Internet Evolution - The Big Report - Can Enterprise Social Networking Pay Off?

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Can Enterprise Social Networking Pay Off?

No Pressure – Yet

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5 BEST PRACTICES

Social Networking in Business

1. Test The Waters

The widespread adoption of consumer social networking applications such as Blogger, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Wikipedia has people asking, “Why can’t I have something like that at the office?” They can, whether or not the company provides it.

In the absence of company-provided tools, employees will take it upon themselves to integrate consumer apps into their work lives, whether it’s a skunk works project running open source software on an engineer’s spare laptop, or product managers building a wiki on a Web collaboration platform that they pay for with a credit card.

Companies may find it useful to try out social networking with a low-cost pilot. Open source tools are widely available to experiment with. Another option is hosted applications, which are easy to get up and run, and usually offer a small number of corporate licenses at a very low price.

2. Set Modest Expectations

To get a project off the ground, don’t lay on the hyperbole about the transformative power of social networks. Don’t promise executives that enterprise social networking will unleash, ignite, or synergize anything.

Pitch the project as a pilot, with the option to walk away after a quarter or two if it doesn’t work out. Describe one or two general business improvements you think are achievable. Set reasonable goals for user adoption, and salt your initial deployment with a few teams that are ...

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http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=173854&page_number=2

http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=173854&page_number=2