December 2011 $99 Rebooting the Antisocial...

December 2011 $99

Report ID: R3611211

Next

reports

Rebooting the Antisocial NetworkWhile corporate social networks starve for attention, users flock to

Facebook and other social sites—87% of the 452respondents to our 2012 enterprise social networking survey

have social networking tools, but most only see small pockets of

use among employees. We share exclusive research and a real-world

business case to help you create—or relaunch—a compelling internal

site that boosts employee collaboration and productivity by leveraging

the habits your users are learning on the Web.

By Michael Healey

reports. informationweek.com

http://www.reports.informationweek.com

Previous Next

reports

3 About the Author

4 Executive Summary

5 Research Synopsis

6 Split Personalities

7 Crunching the Numbers

9 Confessions of a Bad Social Network

11 What Do Users Want?

14 What Does Management Want?

17 Going Outside to Play

21 Social Studies

23 Appendix

33 Related Reports

Figures

6 Figure 1: Years Using Internal Social NetworkingSystems

7 Figure 2: Internal Social Networking Systems in Usefor Three or More Years

8 Figure 3: Vendors In Use for Internal SocialNetworking Systems

9 Figure 4: Hosting Internal Social NetworkingSystems

10 Figure 5: Evaluation of Internal Social NetworkingSystems

11 Figure 6: Greatest Social Networking ManagementChallenge

12 Figure 7: Official or Unofficial Presence onExternal Social Networking Sites

13 Figure 8: Monitoring of Social Networks

14 Figure 9: Use of Internal SocialNetworking Systems

15 Figure 10: Use of Internal SocialNetworking Systems: 2012 vs. 2010

16 Figure 11: Means of Integrating InternalSocial Networking Systems for End Users

17 Figure 12: Means of Integrating InternalSocial Networking Systems Into Email

18 Figure 13: Means of Integrating InternalSocial Networking Systems Into Videoand IM

19 Figure 14: Tracking Analytics on InternalSocial Networking Systems

20 Figure 15: Full-Time Employees Focusedon Social Media

21 Figure 16: Primary Responsibility forMonitoring Tools

22 Figure 17: Formal Process

Appendix

23 Figure 18: Primary Factor DrivingApproach to External Social Networking

24 Figure 19: External Social NetworkingPlatforms Linked to Internal Systems

25 Figure 20: Integration of External SocialMedia Applications Into End UserApplications

26 Figure 21: Organizational Presence onExternal Social Networking Sites

27 Figure 22: Years of Official Presence onExternal Social Networking Sites

28 Figure 23: Tools Used to Monitor SocialNetworks

29 Figure 24: Job Title

30 Figure 25: Company Revenue

31 Figure 26: Industry

32 Figure 27: Company Size

CONT

ENTS

reports.informationweek.com

TABLE OF

December 2011 2

E n t e r p r i s e S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n g


December 2011 3

Previous Next

© 2011 InformationWeek, Reproduction Prohibited

reports


E n t e r p r i s e S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n gTable of Contents

Mike Healey is the president of Yeoman Technology Group, an engineering andresearch firm focusing on maximizing technology investments for organiza-tions, and an InformationWeek Reports contributor. He has more than 23 years ofexperience in technology and software integration. Prior to founding Yeoman, Mike served as the CTO of national network inte-

grator GreenPages. He joined GreenPages as part of the acquisition of TENCorp,where he served as president for 14 years. Prior to founding TENCorp, Mike wasan international project manager for Nixdorf Computer and a Notes consultantfor Sandpoint Corp. Mike has taught courses at MIT Lowell Institute and Northeastern University

and has served on the Educational Board of Advisers for several schools and uni-versities throughout New England. He has a BA in operations management fromthe University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from Babson College. He is a regular contributor for InformationWeek, focusing on the business

challenges related to implementing technology. His work includes analysis ofthe SaaS market, green IT and operational readiness related to virtualized environments.

Mike HealyInformationWeek Reports


December 2011 4

Previous Next

Is your company antisocial? Our latest research shows that business-oriented social net-working platforms aren’t living up to their promises of better communication, collabora-tion and productivity. For instance, while 87% of the 452 respondents to our Information-Week 2012 Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey have social networking tools, mostonly see small pockets of use among employees. Users just aren’t showing up.But they are showing up on public sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—in fact,

your company probably has a presence on each of these platforms too. And that’s thegood news. These sites are training your users to be social. You can leverage that trainingto revitalize a moribund internal social networking platform and get the benefits you al-ways expected.However, IT needs to get involved to make it happen. In some cases it means site tweaks

to add key features, and to build integration into core corporate applications such asemail. It also means IT must get business leaders on board to promote the social platformand ensure department leaders keep employees coming back.IT also needs to take a stronger role in the corporate use of public social networking.

Our research shows that marketing typically drives a company’s presence on public siteslike Facebook, but IT also has a role to play, particularly around security and compliance.This report offers exclusive survey results on social networking for enterprises, delves intoa real-world case study of a company rebooting its internal social platform, and providesstrategic guidance on building a successful corporate social network.

