for me. That is a product/service we are maintaining since 2001 and we usually build between 20 and 80 sites per year depending on the type of the customers and the industries they are into.
The ITBrix CMS is a very important part of the future of the company as this product will be an important part of the WordFrame Enterprise Platform we are developing at the moment. The CMS part is really what’s missing in the WordFrame Community Platform and this addition will give us a really competitive edge compared to what else is available on the market.
I will include a couple of screenshots here in this post while I am describing the product. I will start with some retrospection and show you what we had and have until now because the ITBrix CMS version 1.0 is still powering well over 300 sites built by us between 2001 and now.
The ITBrix CMS v1.0 is a PHP /MySQL based product and delivers quite some functionality in regards to simple and medium-functionality level websites building.
(I apologize for the poor quality of some of the screenshots but I am trying to show bigger screens taking quite much more real estate on their original locations so the images are a little condensed. I am sorry)
You have general management of the menus, pages, news, image galleries, administrators, roles and a lot more.
HP Blogging Code of Conduct
I will put the HP Blogging Code of Contact as one of our final materials regarding the Corporate Blogging Policies of various companies. We will be updating the WordFrame Blog regularly with similar documents and they will always be in the Corporate Blogging Resources category
Original Document available at:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/blogs/codeofconduct.html
______
HP Blogging Code of Conduct
Spanning a range of topics from servers to marketing excellence. HP blogs chronicle the unvarnished thoughts of HP employees. Find out what company leaders, topic experts and guest bloggers think about the technology landscape of today - and tomorrow. Become part of the conversation by reading and sharing your comments with us.
HP blogs are written by a variety of employees at different levels and positions in the company, so you can expect many viewpoints. You can also expect the following:
1. We will strive to have open and honest dialogues with our readers.
2. We will correct inaccurate or misleading postings in a timely manner. We will not delete posts unless they violate our policies. Most changes will be made by adding to posts and we will mark any additions clearly.
3. We will disclose conflicts of interest.
4. Our Standards of Business Conduct will guide what we write about — so there are some topics we won't comment on such as information about financials, HP intellectual property, trade secrets, management changes, lawsuits, shareholder issues, layoffs, and contractual agreements with alliance partners, customers, and suppliers.
5. We will provide links to relevant material available on other blogs and Web sites. We will disclose any sources fully through credits, links and trackbacks unless the source has requested anonymity.
6. We understand that respect goes both ways — we will use good judgment in our posts and respond to you in a respectful manner. In return, we ask the same of you.
7. We trust you will be mindful of the information you share on our blogs — any personally identifiable information you share on a blog can be seen by anyone with access to the blog.
8. We will respect intellectual property rights.
9. We will use good judgment in protecting personal and corporate information and in respecting the privacy of individuals who use our blogs.
Comments:
1. Comments will be reviewed by bloggers before they are posted on our blogs.
2. We will review, post and respond to comments in a timely manner. We welcome constructive criticism. We can't respond to every comment, but will read all of them.
3. We will not post comments that are spam, inappropriate, defamatory, use profanity, or otherwise violate our policies or Terms of Use.
4. Because our blogs focus on material of general interest to all our readers, we ask that you direct customer support inquiries through our traditional customer service channels or use our IT resource center forums. Using these channels will allow you to get your issues to experienced HP support representatives in a timely manner.
5. Our bloggers will not respond to customer support issues and will not post these comments to their blogs.
Original Document available at:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/blogs/codeofconduct.html
______
HP Blogging Code of Conduct
Spanning a range of topics from servers to marketing excellence. HP blogs chronicle the unvarnished thoughts of HP employees. Find out what company leaders, topic experts and guest bloggers think about the technology landscape of today - and tomorrow. Become part of the conversation by reading and sharing your comments with us.
HP blogs are written by a variety of employees at different levels and positions in the company, so you can expect many viewpoints. You can also expect the following:
1. We will strive to have open and honest dialogues with our readers.
2. We will correct inaccurate or misleading postings in a timely manner. We will not delete posts unless they violate our policies. Most changes will be made by adding to posts and we will mark any additions clearly.
