What is the overriding element that makes social media and Web 2.0 the darlings of the forward-thinkers of the 21st Century webscape? The concepts of "us" and "we" and "them" unite the various spots on the map. Wikis are useless if they are not read by the people they can help. Blogs are glorified public diaries if they are not read and linked to and shared with others who may extract some value from the content. Social networks will just be the latest generation of an amalgam of IRC, IM, message boards and user groups as long as like gravitates to like.Opposites repel much more often than attract when it comes to social media. People like to be "clustered" with others who share their views, likes, interests and ideas. The devil's advocate seems to have a short shelf life in social media where a group of angry vegan's will pounce on and horsewhip an interloping carnivore with a conviction and savagery the likes of which is seldom linked to the old concept of the tofu and tuber vegetarian crowd of yesteryear.
So how does the social media model break and fail in the enterprise execution? What is the possible cause for the fast disintegration of the clusters that make up the cells of the e-community model? It is my belief that the same elements that make the implementation of social media in non-work environments so successful are responsible for breaking down most attempts to harness social media into the workflow of the enterprise.
For our example, we've got five companies that are interested in integrating social media into their workflow. All of them have small populations of Web 2.0 natives who were early adopters of the latest trends and currents on the Web. Some routinely blog, podcast and use tagging in del.icio.us while others use Facebook and Flickr to interact with others with the same interests. Still others are into creating and maintaining wikis in the hope of eventually them into their company’s' portals. We'll refer to these as the actives.While the image is a colorful one that shows the links between companies and community clusters, this is where the pretty picture usually stops. If indeed we did look no further into the future of this model, it would probably convince a manager to issue a directive to "Get on board that social media train!" and start breaking new ground in product development, client interaction and company morale building. Actually, according to a Forrester report:
"Fully 89% of the CIOs said they had adopted at least one of six prominent Web 2.0 tools - blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS, social networking, and content tagging - and a remarkable 35% said they were already using all six of the tools."
So what makes it near impossible to translate this interest into practical application? Let's continue.
By nature, the socially networked employees of the various companies have a sense of sameness that transcends the boundaries of the workplace, and indeed become small internal cliques that can reference conversations and ideas put forth in an environment many of the digital socially inactive have no interest in. When you can talk about a new product prototype with the same level of interest as hot movies, great books and political ideals, you can say that there is a successful link between social media and the workplace.
At this point, let's all remember that in these companies the Facebooking, blogging podcaster is in the minority. The same clustering happens by default with what we'll describe as those who are alike in their inactive sameness (the inactives). For every person in Company B that actively and knowingly uses some form of Web 2.0 technology, there are a multitude who wouldn't be able to identify a widget or mashup if it poked them in the eye. These are the same people who make up the wiki savvy worker's coworkers, teammates, managers and supervisors.
Let's continue on to the next step. "We should make a blog/wiki/podcast, and show that we are keeping up with the Web 2.0 movement" from a supervisor achieves two things. The actives will look at it as a chance to bring their world of digital community interaction into the spotlight. The inactives will collectively groan at yet another deviation from the current norms and acceptable methods. This should be news to no one, but remember that in order for the social media enterprise experiment to work, there must be a sense of sameness that goes beyond sharing a cubicle and a manager. So now we have a few agile users working side by side with one or more individuals who, while not actively obstinate, are closer to being obstacles than potential digital converts simply because they are going to continue to use their own methods rather than take the time to watch a video cast on the topic.
Shortly into this "integration" process, we can see how the sameness that drives the social media model now creates a wedge in the workflow. The actives are still engaged in their connections to their peers who incidentally are not the people in their workgroups, departments and teams. The inactives are still providing a collective sense of disinterest in the experiment and are the ones who fail to contribute to the newly created blog, or show no inclination to learn how to link wiki entries or even use something as simple as del.icio.us when researching on the web.