EXECUTIVE


reports

SUM

MAR

Y



December 2011 5reports.informationweek.com

Previous Next

RESEARCH

Survey Name InformationWeek 2012 Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey

Survey Date October 2011

Number of Respondents 452 business technology professionals

Purpose To determine the state of enterprise adoption of private and public socialnetworking tools

Methodology InformationWeek surveyed business technology decision-makers atNorth American companies. The survey was conducted online, and respondents wererecruited via an email invitation containing an embedded link to the survey. The emailinvitation was sent to qualified InformationWeek subscribers.

reports

SYNO

PSIS


ABOUT US

InformationWeek Reports’

analysts arm business technol-

ogy decision-makers with real-

world perspective based on

qualitative and quantitative re-

search, business and technology

assessment and planning tools,

and adoption best practices

gleaned from experience.

To contact us, write to manag-

ing director Art Wittmann at

[email protected],

content director Lorna Garey

at [email protected], editor-

at-large Andrew Conry-Murray

at [email protected], and

research managing editor

Heather Vallis at

[email protected].

Find all of our reports at



December 2011 6

When it comes to social networking, compa-nies find themselves in a peculiar position.Public social network sites like Facebook andTwitter are wildly popular among employeesand consumers, and companies are increasingtheir presence on these sites. But when itcomes to internal social networks, our latestresearch shows that these platforms havegenerally failed to achieve their vision of bet-ter collaboration, improved communicationsand, ultimately, more productivity amongworkers. This comment from a respondent tothe InformationWeek 2012 Social Networkingin the Enterprise Survey seems to say it all:“We have tried for over four years to push

social networking in the enterprise,” says thesenior IT director for a large technology com-pany. “People just view it as one more place tohave to look to get information.”In fact, the bulk of the comments from our

survey focus on the lackluster adoption andpoor support for any type of internal socialapplications. IT seems more than happy to

add “enterprise social networking” to the longlist of dead-on-the-vine projects that includeeverything from open source office applica-tions to SAP installations.So, is it time to write off corporate social net-

works as just another technology fad? Nope.Social networking can pay off, but only if ITtakes a stronger role in both internal and ex-ternal social networking.Internally, this means leveraging the habits

Previous Next

How long have you been running these internal social networking systems?

8% 46%12% 12%

8% 29%16% 16%

10% 23%18% 15%

13% 15%18% 17%

10% 7%15% 9%

10% 34%19% 15%

Less than 1 year Less then 2 years Less than 3 years 3 years or more

Online company directory with profiles, photos, etc.

Team or company wikis

Company discussion forums

Internal blogs

Social bookmarking or tagging systems for internal or external content

Other collaborative project or information-sharing platforms

Base: 394 respondents at organizations using one or more internal social networking systemsData: InformationWeek 2012 Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey 452 of business technology professionals, October 2011

R3611111/7

R

Years Using Internal Social Networking Systems

Split Personalities

reports E n t e r p r i s e S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n gTable of Contents

Figure 1



December 2011 7

users are developing on public sites andbringing those habits inside the company. Insome cases this involves technology tweaks,such as better integration between your so-cial platform and email, and adding contentthat gives users a reason to come back. Inother cases, it involves cooperating with busi-ness leaders to help keep internal social plat-forms relevant and active.Externally, with market forces pulling com-

panies’ marketing and support teams into ex-ternal social networks at an increasing pace, itmeans IT needs to provide guidance oneverything from security and monitoring tothe appropriate way to share content outsidethe firewall. It is a core part of modern com-munications, and IT needs to be there. However, if IT is going to dictate company

rules for use of Facebook and other externalsites, you need to fix your internal social net-working projects first—not only to gain cred-ibility, but to help create a baseline to link tothe outside world. In this report, we use theresults of our 2012 social networking surveyto provide key data points you can use as you

refine your social networking strategy. We alsoprovide a real-world case study that showshow one company revitalized a moribund so-cial networking project to get positive results.

Crunching the NumbersOur second annual enterprise social net-

working survey confirms that social isn’t go-ing away, but it’s still not a core focus for most

Previous Next

2012 2010

Which of these internal social networking systems have you been running for three or more years?

Internal Social Networking Systems in Use for Three or More Years




Internal blogs



Note: Percentages reflect a response of "three years or more"Base: 394 respondents in October 2011 and 624 in August 2010 at organizations using one or more internal social networking systemsData: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/8

46%40%

29%23%

23%24%

15%14%

7%7%

34%32%

R



Figure 2


December 2011 8

companies. Of oursurvey respon-dents, 87% havesome form of in-ternal social net-working in place (ablog, wiki or portal,for instance), withfew reporting thatthese systemshave been in placethree years ormore (see Figures1 and 2). When it comes

to platforms, Mi-crosoft SharePointcontinues to leadthe pack, accord-ing to our surveyresults, but itsdominance is slip-ping slightly as companies adopt cloud ap-plications like Salesforce or build their own(Figure 3). The majority of companies still

host their platforms internally, but this hasdropped about 10% as businesses move tocloud options (Figure 4).

Regardless of the platform in use, the vastmajority of respondents report lackluster re-sults, with only 13% considering their social

Previous Next

Which vendor(s) are you using for these internal social networking systems?

Vendors In Use for Internal Social Networking Systems

Note: Multiple responses allowedBase: 394 respondents in October 2011 and 624 in August 2010 at organizations using one or more internal social networking systemsData: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/3

R

2012 2011

Micr

osof

t (Sh

areP

oint

, Gro

ove)

Goog

le S

ites

IBM

(Lot

us, W

ebSp

here

, etc

.)

