Last week in this space I asked whether the economic crisis might actually be good for Web 2.0 and online social networking. Others were asking the same question, and already we are getting a clear idea that the answer may well be yes.
My first question was whether the economic downturn might force companies to get over the Web 2.0 fear factor and take the Enterprise 2.0 organizational model seriously. For corporations guilty of Web 2.0 foot-dragging, there is good news on the price of implementing change. According to a report by Forrester Research, the price of collaboration software tools (wikis, blogs, social networks, etc.) is plummeting dramatically as they become commoditized. Competition amongst makers of Enterprise 2.0 tools, like Microsoft’s SharePoint, is driving prices down.
That may not be good news for software suppliers, but as prices are falling corporate take-up is increasing. Here is how Forrester’s Oliver Young describes it: “The enterprise Web 2.0 market is experiencing an explosion of activity among enterprises seeking collaboration and productivity improvements.”
In an article by Jon Swartz in USA Today, analyst Kevin Martin from the Aberdeen Group observed: “Companies are asking, ‘How can we make our work force more productive?”‘ In the same article, Gina Bianchini, CEO of the social networking site Ning, said: “There’s been a definite shift the last two months. There is a genuine interest now rather than a casual curiosity before.”
If this trend continues, the Enterprise 2.0 model may finally become an organizational reality.
MBA schools, meanwhile, are expecting to be beneficiaries of the economic downturn, as out-of-work executives from the financial and other sectors opt to upgrade their credentials during hard times. According to this article in the International Herald Tribune, business schools are expecting a flood of applications for next year. For unemployed executives who don’t enroll in business school, many are already spending numerous hours logged onto social networking sites.
That was my second question last week: whether the crisis will be a boon for social networking sites like LinkedIn, Ning, Plaxo and Facebook. The answer is unequivocally positive. For these sites and others, the economic crisis represents a windfall opportunity as worried employees rush online to plug in to social networks and attempt to reinvigorate their social capital. While phone calling and face-to-face lunching may not be entirely out of fashion, many are activating their networks online.
As the New York Times reported last week, “if you’ve been joining social networking sites and never taking the time to complete your profile — or if you’ve been hitting the delete button when friends and colleagues invite you to connect on a new online platform, now is a good time to start paying more attention.” Not only laid-off investment bankers are rushing onto social networking sites, but employees and professionals from virtually every sector of the economy are becoming more alert to the advantages of maintaining an online network.
With so many people stampeding onto online social networks, the delicate matter of proper etiquette and good form will doubtless be an issue. It becomes especially problematic when social networking extends beyond close ties, which can be defined as relationships based on frequent contact, emotional closeness, and a history of reciprocal favours. How are we supposed to behave when building social capital vis-à-vis people with whom we have only infrequent contact, no emotional closeness, and no history of reciprocal favours?
In Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom, a recurring question is whether social interaction in the virtual world is governed by unique values, codes, and laws of conduct. In many instances, there is reason to believe that the virtual world does indeed have its own normative frame of reference. Yet tension with real-world values is often inevitable.
In the New York Times article cited above, novice online social networkers are cautioned that, even on sites like LinkedIn, old-fashion networking rules apply. Some of the proffered advice makes sense, such as this tenet: “Build your reputation as a giver, rather than as someone who is always asking for favors”. There is indeed nothing more irritating, even on a strictly professional site like LinkedIn (as opposed to Facebook which has an essentially social dynamic), than when a new contact comes back to you almost immediately with an inappropriately forward request for a favour. It’s always more advisable to go into social networking as a giver, not a taker — and gradually build relationships according to reciprocated favours. Online social networking is governed by a culture of sharing, not selling.
As I noted last week, it will be interesting to see if the sudden influx of career-motivated networkers on social sites — especially Facebook — will create tension as self-interested impulses clash with established codes based on “social” interaction. If so, it may put further strain on the notion of an online ”friend”. We may find ourselves asking more frequently that old question: “What are friends for?”
