Today Halifax has launched "Home Matters", an information and advice website for its home insurance customers. The press release today on the New Media Age website says says:

"In its first social media activity online, it hopes to generate a community within the site by encouraging conversations and interaction around content. The site will feature blogs, competitions, facts and articles about common issues, video vox pops and an ‘ask the expert' section for customer queries about home security and domestic accidents."

You can see the site at http://insurance.halifax.co.uk

But I can't see anything social about this site? I can't see how it will build community and enable members to express themselves. So why is the word "social" even used to describe it? Have a look at the website and judge for yourself.

At Yoomee, we think a social website is simply one that connects people together; "People to people" was a tagline we used when we were starting out five years ago and everybody else was talking about "Business to business" and "Business to consumer" websites. Basically, people want to use the web to connect with other people, like-minded and interesting people, people a lot like themselves.

Okay, to be fair it's their first attempt at social media, and it's not easy to design a website that facilitates fun and meaningful social experiences. This is not helped by many established web agencies jumping on the bandwagon by calling their solutions "social". But what really makes a site "social"? If you are new to this, then Google has produced a helpful checklist here:

http://wiki.opensocial.org/index.php?title=Social_Design_Best_Practices

The Halifax site was developed by iCrossing, who are experts in search. The iCrossing website says that Halifax "charged iCrossing, with whom it had been working since 2005, to overhaul its approach and compete harder for high-ranking positions on the major search engines across the full range of its products." So now we know. It's not about you and me, it's about getting better search engine rankings for Halifax. I wonder how long it will take for the so-called community members to see though this so-called "social" website and go elsewhere were they can find real people.