Sale

sfor

ce.co

m (C

hatt

er)

Drup

al/o

pen

sour

ce

Jive

Nove

ll

Open

Text

Life

ray

Telli

gent

Lith

ium

Tech

nolo

gies

Ning

Cust

om/in

tern

ally

dev

elop

ed to

ols

Othe

r

Don'

t kno

w

63%

71%

19%

18%

12% 15

%

11%

N/A

9% 8%

5% 4% 5% 5%

2% 2% 1% 1%3% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1%

18%

15%

4%

17%

12%

N/A



Figure 3

FAST FACT

13%Survey respondents who

consider their companies’

social networking efforts

a “great success”


December 2011 9

networking systems a “great success” (Figure5). Most rate their social network success “av-erage,“ with small pockets of use.The biggest challenges? Lack of user adop-

tion remains at the top of the list. It was alsothe No. 1 response in our previous survey. Thesecond biggest concern is the time requiredto manage the programs (Figure 6). The onlygood news is a marked drop in IT having toexplain social networking’s role to the com-pany. That’s important, because IT will needexecutive support to make social networkinga vital part of users’ work lives.Adoption is a different story on the public

social networking front. We saw significantincreases in both official and unofficial com-pany presences on Facebook, LinkedIn,Twitter and other public sites (Figure 7).Facebook is the big winner, with companypresence rising 11 points since our 2010survey. Twitter also saw a respectable 8-point increase.But while companies may feel compelled to

have a presence on these public sites, our sur-vey reveals that most of these forays lack

proper planning and investment and leavemajor gaps when it comes to monitoring, se-curity and even responsiveness to customercomplaints. For instance, the percentage offirms that monitor social networks for discus-sions about their own or competing busi-nesses actually dropped (Figure 8). While thenumber fell only two percentage points vs.

the previous survey, that’s still a move in thewrong direction. More on that later.

Confessions of a Bad Social NetworkASPD Corp. is a billion-dollar manufacturing

company (the name has been changed toprotect the embarrassed). In 2009, the com-pany launched an internal sales community

Previous Next

2012 2010

How are your internal social networking systems hosted?

Hosting Internal Social Networking Systems

Internally

Externally; we own the servers and software

Externally via SaaS/cloud provider

Varies based on application

Base: 394 respondents in October 2011 and 624 in August 2010 at organizations using one or more internal social networking systemsData: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/11

65%72%

9%5%

6%5%

20%18%



Figure 4


December 2011 10

dubbed “Site X” to serve as the source for itssales and marketing collaboration efforts. Therollout was surrounded by all the classic hypeyou get when you give a new project to salesand marketing. Flash forward two and a half years: The site

still exists, but it is barely used and rarely up-dated. Of the 500 employees given access, lessthan 2% visited the site each month. The rank-and-file IT and sales staff complained aboutthe time it took to manage the initiative. In-stead of using the site for collaboration andsocial networking, the sales team went backto phone calls, email and long meetings to getthings done. There were even discussionsabout scrapping the entire platform.New management came in this year and de-

cided to revitalize the existing platform. Laterin this report, we’ll use their successes and fail-ures as examples of how every company canre-engage their users with existing tools.Today, the majority of businesses use the ba-

sic tools of social networking—specifically, on-line directories, forums and wikis (Figure 9).That’s a great start, but these tools are just the

beginning of a vibrant social platform. In fact,this year we saw a rise in some more advancedsocial networking tools such as social book-marking and tagging, which now can be inte-grated directly into existing systems (Figure 10).The most visible example of social book-

marking is Facebook’s “Like” button—a sim-ple way for users to indicate their preferencesfor particular content. On an internal socialnetwork, bookmarking can help useful or in-teresting content get noticed by others. Forexample, if developers see that a colleague

Previous Next

2012 2010

How would you rate the overall success of your internal social networking systems?

Evaluation of Internal Social Networking Systems

Great success; usage is great among all targeted users and we’ve experienced improvements in communication and collaboration

Good success; there are small pockets of usage, but it's effective for those using it

Average; there are small pockets of usage, but people tend to rely on email as the primary communication method

Fair; very low usage, but it is kept up to date and used as part of some operations

Poor; rarely updated or used by anyone


R3611111/9

13%10%

25%28%

37%33%

15%17%

10%12%



Figure 5

Related Report

Videoconferencing has the po-tential to become a viable optionin the enterprise—if it can over-come technology and businesschallenges. We explore the im-pediments and possibilities.

DownloadDownload

N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 1

Report ID: S3481111

Next

reports

Enterprise Video: A Viable Option?Videoconferencing has the potential to go

mainstream—if it can overcome technology and

business challenges. We look at the impediments

and potential of enterprise videoconferencing.

