Last week, I attended the Gilbane Groups conference on Content Management and Social Software. I went through all of the exhibitors. Almost every one said their product had or will be incorporating social software as part of their existing or next solution release. In reality, only one company made it over the bar.
“Social software encompasses a range of software systems that allow users to interact and share data.”
We have been aware of the many kinds of personal social software…our kids have been using them for years…instant messaging, test chat, discussion forums, My Space, Facebook, You Tube, Flickr
Here’s an interesting fact…Facebook just recorded it’s 350 millionth user…that almost the entire population of the US…
The burning question is…can these social software tools be applied to the enterprise and how?
Right now companies are struggling with this question and with good reason. Why all of this confusion? Well a lot of it has to do with the way software and technology trends develop and how companies respond…
For almost every technology trend, the following sequence of events seem to happen:
1. Murmurs – Someone coins a term and it starts to make its way around the web.
2. Buzz- One of the analyst firms picks up on it and starts to promote and drive it as the next greatest thing. The buzz grows.
3. Reaction – Initial startups will be organized. They print t shirts, (which are always printed before a single line of code is developed) develop a product and release a beta.
4. Innovators- Bloggers, consultants and experts get a hold of it and spread its gospel.
5. Opportunity – One of the companies pays an analyst firm to releases a paper with an analysis showing the incredible opportunity in the space.
6. Noise - A rash of startups, buoyed by market validation, launch their companies in the space. They start to preach their own version as better faster and easy to use.
7. Confusion – The established companies, seeing potential competition, add some of the feature set to their existing product and start marketing that they are also part of the trend.
8. Chaos – All of these companies start to sell and market, rushing solutions to market, creating chaos in the marketplace.
Social software for the enterprise is clearly in the chaos phase. There are so many companies out there that say they have a social software product, but so many don’t even come close.
What makes for great Social Software for the enterprise? Stay tuned….
I recently attended Learning 2009 in Orlando Florida. Learning 2009 is a gathering of 1,300 learning professionals from hundreds of enterprise companies from all over the world.
I thought I would share my Top 10 Lists from the Conference:
10.) The Disney Experience – I am still amazed at the Disney culture and how well they treat all of their customers. From the chambermaid to the GM of the hotel, everyone wants to make you feel like you are the most important person there.
9.) Our Hosts - Eliot Masie @emasie and his team pulled together an impressive list of presenters, sessions and attendees and delivered the conference without a hitch.
8.) Sully Sullenburger is a true inspiration - Sully, the pilot of the US Air flight that landed in the Hudson, unlike the athletes that so many “look up” to, who celebrate every play like they have saved the world, did save his corner of the world that day. When asked, he always credits his crew and co pilot. Refreshing.
7.) The Rise of Video – Several companies were using Flip video phones to collaborate and share expertise. The Flip has transformed video from something very expensive and complicated to point, shoot and share.
6.) Where are the Gen Y’s? - One attendee, who was in his 20’s, remarked, ” I can’t believe how few people from my generation are represented here.” While 43% of the workforce will be millenials (1980 +) and generation Z (1990+) in the next 10 years, 85% of those who are responsible for training them are baby boomers ( born after 1950). Hmmmm….
5.) Wikis are not social learning – While they are designed to be, most companies, fearing misinformation, develop them and lock them down. I don’t understand where the ” social” aspect comes in…
4.) It’s the Culture Stupid – The greatest barrier driving organizational change using social technologies is the information silo culture of many large organizations.
3.) Twitter – I was initially very skeptical about Twitter’s ability to drive organizational change. It’s exploding popularity and a medium to exchange information as well as the growing list of applications that enhance its functionality changed my mind. The US Army War College allows its employees to tweet outside the firewall. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months.
2.) Beyond the Firewall – Organizations are still struggling with social software that exists outside the firewall. ( twitter , facebook) Best argument I heard, from Laura Fitton, @pistachio ..didnt they say the same thing about e mail when it was first introduced?
1.) Expertise is Everything - Before content was king. Now expertise is the greatest commodity in organizations. How do we unlock and easily share all of this experience? That’s the million dollar question.
We have had a lot of discussions in our podcasts about how we need to change our approach to training the emerging generation of new business leaders…using podcasts, instant messaging, social networking, blended learning, blogs, wikis, video. Well today, I saw an eye opening commercial on ESPN Sportscenter….
In this commercial, for Verizon Wireless’ ESPN MVP, they interview someone who was named the “MVP” of the off site training session because he was” having trouble staying awake” at a corporate training session. There are rows and rows of people in a dark room, with the Powerpoint slide show droning on
 The “MVP” is using the light from his phone to check game scores and his Fantasy Football team….
