when social tools go viral in organizations - a yammer case story
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WHEN SOCIAL TOOLS GO VIRAL IN ORGANIZATIONS -A YAMMER CASE STORY
Frank HatzackSenior Innovation [email protected]@frankhatzack
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According to research from Gartner (2011), most social media initiatives fail due to a host of misconceptions…the worst being ‘provide & pray’.
However, the public domain is full with one-sided and sometimes rather hyped reports on how quickly social tools spread in organizations and how many positive effects they brought about. Critical reports with detailed analysis and reflection seem rare.
This encouraged me to share the story of how Yammer spread virally until its discontinuation in our organization in 2011.
The lessons learned back then guide our work today and are hopefully of use for others.
MOTIVATION FOR SHARING
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half-empty or half-full?
Bestsellersociety.com
SUMMARY
The viral spread of Yammer in Novozymes was an episode which left mixed expriences behind:
On the one hand, many new users embraced the tool quickly as a new way of networking and knowledge-sharing and almost all posted content was work-related. Good practice on how to increase signal and reduce noise started to spread.
On the other hand, many new users seemed to remain in the initial state of confusion about the high-density traffic in the company newsfeed. Good ‘social practice’ on how to filter relevant content or how to follow relevant people did apparently not spread sufficiently during the short duration of the episode.
Eventually, a decision was made to discontinue the use of Yammer in its free version due to concerns on content access and ownership.
The lesson learned regarding adoption is simple:In a case of such viral spread an organization has to decide quickly: either to jump the bandwaggon and provide guidance & training to enable sustainable adoption or to stop the spread immediatelly. Otherwise one may end up with a split-perception dilemna which will pose a challenge fo future initiatives to introduce social tools in a proper way.
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YAMMER WENT FROM ‘GRASS ROOTS TO VIRAL’ IN NOVOZYMES BETWEEN MAY AND JUNE 2011
17-May
26-June
Plateau reached in July: Decision to discontinue Yammer in its free-of-charge version.
1500members25% ofemployees
2500posts
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VIRAL SPREAD – HAPPY OR NOT?DEPENDS ON:THE LEVEL OF SOCIAL READINESS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION!
mashable.com
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SOME DISCOVERED THEIR PASSION & TALENT FOR SOCIAL AND REACHED OUT…
coolinsights.blogspot.com
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BUT MANY OTHERS FELT AS IF IT WAS RAINING RADIOS, PLAYING ALL CHANNELS AT THE SAME TIME AND AT FULL BLAST
Envirocare.org
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ESSENTIALLY IT CAME DOWN TO LEARNING HOW TO TUNE YOUR SOCIAL RADIO!
Seattleradio.org
cambridgeincolour.com
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TRAFFIC DISTRIBUTION:
LOTS OF NOISE, LITTLE SIGNAL
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MANY POSTS IN NOISY CATEGORIES…AND LITTLE IN DEDICATED GROUPS
TOTAL POSTS2518
100%
”WELCOME TO YAMMER!”:1542
61%
REAL CONTENT:976
39%
IN COMPANY NEWSFEED:774
31%
IN GROUPS:2018%
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…AND FEW THREADED OR INFORMATION-RICH POSTS
TOTAL POSTS2518
100%
POSTS INTHREADED DISCUSSIONS
OR WITH HASHTAGS:1345%
POSTS WITH EMBEDDED CONTENT (URL or ATTACH.):
502%
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TRAFFIC TOPICS:
WHAT DID THEY TALK ABOUT?
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THE MAJORITY OF REAL CONTENT POSTS DEALT WITH WORK-RELATED TOPICS
IT & Communication30%
R&D, IT and Communications topics were most frequent. Although no official guidance on intended use was given, we observed that most people used Yammer in a work-related and professional context. They exchanged insights, shared knowledge and connected across the organization and across sites.
Science & Technology25%
Other work-related
16%Not work-related
29%
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ALL TOP TOPICS WERE WORK-RELATED
Yes, even ‘indian-restaurants’ was work-related since it adressed an increasing need of Danish managers to build high-performance teams with new Indian colleagues!
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TRAFFIC CONSOLIDATION:
WHO TALKED THE MOST?
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1% OF USERS DROVE 43% OF TOTAL REAL-CONTENT TRAFFIC!
1%
43%
REAL-CONTENT POSTS
976100%
ALLUSERS1542100%
THE 15 TOP CONTRIBUTORS GOT:• most posts• most likes• most replies• most replied to threads
Almost all of them were professional communicators from:
• Innovation functions (R&D and IT)
• IT Relations
• Corporate Communications
• Customer Communications
• Stakeholder & Media Relations15 topcontributors
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GROUPS:
ALIVE & KICKING OR GHOST-TOWNS?
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MANY GROUPS WERE FORMED TO DISCUSS WORK-RELATED TOPICS BUT ONLY A FEW SHOWED SUSTAINED ACTIVITY
13
36
1
3
3
1
sustained activity groups
other groups
Users being members of groups: 348 (25% of total)Messages posted in groups: 212 (8% total)
Groups with at least 5 members and at least 5 posts. Posts/member ratio > 0.5
Nu
mber
of
gro
ups
Group-topiccategory
All other groups not fulfilling above criteria.
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GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES:
COMMUNITY-MENTORING & KNOWLEDGE SHARING
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DILIGENT & RESPONSIBLE KNOWLEDGESHARING
Users switched communication channels routinely when the content of dicussion became potentially sensitive.
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SPREADING SOCIAL COMPUTING SKILLS
Certain users got quickly recognized as Yammer adoption mentors, sharing ‘social skills’ with the community.
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Provide a first aid kit for inexperienced users: how to manage in-box notification settings how to use hashtags, mentions and follows to filter relevant content how to create, join, manage topic groups which lead-users to contact for help & guidance inspirational examples of good practice (e.g. finding experts & answers, sharing insights, etc) clarification on prohibited use and prohibited content sharing
Quickly assess IT-safety and clarify data ownership
Quickly reach a decision on continuation or discontinuation
In case of continuation implement a change process aiming at sustainable adoption – starting with e.g. assessing the level of social readiness in your organization. Engage professional adoption consultants.
In case of discontinuation, explain your reasons to the organization and give a perspective on future steps.
CONCLUSIONIN CASE OF VIRAL SPREAD OF SOCIAL TOOLS:
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