By Phil Hippensteel

R e p o r t s . I n f o r m a t i o nWe e k . c om

$99


http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/10/8534/Social+Networking-Collaboration/enterprise-video-a-viable-option%2A.html

December 2011 11

found a document or blog post useful, theymay be more likely to check it out as well. Tag-ging is similar to bookmarking, but also letsusers add a keyword or two to provide morecontext. Tagged content can also feed into atag cloud, which provides a visual cue to sitevisitors about trending topics.Both social bookmarking and tagging can

also help improve search results. For example,Google and several other enterprise searchvendors now let users tag/mark/like search re-sults, which leverages the collective wisdomof your peers by moving tagged results upthe list. This can be very useful in helpingusers sift through the mountains of content asearch can produce.Chances are good that your existing social

networking platform has social bookmarkingand/or tagging features. That was the case forASPD; the platform the manufacturing firmwas using had added “like” and “recommend”functionality several years prior, but ASPDhadn’t adopted it. Thus, adding this function-ality was a simple process. If your platformdoesn’t have it, there’s is a plethora of plug-

ins available, including a variety of opensource options, as well as integration withLinkedIn or Facebook "Likes."

What Do Users Want?When ASPD decided to revamp Site X, it

asked users for feedback. They were more

Previous Next

2012 2010

What is the greatest challenge in managing your organization’s internal social networking systems?

Greatest Social Networking Management Challenge

User adoption

Time required to manage applications

Increasing employee usage

Explaining the role of social networking as it applies to business

Cost control

Other


R3611111/12

35%35%

17%16%

16%15%

15%21%

10%6%

7%7%



Figure 6


than happy to respond: The Site X redesignteam got an earful of comments, including,“Why can’t I use my same user name andpassword?” “I can’t find anything,” “It’s easierto call,” and the ever popular “The site sucks.”You don’t need a fancy software usability

measurement inventory to get the gist ofwhat’s needed within your company. Youcan boil all the comments down to somebasics: Users want simplicity, usability andintegration.Let’s start with simplicity and usability.

Early social platforms varied widely in theirfunctionality, look and feel, and layout. Butthose days are over. Any internal social plat-form needs to have essentially the samefunctionality and layout as Facebook andLinkedIn. It also needs a handful of core elements, in-

cluding search, like/recommend, following ofdiscussions or people, the ability to embedcontent such as photographs and videos, per-sonal categorization/organization and easysharing. If your platform is so far behind thatyou can’t get these features, you need to think

Previous Next

2012 2010

On which of these external social networking sites does your organization have an official or unofficial presence?

Official or Unofficial Organizational Presence on External Social Networking Sites

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

External community site for end users

MySpace

ZoomInfo

Jigsaw

Manta

Note: Percentages reflect a response of "official presence" or "unofficial presence"Base: 394 respondents in October 2011 and 624 in August 2010 at organizations using one or more internal social networking systemsData: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/16

66%55%

62%58%

53%45%

28%26%

16%12%

10%9%

9%8%

8%5%



Figure 7

December 2011 12


December 2011 13

long and hard about whether to keep it.You also need to make sure it’s easy for end

users to work with. That starts with singlesign-on, which most companies already offer,according to our survey. But a third of respon-dents still require separate logins (Figure 11).But don’t stop there. You must be able to offer

tight integration with email, a requirement 42%of companies ignore (Figure 12). Email integra-tion includes the ability to link directly from anemail message to the social site without an ex-tra login, and the ability to respond to a com-ment or post a comment from email and haveit show up in the discussion string. Some emailplatforms can even embed basic social net-working elements, such as contact lists, projectlists and so on, right into the email client itself.Given that email is still the most prevalent en-

terprise communications tool, we strongly rec-ommend this level of integration because it willhelp keep the social site in front of users andmake it part of their daily office life. Email isn’tgoing away, and not linking it to the social plat-form is a critical flaw that will hinder adoption. Site X’s platform didn’t offer an Outlook

plug-in, but IT was able to configure it so up-dates and replies could be made via email.This was a big plus because it let users updatea conversation without having to exit email.The team also added “follow” and “recom-mend” capabilities for posts and comments,which further bolstered collaboration.We also suggest integration of social net-

working with unified communications. Wefind it amazing that companies will spend bigbucks to add IM to the enterprise, yet only

41% are willing to integrate it into the socialplatform (Figure 13). ASPD doesn’t have an IM platform, but the

company opted to add live chat capabilitiesto Site X. This was an easy innovation that re-quired simply plugging in a cloud-based chatapplication. The company has a team of salesassistants that regularly took phone calls fromsalespeople in the field when the salespeopleneeded something from the corporate office,such as a presentation or document. The sales

Previous Next

2012 2010

Does your organization monitor social networks for discussions about the organization or competition?

Monitoring of Social Networks

Yes

No

Don’t know


R3611111/19

36%38%

24%22%

40%40%

R

FAST FACT

41%Companies integrating

social platforms into

video or IM



Figure 8


December 2011 14

admins were eager to use live chat; phonecalls were a giant time suck for them. Not onlydid it give the site a new “gee whiz” feature, italso turned the sales assistants into activepromoters of the online portal.The team also used the social platform to

address one of remote workers’ most com-mon complaints: ASPD, like most companies,limits the size of email attachments. This isgreat for email admins, but counterproductivefor remote teams that want to share large pre-sentations or files. This group is also notoriousfor complaining about the VPN link and reg-ularly holds anti-Citrix rallies.Adding a file-sharing option to the social

platform proved extremely simple and in-stantly became a hit. Not only did it providean easy spot for sharing large files, it also au-tomatically categorized the files within theplatform (something users would never do).Don’t think users want this? Enterprise use ofGoogle Docs and online file-sharing sites likeDropbox is exploding because they offer acheap and easy way to share corporate files.For instance, Dropbox has 25 million users, ac-

cording to Fortune. These types of servicesalso put critical data outside your control. Filesharing on your social platform gets it back.