3. We will disclose conflicts of interest.
4. Our Standards of Business Conduct will guide what we write about — so there are some topics we won't comment on such as information about financials, HP intellectual property, trade secrets, management changes, lawsuits, shareholder issues, layoffs, and contractual agreements with alliance partners, customers, and suppliers.
5. We will provide links to relevant material available on other blogs and Web sites. We will disclose any sources fully through credits, links and trackbacks unless the source has requested anonymity.
6. We understand that respect goes both ways — we will use good judgment in our posts and respond to you in a respectful manner. In return, we ask the same of you.
7. We trust you will be mindful of the information you share on our blogs — any personally identifiable information you share on a blog can be seen by anyone with access to the blog.
8. We will respect intellectual property rights.
9. We will use good judgment in protecting personal and corporate information and in respecting the privacy of individuals who use our blogs.
Comments:
1. Comments will be reviewed by bloggers before they are posted on our blogs.
2. We will review, post and respond to comments in a timely manner. We welcome constructive criticism. We can't respond to every comment, but will read all of them.
3. We will not post comments that are spam, inappropriate, defamatory, use profanity, or otherwise violate our policies or Terms of Use.
4. Because our blogs focus on material of general interest to all our readers, we ask that you direct customer support inquiries through our traditional customer service channels or use our IT resource center forums. Using these channels will allow you to get your issues to experienced HP support representatives in a timely manner.
5. Our bloggers will not respond to customer support issues and will not post these comments to their blogs.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Plaxo Public Internet Communication Policy ( Blogging Guidelines )
Plaxo has presented a nice and short but informative document in regards to their blogging guidelines. WordFrame is happy to have thier Blogging Guidelines as one of our examples for the properly structured and set corporate blogging policies.
Original Document available at:
http://blog.plaxoed.com/2005/03/29/plaxos-communication-policy/
________________________
Plaxo Public Internet Communication Policy
The following policy applies to all employees and contractors of Plaxo, and covers all publicly accessible communications via the Internet relating to Plaxo. This includes, but is not limited to: blogs, discussion forums, newsgroups, and e-mail distribution lists.
OVERVIEW
This company depends upon not only the strong formal competencies of its workers (programming abilities, writing skills, etc.), but their “soft skills” as well. Specifically, the fabric of this company is sustained by a sense of camaraderie and trust.
While we encourage open communication both internally and externally in all forms, we expect and insist that such communication does not substantively demean our environment. This means that constructive criticism — both privately and publicly — is welcome, but harsh or continuous disparagement is frowned upon.
Externally communicating about aspects of the company that are part of your non-disclosure agreement (partnership deals, earnings, upcoming unannounced features, etc.) is ALWAYS forbidden, however, and grounds for immediate termination and legal action.
In a nutshell, be prudent. Ask yourself: “Would this public expression regarding Plaxo impair my ability to work with my colleagues on a friendly basis? Would it give a leg up to our competition? Would it make our current or upcoming partners uncomfortable?” If you could answer yes to any of those questions, please avoid this communication.
Additionally, you should first express with your management and co-workers any Plaxo concerns you may have. Voicing concerns about Plaxo publicly without first communicating such concerns to your management and co-workers is counterproductive and inadvisable.
SPECIFIC POLICIES
1. Your public communications concerning Plaxo must not violate any guidelines set forth in your employee handbook, whether or not you specifically mention your employee or contractor status.
2. You may participate in Plaxo-related public communications on company time. However, if doing so interferes with any of your work duties and/or responsibilities, Plaxo reserves the right to disallow such participation.
3. You must include the following disclaimer on published public communications if you identify yourself as a Plaxo employee or if you regularly or substantively discuss Plaxo publicly: “The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of [your name]. Content published here is not read or approved by Plaxo before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Plaxo.”
4. You may not communicate any material that violates the privacy or publicity rights of another.
5. You may not attack personally fellow employees, authors, customers, vendors, or shareholders. You may respectfully disagree with company actions, policies, or management.
