Social Networking’s Role In Measuring Terrorism Risk

PropertyCasualty360:

The criticism of calculating terrorism risk was the perception that analysts could not predict human behavior. As it turns out, no one needed to. Social-networking analysis has been “very effective” since 9/11, [Gordon] Woo says, in foiling numerous terrorism attacks. In addition to its first priority of keeping America safe, the tactic has “protected insurers from paying large losses,” he adds.

It’s incredibly interesting that even bin Laden—a man who took great pains to avoid personal contact with social media and electronic networks in general—still wasn’t able to escape their reach.

If bin Laden can’t escape, who can?

Financial services industry still sending mixed signals about social media

Goldman Sachs has invested $450 million in Facebook, yet the social network is still blocked for Goldman employees.

(via Erik Qualman)

Financial institutions’ social media supply not meeting demand

A Fiserv white paper indicates that more than a third of financial institutions’ customers want to connect through social media (and nearly half of Gen Y do), but only 11% currently are.

Risk 2.0 – The week in links 9/24/2010

• What’s Facebook worth? Some valuations now put it ahead of big names like RIM, Starbucks, Dell, Yahoo, and others.

• Hadyn Shaughnessy discusses semantic clustering and illustrates how it can be used to form a high-level picture of Web 2.0 conversations. It looks like a case of ecosystems talking about ecosystems.

• Chris F. Masse, vigilant prediction market blogger, thinks that they may be not be that useful for solving real world problems.

• Rob Koplowitz talks about how social technologies can kickstart innovation and the trend toward Enterprise 2.0:

This shift toward increased collaboration is apparent, even as enterprises emerge from the economic downturn. In fact, 65% of organizations now support at least one Web 2.0 technology for internal or external collaboration and communication purposes.

• Riva Richmond of the WSJ lists three ways companies can use location-based social media. To date, I haven’t heard about any insurers, banks, or other regulated financial institutions using this type of social media. (If you have, let me know.)

• Varadharajan Krishnamoorthy lists some good information and links for insurers interested in social media.

• The perils of tweeting away from the nest continue to get attention. One UK insurer recently issued a warning to customers that they may be increasing their risks of being robbed if they announce their absence from home on social networks. Time will tell if these warning shots are followed by premium hikes.

Risk 2.0 – The week in links 9/17/2010

• If you view all social media users as the same, you may want to rethink that. Terri Goveia discusses the concept of “connectors.” These are highly influential individuals whose actions shape the decisions of nearly three quarters of the consumer population. Finding them in social networks is probably a good idea.

• It can be hard to sell anything new to the C-suite. Social media author and expert Erik Qualman lists 3 reasons CEOs hate social media, but he also provides 3 reasons they can learn to love it.

• Nicholas D. Evans of Computerworld provides a thorough explanation of social computing’s evolution in the enterprise.

• John Hagel III and John Seely Brown outline six fundamental shifts in the way we work. I think social media and collaborative technologies will provide the foundation for significant changes in the workplace in the coming decades.

The collaboration curve helps explain the rise of network-centric efforts ranging from open source software development to “crowdsourcing” to “creation spaces.” In nearly all of these group efforts, rapid leaps in performance improvement arise as participants get better faster by working with others.

• Mashable reports that:

A new study from Pew Internet found that between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking site usage grew 88% among Internet users aged 55-64, and the 65 and older group’s social networking presence grew 100% in the same time frame.

• Ted Schadler wrote a very interesting piece on IT in the age of the empowered employee. I think IT is now faced with an immense challenge in the typical enterprise. They have to take on the role of security guard, mechanic, and increasingly they have to identify when it’s in the company’s best interests to stay hands off.  In my view, the world of IT is becoming more complex because technology is no longer just another “department” or “tool” in the business. It’s everything, and it’s everywhere. It’s work; it’s play; it’s communication. All these things are blurring into one thing: life.

• In a must-read piece over at The Institute for the Future, Bradley Kreit talks about (and lists many examples of) how social network activity can be used to gauge mood. The marketing and insurance implications are surely vast.

It’s enough to imagine the sort of future where a pharmaceutical company’s algorithms can read through your Outlook calendar, notice no one accepts your meetings, sees your Facebook status updates seem to indicate a level of frustration, and sends you an offer for a free sample of the latest anti-depressant.

• It’s official. Announcing that you’re not home on Facebook will get you robbed – at least in the state of New Hampshire.

• Mashable: Web users now spend more time on Facebook than Google.

• Still think Twitter is a fad? Check out the latest growth chart. 90 million tweets per day. It’s getting loud out there. Are you listening?

Risk + 2.0: The week in links 8/27/2010

• Jim Raffel discusses how you can find the full value of the LinkedIn ecosystem by increasing site traffic, tapping the value of groups, and résumé replacement.

