Seems like this discussion is now touching on two interesting subjects!

Re: internal microblogging ("the initial topic") - Travis, I think this is an amazing idea, and I can't believe that I haven't heard anyone else mention it before now. This works at multiple levels - connects professionals with common interests (as per Alex's thought), helps facilitate communications in large orgs - like IM, only more efficient within a workgroup, and it might even be an effective means of connecting independent professionals into a virtual team. I like it - a lot!

Re: Twitter as a means of enabling information leakage outside an organization - this has been the subject of discussion in most social formats (remember the debate about whether it was a good idea to let employees blog?). I think it's a real concern, one I'd definitely take seriously as a senior exec at a large company (especially, "a large company subject to privacy regulations, or to disclosure regs like SOX). Here's an interesting twist, though - what if the data that drips out 140 characters at a time comes not from your employees but from your customers? IT in Canada just got a new Twitter follower who describes himself (herself?) as "An IT executive desperately seeking to share opinions and insights for the rest of us." S/he is looking to share some insights from a briefing from a supplier in their next Tweet. I'll be watching! - not just these tweets, but this whole category of tweets. Is it possible that Twitter will do to NDAs what Napster did to CD stores?

I would encourage us to not only consider the risks of using Twitter, but also the opportunities. Does the risk of information leakage outweigh the value identifying and seizing new opportunities. Let's not throw out the baby with the bath water.

Use Twitter wisely to your and your organization's benefit.

TrustEnabler, you are starting to remind me a lot of my CEO. I sometimes joke that our SWOT analysis should be renamed a SOOO analysis. In all seriousness though, focusing on the opportunities rather than the risks is a philosophy that has done very well for the company, and we have seen more growth in the last 14 months than at any other time in the company's history, so I have to take your view seriously, even if my gut says its a dangerous proposition.

I do think that since risk and reward are two sides of the same coin, they tend to scale together, and I think that holds true for microblogging about your work for an external audience. So the fact that my gut says the risk is high, should also indicate that the potential opportunity is equally great.

Having said that, you still have to manage the risks that come with the opportunities. To borrow an analogy from one of your other posts, it doesn't make any more sense to have a football team with no defense than it does to have one with no offense (i.e. you can't afford to ignore the opportunities or the risks).

For that reason, I think the bottom line is that every organization should take the time to sit down and try to weigh out both the risks and rewards for their business, and then make a strategic decision based on that assessment.

tmcteer wrote:
TrustEnabler, you are starting to remind me a lot of my CEO. I sometimes joke that our SWOT analysis should be renamed a SOOO analysis.

That's funny!

I guess, though, that the deep thinkers in Stamford disagree with all this stuff about corporate microblogging. From a press release entitled "Gartner Reveals Five Social Software Predictions for 2010 and Beyond," dated Feb 2:

“However, it will be very difficult for microblogging as a stand-alone function to achieve widespread adoption within the enterprise. Twitter's scale is one of the reasons for its popularity,” said Jeffrey Mann, research vice president for Gartner. “When limited to a single enterprise, that same scale is unachievable, reducing the number of users who will find it valuable. Mainstream enterprises are unlikely to adopt standalone, single-purpose microblogging products.

In case you're interested in the balance of the document - the five predictions are:

• By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.


• By 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than 5 percent penetration. (this is the one that the quote above is drawn from)


• Through 2012, over 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail. (I guess it's better to leave this to the to the iPad users than the techies)


• Within five years, 70 percent of collaboration and communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after user experience lessons from smartphone collaboration applications. (maybe I shouldn't have scoffed at iPhone apps in the iPad thread, after all!)


• Through 2015, only 25 percent of enterprises will routinely utilize social network analysis to improve performance and productivity. (that's 'cause the iPad users will be in charge! )

The entire release is available at www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1293114

Looks like Manchester united may have had the right idea keeping it's players away from social media. Right now Raheem Brock of the Colts is choking on what the team claims is actually someone elses foot. Colts management are reporting that Brock's twitter site was hacked after a pretty tasteless picture of Hurricane Katrina appeared on the site with the Colts logo and the caption "Storm bout to hit Miami on Sunday! Lol".

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/stbernard/index.ssf?/base/news-3/126535206594240.xml&coll=1

Interesting discussion here, to which I was recently sent a link to by the folks at ITinCanada.ca.

One thing I find quite interesting here is the seemingly polar opinions about controlling or not permitting employees to use social media, vs. allowing it because it is for personal use.

Perhaps you are familiar with IBM's approach to this, which has been fairly broadly lauded... ultimately, participation in social media (both outside and inside the firewall) is permitted and encouraged, within the constraints of the IBM Business Conduct Guidelines that each IBMer must agree to on an annual basis (after taking an online course that highlights changes and key components of the BCGs).

IBM's Social Computing Guidelines are an addendum to the BCGs, and highlight specific behaviours that are encouraged / not permitted... around specific risks for IBM, such as reputation, intellectual capital, liability, etc. As an IBMer it is clear what I can and can't do, and where I can and can't do it - and it applies equally to a coffee shop, in an email, on the phone or via social media.

Regarding the specific value of microblogging inside the enterprise: Interestingly enough, when this discussion started nine months ago, I would likely have had a similar opinion - that microblogging has little value to the average employee, and should be controlled, but as I have seen it evolve and begun to use it myself, I now find tremendous value in our internal microblogging tool. Of note, though, is that IBM's internal platform does not fall into the stand-alone category. While stand-alone from the public internet (i.e. Twitter) it is highly integrated into the other collaborative and knowledge systems in IBM, so when enhanced with updates on recent activity for those in my network, the value it brings is tremendous. Quantifying that value is, as with so many things in this domain, a challenge. I would put it into the "keeping me in the loop" value bucket for the most part, except when I have a specific urgent need/request for information or perspective from my peers, and at that point, I can easily say that internal microblogging has saved me on the order of days of effort in 2010 alone.
Cheers.

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Personal Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.