So now we come to the main point of this exercise in probable futility. The digital intelligentsia is showing increasing numbers of Web 2.0 adoption in the enterprise through a variety of collected metrics and reports. All of the signs point to social media becoming the unifying element that will bridge the silos of many of today's enterprises. So why are so many attempts failing at the gate? The clustering of the like minded and the separation of clusters based on active or inactive sameness may be one cause, but there is a way to go about it with the foresight and knowledge essential to increase the odds of adoption.
First and foremost, look for a small foray instead of widespread saturation. Begin by finding out internally exactly who in your company uses what. This will give you a nucleus of willing Web 2.0 natives that can then be further subdivided.
Let's continue on to the next step. "We should make a blog/wiki/podcast, and show that we are keeping up with the Web 2.0 movement" from a supervisor achieves two things. The actives will look at it as a chance to bring their world of digital community interaction into the spotlight. The inactives will collectively groan at yet another deviation from the current norms and acceptable methods. This should be news to no one, but remember that in order for the social media enterprise experiment to work, there must be a sense of sameness that goes beyond sharing a cubicle and a manager. So now we have a few agile users working side by side with one or more individuals who, while not actively obstinate, are closer to being obstacles than potential digital converts simply because they are going to continue to use their own methods rather than take the time to watch a video cast on the topic.
Shortly into this "integration" process, we can see how the sameness that drives the social media model now creates a wedge in the workflow. The actives are still engaged in their connections to their peers who incidentally are not the people in their workgroups, departments and teams. The inactives are still providing a collective sense of disinterest in the experiment and are the ones who fail to contribute to the newly created blog, or show no inclination to learn how to link wiki entries or even use something as simple as del.icio.us when researching on the web.So now we come to the main point of this exercise in probable futility. The digital intelligentsia is showing increasing numbers of Web 2.0 adoption in the enterprise through a variety of collected metrics and reports. All of the signs point to social media becoming the unifying element that will bridge the silos of many of today's enterprises. So why are so many attempts failing at the gate? The clustering of the like minded and the separation of clusters based on active or inactive sameness may be one cause, but there is a way to go about it with the foresight and knowledge essential to increase the odds of adoption.
First and foremost, look for a small foray instead of widespread saturation. Begin by finding out internally exactly who in your company uses what. This will give you a nucleus of willing Web 2.0 natives that can then be further subdivided.
Next on the list of essentials is a clear goal with an established timeline. There should be a measurable element you are going to test this method on and having an achievable objective will make the effort far more focused. For example, a product or service wiki is something that can unite several actives that are from a variety of departments. Let's face it: every company or industry has it's own unique taxonomy of terms that the public (or even internal workers) would benefit from understanding. Attach a script to the page to collect some metrics and you are in business.Another likely candidate is a blog with a purpose. A blog that poses a question or seeks user/client input will return some good metrics in short order. (One of) The most important aspect of this step is using ONLY actives on the project. The introduction of hurdles and unresponsive team members will automatically create an albatross of monumental proportions. The actives will already have the tools and the interest, so why poison the waters when you know darn well it may just kill any momentum you try to build?
And last on this short list of recommendations is a reportable ROI. Take a dozen employees who are put into a special project group in order to use their Web 2.0 and social networking experience in order to provide clients with a place to respond to potential company directions or ideas on a regular basis and you've created a connection that returns information directly from the previously faceless target audience. If you can't justify the efforts to the powers that be, you might want to rethink the likelihood of wide adoption based on your actions. Plan from the start how you can turn the metrics and the numbers into something your boss will both understand and endorse.
If by some small chance you follow this advice and get the (positive) attention of management, don't forget that success can easily be turned to failure as soon as the directive is given to push the model on the same inactives who would have killed the project had they any major role to play in it's execution. By working consistently with your nucleus of actives, you can be assured that the next phase of adoption will be fueled by people who share a sense of sameness that will drive the initiative onward.
As always, we are looking for your feedback and welcome any questions you might have. See you next time!
Regards,
Thomas
* For additional support information, I have provided some useful links below:
Marketing Nirvana
the FASTForward Blog
Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang
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