• Mashable talks about the coming wave of social media monitoring tools. Cluster analysis and semantic analysis are two methods being explored right now. The goal is to find statistical methods that will let companies quickly glean meaning from the vast amount of data being generated by social networks.

All of these companies are working with very smart people who can make data dance. Sysomos’ Bansal published a paper on cluster analysis applied to social data three years ago, indicating that they are ahead of the curve. The real challenge is to apply these complex lenses to the data in a way that lets us non-PhD holding marketers understand it at a glance — and to do it flexibly enough for different monitoring objectives.

• Fred O’Connor of Computerworld reports that iPhones and iPads are becoming popular in health care.

Doctors can use a device like a tablet to pull up patient information during a consultation and then use it to, for example, show a patient how disease spreads or how curvature of the spine occurs. It may be easier to share information that way than it is with a PC.

• Insurance and Technology writer Nathan Golia reports that Geico has expanded its Glove Box app to Android and the iPad. What’s especially interesting is that Geico is using these mobile platforms to increase interaction with customers. They’re not just to shoehorning their existing web offerings into a mobile device.

In its basic form, for smartphones, GloveBox allows policyholders to view account information, pay their bills, access ID cards, record accident information, reach Geico by phone and view videos of the company’s gecko mascot. The iPad version leverages the device’s larger screen by incorporating a split-screen display and auto “how-tos” with images.

• Many of us don’t have time to do our main jobs and also do social media analytics. So it’s not surprising that companies are emerging to fill this niche. One example is ViralHeat.

• Hutch Carpenter talks about “open innovation” and the process of incorporating customer feedback in product development and marketing. Social media creates a very rapid feedback loop. It will be very interesting to see which industries benefit the most from nearly real-time feedback from customers. I think that we’ll eventually see some companies “outsource” product development to customers directly through crowdsourcing and other techniques.

• Social media expert and author Erik Qualman dislikes the idea of a Facebook dislike button. Erik points out that people seek acceptance in social networks, and a dislike button would only breed negativity.

If you find an article that you would like included here on Risk + 2.0, feel free to send it to me.

Learning when to avoid the one night stand

[Photo by Search Engine People Blog via Flicker]

I remember conversations I had with other insurance professionals back when I was first discovering social media. I knew that social media would eventually gain traction in the world of insurance, but the possibilities were so great in number that it was hard to really focus on one area.

When I would discuss social media with others in my field, I would usually get the question “but how can social media be used for life insurance?”

Leveraging social media for other forms of insurance like auto and health was more intuitive I suppose. Social media involves a conversation between people. Listen, respond, and repeat.

Not all insurance encounters are the same. Some can be one night stands; others can lead to ongoing relationships. To form a relationship, people must converse on a regular basis. Some forms of insurance just clearly lend themselves to a regular relationship more than others.

I’m not on Facebook

… is usually a lie.

My wife and I have Facebook profiles. Her parents don’t. Recently, I told her parents that they actually were on Facebook. They of course vehemently denied it and said that they are not on Facebook and never will be. I then pointed out that they’ve been on Facebook since the first time someone posted a picture of them.

A story is being written about you online whether you like it or not.

I gave in and joined the rush to Facebook in 2008. I don’t use it a whole lot, but I do find it handy for keeping up with a certain circle of friends and family. It’s also proven to be a really great way of getting references for contractors, painters, roofers, etc. Yes, believe it or not, there are practical uses for Facebook.

Most importantly, though, I like being on Facebook because I feel like I have a little more control over my information. If someone posts a photo of me, at least I know about it.

This kind of vigilance is important for companies too.

Are you doing social media?

Social media expert Chris Dessi recently told a poignant story that really illustrates the risk of social media ignorance. One day, Chris met with one of his clients, a luxury watch maker, with the goal of convincing the client to try a social media marketing strategy.

The client had the perception that social media was basically just fun and games. They didn’t see how it could possibly benefit a luxury goods manufacturer, and they stated that they “don’t ‘do’ social media.”

Chris then made the point that they were in fact doing social media:

I turned to my laptop which was projecting on the wall to four other executives in the room. I logged into Facebook, typed in the name of their company and found an active Facebook Page with over 18,000 fans of the page (it now has over 30,000 likes). She seemed shocked. The administrator was a gentleman from Jordan. It was obviously not a company sanctioned Facebook page, but my point was made.

Whether you’re an individual, small business, or large company, I think it’s well worth spending a few minutes finding out whether you’re already doing social media.

Even if there’s no mention of your brand or product yet, it will happen. Why not take this opportunity to start the story out right?