What Does Management Want?As we noted earlier, the majority of internal

social networks aren’t new; most have been

in place more than three years. What thatmeans is the primary champion of the projecthas probably moved on. Gone too are theproject manager, development staff, trainersand (probably) the line-of-business’s focus onthe project.Regaining this focus is key, and starts by IT

Previous Next

To what extent are the following internal social networking systems for collaboration in use at your organization?

16%29%24%

17%38%19%

22%24%13%

27%22%8%

24%23%5%

16%19%4%

Heavy use Moderate use In place, but rarely used




Internal blogs



Data: InformationWeek 2012 Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey 452 of business technology professionals, October 2011 R3611111/1

R

Use of Internal Social Networking Systems



Figure 9


December 2011 15

and management reviewing the current stateof the site and laying out clear goals for therelaunch.For Site X, the company was able to quickly

assess failure points and set realistic goals forgoing forward. First, there was a general con-sensus that 100% utilization by the remotesales team was unlikely. There had alwaysbeen a consistent set of users who resistedany technology, and this was no different, sothe company set its expectations accord-ingly. Second, a desired 30% reduction insupport calls and requests to the sales ad-mins would require posting all marketingmaterials in the portal, with no distributionvia email allowed.When ASPD was done, it had a list of real-

istic goals for the new and improved Site X,including:• 70% user participation• Daily login by users• 30% reduction of calls to sales admins• 100% distribution of marketing content via portal• Active postings by all identified topic leaders

For Site X, that last goal was the big one. Ifyou don’t provide meaningful content and a

compelling reason to use a platform, peoplewon’t use it. This means getting users to

Previous Next

2012 2010

For which of the following internal social networking systems for collaboration is there moderate or heavy use at your organization?

Use of Internal Social Networking Systems: 2012 vs. 2010




Internal blogs



Note: Percentages reflect a response of "heavy use" or "moderate use"Base: 452 respondents in October 2011 and 703 in August 2010Data: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/2

53%48%

37%37%

30%30%

28%28%

23%19%

57%56%



Figure 10


December 2011 16

break long-standing habits, like emailingPDFs to each other—such activities wouldn’tbe necessary because all content would beavailable on Site X.Once the goals were set, a series of weekly

snapshots were created using site analytics toprovide management with regular updateson the progress. This is where many compa-nies run into some problems. According toour survey, 61% of companies don’t have an-alytics capabilities for their existing systems(Figure 14). Of those that do, only 8% have theneeded details to understand participationand behavioral changes.If you’re part of that 61%, you need to take

a hard look in the mirror. IT professionalsmust be the champions of data analytics andrequire it for any type of initiative, especiallythose related to the fuzzy world of user pro-ductivity. The good news is that the vast ma-jority of enterprise social media applicationsare Web-based and there are dozens ofready-made analytic tools that can drop in,including many for SharePoint. Heck, you caneven use Google analytics on a secure site

for free! Analytics and reporting are criticalto the IT team assigned to monitor and growsite usage.If you just stopped reading and asked “What

team?” you’re not alone. Almost a quarter ofour respondents don’t have any full-time re-sources dedicated to social media, and an-other 32% don’t know if they do (Figure 15).Site X is in the same boat: Its IT team membersall have other “day jobs.” However, they didget a critical component you’ll need if youwant to bring your program to life: executivesponsorship. Not only does this provide the

official support needed to justify their timeand efforts, it also provides a critical big stickwhen you need it.Case in point: Site X had seen a steady in-

crease in traffic since its relaunch, hitting a60% daily login rate after 60 days. However,visits then proceeded to drop by 25% over thenext few weeks, with average page viewsdropping 22% and on-site time falling 36%.As the team dug into the problem, it found

the culprit was content. The required regularupdates from marketing and regional leadersslipped as people were pulled into different

Previous Next

2012 2010

How do these internal social networking systems integrate for your end users?

Means of Integrating Internal Social Networking Systems for End Users

Integrate into an existing login system

Separate user names and passwords


R3611111/4

66%67%

34%33%



Figure 11


December 2011 17

projects. Chat, document sharing and severalother areas of the site remained strong, butbecause marketing and regional updateswere part of the users’ customized homepage, their absence quickly made the sitelook stale.Having executives make the calls to the

teams to get them back on track was key. ITcould have cajoled marketing and regionalleaders to post new content, but having exec-utives do it carried more weight. Traffic re-bounded as teams refocused, but a clear chal-lenge emerged that still lingers today. Certainparts of the management team have troubleadopting the social networking portal as theplace for collaboration, and persist in sendingmass emails and other old habits.This is the reality of most internal social pro-

grams. Without continued executive support(including the occasional poke with a stick),groups may slip back to emails, long meetingsor other old methods of collaborating. Inother words, both IT and business leadersmust stay engaged with the social network-ing site, and apply pressure when necessary.

Going Outside to PlayWhile the main challenge of internal social

networking revolves around adoption, adop-tion isn’t a problem with external or public so-cial networking. Instead, the challenges with

sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as spe-cialty community sites like Sermo (for physi-cians), PD360 (educators) or ResearchGate (sci-entists), are to understand and identify whattype of public social media presence your com-

Previous Next

2012 2010

How are these internal social networking systems integrated into your email application?

