I have been too sick the past little while to blog. Is the downfall of social media is now I can everyone that I am sick…does anyone care…should I be back in bed getting better?
Over the past six months, I have seen the a number of vendors show their software, and one thing seems to be standing out for me. Everyone for some odd reason, it infatuated with showing how their product has a weather widget. For me, it has no impact other than I know their product can handle widgets. But, knowing ski conditions for my weekend trip is not going to help me or my enterprise with their day to day activities. For some executives, it seems like a time waster (which leads to visions of every employee on Facebook 4 hours a day).
Weather Widget
So, here is my advice for all those widget creators. Create a widget that would seem valuable for the enterprise worker. Such as a widget that allows me to track certain individuals…or internal communication…or forum topics…or posted videos. Allow it to customizable. Create a widget that will deliver knowledge to the worker to make them more productive. That is a widget that shows value.
And yes, I suppose you could keep the weather widget as we all need a life outside of work.
Read a great article over at Binaryplex.com about the 10 Principles for Enterprise Social Software Adoption. Below is a summary:
Principle 1: Limit Social Software Data to Basic Security (Username/Password) Only
Principle 2: Social Software should use Authoritative Sources for relevant information.
Principle 3: Simple, Ubiquitous and Adaptable Access
Principle 4: Global Sharing (largest number of users)
Principle 5: Modular, Highly Integrated, Open Services
Principle 6: Configuration not Customization
Principle 7: Build for Rapid Growth
Principle 8: Designed for the people
Principle 9: Authority should be devolved to the lowest common denominator
Principle 10: People not Documents
It’s so interesting to see more and more articles talking about making enterprise adoption easier…rather than seeing blogs about selling social media to your executive team. Now that it’s getting in the door, let’s see who survives and who are the causalities.
