Question: the killer feature for employee social networks?
Asked the question on Twitter tonight but no response yet:
What would the most attractive feature on an employee social network that really draws people in (providing individual value)?
At the end of last year I created a list of 20 things to do on a social network in the office. The piece was the result of a personal brainstorm. But, as you might understand a lot of “utopia” ended up there. At least from the perspective of a employee in a company that never even though about social networks, let alone done some stuff on them. So let’s get down to earth…
To repeat: What would the most attractive feature on an employee social network that really draws people in? In my opinion for, in my case “busy bankers” but it might be for anyone else new to this stuff: personal value first should be the motto
So what’s personal value on a social network? Let me think again:
- seeing photo’s behind those long-known names?
- keep one’s resume (for the new potential boss to see)?
- learning about the interest, hobbies, careers of colleagues?
- seeing what you network is doing (= writing on the personal blogs in the network)?
- finding people in the same specialism, related projects etc?
- seeing what is written on specific tags (this is obviously 2nd or 3rd phase stuff….)
The trouble is that considerable critical mass is required to at least get some of the personal value from the activities mentioned above, although not to the same degree.
Let me refrase my question: What are the first things to focus on when building a social network behind the firewall in terms of features (next to usability)?
Anyone? Please think with me!
Related: my other Enterprise 2.0 articles
Technorati tags: Social Network, Enterpriseweb2.0, Enterprise2.0, Web 2.0, Internal Blogging
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posted Apr 10, 10:54 pm on Apr 10, 2008 |
category: Enterprise 2.0
/ Social software
I find the ability to link to other people in the same specialision interesting. I assume that if people are interested enough to fill in a profile then they are open to sharing ideas. In an enterprise I can then contact them by more conventional means. However getting people to put good tags in could be an issue.
— Su Apr 11, 03:30 pm #
Hi Marcel,
fascinating question, which I find myself asking more and more these days. You’ve inspired me for an upcoming blogpost :). I will think with you…
— Martin Apr 15, 10:15 pm #
Hi Su and Martin,
Thanks for stopping by here.
@Martin: I wiil keep a close eye on your blog in FeedDemon then…
Cheers,
Marcel
— Marcel Apr 15, 11:02 pm #
Some 2.0 tools are amazing in the enterprise (wiki), but many others really only have use for 25 year-olds hanging out. That said, I think social networking may be useful for:
1) quick bio/pic/etc is helpful – you’d be surprised how many people don’t know all their co-workers’ names
2) blogging – gives an idea what you’re up to for your boss, co-workers, yourself (at review time)
3) microblogging (maybe?) – keeps people generally in the loop and allows you to keep some of the social bonds at work maintained a little better
A full resume seems a little intrusive, but tagging your skills might be right
Mike
— Mike Schoeffler Apr 23, 05:35 pm #
Good question! I keep thinking about this topic a lot lately for my dissertation. From a logical point of view, focussing on the same features that made other social networks successful would be a first step: Openness, Involvement/ Emotion and Interactivity. Social Networks can only strive if they cover and provide for the needs of employees and show a clear benefit in terms of information and skill retrieval. Copying an internal facebook shouldn’t be the aim, but providing a “feel” for a person that goes beyond job title, name and intranet pic could help establish relationships that go beyond common work interest and expertise.
Cheers
Erika
— Erika May 4, 08:59 am #