Risk + 2.0: The week in links 8/6/2010

I took a little vacation/holiday last week, so there were no links posted. Thankfully, the world didn’t come to an end.  Here’s a few more than usual this week to catch up…

1. Social Media’s Critical Path: Relevance to Resonance to SignificanceBrian Solis talks about how businesses can learn to thrive in social media by having conversations with customers and moving to a “pay it forward” mindset.
2. Collective intelligencePete Swabey discusses the concept of prediction markets and how one prediction market company, CrowdCast, is beginning to develop social business intelligence tools. These tools represent an effort to capture more in-house knowledge by giving employees a way to share business information and work collaboratively.  I also wrote a summary of prediction markets earlier.
3. A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in MobileI think it’s important to keep close attention on the development of mobile technology.  Mobile and social definitely go together. It’s easy to forget just how far mobile technology has come in the last five years.  Touch screen devices and increasingly-ubiquitous wireless broadband networks make it easier than ever to stay connected and share information.  The next five years may see even more staggering innovation.
4. WikiLeaks case highlights digital security challengeThe publishing of secret Pentagon papers documenting details of US operations in Afghanistan was front-page news in late July 2010. Leaking secret documents is inevitable, but we’re now in an era when secrets can go from confidential to globally-known in a matter of seconds.  There has never been a greater need for risk management.
5. The risk and rewards of Facebook for insurers and reinsurersRein4ce lists some practical social media code of conduct ideas and “good practice” guidelines.
6. 18,000 in a yearRiskviews commemorates its one-year anniversary in blogging.  I’ve certainly enjoyed the posting at Riskviews this year.  It’s great to see risk pros embracing blogging as a way of sharing ideas – especially in this era when risk management  and insight are as important as ever.  I’m hopeful that a culture of information sharing among actuaries and related risk professionals will emerge in the coming years.
7. Happiness Rules: Canada’s Youth Don’t Live For $$$As Gen Y begins to enter the “real world,” companies are getting more interested in what makes them tick.  This study reveals that Canada’s Gen Y is more interested in having a network of friends and family than leading. They’re also more risk-averse than their parents.  The respondents generally placed more value on relationships over money.
8. Social media report a wake-up callThis article by John Powell, aimed at Canadian financial advisors, highlights that women are emerging as dominant users of social media.  The article also notes evidence that women are more vocal online and also purchase more online compared to men.  In general, it seems that women are going online looking for more social interaction than men. You may also be interested in Jessica Faye Carter’s article “For Women, Social Media is More Than ‘Girl Talk’”, which takes a deeper look at women’s role in the social media landscape.
9. I have been a bit surprised at just how much I’ve taken to e-reading this year after buying an iPad.  Apparently, the e-reading concept is catching on at Farmers, where it is being used to train and inform agents more efficiently. Patriot Risk Management is also piloting the iPad.
10. I LOVE getting junk mail, spam, and unsolicited email newsletters, and I’m sure you do too.  Of course, I’m joking.  It’s not surprising that email marketing metrics are in decline.  We’re becoming info-saturated, I think.  More info on email marketing and how it’s different from Facebook and Twitter.
11. 15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow – Still trying to get your C-Suite interested in Twitter? Whether they’re a CEO, CMO, CTO, CIO, or CFO, there’s a Twitter list for them in this Mashable article.

C-ya next week. ;)

Risk + 2.0: The week in links 7/23/2010

• How Semantic Clustering Helps Analyze Consumer Attitudes. The data generated by modern society are endless. This Harvard Business Review piece looks at one technique that might be useful in piecing together meaningful patterns:

Semantic clustering can help us better understand the extensive idea flow created by the web, help strategists understand how people are responding to changes, and take action based on it. People are constantly volunteering options, attitudes and ideas. Every day, in the English language, around a half million attitudes and opinions are offered up, voluntarily, in blogs and comment forums. Add in other social media (Twitter reports an average of 50 million posts a day) and that’s a huge reservoir for analyzing changing attitudes.

• 500 Million Stories. Facebook passes 500 million users.
• Bloggers Uniting to Help Restaurants Understand Insurance. An example of how blogs are being used to educate and reach out to clients.
• The Growing Risks of Social Media. This article hits on a number of topics related to social media’s opportunity and risks. It also mentions the need to review existing liability coverages to ensure that social-media-related risks are covered.
• Private healthcare provider launches Health365 online brand. This is a good example of how web-based videos can be used in marketing.
• The 3 S’s of Social Media in Insurance – Sense-Share-Serve. Great advice and real world examples of using social media in the insurance industry.
• The “Social” Insurance Factor: Will Your Rates Change Based On Your “Tweets”?. I’ve done some thinking out loud in the past about how insurance companies might one day use data gathered from social networks to set rates. This article offers several ideas as to how that might happen and also notes the inevitable challenges.