I joined Facebook only a month or so ago, being a late bloomer in this online frenzy. Having also checked out MySpace, there are a few things that make Facebook superior whether it is used for social networking or professional collaboration with implications that easily translate into making a professional collaboration system a success or a failure.
1. A successfully integrated solution
The website's individual pieces (posting notes, sending messages, posting photos) are integrated in each other in a very clever way. People are tagged into them, enabling the site to build a structure where each member are not only participating in what he or she is publishing - but also in what others are publishing.
The implications for professional use are that a discussion topic will enable the publisher to tag employees that should participate or would have an interest in the discussion - encouraging participation. It is also much easier to keep track of developments in discussions where you or your fields of expertise are involved.
2. One-stop shopping
As was mentioned in the blog; having integrated enough functions and enabling the member to have a dashboard to view all relevant changes and developments is an important element of Facebook's success. MySpace is severely lacking from this.
The implication for professional use is higher participation through an easy overview of all relevant "news". This can be combined with corporate announcements, your calendar for the day and so forth. The key is that the user can quickly find the latest relevant activity.
3. Keeping it simple
It is the good old debate of usability. Customizing your profile is an artistic expression at the expense of download time and confusion when animated buttons, videos and music are competing for attention. Facebook is sleeker, quicker, and easier to navigate than its MySpace counterpart.
The last thing, which is so apparent that I will not list it with the rest, is network externalities. Besides friends from college, you will find founders of major e-commerce companies, venture capitalists, and others using Facebook as a media for discussion and learning, elevating Facebook to a different level. In a company, the network externalities are given, as long as a good solution keeps the body of members active. And such solutions have a lot to learn from Facebook. In fact, one may even wonder if Facebook will consider selling professional platforms to elevate companies to the new generation of collaboration and learning.
Tac Anderson
· 2 years ago
Having been an early adopter of MySpace (almost 4 years ago) I have always wondered why more 2.0 companies don't get the integration piece. I love 37 signals products but seriously why don't they integrate together? I see a lot of companies building single products and am blown away by their obliviousness to the concept that 'I don't want an uber cool stand alone calendar'.
Microsoft has always understood this, their products may be inferior by themselves but integrated they've dominated the business world. If small 2.0 companies want to be able to compete with the big boys they had better figure this out quickly.
Mark Bower
· 2 years ago
Have you seen the social features of SharePoint MySites recently Andrew? There are a lot of similarities with your facebook description. If you haven't and would like a demo contact me and I'll set up a live meeting. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.
Rex Lee
· 2 years ago
One of most fascinating things about facebook is that "it's the web space that's about nothing." and that by itself offers E2.0 opportunities.
I read an article awhile back where the author explained that Facebook was a fad because there was no real purpose. After the initial thrill of building your friend network... Then what?
But that's exactly the point. It's about tapping into the informal social chatter and there is definite enterprise advantages.
1. Builds deeper relationships faster which ultimately lead to increased liklihood of interaction. I've noticed the "work" friends that I hadn't known well, I feel as if I know them really well and more likely to reach out to them and help them out now. Current communication vehicles (beyond face-to-face interaction) completely miss this. How likely would you have sent a mass e-mail to work colleagues asking if they caught the season finale of Lost. What's the value of that? relationship...
2. Provides Opportunities for collaboration. It's like the coffee breaks at a conference. That's where the most value is. Everything else, I can likely download from somewhere but that chance encounter to share experiences, with someone else has proven to be much more valueable. I may read a status from someone saying they are frustrated with Project XYZ, and because of my relationship may offer to help out. I may never have known otherwise. It is awareness of the opportunity plus the relationship that increases liklihood of collaboration.
3. Provides identity for employees. You are more than a number. I love the Picasso quotation, "Computers are useless all they can do is give you answers." because it talks to the fact that the real value is in the question and the creative aspects which are very human. When we forget that lesson and treat people as computers with a well defined 'job description' and script... They will be as motivated as a computer...
If a company is looking to increase collaboration (and who doesn't) then they should look at the aspects of Facebook. IS there a downside, and risk to 'productivity;. Sure there is but there are ways to increase the upside and minimize the downside...
seo minneapolis
· 2 years ago
Well I have to be honest and say that I have not used Facebook, but I do use MySpace. From my understanding they are similar except that Facebook focuses on schools and MySpace has a much broader focus. It sounds like a nice site, although it is kind of frightening that you can have your entire class list available for all to see. No thanks!
Arjun Thomas
· 2 years ago
Nice article on facebook... however i'm more of a myspace user.... though when it comes to getting in touch with new people i still prefer linkedin...
cheers, Arjun Thomas
Janet Johnson
· 2 years ago
Enterprise 2.0 application adoption in the enterprise has been largely stifled by two forces:
1) lack of standards - few IT organizations will find the .NET vs. LAMP (stack-level) standardization acceptable as enterprise-worthy, yet are fearful of dealing with startups who go beyond that in developing new software. Employees are left to implement department-level wikis and blogs to communicate, continuing to work in silos around an organization.
