The Start of beBit’s Open Newsletter!
Hello everyone!
My name is Sumiko Hosokawa - I’m a part of the MCO (Market Creation office), and I’m responsible for Public Relations.
Today marks the official start of beBit’s Open Newsletter!
日本語の記事はこちらから
What is an Open Newsletter?
The concept behind this newsletter is that while the public can read them at any time, its main audience is beBit employees. By opening access to the public, we’re hoping that others can get a feel for what it’s like at beBit as well!
As this is our first post, I’d like to explain why we decided to start this Open Newsletter.
■Why are we starting an Open Newsletter?
Primarily, we have 2 reasons.
As beBit grows as a company and WFH becomes the norm, many of us may feel as though communication between staff has become a challenge.
・It’s difficult to know what other departments are working on
・You see the names of many people through Slack, but have never actually met them in person
・beBit is growing globally, but it’s hard to fully understand what’s going on outside of Japan
These are common challenges that must be addressed.
I personally joined beBit in March of 2021, and remote work had already become the standard. It was very difficult to get a full understanding of what was going on within the company, even though I was working in PR.
One of the MCO’s missions is to ensure employees have a better understanding of what is going on within the company, and in order to provide a source of information to face this challenge, we decided to start this Open Newsletter!
In addition to the reasons above, making the newsletter open allows us to:
・Share what it’s like to work at beBit with potential employees
・Create a better connection with potential clients and users
・Receive public feedback through the reactions on note
On a side note, we learned a lot about “Open Newsletters” through the articles from SmartHR, Inc. (@smarthr_co)
■Concept: “A newsletter that will get you to love beBit”
While the content is available to the public, our primary target will always be beBit’s employees.
Our goal and concept is to “get the people who work at beBit to love beBit even more.”
3-steps to “loving beBit even more”
1. By understanding company strategies and objectives, you’ll gain a better understanding of what your role at beBit is, leading to higher motivation.
➡︎ Loving to “work” at beBit
2. Understanding what other employees are doing and how they work will allow you to build better relations.
➡︎ Loving the “people” at beBit
3. In addition to having close family and friends read the newsletters, being able to see the reactions on your articles from people outside of the company is a rewarding experience.
➡︎ Loving “yourself” at beBit
Through the points above, I’m hoping that you’ll be able to Love beBit even more than you do now.
■The type of newsletter we want this to be
I’d like to go over how we’re going to operate in order to make this “a media to love beBit even more”!
beBit currently has interview articles, press releases, and monthly Tokyo Office Meetings to relay messages from the executives and information about the company.
Unlike those “official “ announcements, we’re hoping that this newsletter will be a bit more lighthearted for you to read.
In order to achieve this, we came up with the following 5 points:
Anyone can write articles
When we came up with this newsletter, this was the first point we wanted to accomplish - “Any employee can be a writer.” Anyone who works at beBit can write these articles! From sharing information about your team to explaining new systems, we hope that you’ll utilize this space to share information throughout the office.
No strict rules on writing styles
In order for readers to be able to feel who the writer is and understand what kind of person works at beBit, there will not be any strict rules applied on writing styles.
Use easy-to-understand expressions, words, and designs.
Within beBit, individuals vary in experience and occupation - from veterans to new faces and consultants to back office workers. We promise to work hard to ensure that no matter who the reader is, they’ll be able to understand and relate to the newsletters.
Provide English translations
As beBit grows internationally, providing information in English internally and externally is becoming increasingly important. We will work to translate as many articles as possible and continue to send them out through “beBit Open Newsletter.”
Balance “information we send” and “information you want”
Our content will focus not only on top down information, but bottom up information from individual employees as well. Our goal is to provide material that beBit wants to send as a company while considering the information employees want to hear as well.
※These points may be updated as we receive feedback from our readers.
■Meet the editorial team
Our editorial team will start with 5 members.
Let us introduce ourselves!
※Within the parenthesis are our Slack names
●Sumiko（@Sumiko Hosokawa ）
Joined beBit in 2021. In charge of PR tasks such as managing the PR Portal and official social media pages (Twitter and Facebook). In the “beBit Open Newsletter” team, I have the honor of being the editor-in-chief. I’ll make sure to keep learning in order to keep up!
What I like about beBit - In addition to the “Trillion Smiles😃” vision, going to the beautiful office always gets me excited!✨
I enjoy relaxing, and recently I’ve been looking forward to watching Korean Drama after I put my 2-year-old to sleep.
●Hiro（@大田 宗周 (Hiro Ota)）
Joined beBit in 2021. Although I had no knowledge about UX, I decided to leave the entertainment industry because I was attracted to the company’s vision and the people who worked here.
I do a variety of things at beBit. While running around to keep up with the fast paced changes, I look forward to being a part of large-scale projects.
I hope I’m able to deliver a lot of information through this newsletter. For a better world!
●Mao（@Mao Kawamura）
Joined beBit in 2019. Through various relations, left the wedding industry for this one. Currently the secretary for the author of the “After Digital” series, Yasufumi Fujii, while also being a part of the PR and Project Operation team as well. I manage the beBit magazine, in addition to our internal UX news-sharing portal, “#uxpicks”. (Please feel free to join our Slack♡) What I like about beBit, in addition to the philosophy, is the work environment in which I can challenge myself. The fancy office is a plus as well♪ I’m typically a very positive and easy going person. Since I watched “24” as a child, I love action/suspense movies! Recently I’m very into zombie movies as well (lol).
●Kenny（@Kenny Jun Yamaguchi）
Joined beBit in 2022. Born and raised in California - “home” is roughly a 15 minute drive from CA Disneyland. I plan on being involved in many projects as a Project Operations team member。In the “beBit Open Newsletter,” I’ll be writing articles in addition to translating the articles that everyone else writes as well! What I like about beBit is the philosophy of using data to bring better living to people rather than using data just for profit. Although I’ve just joined, I hope that I’m able to assist in delivering many smiles through the work I do!
●Eri（@Eri Hara）
Joined beBit in 2022. As a member of Project Operations, I plan on working hard in order to spread the word about UX and change the perception of the public. I hope I’m able to deliver things that only a pair of fresh eyes can deliver! What I like about beBit is how they work for the people, how they don’t fear new challenges, and how each individual member has a strong core they are passionate about! My personal goals for this year is to master the Y-balance pose and learning to cook with the right portion of ingredients.
This team will be having an “Editorial meeting” once a week in order to come up with new ideas and ensure a steady flow of content.
■How can I write an article?
If you ever want to write an article, please feel free to reach out to the editorial staff!
The current flow we are planning to move forward with is as follows:
1. Message @Sumiko Hosokawa on the #mco_general slack channel (English messages are welcome!)
2. Have a meeting with an editor (Slack or Zoom)
3. Write the article
4. An editor will check the article and process the thumbnail creation
5. Final check the article
6. An editor will submit the article to note and publish it to the public!
■Finally…
Thank you for reading until the very end.
From here on out, we plan on sending out a minimum of 2 articles each month (Once a week if possible!)
You may hear from us for interviews and feedback surveys, so I hope that we’ll be able to hear from you as well!
Our next newsletter will be about “useful information for new employees as they join the company”, written by Kenny. Please look forward to it!
Lastly…
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please feel free to leave a Like♡, comment, or share it on Twitter! Every interaction would mean the world to the editorial team.😊