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A Name is No Longer a Name – But a Hyperlink to a Person’s Profile – Social Media in Corporate Settings – a case study
If you’re interested in social media in corporate settings, this post is for you. A paper by Deloitte, presented in a Workshop on Social Networking in Organizations, briefly reviews the design and deployment of social networking tool, D Street, in the company.
D Street is a web-based application created with the goal to increase the points of connectivity among Deloitte’s professionals. The tool allows them to create profiles that share their professional and personal brand.
D Street is described as “a ‘mash-up’ that takes data from human resource systems and combines it with employee-generated content.” It is comprised of selected elements of social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIN, which were applied to the specific business environment of the company.
What does it offer?
The following are a sampling of the data included on each personal profile (see screenshot):
- Firm directory data including geography, contact information, service areas, service lines, function
- People affiliations
- Personal interests including hobbies and personal favorites
- Suggested restaurants, things to do and places to see when visiting
- Blog module
- Presence awareness
- Resume, publications and content
- Work interests including affiliations, certifications and specializations
- Deloitte programs, community and affinity group participation
Why use social networking tools in the company?
The paper presents three main drivers for deploying social networking tools in the company:
- Make the 56,000-employees organization feel smaller – this is by allowing people-to people networking.
- Increasing employee visibility within the enterprise
- fostering relationship among practitioners across the company - so as to achieve the following benfits: (1) increased productivity and innovation, (2) greater job satisfaction, (3) more seamless assimilation onto project teams, (3) reduction of knowledge sheering outside of the firewall on external sites, and (5) improved inclusion by demonstrating diversity of the company’s talent.
What did we learn here?
This case study shows an interesting implementation of social media, which we know from our personal life, to facilitate corporate goals. Fostering the creation of connections among professionals inside the company (i.e. social networking) can improve sharing of knowledge, and especially tacit knowledge (tacit knowledge describes things that are hard to communicate by writing and speaking, but can be learned by watching others and actually doing them).
I think that one of the “lesson learned” presented in this paper represents a core aspect of social media and networking, and it is that “A name is no longer a name but a hyperlink to a person['s] profile.” It represents the ability to find others according to their expertise, subject of interests, experience and so on, create connections and reach common goals.
If you are interested in social media in corporate settings, read the post – ‘Social Media and the Enterprise’ Explained (Presentation) that explains about social media and its effects on enterprises.
What is your experience with social media in corporate environment? Share it with us in the comments.
Related posts:
- ‘Social Media and the Enterprise’ Explained (Presentation)
- 20 Social Media Practices to Use in Your Daily Life [Presentation]
- Report: What is Web 2.0 and how do Professionals Use it?
- Announcing a Seminar – ‘Social Media in Day to Day Life’ [15 July, Israel]
- LinkedIn Tip – Display the Name and Address of Your Site in Your LinkedIn profile (not just “my website”)
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