You might guess from my previous intranet posts that I’m reflecting on the use of social media behind the firewall, within the intranet. Jakob Nielsen’s latest report comes a good time for me then, and there’s plenty for all of us to read and ruminate on.

While the focus of social media and Web 2.0 stuff might be wikis, blog comments, Twitter and social profiles, Jakob reminds us that getting stuff done isn’t about installing the latest tools on our infrastructure:

…organizations are successful with social media and collaboration technologies only when the tools are designed to solve an identified business need.
Jakob Nielsen

It all comes back to what problem are you trying to solve? What process would you like to improve?

If, like me, you’re a Twitter addict then all solutions seem to revolve around micro-blogging and status updates. When all you have is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail… So Jakob reminds us that we must have a business need before we embark on a project to socialise the company, and I might remind myself that until I know what we want to achieve, I can’t go shopping for tools.

I very much suggest you read Jakob’s single web page and explore the links:

• Social Networking on Intranets

[Wedge]

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