Using Social Media for Innovation

Get with the Program!http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/ - Starbucks ideation sites asks people to share, discuss, vote and then see what Starbucks does – they are looking for product ideas, experience ideas and involvement ideas;

at http://www.ideastorm.com/ is Dell’s cloud based sharingmechanism – strongly focused on practical ideas for product +environmental and social responsibility issues…

Point 1

Key message: Clouds (either public or within the corporation) can be hugely useful in generating and testing ideas.

Searching for solutions – post your challenge here….

Seeking: Cheap, effective water treatment system to enable the use and/or re-use of dirty waste water.

Ideas and offers from idea owners….

Water remediation process removes need for heat, chemicals and filtration; 10 x cost savings for hydraulic fracture drilling, offshore, heavy oils, and waste water treatment

Point 2

Key message: Offering and asking in a technical environment like yet2.com creates opportunities you can never imagine….

www.LinkedIn.com

• Professional Network of 80 million people

• Various components of the “system” including groups• 100+ groups associated with

employee engagement• 17 groups associated with oil

sands• 38 with aboriginal issues

• Route to personal email with specific professional colleagues

• Route for sharing blogs• Route for finding jobs…

In My LinkedIn Network…

You are at the center of your network. Your connections can introduce you to 2,100,700+ professionals — here’s how your network breaks down:

Your ConnectionsYour trusted friends and colleagues 259

Two degrees awayFriends of friends; each connected to one of your connections

26,100+

Three degrees awayReach these users through a friend and one of their friends

2,074,300+

Total users you can contact through an Introduction 2,100,700+

Point 3

Key message: Using a professional network can quickly bring benefits… especially via groups and via direct email contact….Also..think about the referral power – if everyone resends an email from me to everyone in their network I can reach 26,000 people in a week or so…..

Human Resources5,963 people

Aboriginal Circle

Groups – Conversations – Book Reviews – Connections - Ideation

City of San Francisco 311 programPeople can send direct messages to sf311, where customer service representatives are available 24/7. This program is for non-emergency reports of city things like: trash removal, abandoned vehicles, potholes, etc. Check it out.Twitter for Customer ServiceDell Computer and Southwest Airlines are just two companies on the list that use Twitter for customer service, by scanning the “Twittersphere” for complaints, general discussions/comments or issues and addressing them directly.Emergency Preparedness and ResponseThe CDC and Red Cross are both using Twitter so that people can report and stay up-to-date on emergencies.Breaking News, Twitter-styleBreaking Tweets is a dynamic news site is based on information and photos shared via Twitter.

Q&AMore and more, people and organizations are using twitter to either ask questions or have folks write in with specific topics or questions to be discussed on blogs, podcasts - or in-person at events. I listen to several podcasts where the producers ask their audience to tweet questions which are then discussed on “air”. This technique is also used during live events that are being streamed online where remote attendees can tweet questions.

Tweetups (Meetings via Twitter)Tweetups are becoming more and more popular - essentially these are local, spontaneous, in-person “meetups” for for Twitter users.

Sharing links, documents, music & videoMost organizations are using twitter to communicate, share and connect content.

Point 4

Key message: Fast paced access to a susbantial network people and an ability to share links and ideas on Twitter and Facebook enables a new idea to occasionally emerge…focused use via groups or Tweetups can be especially helpful…

Quick Sidebar: IM Integrators• There are quick ways to link an idea across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc –

Yoono.Com is one..

• Stay Connected – Connect to all your social networks and never miss another status update from

friends or family. You're connected wherever you are on the web. – Update your status across all your social networks at the same time. – All your IM services right in your browser sidebar to easily chat while your surf the

web - no more logging on to multiple services.

• Discover Cool Stuff – The Discovery widget recommends websites, videos, images, products and more -

all related to the site you are viewing. – Yoono highlights keywords in the web page you're viewing for quick access to

Discoveries. – Highlight words in the web page yourself to discover related Google search results,

Wikipedia entries, videos, and more.