6. You may not disclose any sensitive, proprietary, confidential, or financial information about the company. This includes revenues, profits, forecasts, and other financial information, any information related to specific authors, brands, products, product lines, customers, operating units, etc. You may not disclose any information about any specific customer. Further detail is provided in the “Security and Confidentiality” section of your employee handbook.
7. You may not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to another person or any other person or entity. This includes, but is not limited to, comments regarding Plaxo, Plaxo employees, Plaxo’s partners and Plaxo’s competitors.
Failure to follow these policies may result in disciplinary action, up to and including discharge. Only a written document signed by the President of Plaxo can approve an exception of any of the above policies.
Additionally, here are some guidelines you may wish to follow for your own protection. This is not a comprehensive list and Plaxo will not indemnify you from legal action if you follow these guidelines.
1. If you think you will get in trouble directly or indirectly because of any communication you are about to make, please discuss it with your manager first.
2. Remember that you are not anonymous. Even if you write anonymously or under a pseudonym, your identity can still be revealed. You should communicate as if you are doing so under your own name. Indeed, it is recommended that you do communicate using your real name.
3. You will probably be read or heard by people who know you. Post as if everyone you know reads or hears every word.
4. You are personally legally responsible for any content you publish. Be aware of applicable laws regarding publishing your content or regarding the content itself before you post. This includes adhering to applicable copyright laws.
Original Document available at:
http://blog.plaxoed.com/2005/03/29/plaxos-communication-policy/
________________________
Plaxo Public Internet Communication Policy
The following policy applies to all employees and contractors of Plaxo, and covers all publicly accessible communications via the Internet relating to Plaxo. This includes, but is not limited to: blogs, discussion forums, newsgroups, and e-mail distribution lists.
OVERVIEW
This company depends upon not only the strong formal competencies of its workers (programming abilities, writing skills, etc.), but their “soft skills” as well. Specifically, the fabric of this company is sustained by a sense of camaraderie and trust.
While we encourage open communication both internally and externally in all forms, we expect and insist that such communication does not substantively demean our environment. This means that constructive criticism — both privately and publicly — is welcome, but harsh or continuous disparagement is frowned upon.
Externally communicating about aspects of the company that are part of your non-disclosure agreement (partnership deals, earnings, upcoming unannounced features, etc.) is ALWAYS forbidden, however, and grounds for immediate termination and legal action.
In a nutshell, be prudent. Ask yourself: “Would this public expression regarding Plaxo impair my ability to work with my colleagues on a friendly basis? Would it give a leg up to our competition? Would it make our current or upcoming partners uncomfortable?” If you could answer yes to any of those questions, please avoid this communication.
Additionally, you should first express with your management and co-workers any Plaxo concerns you may have. Voicing concerns about Plaxo publicly without first communicating such concerns to your management and co-workers is counterproductive and inadvisable.
SPECIFIC POLICIES
1. Your public communications concerning Plaxo must not violate any guidelines set forth in your employee handbook, whether or not you specifically mention your employee or contractor status.
2. You may participate in Plaxo-related public communications on company time. However, if doing so interferes with any of your work duties and/or responsibilities, Plaxo reserves the right to disallow such participation.
3. You must include the following disclaimer on published public communications if you identify yourself as a Plaxo employee or if you regularly or substantively discuss Plaxo publicly: “The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of [your name]. Content published here is not read or approved by Plaxo before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Plaxo.”
4. You may not communicate any material that violates the privacy or publicity rights of another.
5. You may not attack personally fellow employees, authors, customers, vendors, or shareholders. You may respectfully disagree with company actions, policies, or management.
6. You may not disclose any sensitive, proprietary, confidential, or financial information about the company. This includes revenues, profits, forecasts, and other financial information, any information related to specific authors, brands, products, product lines, customers, operating units, etc. You may not disclose any information about any specific customer. Further detail is provided in the “Security and Confidentiality” section of your employee handbook.
7. You may not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to another person or any other person or entity. This includes, but is not limited to, comments regarding Plaxo, Plaxo employees, Plaxo’s partners and Plaxo’s competitors.
