Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

10271 Views 22 Replies Latest reply: Sep 28, 2011 8:47 PM by Saqib Ali

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Saqib Ali

73 posts since
Oct 5, 2010

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Oct 5, 2010 5:35 PM

Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

These days I am seeing a gross, egregious, and flagrant misuse of the term "Social Network". Every company that implements a micro-blogging solution w/ profiles for their employees wants to call their implementation a "Social Networking" platform. These apps are almost exclusively “social media” platforms. Nothing to do with Social Networking. Social Networking is when you use the transactional data from these Social Media apps to create Social Graphs and perform a Social Network Analysis (SNA).

Now anytime, anyone use the term Social Network incorrectly, I send them the following diagram, and hope that they correct themselves

(The source for this venn-diagram is available as a Google Drawing at http://bit.ly/SocialMedia_vs_SocialNetwork . Please feel free to send to anyone who misuses the term Social Networking)

Note:

Setting up an internal (contained) social media sites (e.g. yammer, chatter, lotus connections etc) should NOT be the end-goal in itself. The Social Graph generated from the interactions on the site should be used to improve the employee experience e.g. by performing social network analysis or using the Social Graph to add relevancy in the query results on the Enterprise Search Engine etc. Lots of use cases……

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SocialMediavs.SocialNetwork.png (77.8 K)

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Tags: social-computing, social, social_computing, social_networking, profile, buzz, profiles, yammer, lotus_connections, social_profiles, chatter

Franck Villain
3 posts since
Jan 5, 2010

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Oct 6, 2010 3:36 AM (in response to Saqib Ali)
Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

In my organization we're starting a large experimentation (several thousands of internal users) on a platform providing : rich employee profiles, activity streams, group of users (communities), etc...

We don't call this platform / project, as a "Social network" platform but as a "Collaboration" platform which provides a "Professional Network" feature (users can follow other colleagues).

In our communications, we want to avoid the word "Social" which can be mis-understood : "We're not making social, we're a private company !, We don't see the interest of having Facebook within the Enterprise".

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- Saqib Ali
  73 posts since
  Oct 5, 2010
  
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  Oct 6, 2010 9:24 AM (in response to Franck Villain)
  Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
  
  Franck,
  
  I agree. Collaboration Platform /w Social Profiles is a much better description of what you are doing at your company. Just out of curiosity, what app are you using for the employee profiles?
  
  Saqib
  
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  - Franck Villain
    3 posts since
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    Oct 7, 2010 10:54 AM (in response to Saqib Ali)
    Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
    
    Hello Saqib,
    
    We're experimenting the same tool as we're currently using, in this space, the "Content & Collaboration" Forrester community. This is based on the product from Jive Software.
    
    Franck
    
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- paula nohalty
  
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  Aug 15, 2011 9:56 PM (in response to Franck Villain)
  Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
  
  Just wondering how your large experiment has gone (been about 6 months). How did your company take to the activity stream? Any challenges on learning or change management?
  
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Matthew Brown
4 posts since
Jul 17, 2009

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Oct 28, 2010 5:55 AM (in response to Saqib Ali)
Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

Saqib,

Nice clarification of terminology. I'll bet the academics that specialize in social network analysis roll their eyes at the overuse/misuse of the term "social networking" these days.

Question for you: Do you all have any examples where SNA, supported by technology (e.g. tools like IBM/Lotus Atlas, the old Tacit knowledge systems stuff, etc.), has led to a specific management decision or business outcome? Conceptually, I get the idea that the graphs generated can help reveal strength of connections, and latent relationships bewteen people and orgs ... but have you seen a company make meaningful changes as a result of this analysis (e.g. improved teaming structures, process improvements, etc.)?

-Matt

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- Saqib Ali
  73 posts since
  Oct 5, 2010
  
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  Oct 28, 2010 10:31 AM (in response to Matthew Brown)
  Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
  
  Matt,
  
  From academics point of view I believe Harvard Executive Education and Harvard Working Knowledge have compiled some case studies that cover that topic. I don't have the specifics, but perhaps someone from HBS on this forum can shed some light? HBS ExEd also has a course on Informal Networks that deep dives into Social Graph and Organization (re)Structuring.
  
  Saqib
  
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  - Matthew Brown
    4 posts since
    Jul 17, 2009
    
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    Nov 10, 2010 1:52 PM (in response to Saqib Ali)
    Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
    
    Thanks Saqib. I found a few of the articles you mentioned:
    
    How Org Charts Lie - HBS Working Knowledge Archive
    Using Social Network Analysis to Improve Communities of Practice - Harvard Business Review
    Making Invisible Work Visible: Using Social Network Analysis to Support Strategic ...
    
    ...but still looking for cases where technology tools were used for the discovery of the graph, and then the insights gained drove a business decision. I *think* these cases were based on traditional survey methods, but I may be wrong.
    
    Thanks for the tip though.
    
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    - Patrick Frigg
      2 posts since
      Oct 8, 2010
      
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      Nov 11, 2010 6:00 AM (in response to Matthew Brown)
      Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
      
      Thanks Saqib, excellent and relevant post!
      
