Social Networking and the Organization.

What are the potential benefits of implementing social networking in an organization? I say potential benefits because if any of these four crucial groups, a] top management, b] middle management, c] champions and advocates are not engaged with the project it will hamper the acceptance and use of social networking within the organization. [1]

However, assuming that all four of these groups are supportive of the project benefits that can flow through to the organization are:

A. Creating brand equity and raising awareness about who your organization is and employee rolls within the company. [2]

B. Forging  relationships both within and outside the organization. [3]

C. Grow a sphere of influence in your target community. [4]

D. Discover new opportunities for personal and organization growth. [5]

E. Share information and engage in informal learning activities. [6]


So your organization has decided to implement a social network. Do you already have a intranet? Examine your  choices of social networking software in the light of:

Will the SN platform be interoperable with your current intranet? Will you store you data in-house or use a data farm? Or will you choose a cloud application? How responsive is SN's customer support when problems occur? Examine your strategic needs and goals against the available SN platforms available. Do any of these suit your organizations requirements? Is it scalable and can you add additional features as required in the future? If the product is suitable what are are the set up and recurring costs in running the SN platform?

If none of suit your organization is it cost effective to design your own system in house?

Ten things to consider when designing your own social network:

A. Engage your users quickly - let them know in an instant what your network is about.  Enable users to find contacts quickly, add personal content and view status updates. [7]

B. Allow users to personalize pages and add applications. [8]

C. Current content is the life blood of the network. Enable users to easily update their status and push new content to prominence. [9]

D. Allow users to group and filter friends and the posted content. [10]

E. Offer users vetted 3rd party applications and make the SN platform portable to any device. [11]

F. The SN platform should allow for multiple means of communication. Whether that be personal messaging, public wall, or texting. [12]

G. Make the user interface simple and don't overwhelm your user with unnecessary updates, features or design. [13]

H. Site interactions with users should be easy and encourage the desired response from the account holder. Also everyone likes to see a photo of themselves and of their contacts on a user's profile. This personalizes the interaction and gives interactions a measure of trust. [14]

I. Include a search mechanism to find people, places, departments and contact information. [15]

J. Users need easy ways to grow their networks you can include a member directory or to make user groups. [16]

If the goal of the organization is to create a culture that is open, shares information with customers both inside and outside. Then you will need a multi-pronged approach such as including change management education for all employees, approach and successfully sign up all levels of management, advocates and champions. Give sufficient training to enable these change agents to feel comfortable in using the social networking tools, have policies in place to specifically describe appropriate user behavior and release of information. Also when the culture issues have been addressed the intranet team need to have considered and chosen a product that is in line with the needs and strategic direction of the company. The social network platform implemented should be easy to operate for users while providing sufficient options for maintenance and support by the intranet team. That said, the social network installation and forward running costs should be factored in order for it to become a valued and stable corporate communication tool. As it's no use having a tool that is the latest flavour of the month and then be discontinued in six months time due to poor budgetary planning.




References:

1. Manchester, Alex. [2012]., Selecting social enterprise network software. Retrieved from: http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_selectingsocia/index.html
2-6. Steckerl, Shally. [2007]., Survival Guide: Online Social Networking. Retrieved from: http://web.freepint.com/go/features/2346
3-16. Chapman, Cameron. [2009]., Social network design: Examples and best practice. Retrieved from: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/13/social-network-design-examples-and-best-practices/#more-7993