Is social computing biting the heels of the enterprise?
I've been thinking about what it means to work for an enterprise and how this situation will change for people over the next decade or so. On first blush, it might seem obvious -- you (a worker) enter into a contract with a corporation where you apply your knowledge, skills and creative aptitude to create, produce, solve, communicate, etc... "stuff" for a minimum of 40 hours per week in exchange for pay, healthcare, fringe benefits, and some sense of security about the future. Let's call the application of knowledge, skills, etc..., as described above, "work" (I know for some lucky people, it doubles as play). And let's assume that as you work, you engage with particular people within the enterprise (maybe each of these people represent a larger set of people and work) and, in some cases, outside the boundaries of the enterprise -- customers, partners, suppliers, analysts, subject matter experts.
Hey, that's a great case for a social computing platform, right?
Let's let everyone mingle in an emergent digital (i.e., geography-agnostic) space that can capture connections, ideas, notes for later, stray thoughts. I was a big fan of the social computing tools IBM was starting to release while I was there, as they helped me do my work. It was fun to be part of a community of early adopters. These tools, circa early 2007, included WikiCentral Dogear, and W4. Recently, I've been walked through some of the newer tools such as Cattail, Fringe, and Beehive. In my new role, I consult with other enterprises about what sorts of experiences they should provide to their customers, partners and employees via digital platforms.
For context, the generic names of these tool sets include: (the well-worn) blog, wiki (e.g., Wikipedia, of course), social network (e.g., Linked In), social bookmarking (e.g., del.icio.us), micro-blogging (e.g., Twitter), location-based services (e.g., Dodgeball, Brightkite) and what I think of as community-curated content sites such as Digg.com, Last.fm, and even Flickr, a photo sharing site. Hey, some of these ideas aren't that new -- but the way they're executed and delivered is fresh in one way or another (that Web 2.0 je ne sais qua).
More fun at work
Everyone loves this stuff! It's fun to make work more social, and more digital. Why is digital fun? More exposure to images and sounds -- in other words, more media. The tools' interfaces are getting more interesting -- less wonky than traditional software packages and less hierarchical than traditional web sites. Many of them have a sense of humor. These tools make it possible for people to just *be* online, socially. Last decade, someone spending hours a day online was a loner. Now you can spend hours online being social – cultivating relationships that are essential for your work and play. And for work-related purposes, you can be online with or without a task plan or a particular intention. You can hang out, and information will find you -- information you knew you needed, and also information you didn't know you needed. Your social digital self has become a magnet, and all you have to do is show up. This is really the key.
Picture this. You have a platform, whether provided by your enterprise or part of the public digital fabric, and you're hanging out there with your friends, colleagues, and other associates -- people from your industry, your clients, your partners, etc. What do you talk about? Everyone's there, curious and listening! What is company confidential information? Do we care what our clients think about how we spend our time online? About who we know? Are we inadvertently introducing clients to partners when we prefer to keep the business to ourselves? As we think out loud, are other people profiting from our ideas?
A challenge to the enterprise identity
A company that feels it has a lot to lose (rightly or wrongly) might get a crook in their neck and reinforce their enterprise boundaries. “Smart companies” (or maybe just contemporary companies) are letting it all unfold to form a new landscape, terrain, playing field -- choose your geographic metaphor. Let the cards fall where they may. We don’t know what’s possible yet, so we don’t have a plan to encourage or discourage it.
I think a better way to come at this is to separate the questions that stem from merely a fear of the unknown from the questions that have real implications for business. Which ones are those? I think this is ultimately about a shift in the definition of work and employment. Perhaps, going forward, working for an enterprise means that you're playing on a team. Which team? That's the million dollar question. It could be the senior executives and the board of directors. It could be everyone else who's also loyal to and playing for this team at any given moment -- a community. It could even be the brand, rather than a group of individuals, per se.
The implications for long-term loyalty and affiliation differ greatly among these options. My gut says that the kind of team that wins the greatest loyalty is the one inspired by the brand, much as in professional sports. You can be a Yankee fan for decades, even as the players and management change, and even though you're not even *on* the team, yourself! I always found this fascinating. Is it a blind love? On the other hand, if you're playing to line someone else's pockets (or if that's simply how you feel about your contribution), then there's a very short-lived need for loyalty -- defined exactly by the terms of your employment. Let's say, for good measure, that community is somewhere in between; that there are a lot of variables in the make up of a community; and that community, while varied and complex, is probably the locus of the answers to my pondering questions.
Where does this leave us, or me, with this line of thinking. I wanted to pin this back to a practical set of questions about what it means to work for an enterprise. If you follow my logic, then what kind of contract should a person have with an enterprise -- or with several enterprises, concurrently or over time? Where will our current employer/employee relationship model begin (or continue) to disintegrate, and how will social digital platforms accelerate the process? For example, as a former and fairly recent IBMer, I would love to be able to peruse the IBM org chart and other connections to locate expertise from my community. (Yes, I said “my” community.)
Looking at this question from a different angle: What could an enterprise of the future be -- what would its constitution be? Employees, assets, debts… or something else? If you agree with the premise that the boundaries are shifting, then doesn’t it follow that the full shape and make-up of the enterprise will need to be rethought?
I’d love to hear your thoughts about the role social computing plays in our relationships with enterprises.
With gratitude,
Ruth Kaufman
User experience person @Avenue A | Razorfish; formerly creative problem solver @IBM/ibm.com
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