garykoelling

We've heard of the social graph. As in mapping the social graph. Revealing relationships between people. It's a useful concept if not a very well named one. But I'm beginning to see another concept that I am gathering info on. And it is disturbing.

It's called (you can't write this stuff) Social Path, I shit you not. Social Path. Or socialpath. Hah. Like I said I'll explore this more in the coming days and weeks but here's a sneak - it's how advertisers reach their consumers using social media. Oy.

Recently got a question about Groundswell via LinkedIn

INMAIL: YOU HAVE A NEW MESSAGE

Subject RE: Enabling groundswell in an enterprise

On 6/22/08 12:33 PM, Jill [name]  wrote:
--------------------
I am a researcher/manager/innovator working at [company] and exploring social media as a mechanism for empowering employees to participate in innovation and company transformation. Like everyone interested in social media these days, I am enthralled by the story about Blue Shirt Nation. I'm also intrigued by the experiments you are trying with vendors and local store communities.

I've read a bunch about Blue Shirt Nation, but I was hoping to learn more. I am specifically interested in whether or not there are specific mechanisms for ideas from Blue Shirt Nation to receive funding.

I understand that one huge benefit of the community is the ability for associates to pose problems and collaborate to find solutions. But are there instances where new ideas are specifically targeted for funding? In Groundswell , Li and Bernoff give the example of how associates got email. My question is - who is monitoring and reviewing those ideas? How are they being raised and acted on by senior management? What is your point-of-view on the role (if any) of senior management in the community?

I wondered if you would be willing to share some insight, based on your experience. I am also happy to share more about what I am trying to do at [company].

I can be reached through LinkedIn or at jill@[company].com

Thanks,
Jill

On 6/26/08 2:45 PM, Gary Koelling wrote:
--------------------
Jill,

Hi, thanks for the email. Happy to answer your questions best I can.

You question about how or when ideas are specifically targeted for funding is a great one. This is probably one of the biggest challenges of trying to map a social network onto a corporate hierarchy - lot of gaps. We would see conversations spin up around ideas that would get posted and almost inevitably the thread would surge and then fade as the question of “Who do we talk to?” emerged. In some instances people who knew people were in on the conversation or knew who to talk to. In a few cases someone would take the initiative to find someone who could help. In most cases, the conversation died and idea just hung out there.

We’ve tried a couple things and have employeed a couple different approaches to help jump this gap.

In November of 07 we launched the Loop Marketplace as a sister site to BlueShirt Nation (BSN). The Loop is kind of an idea launch pad. BSN users can log in to the Loop and submit their idea by answering a series of questions that are meant to help frame the idea in business terms by helping identify the end user, the problem, the objective, etc. Once the idea is posted anyone with a budget can (who visits the loop) can see the idea and ask questions or hit the big “Fund This” button. At that point the idea person and the budget holder are connected and the gap in essentially crossed. To be clear, this is a pretty rickety bridge at this point and there are widely divergent opinions coming to bear on how to strengthen the tool.

Right now there is little awareness and there are no real incentives to engage and look for deals that might fit their business needs. Discussion around how that may be addressed is beginning to surface also.

What the solutions are, I’m not sure. What I am confident of is that if we keep platform for trying things open and flexible we have a much better chance of finding solutions.

LinkedIn

INMAIL: YOU HAVE A NEW MESSAGE

Subject RE: Enabling groundswell in an enterprise

Gary,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. The Blue Shirt Nation story is really inspiring, especially the grassroots nature. While we are at the front end of our work, it's obvious to me that we may have the opposite challenge ahead of us. That is, we have commitment of senior management and funding - but yet to build a community. And true authentic community is not going to emerge because senior management wants it. So we have an interesting road ahead of us.

The Loop sounds really interesting because it puts power in the hands of middle management. That anyone with a budget can fund something (or, presumably, request expertise/feedback.) I guess experimentation is key.

Thanks again!

Jill