Take a moment and imagine yourself being on your favorite sports team. In order to perform well and win, you would need to collaborate with other team members, wouldn’t you? In addition to sports, collaboration is an extremely important concept in corporate communications. You need teamwork inside and outside your company for effective communication.
To make sure we are all on the same page, let’s start off by defining collaboration in terms of new social media. In Joel Postman’s book, SocialCorp, he describes collaboration as one of the eight benefits of using new social media to develop stronger relationships with customers and other audiences. When I say new social media, I am referring to Web 2.0 technology like wikis, blogs, online communities and the like.
Collaboration helps advance the workplace by building relationships inside and outside of your company. Internally, social media is being used by management and engineering teams to help improve communication and the development of new products. New social media, such as internal blogs or online communities strengthen levels of engagement and intimacy between employees. Externally, social media is being used with outside developers and business associates to make communication and workflow more efficient. Also, social media is being used for customer opinions and suggestions about new or existing products.
Before starting this blog, I began reading and performing research on other professional corporate communication blogs. I collaborated with team members via a wiki where my team members and I posted information, voiced our opinions, and answered questions. Along the way, we built a strong relationship by sharing information and collaborating ideas. More and more companies are beginning to use new social media in very similar ways.
For example, IBM uses social networking, web conferences, and instant messaging to collaborate inside and outside their company. Private conversations are turning into public conversations because one person’s knowledge can now be shared with numerous people. Smart companies like IBM use collaboration for ways to connect employees, partners, customers and others to form a world of new innovators.
5 Comments
February 26, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Mandy,
I like that you use IBM as a prime example of social media utility. Both of my parents work for IBM and have participated in wiki’s and blogs.
However, my dad does government consulting and doesn’t actually have an office or desk because he’s on the go in and around D.C. and Baltimore everyday.
My mom, on the other hand, works from home and sits in front of her computer screen 8-9 hours a day.
Both of my parents have hesitated to use IBM’s vast array of social media because of their work situations. My dad doesn’t have the time, and my mom is so bombarded by constant computer use that she doesn’t want to volunteer anymore of her time in front of the computer.
It’d be interesting to see later on in this blog how organizations actually get their employees, and other stakeholders, to participate in Web 2.0. What’s in it for them? Why should they spend time participating?
February 27, 2009 at 5:56 am
Social media keeps changing constantly and it has become the new innovative way to communicate. These new communication techniques are what collaboration is becoming. Like you mentioned, wikis are becoming a new, fascinating way for groups to exchange information and talk to each other without having to meet in person. Most communication is being done online without ever having to leave your computer. This collaboration is seen at Microsoft. They use new social media tools to finish projects and to drive done costs of more traditional forms of communicating. Including your IBM example, these are already two major companies that have joined in on this technology. I wonder how many others are following suit.
There is an article from Microsoft that explains how they are incorporating these new social media tools to collaborate that could be helpful.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/feb09/02-18OGSocialMediaPR.mspx
February 28, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Mandy,
Collaboration is such a large part of corporate blogging and social networking that it is hard to avoid it. In fact, the more companies establish their presence on social networks they are establishing external and internal communication. This internal communication really focuses on collaboration of employees.
Dell really has a good handle on the idea of internal collaboration. When the set-up IdeaStorm, they realized an internal form would be just as beneficial if not essential to the company. Thus, they created EmployeeStorm to work internally within the company. Dell really showed the importance of hearing from their employees and working with them to continue improving the company.
February 28, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Mandy, you have done a great job explaining what collaboration means in the context of Web 2.0. Having collaborated on a wiki with you, I see how easy it is to communicate with many people to research and to edit ideas. Our short term wiki use was an example of how collaboration can occur for public relations and for different companies on a larger scale. Without an established form of collective communication, ideas can get lost. E-mail has become too cluttered and so wikis provide a great alternative to collaborate on ideas. Common Craft has a fun video, “Wikis in Plain English,” that might be interesting for you to watch or to explain how collaboration can work using this tool.
March 1, 2009 at 12:54 am
Lindsey,
I am glad you could relate to my example of IBM. I will definitely keep your questions in mind as I continue to progress along! Thank you.
Heather,
Thanks for the article on Microsoft. I will definitely take a look at it and hopefully incorporate it into a later post on collaboration!
Sarah,
I love the Common Craft videos! I will be sure to watch it!