A Journey In Social Media

No Private Spaces, Please

Early on in the discussion of strategy, there was a thread about security, ownership and dissemination about sensitive information (and discussions) using our proposed platform.

I took a risky (but important) position of No Private Spaces.

Here's why I think that's an important decision, and why I made it.

The (Desired) Role of HR

One aspect to this journey is to look around at different corporate functions and try and figure out what the ideal role might be for them to play in this journey forward.

And, for me, this breaks down into two discussions:

• how can your function benefit from these tools and behaviors?
   
• how can you help the rest of the company to become proficient?

Not surprisingly, looked at that way, HR (human resources) has a huge role to potentially play in the latter.

Glitz Vs. Substance

One of the problems with social media discussions is that the instantiations of these things can be very flashy indeed.  Cool web sites, mutlimedia everywhere, even a full Second Life experience.

But, for me, this stuff is a business tool, not an rich entertainment experience, or a branding exercise (yet).

And I'd like to share with you preliminary results of an excellent experiment run by our HR team to try out SL as a recruiting tool.

The MacGyver Approach

When I was first approached about addressing the social media challenge for EMC (e.g. how do we get proficient at this stuff), my first set of thoughts was about organizational resources -- how many people would I need, skill sets, funding, org design, etc. etc.

Luckily, I didn't think that way very long.  Sure, over time, we'll have dedicated resources that do this sort of thing on a dedicated basis.

But I decided to take more of a MacGyver approach ...

Avoiding The eRoom Debacle

Actually, this isn't fair to the eRoom product.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with the product. 

The same thing happens with Sharepoint, Notes, etc.

You put a tool in everyone's hands. 

And, because they're human, they end up using it very differently than you intended.

Sometimes this is good, sometimes not-so-good.

Thoughts on Second Life

No discussion about social media is possible these days without some consideration of Second Life.

Like an intellectual black hole, it seems to draw in all thinking and ideas around it like a strange attractor, sucking rational thinking behind the event horizon and disappearing from sight altogether.

Early on, I had to get my intellectual anchors firmly set on this topic as well, lest I too be sucked into the maelstrom, never to emerge.

Individual 2.0

It's been great conversing with people inside and outside of EMC on this topic.  And, along the way, you get one of those big strategic insights that changes how you look at the problem.

Thanks to Julie G and others for this one ...

Inside Out

I tend to think of things in Venn diagrams.

As I start to contemplate companies such as EMC entering a social media world proficiently, I find myself drawing the same Venn diagrams over and over.

This is INSIDE our company.  This is OUTSIDE our company.

And here is the relationship between the two ...

Getting IT On Board

Sooner or later, if it's gonna scale, the IT guys will have to get engaged, right?

And, if your IT organization is like ours, they're great guys, but they may not be 100% comfortable with a big, hairy, collaborative environment that has unclear requirements and business sponsorship.

Let me share with you how I'm getting our guys engaged in the discussion.

Using SM Techniques To Solve SM Problems

Classical organizational thinking is so embedded in everything we do -- myself included.

As I've started to figure out different answers to "how do we get good at social media?" there are ever-more requirements for people to help.

The classical answer is "hire people to do this".  The new answer is "use your communities".

Simply put, I've been amazed at the ability for social media communities to help solve social media strategy problems.

Guidelines For Creating A Community

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, but I think most people studying SM from a business perspective realize it's mostly about creating communities of shared interests that can collaborate as a team.

These teams can be internal to a company (self-contained to a small group, or spanning multiple organizations), external, or -- ideally -- a mixture of both.

I'm finding myself having to explain community concepts to more people here at EMC, and I thought I'd write down some thoughts in this blog.

Selling Senior Management

I see a lot of effort with embryonic social media efforts associated with "selling" senior management that this is important, something should be done, etc.

I don't know if my perspectives and experiences in this will work for everyone, but I thought I'd spend a moment to share some thoughts on this.

Cheerleaders Need Not Apply

As I waded into this space, I noticed that its most ardent proponents were simultaneously their own worst enemies when it came to explaining all this stuff.

I thought it was important that we set the tone and define the agenda using our own words and concepts, and not get blown away by all the blather in this arena.

Why Me?

So, how does someone get put in charge of something big and hairy like defining and implementing EMC's overall strategy for social media as a business tool?

There's some insight into this that might help you in your journey as well.

About This Blog, And Me, And ...

Whew!   Where do I start?

Simply put, this blog is a personal recounting of something big happening at a big company.

The "something big" is social media as a business tool: blogs, wikis, forums, communities -- the whole shebang.

The "someplace big" is EMC Corporation -- my employer.

And the only reason I think this worth capturing is that I truly believe that thousands and thousands of companies -- and people like me -- will be taking this very same journey in the near future