Some Intel IT folks, a lawyer, and a software developer….(surprisingly this is not the beginning of a joke)…have a discussion about whether or not IT is a friend or foe of social media. An IT friend of mine (Jeff Moriarty) is on the panel and a colleague (who I’m getting to know via phone/e-mail) Jackie Medecki is also there…as well as John Miner (who inspired and is instrumental in our internal wiki, Intelpedia), Eleanor Wynn with Intel IT, and Peter Kaminski (with Socialtext) all talk it out.
I’ve been asked to put together a one slide powerpoint on what our intranet would look like if I could unleash the full social media meal deal. So here’s what I’m thinking:
Only one slide!?!
The next time we overhaul our intranet, we create a front page that looks more like CNet than a typical intranet
Include some space at the top of the page for top stories that get there through Digg-like functionality (employees get to vote on what they think is most interesting/helpful)
Have a news feed on the side that is only populated when there is actionable, critical information for employees to know…example: You have one day to enroll in health benefits, do it now! sort of thing (this of course would be RSS-enabled, as would all content on the site)
There would be an internal social networking site (like Facebook)….don’t think of it as a social thing, it’s like an ultra-comprehensive company phonebook that also lists areas of expertise each employee has to make it easier for employees to find one another to collaborate on projects, get questions answered, etc.
There would be a section for vidcasts/podcasts and photos (we’d have an internal YouTube/Flickr area where anyone could upload videos/photos that would be tagged…training videos, employee ideas about new advertising campaigns, execs talking to employees, employees talking back to execs, etc.)
There’d be a section that would pull from our internal wiki (called Intelpedia), product definitions, historical information, benchmarking data, etc. (this could be a kind of, tidbit of the day)
Blogs would be featured (organized by topic maybe)–the best rise to the top
There’d be a link to forums
An interactive calendar that would know where you were located and only showed relevant events (anyone could add an event to the calendar, easily fill an online form that got to the: who, what, where, when, why)
We’d have an enterprise-wide web-based aggregator (is this technically possible to keep secure…someone with IT experience, let me know if I’m just dreaming here!)
And of course we’d have social bookmarking a la del.icio.us
We’d have a section where people could sign up for any of our feeds. For instance, our library does an incredible job of rounding up daily news that relates to our business, I’d find a way to include this somewhere on the front page, as well as in a list of great feeds that could be delivered to your aggregator or inbox.
HELP!!! I’m definitely beyond one slide. Is someone really good at visual mock-ups, could whip something up for me by say….tomorrow!
I’d love to know what you are all doing with social media? Do you find these are tools that are relevant to your jobs? I’ve read several Melcrum reports on this and so far, it still seems very new to most of us. Well–that’s what makes it exciting!
I’m at Intel’s Developer Forum this week in San Fran…and working my tuckus off (like everyone here!). But between mochas and keynotes, I managed to sneak in an interview with the godfather of microchips, Gordon Moore and with radio personality, Moira Gunn.
Unfortunately the video didn’t turn out with Gordon…his voice is very soft and people around him, loud. But he was witty as ever. I only got a couple of minutes, but managed to ask if he had a message for Intel employees…this is what he said: “Keep plugging away at it. This industry doesn’t stand still.”
Then I spoke with Tech Nation’s, Moira Gunn. Here it is…it got posted on YouTube!
I left my computer for a couple of hours and came back to nearly 100 e-mails about an IT policy to do with podcasting.
The gist: do not download MP3 files to any device that isn’t Intel-issued. This (for the most part) includes iPods.
BUT…many people use podcasts to disseminate information and so it took the podcasting community by surprise.
We have one group in the company I know of that has issued Intel-owned iPods to a small group of employees and put together a policy. Essentially a sensible one aimed at the content makers, not employees downloading the casts. The policy boils down to: don’t create content that is secret/confidential.
Unfortunately this policy isn’t enterprise-wide yet and so someone decided to put an article out saying employees shouldn’t download podcasts. Hmmm. A bit over-the-top.
Lesson: Get a sensible policy together. Consult your legal team (we have a great one when it comes to social media). And make it enterprise-wide.
Mobile phone will soon beat out PCs as the device of choice (Steve Jobs has said as much in many of his talks)
Howard also threw out a few new tidbits that left an impression. Every second:
two million e-mails are sent
two new blogs are created
25 mobile phones are sold
seven PCs are sold
1,200 videos are viewed on YouTube
23 new domains are registered
300 search engine queries
seven new people log on for the first time
Powerful bits of information that speak to an increasing trend of digital conversations happening increasingly from people who want to have their say wherever they happen to be. I say: bring it on!
People still view TV as the number one source of trusted information when it comes to advertising–this according to a 2007 study conducted by WPP Group’s Kantar Media Research and Pointlogic.
“Consumers recognize TV as the No. 1 medium for building awareness: 43% rate it as excellent or very good. Magazines (31%), newspapers (29%) and radio (24%) all also performed well.” Asked which media helped them decide whether “they can trust a brand,” TV ranked first again with 26% of the respondents, followed by newspapers (21%) and magazines (19%). The newest media tracked in the survey – platforms like video games, video-on-demand, interactive TV and streaming online video – by contrast are still regarded by most consumers as being niche communication vehicles. Their scores on these measures ranged between 2% and 5%. –Media Daily News post
So what will it take for social media to become more mainstream? A change in how corporations and big organizations view social media and use it…because there’s already a groundswell of grassroot use and support. Here’s what I think needs to happen:
Realise where the greatest potential for mass social media content lies (see previous post…about trusting employees enough to let them blog/vlog/cast/etc. on the company site about their opinions, experiences, thoughts, and whatnot)
Find a way to bridge the need for people to use “trusted”/established sources of info with tech-savvy early adopters who are creating content (be it in blogs, on YouTube, wherever online). An example of this is Current TV using user-generated content for videos/docs/etc. letting people post their videos to the site, then members of the community can vote on which videos are good enough to play on Current TV’s cable television station…so that people more comfortable in watching TV can see the best of the online videos (as judged by the particular online community)
Design software and devices to be more intuitive, and make it easier for people to find the best social media content online. Some gear is still a little scary (and pricey) for a lot of people, and it is overwhelming to wade through the vast amounts of content on the Web. I wade a bit…but mostly I rely on a core group of friends who are online 24-7 and forward me stuff. Once we get to the semantic web stage, I think there will be more intelligent search capability that will make this much more manageable
In the meantime…continue to look for ways you can get social media going at your company. If you’re in PR, check out how JetBlue’s then CEO handled a potential PR nightmare by posting an apology to passengers on YouTube immediately after the incident (stranded passengers on a plane sitting on the tarmack for a long time), or for internal comms, talk with Richard Dennison at BT about its wiki: BTpedia and homegrown social networking site. Ragan and Melcrum are also good sources of information.