BLOGS• Powerful way of engaging in complex

communications with a closed or open network• Need to network blogs with Facebook, Twitter and

other IM systems• Need to build followership – e.g.

• Springwise.com • Guerrilla-innovation.com

• High maintenance – at least 3 posts each week to maintain currency, preferably daily

• Multi media blogs growing in numbers• Traffic analysis critical for bloggers

WIKI’sWiki’s – fast co-creation…constant updating – rapid collaboration…

• Glaxo Smith Kline Confluence wiki for experts to share advice during clinical trials.• ILRI used it to develop a $50m proposal between 14 livestock research institutes

worldwide for the UN• Digital textbook companies are using wiki’s for the development of glocal

textbooks – global environmental studies with local examples created by teachers at each school….

What is clear is organizations continue to spend millions of dollars on content management infrastructure solutions, rather than putting more power in the hands of their users to collaborate effectively together. The wiki paradigm is disruptive because it is a low-cost alternative that brings key editing features into the hands of users. The approach increases the collaborative productivity of an organization or its extended ecosystems. Overall, wikis increase the socialization process, enabling collaboration to generate at warp speed. Socialization underpins the sharing of ideas, and hence innovation capacity increases from wiki infrastructure.

Point 5

Key message: Blogs and Wiki’s require a strong base team who frequently add value so as to build followership and keep then engaged – engagement is the key…

What Else?

• Identifying Unarticulated Needs – Set up a social media monitoring system to see where and how

colleagues, suppliers and customers are talking about your brand and related issues.

– Sponsor a contest to have colleagues, suppliers and customers identify challenges they’re facing (that you might be able to solve).

– Listen for social media participants expressing challenges you could help solve.

– Sponsor your own Twitter-based chat for colleagues, suppliers and customers in your industry to talk about topics of interest.

– Recruit customers to video ideas, issues, and problems they face and post them. Reward ideas that get used.

• Tapping New Expertise – Identify outside experts / partners to potentially incorporate into your

innovation efforts. – Spot young talent with new perspectives to bring into your

organization through internships or permanent jobs. – Participate in #innochat on Twitter every Thursday at 12 noon ET (US). – Sponsor and promote an open competition to solve a challenge your

business is facing related to innovation. – Suggest a monthly topic for Blogging Innovation related to an area

where you’re looking to be more innovative. – Develop a follower base focused on innovation areas for your business. – Follow the experts followed by the people you look to for innovative

perspectives online.

• Gathering Different Inputs and Information – Lurk in competitors’ communities to see what new things

they’re talking about. – Use a blog to write about issues you’re addressing and solicit

readers to offer their perspectives. – Regularly feed front end innovation questions to your

community for input. – Give Flip cameras to employees throughout your company.

Have them post video ideas on your private social network. – Participate in social networks targeted at analogous

businesses/industries to see how they think about similar issues to ones you face.

• Enabling Innovative Collaboration – Listen to social media conversations as a source of random inputs for

ideation. – Use online chat environments to push and expand ideas you are pursuing. – Set up a private social network to provide a forum for more detailed

innovation-based conversations. – Create more active connections and dialogue across boundaries in your own

organization. – Summarize and post direct dialogues between innovators in your company

to allow a broader group to comment, respond, and adapt an idea. – Share fragments of new ideas which colleagues (both near and far flung)

can build on and transform through their input. – After innovative collaborative relationships are developed online, make a

concerted effort to meet in real life to move the collaboration to new levels.

• Solving Challenging Problems – Feature your internal experts more broadly toward making

them available to help solve challenges in your industry. – Provide multiple social media channels for customers to

complain directly to you with product issues. – Offer to help competitor’s customers solve problems they’re

having with your competitors’ products / services. – Connect your outside partners more effectively in a social

community to allow them to better discuss ways your organization can be more innovative.

– Use images from Flickr or videos on YouTube to help communicate early stage innovation concepts.

Blog Looking at Where Safety Can Be Improved Linked to Idea Site

Facebook Updates on Stats Daily

Regular Tweets – Safety Tips

Videos on You Tube

Safety Drills

Safety