2) lack of understanding - at the CXO level, there is a residual fear of unabashed collaboration, conversations and transparent controversy even behind the firewall.
Meanwhile, more enlightened IT organizations are just beginning to subscribe (pun intended) to the notion that persistent searches and smart feeds (getting the right information to the right people at the right time) are productivity tools for knowledgeworkers.
Until companies like Attensa (http://www.attensa.com - Enterprise 2.0 RSS solutions) and SixApart (http://www.sixapart.com - business blog software) can make their ways into Enterprise 2.0 organizations and be adopted on a mass scale (alone or together); we'll find intrepid business and educational leaders like yourself trying on Facebook for size.
Gee Ekachai
· 2 years ago
Not so sure how Facebook could be applied in business environment since its main attraction (especially among teens), focuses on self presentation (in many cases, self promotion)and as mentioned in your blog, a desire to be popular. It has become, in my opinion, a space where college kids want to share to the world the happiest, craziest times. It is also a venue for brand-driven teens to show off their latest designer jeans or $1,000 Gucci handbags. As the Chicago Tribune's May 31 editorial has pointed out" "It's hard to blame American kids for being fantastically self-centered, not in the age of MySpace and Facebook. Kids can boast of having 1,000 or 10,000 "friends," can celebrate themselves, their tastes, their parties, their music, their romances, their peccadilloes, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. All me, all the time!"
Using Facebook to build friend/social network is one thing, using it for social chatters or work collaboration is possible technically but it would lose the same "sexiness" of the original platform because the purpose of its use is not the same.
Edmund Ng
· 2 years ago
Glad to know you're using Linked-In as well. However I do think FaceBook is more personal and much more interactive. Linked-In acts more like a contacts directory and lacked the kind of bonding and interactivity. Nor does it have interest groupings.
Thierry FAUCHER
· 2 years ago
Clair Michalon describes two trends, in his grid "The Right to mistake" ( http://pod-university.com/files/The_right_to_mi... ), precariousness on one side , security on the other . There are as much intervals as people on earth.
In precariousness, taking an initiative is considered as taking a risk and represents a danger. While in security, this initiative is a plue-value. For social groups subjected to precariousness, the energy spent to build and maintain personalized relations at every moment of the life is the best and only way to ensure the continuity of the group.
What should be deducted from the development of SNS (Social Networking Software)? Should we see a survival instinct faced with an uncertain future? Does the globalization and the fast development of business affect to such a sense of precariousness, that we feel the need to create links, and be recognized regarding our relationships network?
web hosting
· 1 year ago
Well I have to be honest and say that I have not used Facebook, but I do use MySpace. From my understanding they are similar except that Facebook focuses on schools and MySpace has a much broader focus. It sounds like a nice site, although it is kind of frightening that you can have your entire class list available for all to see. No thanks!
Buy Gumbo
· 1 year ago
Yes, all my colleagues are starting to use facebook, too. Talk about peer-pressure. Hey, there's even a Facebook for Dummies book. That says it all.
Nice article on facebook! Using Facebook to build friend/social network is one thing, using it for social chatters or work collaboration is possible technically but it would lose the same “sexiness” of the original platform because the purpose of its use is not the same.
web design uk
· 1 year ago
I can likely download from somewhere but that chance encounter to share experiences, with someone else has proven to be much more valueable. I may read a status from someone saying they are frustrated with Project XYZ, and because of my relationship may offer to help out. I may never have known otherwise. It is awareness of the opportunity plus the relationship that increases liklihood of collaboration.
Moving Pods
· 1 year ago
Facebook, and other web 2.0 social sites, are truly perfect for centralized conversations and keeping in touch with others. Although for a business situation it be hard to use Facebook as their may be a confusion of business and personal uses. A separate self-served service would probably need to be used.
Webmaster Services
· 1 year ago
think one is the power of one-stop shopping, or an integrated collaboration environment. My current Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 interactions are scattered across a number of tools. While itÂ’s not an overwhelming hassle to check them all throughout the day, it is a bit of work.
Flood Damage
· 1 year ago
WOW! That was a lot of information. I have never used Facebook or My Space since I am 46 and have been married forever. My grown kids do use My Space and Facebook and I just wonder how they would react if I suddenly showed up there? At least now I know enough about them both to consider it.
Website design gloucestershire
· 8 months ago
A website like facebook is an inspirational use of the internet and is a significant insight to the future use of websites and the internet, as far as networking is concerned all possibilities should be exploited in my opinion.
Link Building
· 8 months ago
I must admit I am just now understanding Facebook. Have been messing with it for 2 years, but see its personal use and business use now. We recommend it for all of our clients social media marketing.
Website Marketing
· 7 months ago
I think facebook took off because the older generation and more mature adults needed an alternative to Myspace. That is my true belief. Now, the sites that will succeed are social sites in niches - like Family social sites with unique attributes for families.
All Comments
1. A successfully integrated solution
The website's individual pieces (posting notes, sending messages, posting photos) are integrated in each other in a very clever way. People are tagged into them, enabling the site to build a structure where each member are not only participating in what he or she is publishing - but also in what others are publishing.
