The document discusses social media at Sun Microsystems. It outlines how social media has transformed from isolated online interactions to fully connected people. It provides examples of how Sun is using social media, including wikis to improve collaboration, Facebook groups and podcasts to build relationships, and blogs to connect with customers. The document advocates that social media can improve businesses by fostering ecosystems, forging relationships, connecting with customers, learning from competitors, generating new business, finding team members, and enabling collaboration. However, it notes that companies need to listen, identify influencers, and engage authentically while respecting guidelines.

1. Social Media at Sun
Microsystems
(Director’s Cut)
Lou Ordorica

− Community Manager
 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

2. Is Social Media a Fad?
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 2

3. Social Media is Transformative
People connecting using technology to get the things they need from
each other, bypassing traditional institutions like corporations.
— Groundswell, Li and Bernoff
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 3

4. Then and Now
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 4

5. Then and Now
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 5

6. Then and Now
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 6

7. Then and Now
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 7

8. Social Media – Vision
“...every single human being posting
their thoughts and experiences in
any number of ways to the Internet.”
Fred Wilson
“ Social media is here to stay.”
Mary Smaragdis
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 8

9. Can Social Media Improve Our
Business?
Fostering ecosystems around your work
•
Forging work relationships and alliances
•
Connecting with customers
•
Buddying up to the competition
•
Generating new business
•
Organically form teams
•
Collaborating on projects
•
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 9

10. Fostering Ecosystems: Sun Java
Communications Suite Wiki
• Improve
communication
• Attract new
customers,
collaborators
• Drive efficiency,
accuracy, improve
quality
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 10

11. “Using wikis.sun.com as
the platform for the
Comms Suite
documentation has been
nothing short of a
revolution for us”
Jim Parkinson
Vice President, Developer Tools & Services
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 11

12. Forging Work Relationships and
Alliances: Facebook Fridays
• Sumaya Kazi,
owner
• Self-expression,
communication,
and entertainment
• 1,424 members
• Started for Sun
Employees, now
open to all
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 12

13. Socially Speaking Podcast
• Sumaya Kazi,
host
• Feature luminaries
in Web 2.0 and
Social Media
• Drives awareness
of Sun’s brand,
supports
campaigns
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 13

14. Connecting with Customers:
Blogging
• Engineers connecting
with customers
• Accelerate problem
solving
• Enable access to
expertise
• Customer testimonials
• Real-time feedback
loops
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 14

15. “ blogs are better than any
marketing Sun could have
ever done or has ever
done; they expose the true
heroes and geniuses
behind Solaris and Sun”
UX-Admin
via Paul Robert’s Blog
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 15

16. Buddying Up to the Competition:
Dell on Twitter : Follow Us
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 16

17. Generating New Business:
Customer Reviews
• Trusted peer
evaluations
• Drives sales
through customer
evangelism
• Enables feedback
loops
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 17

18. Organically Form Teams: Blogging
• Work the network to
recruit
• Identify qualified
candidates faster
• References come to
you
• Accelerate the hiring
process
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 18

19. Collaborating on Projects:
OpenSource
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 19

20. Reality Check
• You are in less control than ever before
> People you don’t know are influencing perception about
your brand
• Memes (good or bad) can form and spread quickly
> Your reaction time is hours, sometimes minutes
• The time for just talking about social media is past
> Competitors are aggressively experimenting and embracing
social marketing
• Not all social initiatives at Sun succeed
> And it’s usually not about tools ...
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 20

21. Where to Start?
• Set a goal: become self-confident in understanding,
using, and applying social media
• Know the ground rules. Be all these things:
Authentic
>
Transparent
>
Trustworthy
>
Open
>
• Don’t get fired!
> Sun Guidelines on Public Discourse
• Be honest with yourself, recognize and respect your
limits.
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 21

22. Listening
Be a part of the conversations that matter
•
Brand monitoring can help—many services are free
•
Sit down and list keywords for your business
•
Search using your keywords, and refine results
•
Technorati.com
>
Google Blogs
>
twitter
>
YouTube
>
Digg.com
>
• Tag the bloggers, communities, profiles that count
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 22

23. Identify the Influencers
• Identify the initiators and influentials, and follow them
• Social initiators
> Pride themselves on building buzz and brand awareness
> Powerful. Many social connections, push memes
outward that spread virally — top “diggers”
• Classic influentials
> Early adopters, natural influencers, “pull” vs. push —
bloggers who write reviews
• Their clout can seed early part of purchase funnel
• Don’t be swayed completely — not representative of
the whole
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 23

