Bill- It seems that people, especially those with either limited time or limited resources, which I guess is most managers these days, want to speed up the change management process a bit. Well, social systems are very complex and require research, time, and most importantly understanding. Best practices, a term which I usually equate to large firms wishing to brand their research as somehow, well, "best," fail to take into account the uniqueness of each client. True, there are good ways to do things from the experiences and trials of many organizations, but as you point out, it is necessary to think about this adoption trend. I think we are at a pivotal time right now, with E2.0 adoption and geniune potential of changing the way organizations "do" collaboration, learning, and innovation. My hope is that the large firms recognize that they are only studying a certain aspect of the debate, and need to broaden understanding before prematurely calling their work "Best Practices." I would like to see more partnerships and collaborations between research outfits that have strengths in certain areas. What we need is a better model, and I am not sure anyone has the best approach out there... I am actually trying to study some of this right now at E2.0 Pros, and would love to access those of which Forrester (or others) has researched. I want to refine the discussion a bit and get more qualitative understanding about company uniqueness and trials from which they learned. Very best, Jeff Wilfong http://e20pros.com

Christy, indeed communities form in a multitude of ways, definitely not according to the Org chart. They form via viral effects, haphazard effects and from prodding effects. They form from interest, momentum, and peer pressure effects. The best design approach would be to make it simple as possible and step out of the way. Managers need to use the tools without building into the reporting structure. Great post! Jeff

Totally agree that the most junior marketer should not have the design chair. As a Gen Yer, I know that I have many experiences in technology and grew up with it. However, the language of marketing is very sophisticated and just because someone is familiar with a tool does not mean they really know it. I would want to be part of a diverse panel of experts in designing any social media campaign. For instance, my background is in psychology, tech, and organization development. I would want to throw in a CTO, someone from IT, a business analyst, marketing experts, and HR people before rolling out anything!

Great list! Thanks, Bill. I would also put your tweet about Booz Allen and the six learnings...

Man's castle was the foundation of the 4th amendment, and private property figured very heavily to those who came to the new land for something new. Land was very important, sacred territory as you well. However, if you think about it, the land is tied to the earth. 4th amendment seems to get murky around automobiles, public property, personal property and the like. Why should data be treated like land? The biggest fear of the cloud is that it will be susceptible to searches, and failures. People will just have to take that risk.

Such a great series. Thanks for all the information.

Bill, Yes! Social networks are going to have to begin the filter of this onslaught of information that we receive daily. If they do not do it, how could we possibly rely on stale algorithms to catch what interests us? Sure the marketers want to think they have a handle on our interests, but I would say that our friends, peers, and colleagues actually "know" us. As usual, always enjoy reading your posts. Enjoy the French Quarter.

Fantastic article and very inspiring. Please message me any other experiments of mass-crowdsourcing going on out there. I wish to learn more.

Great post! What research on the psychology side of social networks, social media, or the Enterprise solutions have you come across? Msg me.

I would like more writing on the social part of the organization. Rather than limit all of the 2.0 movement to simply about increasing the 'numbers.' Profit, ROI and other KPIs are great, but they still do not mean that the organization is creating anything that is innovative, of value, or of any lasting importance. What happened to the learning organization and trying to help the Gen Yers learn from the wisdom of Baby Boomers? Performance is always measured in the short-run [at least in America], and therefore, learning and wisdom will never be assessed using this framework. Knowledge takes time, social networks need to evolve. Many Enterprise 2.0 and IT solutions have failed basically because they neglect the social/process dimension of people. Bring the psychologists, Web architects, mathematicians, and IT managers together to truly right the killer App. Until a more holistic group of people get together, I doubt much good assessment of the KPIs of Enterprise 2.0 will be accomplished. However, this is a great article. Because people's ability to get the job done is directly related to the social network effect of how work gets done. I definitely think it is on track!

My wife and I have been thinking a lot on computer/TV lately. The technology and interest are there, the broadband networks should be accessible, so why the wait? People's lives are so busy, and if we can integrate activities, rather than keeping everything separate, I think we will have more free time. If I think of a tweet while watching a TV show, I could simply open up a window on my TV and tweet away. Right now, I have to use twice the amount of energy by having a TV on, and a Mac on my lap. Integration is good!

I agree with the premise of the article. Numbers of people rarely mean anything. What is the quality of the participant group? Do they get their job done any better than without the tools? Do the tools take more time away from their work and actually make them less productive? Objective, quantitative measures are always helpful to rule on the efficiency of a system. However, a social network is by definition, social, and when people interact within an Enterprise 2.0 system it is social by nature. Social interactions are filled with so many fuzzy variables like trust, more frequent communication, relationships that are built (which would not have happened otherwise), etc. Only measuring quantitative, ROI type variables for Enterprise 2.0 usefulness is folly. Marketing and finance departments can have clear revenue indicators, but a social network does not have a clear numerical indicator. The mathematics oriented person wants to believe that everything can come down to numbers, and this is mindset of most business people. However, as complexity in the business environment has shown us, numbers are often only part of the picture. Good points!