Means of Integrating Internal Social Networking Systems Into Email

Direct plug-in that works with email client

Mail-out option that lets us send email directly from application

Mail-to option that lets us send emails to the application (replying to an email automatically updates document)

No email integration

Don't know


R3611111/5

28%26%

20%23%

19%19%

42%39%

11%15%



Figure 12


December 2011 18

pany will have and what you’ll monitor. WhileFacebook and LinkedIn may get all the press,there are now more than 175 community sitesonline with 1 million or more monthly visitors,according to Compete.com’s database of thetop 15,000 Web sites. The level of engagementand where you should have a presence de-pends largely on your business. First, the basics: Everybody has a LinkedIn

and Facebook presence, and your companyshould too. If your company is among thethird of companies responding to our surveythat hasn’t signed on to either of those sitesyet, we’ve got news for you: Both of thembuild a presence for you whether you want itor not—it’s automatic. If Facebook users iden-tify themselves as working at your company,for instance, Facebook’s Community Pagessites start to collect related information. Ifyour company is publicly traded, CommunityPages fleshes out the details from other on-line sources, such as Wikipedia. Bam! Userscan check in, follow or even form their ownsubgroups on these sites with very little effort.Try to take it down? Facebook’s disclaimer is

a classic: “Community Pages are not affiliatedwith, or endorsed by, anyone associated withthe topic.” Translation: If you don’t create yourown Facebook presence, Facebook will makeone for you and you won’t have control over it.

It’s kind of a sleazy move, but it’s also a reality.Second, you need to start monitoring your

public presence. Only 36% of our respondentsactively monitor their own or their competi-tors’ public social networking presences.

Previous Next

2012 2010

How are these internal social networking systems integrated into your video or instant messaging clients?

Means of Integrating Internal Social Networking Systems Into Video and IM

Presence indicator within application

Ability to “call out for chat”

Auto logging of content

Don’t have internal IM or video

Don't know


R3611111/6

30%31%

24%20%

10%11%

38%38%

21%22%



Figure 13

FAST FACT

175Number of specialty

community sites online

with 1 million or more

monthly visitors


December 2011 19

Not having even basic monitoring for yourcompany is a miss, and IT has to take some ofthe blame. Yes, public social networking is be-ing driven by marketing and sales, but IT hasa role to play as well (Figure 16). Social net-working sites can leak all kinds of interestingcorporate information, whether maliciously orotherwise, so get your security and compli-ance teams involved. If they feel social moni-toring isn’t part of their responsibilities, havethem search for “my company got bought” onTwitter, where employees may be postingthat fact before the news has gone public.That’s data leakage (and a possible SEC viola-tion), which makes it the security team’s re-sponsibility to manage and control.This brings us to our last point regarding ex-

ternal social networking: You need to provideposting guidance to staff. We still see a hugegap in organizational policies and proceduresfor even the simplest online events that hap-pen every day. Less than 30% of respondentshave a plan for official company announce-ments, and less than 20% have a plan to dealwith inappropriate staff comments (Figure 17).

You’d think by now people would know bet-ter than to post insensitive content or com-ments on public or private sites, but thingshappen. You need to have policies in place,and sign-off from employees that they knowand understand those policies. Most compa-nies already have policies around email com-munications, and companies with public

blogs probably have (and should have) similarguidelines in place. These policies can be re-worked to apply to any posts on social net-work sites affiliated with the company.Then there are comments from customers

and the general public. Only 17% have anyprocesses in place to deal with customer com-plaints that come via Facebook. That’s a prob-

Previous Next

2012 2010

Do you track analytics on your internal social networking systems?

Tracking Analytics on Internal Social Networking Systems

Yes; detailed tracking of user activity and participation levels

Yes; basic tracking of traditional metrics (e.g., page views, users)

No, but tracking is planned

No; it’s not on our radar


R3611111/10

8%7%

31%30%

20%17%

41%46%

R



Figure 14


December 2011 20

lem. For one, you’re missing vital feedbackfrom customers, and losing an opportunity tointeract with them and respond.You also need plans in place to deal with

negative comments. We’re not just talkingabout people using bad language, or spam-mers hitting your comments section withlinks to cheap iPads. We’re talking about cus-tomers who have a legitimate beef with yourcompany. Case in point is ChapStick, ownedby Pfizer. According to news accounts, thecompany put a racy photo ad on its Facebookpage. In October, a blogger complained andposted comments on the ChapStick Facebookpage, which were deleted by ChapStick em-ployees. Then others posted negative com-ments, which were also deleted. Now thecompany had people who were angry aboutthe original ad, and angry that their com-ments had been pulled. Of course the blogos-phere and mainstream media noticed. Finally,ChapStick deleted the page entirely andposted an apology. While it’s hard to knowwhether any damage was done to the Chap-Stick brand, the company’s clumsy handling

of the incident is a lesson for others.The root of this disconnect stems from the

gap we continue to see when it comes tostrategic planning around external social net-working. Marketing is still leading the charge

for the most part, but a social presence goeswell beyond a promotional campaign (Figure18). It can impact marketing, sales and sup-port on multiple levels. Unfortunately, only 7%of companies bring these teams together to

Previous Next

2012 2010

How many full-time employees do you have focused on social media?