Failure to follow these policies may result in disciplinary action, up to and including discharge. Only a written document signed by the President of Plaxo can approve an exception of any of the above policies.
Additionally, here are some guidelines you may wish to follow for your own protection. This is not a comprehensive list and Plaxo will not indemnify you from legal action if you follow these guidelines.
1. If you think you will get in trouble directly or indirectly because of any communication you are about to make, please discuss it with your manager first.
2. Remember that you are not anonymous. Even if you write anonymously or under a pseudonym, your identity can still be revealed. You should communicate as if you are doing so under your own name. Indeed, it is recommended that you do communicate using your real name.
3. You will probably be read or heard by people who know you. Post as if everyone you know reads or hears every word.
4. You are personally legally responsible for any content you publish. Be aware of applicable laws regarding publishing your content or regarding the content itself before you post. This includes adhering to applicable copyright laws.
Corporate Blogging Policies - Thomas Nelson Blogging Guidelines
Another Corporate Blogging Guidelines example at the WordFrame Blog - Thomas Nelson Blogging Guidelines
Original Document available at:
http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/dept.asp?dept_id=1117904
________
Thomas Nelson Blogging Guidelines
At Thomas Nelson, we want to encourage you to blog about our company, our products, and your work. Our goal is three-fold:
• To raise the visibility of our company,
• To make a contribution to our industry, and
• To give the public a look at what goes on within a real live publishing company.
Therefore, we have established a “blog aggregator page” that is linked to the ThomasNelson.com Web site. “House Work,” the name of this page, contains links to employee blogs, along with the first few sentences from the most recent entry. The page is automatically updated whenever a blogger creates a new post. This way readers can quickly scan new entries, click on those that interest them, and then read the entry on the blogger’s site. This makes it convenient for people who are interested in reading employee blogs. It also helps publicize individual blogs and generates traffic for everyone.
In order to give some direction to employees who wish to blog, we have established a “Blog Oversight Committee” or “BOC.” This is a group of fellow-employee bloggers who are committed to promoting blogging within our company and making sure that the Company’s interests are served.
If you would like to have us link to your blog, you must submit it to the BOC. Before doing so, you should design your blog and write at least one entry. Once you have done this, send an e-mail to Gave Wicks with a link to your blog. The BOC will then review your blog and notify you whether or not it meets the criteria.
In order to participate in this program, you must abide by the following guidelines. (Please keep in mind that review by the BOC and participation in this program does not absolve you of responsibility for everything you post.)
1. Start with a blogging service. We do not host employee blogs. We think it adds more credibility if the Company does not officially sponsor them. Therefore, please use one of the many third-party blog hosting sites on the Internet. Some of these are free, such as Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, Xanga.com, and MSN Spaces. Others charge a nominal fee. Examples include TypePad.com, SquareSpace.com, BlogIdentity.com, and Bubbler.com. If you use one of the latter, any expense is your responsibility.
2. Write as yourself. In other words, please use your real name. We don’t want people writing anonymously or under a pseudonym. Your name should be prominently displayed on your blog’s title or subtitle. This will add credibility with your readers and promote accountability within our company.
3. Own your content. Employee blog sites are not Company communications. Therefore, your blog entries legally belong to you. They represent your thoughts and opinions. We think it is important that you remind your readers of this fact by including the following disclaimer on your site: “The posts on this blog are provided ‘as is’ with no warranties and confer no rights. The opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.” You assume full responsibility and liability for all actions arising from your posts. We also encourage you to put a copyright notice on your site in your name (e.g., “© 2005, John Smith”).
4. Write relevant. Write often. Whether you know it or not, you are an expert. You have a unique perspective on our company based on your talents, skills, and current responsibilities. People what to hear about that perspective. Also, in order to develop a consistent readership, you should try to write on a regular basis. For some, this will be daily; for others, it may be weekly. The important thing is consistent posting. New content is what keeps readers coming back. You may also write on company time, provided it doesn’t become excessive and doesn’t interfere with your job assignments and responsibilities.