24. Engage the Influencers
• Establish an online presence, and build relationships
Subscribe to their blog, web site, profile
>
Follow them on a social network (friending)
>
Add value by commenting and replying
>
Forward noteworthy conversations to your network
>
• Track their influence over time
• Subtlety engage the influentials
> Ask opinions on competitors, market, products
> Offer demos and privileged access
> Provide opportunities to review products and services for
free
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 24

25. The Social Circle
• Elevate the status and influence of your brand
twitter
Blog
wikipedia
inbound links
trackbacks
and comments
inbound links
blogroll
reddit
Your
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
inbound
digg Product links
Page
inbound links
Blog
sun.com
delicious
blogosphere
Web
facebook
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 25

26. Starting a Social Initiative
• Ask the tough questions first:
> What does success look like (what is the ROI)?
> What is the strategy — how do I build on success?
> What are the shared interests and passions of my
audience?
> Am I willing to take risks, cede control, and deal with
unknowns?
> Do I have an executive champion?
> Am I ready for a long-term effort?
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 26

27. Back to Basics
1. Define social objectives
> What do you intend to accomplish?
2.Understand your audience
> Build profiles around their participation preferences
3.Staff for success
> Choose experience and skilled planners and managers
4.Choose the right technologies for your strategy
> Based on your objectives, with clear metrics
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 27

28. Define Social Objectives
• Identify your business objectives. Examples:
Demand / lead generation
>
Reduced support costs
>
Market research
>
Brand awareness
>
• Assign metrics. Examples:
> % increased pagerank
> % increased memberships / connections
> % decreased incidental support requests
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 28

29. Understand Your Audience
• Forrester Social Technographics®
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 29

30. Choose the Right Technology
Tool Description Notes
blogs.sun.com publish your weblog Sun employees and interns only
forums.sun.com technology discussions Customer facing, private, and internal-only
mediacast.sun.com rich media file sharing Uploads for Sun employees only
wikis.sun.com collaborative publishing Employees, partners, customers, students
Channel Sun video
egc.sun.com Uploads for Sun employees only
community
planets.sun.com aggregate web feeds self-service RSS builder
slx.sun.com Sun Learning Exchange Open to Sun employees and customers
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 30

31. Choose the Right Technology
Tool Description Notes
twitter SMS social network Mobile-device enabled. Sun feeds available.
Sun fan pages established, with Zembly-
facebook Social network service
built applications
Business contacts, Sun Microsystems and other corporate
linkedin
introductions, and expertise groups
Sun owns an island, regular events and
second life Virtual world
training available
del•icio•us Social bookmarking Linked to on most Sun.com pages
digg.com Social news Linked to on most Sun.com pages
Social application Widgets, Facebook, iPhone apps — check
zembly
development community out Beijing Olympics 08!
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 31

32. Tips
• Consider the places where your audience are today
Are they communicating like mad on twitter?
>
Are they supporting each other on Sun Forums?
>
Are they building expertise on Sun Wikis?
>
Are they self-expressing and entertaining each other on
>
Facebook?
• Carefully consider if your objective can be met by
integrating into existing communities
• If you must start a social initiative, follow the
guidelines
> Save money and time by leveraging Sun expertise, tools,
and platforms Sun Confidential: Internal Only 32

33. Building an Online Community with
an External Partner
• White label social networks are gaining in popularity
> Offer branded experiences that are feature rich
> Address needs not met by in-house tools, platforms, and
expertise
• At minimum, ensure:
> Protection of online relationships—integrate with existing
customer databases
> Guarantees that all data—especially member created
content—belongs to your company, and is portable
> Your company actively engaged through participation and
community management
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 33

34. Social Media Resources and People
Facebook Fridays — Sumaya Kazi
•
Socially Speaking — Sumaya Kazi
•
Web Strategist — Jeremiah Owyang
•
Read / Write Web — Marshall Kirkpatrick
•
Mashable — Pete Cashmore
•
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 34

35. A Little Knowledge Can Be
Dangerous ...
• Want to learn more? Think about:
> Integrating social elements in your marketing initiatives
> Building effective listening tools, identifying influencers,
spotting trends
Making online social interactions part of your work life
>
Understanding your audience and building social
>
experiences tailored for them
Effective community management
>
Leveraging external social networking services
>
Sun Confidential: Internal Only 35

36. Community Manager
Lou Ordorica’s contact info:
•
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lordorica
•
Email: lou.ordorica@gmail.com
•
LinkedIn:
•
http://www.linkedin.com/in/louordorica
36