Full-Time Employees Focused on Social Media

None; it’s part of employees’ general responsibilities

1

2-5

Greater than 5

Don’t know


R3611111/22

24%28%

10%7%

18%14%

16%20%

32%31%

R



Figure 15


December 2011 21

create an integrated plan. And only 11% saidthe desire to better address customer issuesis the primary driver for public social network-ing. That’s also a problem: There’s nothingvery social about a message that goes onlyone way. Companies have a great opportunityto address customer concerns via a social net-working platform, but our respondents clearlyhave a long way to go in this regard.

Social StudiesSocial networking is a powerful force and

represents a new evolution in the develop-ment of the Web. IT needs to be in the fore-front of this development, highlighting thevery real security, service and support con-cerns that tend to be glossed over in the rushto get online.Think of it this way. Your company is com-

peting with Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce,Google and even Microsoft when it comes toyour users’ social collaboration. They wantyour users and they have more money thanyou have. They’ll actively try to draw out yourusers to their sites, offering up groups, con-

nections, and a neat intersection of personaland work life that no company can match. The growth of “social” is bittersweet for

many IT veterans. Users fawn over Facebookand LinkedIn while the pioneers of social col-

laboration—Lotus Notes, GroupWise, First-Class and countless others—atrophy on yournetwork. IT knows social and has beenpreaching it for years; we just couldn’t get itright.

Previous Next

2012 2010

Which group within your organization is primarily responsible for these tools?

Primary Responsibility for Monitoring Tools

Marketing

IT

Web operations team

Customer support

Other

Base: 88 respondents in October 2011 and 143 in August 2010 familiar with the tools used to monitor social networks for discussions about the organization or competitionData: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/21

54%41%

32%44%

9%N/A

2%4%

3%9%



Figure 16


So, it’s time to get over it. Simply saying “no”to external systems isn’t possible. They’re nowa core part of society and have done the hard-est work for us—they’ve trained our users. Toleverage these platforms for our competitiveadvantage, we need to make sure our internalsystems offer viable mechanisms for internalcollaboration. We also have to understandwhat level of information we want to inte-grate between the inside and outside sys-tems. IT needs to be at the forefront of theseprocesses, helping companies navigate theway integrated social networking works.

Previous Next

2012 2010

For which of the following situations does your organization have a formal process in place?

Formal Processes

Posting of official company-related announcements and statements on different social networking sites other than your home page

Inappropriate employee comments online

Customer complaints posted on Facebook or MySpace

Customer complaints posted on e-commerce sites

Customer complaints posted via Twitter

Other

None

Don't know


R3611111/23

29%32%

20%26%

17%14%

16%21%

12%12%

1%2%

25%43%

30%N/A



Figure 17

December 2011 22

December 2011 $99

Report ID: R3591211

Next

reports

State of Unified CommunicationsThe good news: The percentage of users who’ve deployed

and are using UC jumped six points, to 36%, since our

2010 survey, and the number of ‘fence sitters’ is down, too.

The not-so-good news: For 65% of those who have

deployed or plan to do so, UC currently reaches 50% or

less of the employee base. What’s the holdup?

By Michael Finneran

reports. informationweek.com

Related Report

If your UC infrastructure is erraticor the communications quality ispoor, you’re sunk. We describestrategies to ensure quality com-munications between end users,whether they’re on the LAN, theWAN or a mobile device.

DownloadDownload


http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/10/8548/Social+Networking-Collaboration/research-unified-communications.html

December 2011 23

Previous Next


reports E n t e r p r i s e S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n g

APPE

NDIX

Table of Contents

2012 2010

What is the primary driver behind your organization’s approach to external social networking?

Primary Factor Driving Approach to External Social Networking

Marketing-driven based on branding and promotion efforts

Support-driven based on a desire to better address customer issues

Sales-driven based on a desire to increase sales

Integrated plan that brought marketing, sales and support together

No primary driver; pet project of a small group

Other

We have no official presence on external social networking sites

Don't know


R3611111/18

38%28%

11%11%

7%8%

5%7%

9%12%

2%3%

27%29%

1%2%

Figure 18


December 2011 24

Previous Next

2012 2010

Which of the following types of external social networking applications are linked to your internal systems?

External Social Networking Platforms Linked to Internal Systems

Outbound content; we can repost content to external sites (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, other)

Inbound content; we actively draw in feeds or content from external systems (including blogs, wikis)

Contact information; users can synchronize their profiles and contact information with internal systems and external applications (such as LinkedIn, Facebook)


R3611111/13

50%50%

48%48%

34%36%



Figure 19


December 2011 25

Previous Next



2012 2010

Do you allow the integration of external social media applications into your end users’ applications? This includes Outlook plug-ins from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as other third-party applications.

Integration of External Social Media Applications Into End User Applications

Yes

No


R3611111/14

20%19%

80%81%

Figure 20


December 2011 26

Previous Next



Does your organization have an official or unofficial presence on these external social networking sites (or is use blocked)?

51% 15% 24%

41% 12% 25%

35% 27% 15%

16% 12% 18%

7% 9% 38%

2% 7% 26%

2% 8% 25%

7%1% 26%

Official presence Unofficial presence Blocked

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn


MySpace

Jigsaw

ZoomInfo

Manta


R3611111/15

R

Organizational Presence on External Social Networking Sites

Figure 21


December 2011 27

Previous Next



Approximately how long has your organization had an official presence on these external social networking sites?