5. Advertise—if you wish. While there is no requirement to run ads on your blog, you are free to do this if you wish. Some of the free blog services run ads as a way to offset their costs. If you use such a service, you won’t have a choice. On the other hand, if you pay for your service, you can avoid advertising altogether or participate in a service like Google’s AdSense or Amazon’s Associate Program. These types of programs will pay you based on “page views,” “click-throughs,” or purchases made on participating Web sites. You might want to ask the BOC or fellow bloggers for suggestions. The only thing we ask is that, to the extent you have control, you run ads or recommend products that are congruent with our core values as a Company.
6. Be nice. Avoid attacking other individuals or companies. This includes fellow employees, authors, customers, vendors, competitors, or shareholders. You are welcome to disagree with the Company’s leaders, provided your tone is respectful. If in doubt, we suggest that you “sleep on it” and then submit your entry to the BOC before posting it on your blog.
7. Keep secrets. Do not disclose sensitive, proprietary, confidential, or financial informa-tion about the Company, other than what is publicly available in our SEC filings and corporate press releases. This includes revenues, profits, forecasts, and other financial information related to specific authors, brands, products, product lines, customers, operating units, etc. Again, if in doubt, check with the BOC before posting this type of information.
8. Respect copyrights. For your protection, do not post any material that is copyrighted unless (a) you are the copyright owner, (b) you have written permission of the copyright owner to post the copyrighted material on your blog, or (c) you are sure that the use of any copyrighted material is permitted by the legal doctrine of “fair use.” (Please note: this is your responsibility. The Company cannot provide you with legal advice regarding this.)
9. Obey the law. This goes without saying, but by way of reminder, do not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, embarrassing to another person or entity, or violates the privacy rights of another. Also, do not post material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or any other computer code that is intended to damage, interfere with, or surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data, or information.
10. Remember the Handbook. As a condition of your employment, you agreed to abide by the rules of the Thomas Nelson Company Handbook. This also applies to your blogging activities. We suggest you take time to review the section entitled, “Employee Responsibilities” (pp. 36–39).
If you do not abide by the above guidelines, we reserve the right to stop linking to your blog.
Original Document available at:
http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/dept.asp?dept_id=1117904
________
Thomas Nelson Blogging Guidelines
At Thomas Nelson, we want to encourage you to blog about our company, our products, and your work. Our goal is three-fold:
• To raise the visibility of our company,
• To make a contribution to our industry, and
• To give the public a look at what goes on within a real live publishing company.
Therefore, we have established a “blog aggregator page” that is linked to the ThomasNelson.com Web site. “House Work,” the name of this page, contains links to employee blogs, along with the first few sentences from the most recent entry. The page is automatically updated whenever a blogger creates a new post. This way readers can quickly scan new entries, click on those that interest them, and then read the entry on the blogger’s site. This makes it convenient for people who are interested in reading employee blogs. It also helps publicize individual blogs and generates traffic for everyone.
In order to give some direction to employees who wish to blog, we have established a “Blog Oversight Committee” or “BOC.” This is a group of fellow-employee bloggers who are committed to promoting blogging within our company and making sure that the Company’s interests are served.
If you would like to have us link to your blog, you must submit it to the BOC. Before doing so, you should design your blog and write at least one entry. Once you have done this, send an e-mail to Gave Wicks with a link to your blog. The BOC will then review your blog and notify you whether or not it meets the criteria.
In order to participate in this program, you must abide by the following guidelines. (Please keep in mind that review by the BOC and participation in this program does not absolve you of responsibility for everything you post.)
1. Start with a blogging service. We do not host employee blogs. We think it adds more credibility if the Company does not officially sponsor them. Therefore, please use one of the many third-party blog hosting sites on the Internet. Some of these are free, such as Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, Xanga.com, and MSN Spaces. Others charge a nominal fee. Examples include TypePad.com, SquareSpace.com, BlogIdentity.com, and Bubbler.com. If you use one of the latter, any expense is your responsibility.
2. Write as yourself. In other words, please use your real name. We don’t want people writing anonymously or under a pseudonym. Your name should be prominently displayed on your blog’s title or subtitle. This will add credibility with your readers and promote accountability within our company.
