The other day I was discussing with a colleague from a public sector organisation about whether it should be easy for users of a social system to see content produced by other users they choose to include in their personal network. The idea being that, if I add Joe Bloggs to my personal network, it is likely that I care about his ideas and will want to read them
When I suggested this, my colleague’s initial reaction was shock. He thought it was a little “big-brotherish”, that it would be perceived as a way of monitoring what others are doing
After a few seconds though, he changed his mind. “No, you’re right. Yes, that would be a nice feature. That way one can easily see who is contributing or not and one can check if the so-called champions are in fact walking the walk.
What can I say?
On one hand, organisations start to appreciate the potential benefits and start to invest on online social tools. On the other hand, they struggle to change their own behaviour, the culture of their people. I am sure organisations will eventually be able to create, within their online spaces, the sort of interaction, collaboration and sharing that takes place in the “wild world” of the Internet. Until then, we just have to help them make the most of the tools they have (or get) and provide them ideas on how to, slowly, start rethinking their internal processes, culture and view of the world
That is one of the reasons developing the system is just one of the steps in the work we do. Engagement is the other big one.