The latest issue of The Whistler by ESN  features a profile of Dubsar’s Managing Parnter, Alberto Mélida, as one of the relevant members of the network.

The nº 8 of The Whistler focuses on the design and management of creative dynamic websites, including interactive features, web applications, and links to social media.

Social media is now used by 30 % of businesses in the EU-28, and almost three-quarters say they have a website, an increase of 6 % compared to 2010, according to a new report on ICT usage by businesses in the Member States.

The report, published in December 2013 by the EU’s statistical office (Eurostat), observed a shift in the content of enterprise websites from static web pages towards more interactive features and web applications, which include online ordering and links to social media.

The use of social media, in particular, has helped EU enterprises to improve their image and internet presence, noted the report.

Some 30 % of businesses employing 10 people or more used at least one type of social media in 2013, although only 8 % had a formal policy for social media use.

Looking at specific types of social media, 28 % of enterprises in the EU-28 used social networks (e.g. Facebook) in 2013, 11 % multimedia content-sharing websites (e.g. YouTube), 10 % blogs or micro blogs (e.g. Twitter) and 6 % wiki-based knowledge-sharing tools.

These findings form part of a survey conducted at the beginning of 2013 on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises in the Union’s 28 Member States, plus Iceland, Norway and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with a special focus on social media use.

“For more than a decade, there has been a shift from the static web pages of the earlier websites towards web applications which draw on user data and relevant applications stored in the ‘cloud’,” noted the report’s authors.

The introduction of internet-based services, collaborative web applications and interactive websites, they continued, has encouraged users to subscribe, post and share their content, and to add links to other websites.

Individuals and enterprises have benefitted from so-called “many-to-many dialogues” which means they can exchange information, experiences and opinions more efficiently and cost-effectively over internet communication platforms.

“These virtual interaction platforms have, in fact, been part of a paradigm shift, as enterprises have been able to reach an audience in ways that the audience wants to be reached,” the authors concluded.