Gamification

http://www.sharepointanalysthq.com/2012/01/gamification-of-the-intranet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+SharepointAnalystHq+(SharePoint+Analyst+HQ)

I spotted the blog above had been posted on one of our internal blog pages today and thought it was interesting enough to re-post along with the comments I provided on it. The link was posted with some comments from the poster saying they thought that actively resist Facebook etc in the same way as the original blogger because they struggle to keep on top of all the information available.

After reading the original blog, I posted the comments below. Let me know what you think of either the original blog, my comments or both:

It’s not case of resisting them…they’re here and not going away. People’s lives are now lived out on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and as a business if you block this and ignore it you’ll be left behind…fact! We have to stop thinking about how ‘we’ communicate, and think about how Gen Y communicate…you’d be hard pushed to find someone under the age of 18 who uses email more than Social Media. 

Overall I think the article tries to make a sensible point, about creating online communities in the workplace, but comes at it from the wrong angle. It begins by talking about creating Facebook and Twitter for the enterprise…why would you do that? If I already have a Twitter account why would I create one specifically for work. I want to use my Twitter for both personal and professional. I understand what I can and can’t talk about so why can’t I merge both into one account? 

The question of business value from Social Media is one which is brought out time and time again by people who don’t fully understand what Social Media has done to Gen Y and younger. The business value of being involved with Social Media is that people will still want to work for your company. If I was leaving University in the next few years, I will have grown up with Social Media as my communication tool of choice. I will have used it to communicate with my lecturers and fellow students to get more information on certain topics. Why would I want to then work for a company that doesn’t even allow me to view it during work hours? 

Having said that, I don’t think Facebook is a useful employee communication tool, it’s far too personal and some people don’t feel comfortable sharing everything. However, moving forward there’s no doubt that Mr Zuckerberg is going to keep adding more and more functionality to his little website and it’s important that from a business point of view you keep ahead of the wave with this rather than waiting to see what other people do and follow them! 

I do love the idea of Gamification though and it’s definitely something I want to look at implementing within The Hub in the future. Giving the people to tag themselves in an office perhaps, like on Foursquare, and the Mayor of an office gets a free coffee every day. Simple things like that can create real competition which in turn promotes the use of the intranet. 

 

Introducing a Social Media Policy

One of my less surprising roles as Internal Comms and Social Media manager at KCOM is to manage how the company uses Social Media.

Before I started, a policy had already been created by the HR team (which you can see below) I really liked the policy, it’s short and snappy which should mean people won’t get bored when they read it. Policies can tend to be a bit ‘dry’ and with a subject like Social Media I’m always in favour of keeping it simple.

One of the areas I’m debating is just how to launch the policy to give it the most impact possible. Most policies have a pretty standard release procedure with an email being sent out with the new policy attached.

However, as this is Social Media I thought it would be nice to do something a bit different maybe use a video etc. The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve been unable to decide whether this is a good thing or not. Should we just launch the policy like we would any other and do a bigger focus on Social Media as a whole, or launch the policy in a different way to draw a larger amount of attention to it? I’d love to get your thoughts on this, and also any tips from other people who have launched Social Media policy.

1. Be transparent and honest. If you have a vested interest in something, you should say so. Identify yourself as a KCOM Group employee when discussing anything relating to work – but make it clear that you are speaking on behalf of yourself and not us.
2. Be responsible. What you write is ultimately your responsibility. Postings should adhere to usual KCOM Group policies and standards. Be mindful that what you write online will be public for a long time. If you make a mistake, correct it quickly.
3. Respect your audience. Don’t be afraid to be yourself but do so respectfully. Do not post content that could be offensive, sensitive or inflamatory. Don’t use inappropriate language, or post anything that would not be appropriate to say in the office.
4. Think before posting. Once the words are out there it’s not easy to take them back. If you are not sure, don’t post.
5. Consider confidentiality. Don’t provide or post any information that could be confidential or proprietary. Never discuss our company performance or any other sensitive information. Don’t reference our customers, partners or suppliers without permission. Respect copyright.
6. It’s (not just) personal. Generally, we feel that what you do in your own time is your affair. However, we do expect that you do not make inappropriate comments about the KCOM Group, our employees, customers or suppliers, or bring the company into disrepute on social networking sites.
7. Get permission. If you are setting up a social media site for company use, make sure the content is consistent with our brand and language. The Corporate Communications team can help with this. Don’t use company logos without permission.
8. Don’t forget your day job. You should make sure that social media activities do not interfere with your job or commitments to KCOM Group.

#blockingsolvesnothing

I’ve just seen on the news that David Cameron has come up with the rather wonderful idea of blocking social media access to fools who have used it to organise riots etc. Now I’m sure everyone has had the same thought, but surely just blocking access to Facebook, Twitter etc doesn’t solve the problem. It just stops everyone being able to see that there is a problem.

