It’s the Connection, Stupid
Posted by David Ambrose on December 17th, 2007 2:02 PMLast week, Gartner released a report titled “Three Potential Pitfalls of Corporate Social Networking” highlighting that social networking utilities and functionalities aren’t a mature enough technology to make it a definitive business element. The four page, $195 report warns corporate America that “little evidence [exists] that social networking will be as beneficial for businesses as other Web-based communications technology, such as instant messaging.” Woah. That’s a bold statement there, Gartner! Maybe I’m wrong, but all forms of SNS are taking off and creating new perspectives for businesses.
Like Suw Charman did on Corante, I’m going to have to break this down…this time, from the perspective of someone fresh out of college who used SNS each day and also uses SNS to conduct research today in the corporate world.
When you’re dealing with a multi-national company with hundreds of offices, communication between employees can sometimes get muffled. A corporate intranet provides valuable but basic information about an individual (think age/sex/location in the hey-day of AOL chatrooms). Shared virtual workspaces can only offer so much connectivity between someone in New York City and Sydney. In the end, we all want robust, interactive and intimate (yet private) ways to communicate with someone the world over. This takes us to Gartner’s primary misnomer: value comes from connections and NOT content.
Put it this way: if a tree falls in a forest when no one is around, did the tree really fall? In terms of SNS application, the tree represents content; I’m not going to know it exists unless someone tells me about it. I’m going to know about it because an inevitable connection exists. Suw says it best: “The content is very important, but the connections are what distinguish a social network from a broadcast network. Without those connections, there isn’t a network, there’s just lots of people creating content.”
I can’t stress enough that how you interact offline (think cultivating friendships, exchanging ideas and knowledge sharing) is the means to a near-ideal setting for online interaction via a SNS.
Blogs and online journals, where communication shifted from a one-way paradigm to that of many-to-many, were/continue to be a disrupted force in major media. Wikis have reshaped the age-old mentality of closed information sharing.
I use Facebook because it best represents my offline connections. It just so happens that my friends push excellent content my way, whether that means upcoming parties or insightful personal notes. In the case of Facebook (or any other SNS for that matter), content is the by-product of the connection.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Very well said.
December 17th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Well, I haven’t seen the report yet, but I agree that Gartner’s overarching statement is shortsighted. The whole field of Knowledge Management in organizations has been stuck in the mud for decades, and social networking tools are the winch pulling KM out. SN apps and wikis are unlocking and unleashing both tacit and explicit knowledge within the enterprise in truly revolutionary ways where employed, if employed correctly. This will only continue, and those that embrace these tools early will have a real competitive advantage…those that don’t will be left behind.
December 17th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Andrew,
Completely agree, especially with your last sentence:
“This will only continue, and those that embrace these tools early will have a real competitive advantage…those that don’t will be left behind.”
December 19th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I agree wholeheartedly. It was the whole reason for my leaving corporate america and building my platform.
December 21st, 2007 at 2:46 am
The blogosphere is reacting to a rather distorted summary by a 3rd party. The Gartner report is actually more positive than negative about social networking, and its purpose is to point some pitfalls to avoid, for those organizations that have chosen to engage in enterprise social computing.
Some excerpts from the actual report:
Corporate social networking solutions are generally good products and offer some security advantages over Internet-based social networking sites. However, IT departments would do well in realizing that ultimately the value of social networking resides in content and not code…..
* IT departments should focus their primary attention not on products but on the human factors that affect the uptake of social networking technology. On that basis, Internet-based social networking solutions [such as Facebook and LinkedIn] offer IT departments a no-cost way to achieve that outcome.
* IT departments shouldn’t overplay the security risks of Internet-based social networking sites.
* IT departments should consider making social networking investment decisions on a component-by-component basis rather than as a suite.
December 25th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
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