Web 2.0 and the Enterprise: A Symbiotic Relationship

Web 2.0 and the Enterprise
A Symbiotic Relationship
Shiv Singh, VP & Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish

Page 1 © 2008 Razorfish. All rights reserved.

Who am I?

VP & Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish
Been with the Agency 10+ years in US & Europe
Responsible for leading the POV in social
Global Fortune 100 clients on both sides of the firewall
Quoted extensively in the press on Social Media
Published “Corporate Intranet Best Practices Report”
Blogging at Going Social Now (www.goingsocialnow.com)
And also at The App Gap (www. theappgap.com)
Twitter ID: shivsingh


5 reasons why
it is a symbiotic
relationship


5 Reasons for a
Symbiotic Relationship
1. Facebook enters the Enterprise
2. Principles of Trust everywhere
3. Big Ideas & Little Ideas matter
4. Social Graphs serve as a bridge
5. Organizations have changed


The transformation began in 2006
The interest in the
consumerization of
the enterprise
probably began with
this article in the MIT
Sloan. Facebook
had roughly 12
million users at the
time


Time shifting & place shifting
We then discovered
that the same type
of time shifting
happening among
consumers was
taking place in the
workplace too.
People were
switching between
tasks, collaborating
and consuming
media in completely
new ways


Mass Collaboration Everywhere
At Razorfish we
started playing
around with some of
the new social
technologies. Our
wiki which won a
Groundswell award
changed the way we
shared information
with each other
dramatically


And now Web 2.0 is the mainstream web

Three in four US online adults
now use social tools to connect
with each other compared with
just 56% in 2007.
Forrester Research, October 2008

And our work and personal lives continue to blur


This isn’t a bad thing. It means
people are thinking about their
personal lives at work but their
work lives at home too

That’s why I consider it to be the Facebook in the
Enterprise phenomena


5 Reasons for a


The Strength of Weak Ties
So what have we learnt? That certain social networking
principles apply as much to the design of solutions for the
enterprise as they do for consumers. Here are few

The people you are
most loosely connected
to in a network are the
most powerful ones
Mark Granovetter, 1973

Everything built on trust

People share with each other
online, if they trust each other
offline.
Barry Wellman, 2007

This explains why Facebook and MySpace succeeded when
sites like Sixdegrees.com and Tripod failed. They did not put
enough emphasis on the trusted relationships. Intranets in
organizations with strong cultures succeed for the same
reasons. That’s why culture matters

Other Concepts
People join networks if they already
have friends on them

Behavior patterns on one network
are influenced by others

Growth happens in the giant
component and is influenced by
stars

Network size has a complex
influence on members

People “put in a position” to disseminate information that
belongs to someone else in their social network. That’s where
trust breaks down

Resulting in a changing SN Landscape


And explosive growth of some networks


There’s a science to this stuff.
You can learn from academia to
understand how to nurture and
evolve your own communities


5 Reasons for a


Once upon a time
we lived in a world
where everything
was about the big
idea. Whether it was
the personal
computer, reality TV
or iPods, these were
all big ideas. We
spent time thinking
about the next big
one.

Now a lot of little
ideas are more
powerful than the
single big one.
Why? Because
people choose the
best ideas and not
the experts. Little
ideas are changing
the world too

Facebook Newsfeeds
Facebook’s
newsfeed is a great
example. When
launched, it wasn’t a
big idea. In fact a lot
of people thought it
was simply an
invasion of their
privacy. Today we
know its one of the
reasons for
Facebook’s
phenomenal growth.
It makes the social
graph real

People don’t start collaborating
on the first day. You first need to
provide context & content and
champion entrepreneurship
before fuelling participation.

And similar insights matter in the enterprise too.
Facebook didn’t launch its site with Newsfeed. They first
established themselves with context and content. Think
about your enterprise initiatives the same way


5 Reasons for a


Social Graphs
entered the
mainstream with
the launch of FB
Connect by
Zuckerberg last
year. Now every
website can
incorporate social
graphs. This is a
huge step forward
in the evolution of
the web


LinkedIn Apps. An Intranet replacement?

Another example, LinkedIn with its open API and its
applications. Now your LinkedIn profile can become your
intranet. It has your social graph and your most important apps

A corporate example, of the Ford Marketing Intranet that we built.
You know what’s interesting about it? It looks like a consumer
social media solution as it should. Shows the symbiotic relationship

So what’s the key point here?

Your business is going to look
very different in the future. The
walls between the enterprise and
the rest of the world will break
down


5 Reasons for a


You can’t leave the conversation to marketing
1.0

Strategy & Research & Marketing & Human Corporate
Operations
Planning Development Sales Resources Communications

Customers

2.0

Strategy & Research & Marketing & Human Corporate
Operations
Planning Development Sales Resources Communications

Customers


Comcast officially allowed its engineers to talk publicly on
discussion forums. Its letting them become brand stewards. This is
not just about Twitter. The social web is turning every employee in
an organization into a marketer as it should.

And its changing
the publishing
world too.
Businessweek
wants you to
collaborate with
your network on
its own site. Is an
intranet or
Facebook needed
when knowledge
workers can have
this? This is the
future.


Organizations now use YouTube too!

Executives can talk to information workers with it
Sales wins can be celebrated globally in real time
Knowledge Management through interviews and examples
Training for customers, employees and business partners
Building social relationships between regions and offices

But you must allow for viewing, finding, tagging, rating, ranking
commenting and sharing


The new company recruiter. Everyone
We’ve turned every
employee into a
recruiter. If you click
on the jobs listings in
my Facebook profile
and apply for a job I
automatically get the
referral bonus
without any effort.
My profile real estate
is being used to
generate revenue for
me and help my
company at the
same time

What does this all mean?

Let social touch every part of your
business. Its probably one of your
best bets for transformation
during these times.


In Summary - 5 Reasons
for a Symbiotic Relationship


Thank You
Shiv Singh
Shiv.singh@razorfish.com
http://www.goingsocialnow.com
http://www.theappgap.com
Twitter: shivsingh


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