This is an issue that most Social Media Managers have been dealing with for years in business. CEO’s and senior managers are all too keen to just block access to something in case it has a negative affect, instead of investigating it and seeing how it can be used as a useful tool.

Yes, people have used Social Media sites to organise where to meet for the riots, but by posting this on Twitter and Facebook the police have been able to react to these and take action. They’ve also been able to catch those who have shown their intellect by bragging about taking part and what they’ve stolen.

However, the single biggest thing that people should focus on, as a result of this whole situation is #riotcleanup. Where as some people have used twitter to cause chaos. The majority of tweeters have used this hash tag to unite and create a movement much stronger than the rioters could ever dream of.

One tweet I saw, explained the situation perfectly: @debcha Urban rioting existed before SMS/social media. You know what didn’t? Large-scale community cleanups, spontaneously organized within hours.

Social Media Guru? Hope Not!

One of the first things I was asked to do when starting at my current company was to present at an internal IT conference. I was asked to speak about Social Media and how it can be used in the workplace.

It got me thinking about how Social Media Managers are viewed within companies by other colleagues. Personally, whether I had Social Media in my job title or not I’m someone who has a healthy interest in SM and is willing to research it. The important thing, is that I enjoy what I do and as such I’m willing to spend time looking into it and wanting to further my knowledge. This would still be relevant if my job title was just Internal Communications Manager

However, are people with Social Media in their title taken seriously? Or are we just seen as time wasters who have the lucky job of “sitting on Facebook all day”?

I know from experience that a lot of my friends used to (some might still!) think that’s all I did, and it was difficult to change that thinking. However, as Social Media has grown within their workplaces and they see the benefits it’s interesting to see that they now ask my advice on how to utilise it.

Giving time at internal conferences for Social Media Managers to speak and explain their aims is the perfect way to raise their profile within the business and let people understand how they can collaborate with them.

I would add my presentation here, but it was mostly business specific content and i’m sure I would get my hand severely slapped if i posted it here. Just take my word for it, that it was amazing !

 

Social Media + Business Cards = An obvious option?

I noticed on twitter today, someone I follow was looking for examples of business cards with Social Media links on.

When I started with my new company, I was asked if I wanted business cards and of course said yes already thinking about handing them out to all my friends with a smug grin on my face.

When I recieved the form, i noticed that there was no option for Social Media links. I thought this was missing a bit of a trick and as a result this has now been included on the form.

It got me thinking though, that in today’s modern web 2.0 era how many people aren’t on twitter, linkedin etc? Surely it’s just a handful, as such are companies missing out on potential networking opportunities by not taking advantage of this chance to gain more followers and as such potential collaborations?

What do people think, do you have Social Media links on your business cards or is it not worth it?

What exactly is Social Media?

That’s a big questions isn’t it? How would you describe Social Media to someone who has no or very limited experience of it?

I’m currently in the process of writing a presentation I’ll be doing at an Internal conference, no pressure there after only a couple of weeks in the job! I wanted to the start the presentation with a few different definitions of what Social Media is.

I began my search on Wikipedia, where I found this quote:

“A group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.“
Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein

Rather predictably, the two gents that came up with this are university professors and I think it reads like that. Maybe not the most accessible quote of all time!

I then decided to turn to my extremely knowledgeable twitter followers, asking them how they would describe Social Media. I was greeted with the responses below:

“An online platform where you can have conversations with people who have similar interests”
@jenniwheller
“Online technologies that transcend geography and time to create opportunities for conversation, learning and enrichment through the sharing of thoughts, ideas and experiences.”
@J0N1
“A way of connecting people and for them to connect with each other. Can take various forms and works across multiple directions and levels ”
@AllthingsIC

I like all three of the definitions above, they all hit the mark but also bring something different to the description.

I thought about how I would describe Social Media and eventually came up with: “Putting control back in the hands of the user.”

This might seem a little basic, but for me that’s what Social Media is all about. You could create the greatest Social Media/Intranet/Website of all time, but if no one is looking at it and contributing then it will fail.

The divine right of kings states that ” A monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God.” It’s been said before, content is King, and if that’s the case, then the user is God!

A Fresh Start…

I’m guessing I fall into a large category of people who use WordPress to blog, in that I started off with plenty of enthusiasm and desire to get my thoughts out there then after the first few blogs I disappeared.

As an Internal Communicator, and someone who at work tries to persuade people that blogging is an effective and useful way to communicate I really should lead by example so I’ve decided to have a renewed effort with the blog.

Since my last blog, I’ve been successful in finding new employment, and I’m now Internal Communication and Social Media Manager at the KCOM Group.

I’ve only been here a week, so everything is still very new and exciting to me and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in with some of my bigger projects including looking after the Social Media aspects of Comms and managing the intranet which is being built on SharePoint 2010 (a system I never thought I’d work with!)

I’ll try to make the blog reflect things I’m doing at work and issues I’m coming up against. Hopefully it will get some conversation going and idea sharing which would be great.