Social Networks: Tempest in a Teapot
February 20, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to Conversationblog’s “Enterprise 2.0 Questions – Social Networks a Waste of Time here. The write up points out that “social networks” already exist in organizations. I think I heard that in my high school civics class in 1958, and it is gratifying that organizations consisting of people are social networks. For me, the most interesting comment in the write up was:
it is about setting down guidelines, agree on usage and put the tool – in this case internal social networks – within the company and employee context. Explain how and why the tool can add value – both to the company & the employee (effectiveness, productivity, reduction of search time, creation of virtual teams etc…) and you will probably be positively surprised.
My hunch is that the sticky wicket is the phrase “agree on usage” may become a point of contention in some organizations. Social uses of networks are part of the under 24 year olds’ environment. Before the implosion of one of the largest banks in the US, I watched as MBA wizards used their personal mobile devices and their super secure company laptops. What made this interesting was that I overheard a new hire briefer say that personal communication devices were not to be used in the facility.
Charcoal cooking. Slow, tasty, and best when a cook keeps his / her eye on the veggie burgers.
I think social software has been around for a long time. What’s new is the ubiquity of connectivity. Organizations seem to be getting into hot water. Whether it is the bank in Switzerland coughing up depositer information or the ineptitude of the Securities & Exchange Commission, it is clear that a number of employees, entrepreneurs, and managers do what they want. Social software and ubiquitous real time communications lubricates the flow of information and disinformation. As a result, what control an organization had over its employees is getting harder to exercise.
Charcoal with an accelerant added. Fast, nasty, and no one in his / her right mind wants to watch the consequences.
Consider information. I am amazed at what factoids pop up on Twitter search. More interesting to me is that I can find a reference to a secure information system and then poke around with social systems and unearth specific details of that system. I don’t know if these details are supposed to be floating around like dust motes, but if I were working for a living at a company with Federal contracts, I would feel mightily uncomfortable about the information flowing without control through social communication systems. I know chatter around a water cooler (if these things still exist) is routine, but the speed of information dissemination and the tools available to suck in many factoids raise the stakes in my opinion.
My view is that social software is here. I agree with Conversationblog on this point. I am, however, not convinced that the effects of this information accelerant will be. The difference between charcoal cooking a veggie burger and gun powder is this accelerant angle. Information speed works differently from water cooler chatter. Think explosion. Random explosion at that.
Stephen Arnold, February 20, 2009
Comments
One Response to “Social Networks: Tempest in a Teapot”
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
Hi Stephen,
Great imagery use here…
It is completely true that today’s information can have this explosive way of getting around but on the other hand I am a bit skeptic about the origin of the “risks” here…
If a company plans to use social media within the enterprise then of course these new tools will have to comply to the security infrastructure of the organization… just like their email system has to comply….
The rest is educating employees about how to use their tools in a secure way, making them aware that “tailgating” can be dangerous for the company, as well as copy/pasting sensitive information to a Facebook page…
The problem with security of data most often resides between the chair and the PC… Lots of companies are spending loads of money on infrastructure security but then forget to educate people on a regular basis.
I think this is far more dangerous…