3. Own your content. Employee blog sites are not Company communications. Therefore, your blog entries legally belong to you. They represent your thoughts and opinions. We think it is important that you remind your readers of this fact by including the following disclaimer on your site: “The posts on this blog are provided ‘as is’ with no warranties and confer no rights. The opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.” You assume full responsibility and liability for all actions arising from your posts. We also encourage you to put a copyright notice on your site in your name (e.g., “© 2005, John Smith”).
4. Write relevant. Write often. Whether you know it or not, you are an expert. You have a unique perspective on our company based on your talents, skills, and current responsibilities. People what to hear about that perspective. Also, in order to develop a consistent readership, you should try to write on a regular basis. For some, this will be daily; for others, it may be weekly. The important thing is consistent posting. New content is what keeps readers coming back. You may also write on company time, provided it doesn’t become excessive and doesn’t interfere with your job assignments and responsibilities.
5. Advertise—if you wish. While there is no requirement to run ads on your blog, you are free to do this if you wish. Some of the free blog services run ads as a way to offset their costs. If you use such a service, you won’t have a choice. On the other hand, if you pay for your service, you can avoid advertising altogether or participate in a service like Google’s AdSense or Amazon’s Associate Program. These types of programs will pay you based on “page views,” “click-throughs,” or purchases made on participating Web sites. You might want to ask the BOC or fellow bloggers for suggestions. The only thing we ask is that, to the extent you have control, you run ads or recommend products that are congruent with our core values as a Company.
6. Be nice. Avoid attacking other individuals or companies. This includes fellow employees, authors, customers, vendors, competitors, or shareholders. You are welcome to disagree with the Company’s leaders, provided your tone is respectful. If in doubt, we suggest that you “sleep on it” and then submit your entry to the BOC before posting it on your blog.
7. Keep secrets. Do not disclose sensitive, proprietary, confidential, or financial informa-tion about the Company, other than what is publicly available in our SEC filings and corporate press releases. This includes revenues, profits, forecasts, and other financial information related to specific authors, brands, products, product lines, customers, operating units, etc. Again, if in doubt, check with the BOC before posting this type of information.
8. Respect copyrights. For your protection, do not post any material that is copyrighted unless (a) you are the copyright owner, (b) you have written permission of the copyright owner to post the copyrighted material on your blog, or (c) you are sure that the use of any copyrighted material is permitted by the legal doctrine of “fair use.” (Please note: this is your responsibility. The Company cannot provide you with legal advice regarding this.)
9. Obey the law. This goes without saying, but by way of reminder, do not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, embarrassing to another person or entity, or violates the privacy rights of another. Also, do not post material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, or any other computer code that is intended to damage, interfere with, or surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data, or information.
10. Remember the Handbook. As a condition of your employment, you agreed to abide by the rules of the Thomas Nelson Company Handbook. This also applies to your blogging activities. We suggest you take time to review the section entitled, “Employee Responsibilities” (pp. 36–39).
If you do not abide by the above guidelines, we reserve the right to stop linking to your blog.
Corporate Blogging Policies - Feedster Corporate Blogging Policy
Another example for good corporate blogging policy available as a resource on the WordFrame blog site: Feedster Corporate Blogging Policy
Original Document available at:
http://feedster.blogs.com/corporate/corporate_policies/index.html
______________
Corporate Blogging Policy
In general, the company views personal websites and weblogs positively, and it respects the right of employees to use them as a medium of self-expression. If you choose to identify yourself as a Feedster employee or to discuss matters related to our technology or business on your website or weblog, please bear in mind that, although you and we view your website or weblog as a personal project and a medium of personal expression, some readers may nonetheless view you as a de facto spokesperson for the company. In light of this possibility, we ask that you observe the following guidelines:
1. Please make it clear to your readers that the views you express are yours alone and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of Feedster. To help reduce the potential for confusion, we would appreciate it if you put the following notice – or something similar – in a reasonably prominent place on your site (e.g., at the bottom of your “about me” page):
The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Many bloggers put a disclaimer on their front page saying who they work for, but that they’re not speaking officially. This is good practice, but may not have much legal effect. It's not necessary to post this notice on every page, but please use reasonable efforts to draw attention to it – if at all possible, from the home page of your site.
