Too many platforms?

Chris raises the question as to whether or not there are too many collaboration platforms out there in his recent post.  I was at an event last week where the social media expert speaking pulled out a database spreadsheet that listed every social network out “there.”  It was over 750 pages and I do not even know how many lines per page.  Granted, many are used one time only or experimental, but even a fraction of the number is overwhelming.  I agree with Chris’ point that many still go back to email to collaborate because it is easy and no thought goes into it.  So many people in businesses still give the response “I have a facebook account and do not even keep that up, how can I mess with this stuff at work?”  Everytime that question is asked of me I realize that the basic question is not answered for this person, which is “how can this help me work better, less and more efficiently?”  Rather than just throwing collaborative tools at people, we need to help them answer this question for themselves first and find the need to use something other than email.  Before you can tell folks to complete their profile and tag stuff we need to give them the WIIFM.  Otherwise it is fragmented and just something else to do.  Thanks for the blog Chris!

It’s an inside job

I love Michael Idinopulos’ blog today on Socialtext Blog.  I have blogged on the “inside job” before and collaboration is just that– an inside job.  Michael says his mom always said “it’s what’s on the inside that counts”.  That is so true with collaboration.  If you are not a collaborative person on the inside all the blogs, wikis, communities and tweets will not make you one.  A company’s culture and people have to have that shift.  They need to want t0 move out of the silos.  Otherwise blogs, wikis and communities just become yet another silo of information that is hidden and out of plain view.   And Michael’s other point was great as well– external efforts are only another marketing channel and not truly collaborative unless that information finds its way inside to the corporation.  It is hard to open yourself up to transparency, negative comments and mistakes.  BUT as Michael Jordan has often said “failure is his secret.”  Mistakes and failures are the  way we learn.  When corporations rise above the fear, open themselves up (truly) and share the highs as well as the lows, collaboration starts to happen.  My ideas can only become better when you build on them.  BUT you can only build on them if I let you in…  what’s on the inside counts.  Michael and his mom are right!

Chris Hughes, Facebook and Obama

Great story in Fast Company this week about Facebook Co Founder Chris Hughes and the Obama campaign.  There has been such press around the fact that he is only 25 and has had such an amazing impact.  Not to take anything away from his success, BUT his generation is the generation of collaborative thinking, sharing, being the “go to person”, etc.  I think Chris’ story is inspiring and makes me want to do more in this arena, BUT I think GenXers and GenYers will have many of these stories over and over again.  They are online, they are socializing and whether Chris calls it community or not, they are the definition of community.  When I compare the way my generation did things (baby boomer) with my kid’s generation the differences are endless and many of them, like the sharing of information are great improvements.  Read the article and enjoy.  He is a great model for all of us, not just the “young ones”!  Happy Collaborating!

SoCon09

Friday night and Saturday I had the great opportunity to attend SoCon09.  Sherry Heyl, of Concept Hub gives a great wrap up of the event on her blog.  One of my personal favorites yesterday was Jeff Haynie of  Appcelerator.  His wrap up and his slides can be found here. It was my first attending of a SoCon and I must say the networking and personal connection was incredible.  Such bright people doing such interesting things.  Check out Sherry and Jeff’s blogs.  They also link to other things and have some pictures so check it out!

Fun or Business?

Corporate implementations of Social Networking  in house seem to raise lots of questions through the planning and development.  As a business analyst I love the questions, I love trying to help figure out the answers with others on the team and love it when the answers and solutions begin to come together.  One question that always surprises me (but almost always gets raised) is “what if our employees don’t use this for just business, but use it for fun?”  These are usually the same people that create policy and recruitment statements like “We are a fun place to work” or “we want our employees to have fun here” but say the “f” word linked to social networking and people get flat upset and try to figure out strategies to keep that from happenning.  I contend that work and fun need to mix.  The places that retain employess and have great moral are fun.  I remember visiting AOL years ago and the place was like camp!  People at that time were loving life and their job.  Google is another example and you could go on and on.  It is funny that if I am laughing about something at dinner last night with a fellow worker and then another joins in the conversation and we take a few minutes out and laugh and someone else shares a story that is okay.  I think our daily lives are a mix of moments like that at work mixed in with alot of hours when we are completing tasks, working on projects, selling something, etc.  And the fun stuff along with the feeling of accomplishment and contribution are the things that will keep us from looking elsewhere or going home in a really bad mood!  Social networking is the same–it is just that we will use it much of the time to find a resource, information or someone that can fill that hole for us on something we are working on.  BUT guess what there will be those moments everyday when we will share on a movie, a funny (not inapporpriate) website or youtube or a laugh over something we saw on the game last night or in the news.  There is a difference in connecting, getting to know one another and acting inappropriately.  The “f” word is not inappropriate; in fact it is much needed just like kids need recess at school.  You have employees you say you respect and trust and you say you want it to be a fun place to work.  So, let’s trust our staff’s judgement to tell the difference between fun and not appropriate for the workplace.  Most will rise to the occasion and for those that don’t—well they were probably acting inappropriately before social networking; now you just know it so handle it as you would any other personel issue.  BUT let your responsible, adult staff have a little fun and really make your place “a fun place to work!”  Happy and FUN collaborating today!