4% 8%5% 6%

9% 6%20% 11%

14% 5%26% 14%

11% 2%21% 10%

3% 2%5% 2%

2% 1%1% 2%

2% 1%1%1%

1% 2% 2%

Less than 1 year Less than 2 years Less than 3 years 3 years or more

Facebook (company page)

LinkedIn (company presence)

Twitter (one or more official company accounts)


MySpace (company page)

ZoomInfo

Jigsaw

Manta


R3611111/17

R

Years of Official Presence on External Social Networking Sites

Figure 22


December 2011 28

Previous Next



2012 2010

What tools are used to monitor discussions about the organization or competition on social networks?

Tools Used to Monitor Social Networks

Search alerts (Google, Bing, etc.)

Outside vendor (PR firm, service firm, etc.)

Specialty applications (Radian6, ScoutLabs, etc.)

Other

Don't know

Note: Multiple responses allowed Base: 143 respondents in October 2011 and 237 in August 2010 at organizations monitoring social networks for discussions about the organization or competition Data: InformationWeek Social Networking in the Enterprise Survey of business technology professionals

R3611111/20

51%56%

22%16%

21%15%

4%4%

38%40%

Figure 23


December 2011 29

Previous Next



Which of the following best describes your job title?

5%

12%

6%

26%

9%

7% 35%

Job Title

IT director/manager

Other

IT executive management (C-level/VP)

Line-of-business management

Non-IT executive management (C-level/VP)

Consultant

IT/IS staff


R

Figure 24


December 2011 30

Previous Next



Which of the following dollar ranges includes the annual revenue of your entire organization?

7%

13%

14%

10%

17%15%

11%

7%

6%

Company Revenue

$50 million to $99.9 millionDon't know/decline to say

Less than $6 million

Government/nonprofit

$5 billion or more

$6 million to $49.9 million



$1 billion to $4.9 billion


R

Figure 25


December 2011 31

Previous Next



What is your organization's primary industry?

Industry

Cons

truc

tion/

engi

neer

ing

Cons

ultin

g an

d bu

sines

s ser

vice

s

Dist

ribut

or

Educ

atio

n

Elec

tron

ics

Ener

gy

Fina

ncia

l ser

vice

s

Gove

rnm

ent

Heal

thca

re/m

edica

l

Insu

ranc

e/HM

Os

IT ve

ndor

s

Logi

stics

/tra

nspo

rtat

ion

Man

ufac

turin

g/in

dust

rial, n

onco

mpu

ter

Reta

il/e-

com

mer

ce

Tele

com

mun

icatio

ns/IS

Ps

Othe

r


2%

5%

2%

10%

2% 2%

12%

14%

8%

3%

9%

2%

7%

2%

6%

14%

Figure 26


December 2011 32

Previous Next



Approximately how many employees are in your organization?

21% 7%

9%

4%4%

29%

26%

Company Size

500-999100-499

50-99

Fewer than 50

10,000 or more

1,000-4,999

5,000-9,999


R

Figure 27


SubscribeSubscribe

Newsletter

Want to stay current on all newInformationWeek Reports? Subscribe to our weeklynewsletter and never miss a beat.

December 2011 33

Previous


reports E n t e r p r i s e S o c i a l N e t w o r k i n g

MOR

ELIKE THIS

Want More Like This?Making the right technology choices is a challenge for IT teams everywhere. Whether it’ssorting through vendor claims, justifying IT projects or implementing new systems, there’sno substitute for experience. And that’s what InformationWeek provides—analysis and ad-vice from IT professionals. Our Reports site houses more than 900 reports and briefs, andmore than 100 new reports are slated for release in 2012. Right now, you’ll find:

IT Pro Ranking: Enterprise 2.0 Applications: Social applications in the enterprise—business analogs of Facebook and Twitter—are beginning to move up the adoption curve.Will newcomers take ownership of the market at the expense of powerhouses Microsoft,IBM and Cisco?

IT Pro Impact: SharePoint 2010: SharePoint 2010 offers myriad deployment options, but ifyou want it on premises you’ll need 64-bit hardware, operating systems and databases. Welook at the impact of SharePoint 2010 on IT.

Strategy: How Google+, Facebook Impact Corporate Strategy: Even as Google+shakes up the landscape, we’re seeing IT teams taking a hands-off attitude to their enter-prises’ social networking initiatives. That’s exactly the wrong approach, if you want to keepyour data safe and your projects under control. We explain why and suggest some smartways to get involved.

PLUS: Find signature reports, such as the InformationWeek Salary Survey, InformationWeek500 and the annual State of Security report; full issues; and much more.

Table of Contents


http://links.techwebnewsletters.com/servlet/SignUpForm?f=491839

http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/10/7918/Social+Networking-Collaboration/strategy-social-media.html

http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/10/5374/Social+Networking-Collaboration/it-pro-ranking-enterprise-2-0-applications.html

http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/10/4814/Social+Networking-Collaboration/it-pro-impact-report-sharepoint-2010.html

December 2011 $99 Rebooting the Antisocial...

Documents

Transcript of December 2011 $99 Rebooting the Antisocial...