It has been fascinating to read the thoughts of arch rationalist Jakob Nielsen on the relatively romanticised world of enterprise 2.0. I would not have a predicted such a positive review of the progress being made by early adopters, but if Jakob is convinced then we can be comfortable that there's good evidence to back this up. You really need to read his posting yourself, but here's a selection of extracts which grabbed my attention:
- "A main finding from our study's interviews is that most companies are not very far along in a wholesale adoption of Web 2.0 technologies — unless ‘thinking about social software’ is considered progress. The oft-repeated refrain from interviewees was 'talk to us next year.'"
- "Given the current economic situation, companies are struggling on many fronts; rushing to add ‘tools that teenagers use’ to the company intranet might not be a high priority. That could explain why, in our studies, successful social media initiatives at many companies emerged from underground, grassroots efforts."
- "Perhaps more than any other corporate intranet innovation, social software technologies are exposing the holes in corporate communication and collaboration — and at times filling them before the (usually slow-moving) enterprise can fully grasp (and control) the flow."
- "Underground efforts yield big results. Companies are turning a blind eye to underground social software efforts until they prove their worth, and then sanctioning them within the enterprise."
- "When left to their own devices, communities police themselves, leaving very little need for tight organizational control."
- "Companies that once held to a command-and-control paradigm for corporate messaging are finding it hard to maintain that stance."
- "Organizations are successful with social media and collaboration technologies only when the tools are designed to solve an identified business need."
- "One successful approach is to avoid advertising the new tools as new tools. Instead, simply integrate them into the existing intranet, so that users encounter them naturally."
- "As with the open Internet, there's substantial participation inequality in enterprise communities: some employees participate a lot, while others mainly lurk. It's therefore important to value a community based on a combination of posting and use, because those who lurk also benefit."
- "You'll need simplified training materials to help the uninitiated understand how to use these services. The main training issue is how to derive business value from the new tools."
- "Widespread use of internal social media breaks down communication barriers. That sounds good, but it can threaten people accustomed to having a monopoly on information and communication."
- "The big difference between the open Internet and enterprise social networking is that people use the company features for work (or at least to communicate with work colleagues) and therefore retain their professional work identity. This keeps a lid on profanities and encourages constructive contributions."
- "Although there's no single answer, across our case studies, 3–5 years seems to be a common timeline for social intranet projects."
Jakob also has a 168-page report available on the subject for $298. If you're seriously considering introducing social networking technologies to your enterprise, this would be money well spent.
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