Microblogging in the organisation
Last Thursday, Socialsquare hosted yet another after work meeting, this time on Microblogging, and Twitter in particular. It was a very well-attended meeting, with lots of good discussion on how microblogging can be used within the organisation. So a big thank you to everybody who attended! :-)
Our presentation gave some basic statistics on Twitter, but focused on a number of microblogging cases, where such tools have been used – either as a means to connect more directly and visibly with external stakeholders, or as a means to support fluid communication, knowledge-sharing, and relation-building between internal stakeholders:
Among the cases, which resonated the most with the participants, were:
Ford – a good example of one individual representing and humanising a whole company online. Through Scott Monty, Ford’s “head of social media”, stakeholders can voice their opinions directly to Ford, and get immediate and honest answers.
Folketwinget – one key problem with microblogging is that it is designed for one person only. You can’t really communicate a multitude of voices through one feed. Socialsquare’s experiment with Folketwinget, which gathers all tweets to Danish parliament politicians, shows how it is possible to create a channel that combines multiple microblogging feeds to show the plurality of voices and ideas that are present within any organisation.
Get Satisfaction – a different approach, where customers can ask questions and offer feedback regarding products and services related to any company. The twist being that if that company isn’t represented on the site, answers will be provided by fellow customers instead. Companies can then claim products and use Get Satisfaction as a channel to provide official support.
Yammer – but microblogging can be just as useful internally in the organisation, if not even more so. Here at Socialsquare, we use Yammer as an internal communications channel where we can post all of the various bits of news that don’t need a reply. This is particularly useful as we are often out of the office, working from home or on the road, and thus can keep up with all of the activities within the organisation. Furthermore, for organisations unused to opening up for participation online, yammer is a great way to experiment and get started with these tools.
Feel free to add your cases, ideas and questions in the comments.
maj 4, 2009 @ 11:50
Interesting slides, although I thought it was more directed towards using a microblogging service such as Twitter for talking to (potential) customers – not so much about how to use microblogging internally in an organization, which is something completely different, in my opinion.
If you want to read more about using a microblog as a tool for internal use, I wrote a paper with two of my fellow students a year ago: http://marks.dk/2008/06/17/microblogging-as-a-facilitator-for-tacit-knowledge/
The paper is 30 pages or so, but the abstract is 150 words and well worth the read (at least I think so – I helped write it :)
maj 5, 2009 @ 12:13
Hi Mark,
thanks for the comment. It’s true that we mostly focus on organisations’ external use of microblogging, as these cases are easily available. We have been looking for good cases of internal use of microblogging – but haven’t found a lot so far.
As your paper (or at least the executive summary) notes, the potential of microblogging within the organisation is rather different compared to the external use of microblogging – as it is a matter of coordination and sharing rather than conversation.
There are some interesting challenges in putting tacit knowledge into words to be shared: Are you even aware that you are doing so at the given moment? Is it only later or through others that you recognise the value of the knowledge you impart?
For microblogs, a tool developed through use rather than design, it seems that effective use depends very much on users making a conscious, shared effort to develop norms of use, which won’t come from just using the tool itself.