Stephen Collins, the founder of acidlabs and leading thinker in Enterprise 2.0, posted a great piece on social media/Web 2.0 tools. The main thrust of what he is saying (which should not be surprising) is that social media is much more than aesthetic.
“Many sites out there are getting makeovers that have them looking like Web 2.0 sites, but they’re the same old thing under the skin - walled gardens pushing a message from the top down.”
Be wary of those who tell you “all you need is a wiki/blog/MySpace page” to solve every problem or boast that their’s does.
Blogs, wikis, tagclouds, RSS are new tools in our toolboxes. None of them are an appropriate solution to every problem. When they are the appropriate tool for a specific situation, they each have their own necessary precautions and considerations. Some of them will require a fundamental shift in the way we do things and long term resources invested into them. Like any existing medium for communicating information there needs to be a careful analysis of content and consideration of your audience.
One of the main functions that these new tools are supposed to provide is that the users should add value. Most organisations have never done this, and some might not want to yet. As opposed to harnessing the power of a pig in lipstick, we should thinking about smarter lifestock that harness the power of us.
3 Comments
Matt, ideally the pig gets a full makeover, liposuction and botox to iron out the last of the wrinkles.
But all jokes aside, I’m delighted to see the NZ Government really doing something and really paying attention in the Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 space. It’s very heartening not only from the point of view of my consulting, but also because I’m only two generations from being a Kiwi - my granddad grew up in Wellington.
Keep up the great work! Let’s extend the conversation, keep talking about this stuff and then make it happen!
Hi Stephen,
As mentioned, I found your post spot on. We are doing our best to keep up with this stuff and to be a part of the conversation.
Very interesting to hear you have Kiwi ancestry - it seems reasonably unusual to meet someone who has emigrated from New Zealand versus immigrating to (though, maybe that’s because I’m here, thus would never run into them!)
Most organisations have never done this, and some might not want to yet … and therein lies the majority of the work.
I would qualify that “organisations” aren’t actually entities on their own (for this discussion) and aren’t making the decisions. It’s probably those that influence the direction of the organisation that may/may not want this to happen - those at the top, those that set the cultural and business agenda.