We’ve had amazing discussions around article content on Pinyadda this week. The ideas and knowledge being shared is incredible. It underscores how our information system can really advance the power of the collective mind. I also had the pleasure of listening to Mikolaj Jan Piskorski (Misiek) speak this week, who believes there is an unfulfilled need for a social networking platform for internal use at companies. By enabling and facilitating collective intelligence, Pinyadda could be an effective social networking platform for fostering innovation, communication, and community in the workplace.
Misiek spoke at a “fireside chat” at Vilna Shul (a true hidden gem in Beacon Hill with a phenomenal history of Jewish culture in Boston). An HBS strategy professor who teaches “Competing with Social Networks”), Misiek has done extensive research and written numerous case studies on these networks. If you haven’t read his work or seen his data analyses in the news, you’re really missing out. Schooled in sociology, he offers a unique, non-marketer perspective of social networking—way deeper than it as a channel—that strikes the core of why we as humans are engaging so fervently on these platforms. This includes, among others, needs to stay connected with the people we care about and needs to look for new job opportunities.
After he opened the floor for questions, someone asked if he thought there were still needs (opportunities) for new social networks. He offered two examples: one for “girls only” and one for enterprise/corporate environments. The latter struck the biggest chord with me. Having previously worked in consulting I have heard first-hand HR heads express that they realize the power of social media and want to use it internally to cultivate corporate culture and community. However, they know employees aren’t going to discuss at work how hard they’re going to party on Friday night.
As a result, companies have created Twitter handles, perhaps allow their employees to blog, add knowledge to wikis, create a fan page on Facebook, etc. Misiek remarked that what’s missing, and why these don’t actually drive engagement and community within companies, is that the initiatives aren’t adding direct, true value to the employee’s day-to-day responsibilities. More important, they’re not addressing a need in these employees’ life. On the flip side, they are also not effectively adding measurable value to the larger company’s mission or competitiveness. They’re basically just allowing the company to say, “See, we’re totally on the social band wagon.”
Enter the discussions around content we’ve seen really take off this week on Pinyadda after opening up in public beta. We’re truly seeing community amass around content: ideas being exchanged and built upon and experiences and perspective being shared. It’s reinforced my hypothesis about the value Pinyadda could offer in the workplace. Pinyadda might not only be a place to have your industry news served to you. Nor might it only be a place to discover and discuss breaking news or useful blog posts that can help your business learn to be better. Pinyadda can enable employees to see, for example, what their boss or CEO is reading and allows them to add their own thoughts, experiences, and ideas about the item in real-time.
From the employee’s perspective, imagine, now you’re no longer employee #2384 in the cube by the bathroom in the Minneapolis office. You have an identity and are sharing your ideas and knowledge cross-departmentally and with other employees and senior managers, perhaps who don’t know you. That’s fulfilling a direct need for both the individual (hey, I’m really valuable and have lots to offer to this firm) AND the company (what are our competitors doing, how can we do things differently, here’s a new idea and fresh perspective, employee #2384 is an up-and-coming leader).
At a more basic level, how many links do you receive a day to “check this out” from your boss or buddy in the cube over? Maybe it’s something about work. Maybe a YouTube clip from last night’s Tonight Show. Mostly useless threads of emails follow, cluttering what used to be a communication medium to talk about projects with co-workers and do business with partners and prospective clients. As our product lead Austin often says, I think we’ve advanced enough to separate these link chains from work inboxes with all the different media platforms now available to us. Assuming the link is work-related, the fact remains that these discussions aren’t opened up to the larger company to discuss–the collective intelligence opportunity. Perhaps a different business unit in an office in another country would have an interesting perspective on the item and offer insights that can help the other unit operate more efficiently or consider a new idea.
Bottom line: I think Misiek is absolutely right. There is a gaping opportunity for social products in the workplace. His sociological need perspective explains why most current internal corporate social initiatives aren’t doing so hot. As he noted, successful ones down the road will add value to and address a social need for both employees AND the company’s competitiveness at large. A platform like Pinyadda that can enable companies and employees to reap the benefits of collective intelligence could be an effective solution.
Pinyadda is too early stage at this point to address these needs with a custom product. However, if you are a small working group or business and think you could benefit from using the platform today, please do reach out to us. We’d love to work with you (cheryl[at]pinyadda.com or @cheryllmorris).
Regardless, we’re incredibly jazzed to be seeing some smart, valuable dialogues take place on Pinyadda this week and hope to see more as our early adopter base grows.