The implications for professional use are that a discussion topic will enable the publisher to tag employees that should participate or would have an interest in the discussion - encouraging participation. It is also much easier to keep track of developments in discussions where you or your fields of expertise are involved.
2. One-stop shopping
As was mentioned in the blog; having integrated enough functions and enabling the member to have a dashboard to view all relevant changes and developments is an important element of Facebook's success. MySpace is severely lacking from this.
The implication for professional use is higher participation through an easy overview of all relevant "news". This can be combined with corporate announcements, your calendar for the day and so forth. The key is that the user can quickly find the latest relevant activity.
3. Keeping it simple
It is the good old debate of usability. Customizing your profile is an artistic expression at the expense of download time and confusion when animated buttons, videos and music are competing for attention. Facebook is sleeker, quicker, and easier to navigate than its MySpace counterpart.
The last thing, which is so apparent that I will not list it with the rest, is network externalities. Besides friends from college, you will find founders of major e-commerce companies, venture capitalists, and others using Facebook as a media for discussion and learning, elevating Facebook to a different level. In a company, the network externalities are given, as long as a good solution keeps the body of members active. And such solutions have a lot to learn from Facebook. In fact, one may even wonder if Facebook will consider selling professional platforms to elevate companies to the new generation of collaboration and learning.
Microsoft has always understood this, their products may be inferior by themselves but integrated they've dominated the business world. If small 2.0 companies want to be able to compete with the big boys they had better figure this out quickly.
I read an article awhile back where the author explained that Facebook was a fad because there was no real purpose. After the initial thrill of building your friend network... Then what?
But that's exactly the point. It's about tapping into the informal social chatter and there is definite enterprise advantages.
1. Builds deeper relationships faster which ultimately lead to increased liklihood of interaction. I've noticed the "work" friends that I hadn't known well, I feel as if I know them really well and more likely to reach out to them and help them out now. Current communication vehicles (beyond face-to-face interaction) completely miss this. How likely would you have sent a mass e-mail to work colleagues asking if they caught the season finale of Lost. What's the value of that? relationship...
2. Provides Opportunities for collaboration. It's like the coffee breaks at a conference. That's where the most value is. Everything else, I can likely download from somewhere but that chance encounter to share experiences, with someone else has proven to be much more valueable. I may read a status from someone saying they are frustrated with Project XYZ, and because of my relationship may offer to help out. I may never have known otherwise. It is awareness of the opportunity plus the relationship that increases liklihood of collaboration.
3. Provides identity for employees. You are more than a number. I love the Picasso quotation, "Computers are useless all they can do is give you answers." because it talks to the fact that the real value is in the question and the creative aspects which are very human. When we forget that lesson and treat people as computers with a well defined 'job description' and script... They will be as motivated as a computer...
If a company is looking to increase collaboration (and who doesn't) then they should look at the aspects of Facebook. IS there a downside, and risk to 'productivity;. Sure there is but there are ways to increase the upside and minimize the downside...
cheers,
Arjun Thomas
1) lack of standards - few IT organizations will find the .NET vs. LAMP (stack-level) standardization acceptable as enterprise-worthy, yet are fearful of dealing with startups who go beyond that in developing new software. Employees are left to implement department-level wikis and blogs to communicate, continuing to work in silos around an organization.
2) lack of understanding - at the CXO level, there is a residual fear of unabashed collaboration, conversations and transparent controversy even behind the firewall.
Meanwhile, more enlightened IT organizations are just beginning to subscribe (pun intended) to the notion that persistent searches and smart feeds (getting the right information to the right people at the right time) are productivity tools for knowledgeworkers.
Until companies like Attensa (http://www.attensa.com - Enterprise 2.0 RSS solutions) and SixApart (http://www.sixapart.com - business blog software) can make their ways into Enterprise 2.0 organizations and be adopted on a mass scale (alone or together); we'll find intrepid business and educational leaders like yourself trying on Facebook for size.
As the Chicago Tribune's May 31 editorial has pointed out"
"It's hard to blame American kids for being fantastically self-centered, not in the age of MySpace and Facebook. Kids can boast of having 1,000 or 10,000 "friends," can celebrate themselves, their tastes, their parties, their music, their romances, their peccadilloes, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. All me, all the time!"
Using Facebook to build friend/social network is one thing, using it for social chatters or work collaboration is possible technically but it would lose the same "sexiness" of the original platform because the purpose of its use is not the same.
There are as much intervals as people on earth.
In precariousness, taking an initiative is considered as taking a risk and represents a danger. While in security, this initiative is a plue-value.
For social groups subjected to precariousness, the energy spent to build and maintain personalized relations at every moment of the life is the best and only way to ensure the continuity of the group.
What should be deducted from the development of SNS (Social Networking Software)? Should we see a survival instinct faced with an uncertain future? Does the globalization and the fast development of business affect to such a sense of precariousness, that we feel the need to create links, and be recognized regarding our relationships network?
http://0470262737.buygumbo.com/Facebook-For-Dum...