The Power of the Pulpit

The Social Media Pulpit that is… unless you have been sleeping through the latest presidential election, it is NOT a surprise to you that the correlation between President Obama’s win and social media.  Edelman put out a great article called “The Social Pulpit; Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit”  It is fantastic and once again brings front and center how powerful Enterprise 2.0 is. It is worth checking out this article!  Included are “Social Media Lesson from the Obama Campaign”  These are good for EVERYONE and every corporation out there that is looking at Enterpriese 2.0  or doing already doing it!  Great lessons, great article.  Happy Collaborating!

Is your company using Social Networking?

The more that I meet with clients and network, the more I realize the vastness of the implementation efforts of Social Networking that are out there.  Some have never heard of this (or think they have never heard of it until you probe a little more), some want to but don’t know where to start, some have the tools at their company but no one uses them at all or correctly, some have implemented with a bang and then fizzled and some are in there, doing it and doing it well.  I learn more and more every day on this journey!  Today, I want to ask for your comments and I would love to hear on specific questions…

• Has your company implemented a Social Networking Solution?
• Are the employees using it, shying away from it, testing the waters or going crazy using it?
• What tools and pieces are you using?
• What works and doesn’t work?
• Who are the “evangelizers” of it at your office?
• Do you see any benefit?
• Did anyone ask you what you wanted in the solution or did it just “appear” one day and you were told to use it?
• Is your performance appraisal linked into it– for instance you must have so many posts in a forum, or have your own blog, etc?

Just give me some feedback today.  I know what my opinions are BUT I find it fascinating to hear yours and it always amazes me to hear about the good, the bad and the ugly. It helps me to help you and my clients.  Happy Collaborating!

Doggie Social Networking

So I am a sucker for social networking and doggies so when I read this article on CNN.com it made me smile.  Doggyspace.com allows dog owners to create profiles, share photos, videos, etc.  What I love about this (besides it being cute) is that it really does encompass what Social Networking is about—fun, community, connecting with like minded people AND it serves well in the seeking out of information.  There are stories around this site regarding dogs with cancer and owners seeking advice and support.  In Social Networking circles sometimes the talk is around “is it for business or is it for fun?”  Doggyspace.com shows us (AGAIN) that social networking is indeed for fun but also for business/information.  All of which causes happy collaboration!

Marketing Social Media Inside

One of the questions I get frequently is “how do we get the users to see that using Social Media inside our corporation is a benefit?”  There are many tactics, but one I use is in a way like writing a commercial.  Before you have your own inhouse testimonies, you need to create some. 

I like to write scenerios for different business units using a probable situation that collaborating with the tools will

1. save time
2. save money
3. result in a solution better than ever imagined

They are not difficult to come up with if you have done your analysis right.  Take the challenges that a user has, their suggestions that would improve the situation and incorporate them into a scenerio.  Post these, display them and run an “inhouse marketing” campaign using these as one of the pieces.  When you plan your implementation, if you have done it well, you have the communications/marketing piece included and this can be a component of that.  Once the momentum is going, you will have “real” testimonies from the users themselves.  At that point, incorporate those and ask if you can use their name and department so it becomes a personal, grassroots testimonial/evangalism program for your newly found collaborative solutions!  Happy Collaborating.

Collaboration Implementation

I am working on a team that is implementing Social Media tools inhouse.  It has made me consider some best practice tips.

• Take advantage of what you’ve got!  So many corps now have collaboration tools in place or purchased.  Take inventory of what you have and leverage the functionality you already have rather than buying another tool.
• Don’t think the tool is going to make it happen!  Find your evangelists and let them help you kick this thing off the ground!
• So many initiatives in corporations are from the “top down.”  Use a grassroots approach.  Bring users in early to get their needs heard and fullfilled.  Ask what needs to happen to make their job easier rather than telling them later how some tool is going to make it easier.  See the difference in those approaches??
• Do pieces at a time.  This is the time to be agile and iterative.  If your company has not collaborated and communicated with these tools before take it a step at a time.  Have a long range plan and implement piece by piece.
• Let the users play with the tools before they are live.  Get them over the “wiki pause” by setting up areas where they can blog and wiki BUT it is not published.  Just get them to do it in what they see as “safe”.
• Get HR on board.  Make sure you know HR’s take– are they going to MAKE people use it and if they don’t knock them down on performance appraisal time? are they going to police it and get people fearful of  sharing anything? Make sure HR is behind the move in this direction and supportive.  A conversation about open and transparent tools is a good one to have BEFORE implementing.
• Some people are using social media tools at home when they are on the internet and do not even know they are using them.  I run into people like this daily.  Survey the employees to see what their social media saavyness is.  At the end of the survey ask for volunteers for your team–you will find your evangelists here!
• Understand how the tools are going to be used.  What is the goal for the business?  Communicate that well and over and over again.
• Figure out your measurements of success.  What are the metrics that you will be using if any.
• Talk about ground rules and governance.   I am not a proponent on a lot of rules around this space, but If you have to have some make them more general.  For example–posts should be clear and concise, posts should not simply repeat someone
• Are their business units within your organization that are using the tools really well?  Get them involved.
• People first! Tools second!

Happy collaborating.