2. Be careful to avoid disclosing any information that is confidential or proprietary to the company or to any third party that has disclosed information to us. For good measure, consult the company’s confidentiality policy for guidance about what constitutes confidential information.
3. Please remember that your employment documents give the company certain rights with respect to concepts and developments you produce that are related to our business. To avoid conflicts or discrepancies, please consult your manager if you have questions about the appropriateness of publishing such concepts or developments related to the company’s business on your site.
4. Since your site or blog is a public space, we hope you will be as respectful to the company, our employees, our customers, our partners and affiliates, and others (including our competitors) as the company itself endeavors to be.
5. You may provide a link from your site to the corporate website. However you will require permission to use company trademarks or reproduce company material on your site.
6
. Finally, please be aware that the company may request that you temporarily confine your website or weblog commentary to topics unrelated to the company (or, in rare cases, that you temporarily suspend your website or weblog activity altogether) if it believes this is necessary or advisable to ensure compliance with securities regulations or other laws.
If you have any questions about these guidelines or any matter related to your site that these guidelines do not address, please direct them to me.
Our policy is an adaptation of Groove Network’s published policy. Here’s a quick summary from Charlene Li of Forrester Research:
1. Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.
2. Respect the company’s confidentiality and proprietary information.
3. Ask your manager if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog.
4. Be respectful to the company, employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
5. Understand when the company asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons.
6. Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work
Original Document available at:
http://feedster.blogs.com/corporate/corporate_policies/index.html
______________
Corporate Blogging Policy
In general, the company views personal websites and weblogs positively, and it respects the right of employees to use them as a medium of self-expression. If you choose to identify yourself as a Feedster employee or to discuss matters related to our technology or business on your website or weblog, please bear in mind that, although you and we view your website or weblog as a personal project and a medium of personal expression, some readers may nonetheless view you as a de facto spokesperson for the company. In light of this possibility, we ask that you observe the following guidelines:
1. Please make it clear to your readers that the views you express are yours alone and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of Feedster. To help reduce the potential for confusion, we would appreciate it if you put the following notice – or something similar – in a reasonably prominent place on your site (e.g., at the bottom of your “about me” page):
The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Many bloggers put a disclaimer on their front page saying who they work for, but that they’re not speaking officially. This is good practice, but may not have much legal effect. It's not necessary to post this notice on every page, but please use reasonable efforts to draw attention to it – if at all possible, from the home page of your site.
2. Be careful to avoid disclosing any information that is confidential or proprietary to the company or to any third party that has disclosed information to us. For good measure, consult the company’s confidentiality policy for guidance about what constitutes confidential information.
3. Please remember that your employment documents give the company certain rights with respect to concepts and developments you produce that are related to our business. To avoid conflicts or discrepancies, please consult your manager if you have questions about the appropriateness of publishing such concepts or developments related to the company’s business on your site.
4. Since your site or blog is a public space, we hope you will be as respectful to the company, our employees, our customers, our partners and affiliates, and others (including our competitors) as the company itself endeavors to be.
5. You may provide a link from your site to the corporate website. However you will require permission to use company trademarks or reproduce company material on your site.
6
. Finally, please be aware that the company may request that you temporarily confine your website or weblog commentary to topics unrelated to the company (or, in rare cases, that you temporarily suspend your website or weblog activity altogether) if it believes this is necessary or advisable to ensure compliance with securities regulations or other laws.
If you have any questions about these guidelines or any matter related to your site that these guidelines do not address, please direct them to me.
Our policy is an adaptation of Groove Network’s published policy. Here’s a quick summary from Charlene Li of Forrester Research:
1. Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.
2. Respect the company’s confidentiality and proprietary information.
3. Ask your manager if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog.
4. Be respectful to the company, employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
5. Understand when the company asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons.
6. Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)