Social “intra”networking
The topic of failed R&D projects in today’s IT job-alike got me thinking. First, I thought it was a great idea to share experiments that didn’t work and reflect on why. I found the mention of unsuccessful internal social networking efforts especially interesting as I have been pondering whether to test an internal Drupal system to facilitate collaboration among and between faculty/staff/students.
Then I remembered something I read on the blog StopBlocking that suggested a connection between better business results and effective use of Web 2.0 tools.
Research by The Aberdeen Group (a Talent Mgt organization) links the use of Web 2.0 to higher levels of engagement and better company performance. The linkage doesn’t prove that Web 2.0 was directly responsible for producing these results, however. The fact that “best-in-class” organizations are more likely to use blogs, wikis, and social networking tools than other companies could just mean that best-in-class organizations are generally more inclined to trust employees and adopt new tools they can use to collaborate and share knowledge and information.
Of course Web 2.0 refers to more than social networking, but a couple of other sites (from Information Age and ComputerWorld ) that I read around the same time referred specifically to the successful internal social networking implementations at IBM and BestBuy.
As the proliferation of email at our schools puts a strain on the value of the messages we receive, I wonder if an internal social network could provide an improved and more natural approach to communication. Since social networking harnesses the power of personal identity and relationships, and enables flexible interaction around shared interests/projects, it seems like a good fit for the school environment. I wonder if there are any schools that have implemented an effective internal social network.
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1 Comment »
i think you’re on to something. Our failed attempt at social-networking was aimed at students, but I like your approach of starting with teachers. Having a social network in place for staff might help to bridge that gap, and as you point out lower our inbox count.
I’ve had the opportunity to visit and work for (wetpaint.com) some companies in the tech field. One thing I find interesting their use of chat rooms to off load those e-mail conversations that we in education seem to get stuck in. You know the ones I’m talking about…there it takes 10 e-mails between three people to find a common planning time. I haven’t found a school to adopt the use of a chat room for teachers, but feel it, much like the social-networking site, would help us communicate better. We need to choose the right tool for the job, chat is great for conversions, social-networks great for connecting with people and sharing information, and e-mail for those responses that need to be thought about before responded and are personal in nature….either to that teacher or that classroom. We need to start using tools for that they’re made to do best. There is no killer app out there, so having as many tools as possible at our disposal to communicate with in the appropriate way I think would be a benefit. But that’s just me.