      Matthew, IBM's Kate Ehrlich held a lecture at ETH Zürich on SNA: http://www.mis.ethz.ch/teaching/FS09/documents/A.Social.Network.View.of.Team.Structure.and.Performance
      
      Kate is working on "Ensemble", an augmentation for Rational Team Concert which discovers relations of artifacts (software code) and based on this it recommends you to connect to people which are working on related artifacts (related code):
      http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_projects.nsf/pages/govsci.Ensemble.html
      
      This article from InsideKnowledge argues that those networks define how information flows in a company. Therefore SNA might be used to analyze the networks and implement changes to it. "We call these actions ‘interventions’ in the sense that they will disrupt or change existing patterns in the organisation, presumably for the better." Possible interventions resulting from a SNA are changes to the organization, active development of certain new networks (e.g. for knowledge/innovation), or re-routing of information-flows to avoid bottlenecks.
      
      And there is another comprehensive source with SNA case studies linked in the article, though I dind't have a look at those yet: http://www.byeday.net/sna/
      
      Cheers
      Padi
      
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      - Saqib Ali
        73 posts since
        Oct 5, 2010
        
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        Dec 23, 2010 9:29 AM (in response to Patrick Frigg)
        Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
        
        Hi Patrick,
        
        Thanks for sharing Kate Ehrlich's presentation. It was really good. I found few other relevant papers, also published by her. Here is one that I think folks on this forum will find useful:
        
        Microblogging Inside and Outside the Workplace: video and presentation, and the accompanying paper.
        
        Happy Holidays,
        Saqib
        
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    - Saqib Ali
      73 posts since
      Oct 5, 2010
      
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      Nov 17, 2010 2:44 PM (in response to Matthew Brown)
      Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
      
      Hi Matt,
      
      Correct. Most of these case studies are based on more manual (traditional) methods of surveying and then using apps like NodeXL to generate the Social Graph for analysis. I am looking for some concrete examples that used the Social Graphs generated as a byproduct of using the enterprise 2.0 stack for SNA. I will post them here, if I find any.
      
      As a side note, I am currently working on a project that will analyze the Social Graph generated in the background when you use Google Chat in Google Apps for Enterprise.
      
      Saqib
      
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      - Patrick Frigg
        2 posts since
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        Nov 17, 2010 4:01 PM (in response to Saqib Ali)
        Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
        
        Saqib, one tool I know of using social distance is the SharePoint Add-on Newsgator: http://www.newsgator.com/products/social-sites-for-sharepoint-2010/social-insights.aspx
        
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- Tammy Bearden
  4 posts since
  Dec 17, 2009
  
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  Nov 10, 2010 1:20 PM (in response to Matthew Brown)
  Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
  
  Matt,
  Hallmark is just beginning our "Collaboration Platform w/ Social Profiles" work, so SNA is quite a ways off for us. KM colleagues at 3M, though have done a great job using SNA to identify gaps in learning and to help with succession planning. Might want to check with Barry Dayton (on Linkedin.)
  Tammy
  
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  - Matthew Brown
    4 posts since
    Jul 17, 2009
    
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    Nov 10, 2010 1:38 PM (in response to Tammy Bearden)
    Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
    
    Thanks Tammy. Looks like he's got an interesting backgroud. It says previously he was involved in "identifying and hiring 3M's future innovators." Perhaps another important application of SNA? Good stuff. Do you all have a specific objective in mind for your Collab w/ social profiles work?
    
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    - Tammy Bearden
      4 posts since
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      Nov 10, 2010 3:46 PM (in response to Matthew Brown)
      Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
      
      Matt,
      Barry's HR background suits him well for his current role in the KM program office, and I do believe their knowledge mapping helps identify candidates for succession planning.
      Our Collaboration Central and People is intended to place governance and better usability around our SP 2010 application. Holding off on launching mySites, though, until we work through some corporate concerns.
      Tammy
      
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  - Saqib Ali
    73 posts since
    Oct 5, 2010
    
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    Sep 28, 2011 8:47 PM (in response to Tammy Bearden)
    Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
    
    Hi Tammy,
    
    Just check to see how the "Collaboration Platform w/ Social Profiles" is comming along at hallmark? Any lessons shared?
    
    Thanks,
    Saqib
    
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John Paul Thompson
8 posts since
May 17, 2010

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Nov 11, 2010 8:15 AM (in response to Saqib Ali)
Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

Do you correct the "C" office or other leadership when they ask for a social networking platform? Or do you just point to your company's social media/collaboration/[buzzword of the day] platform that fulfills the requirements that leadership and business customers are looking for? (OR just say that you don't have one yet?)

I'm interested in the correct way to market and communicate the availabilty of a plaform that supports social graphs, activity streams, and the related technologies.

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- Saqib Ali
  73 posts since
  Oct 5, 2010
  
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  Nov 11, 2010 8:41 AM (in response to John Paul Thompson)
  Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
  
  Hello John,
  
  Yes, I do correct the CxOs or anyone else in the management team for that matter. I have put together a lot of stuff internally to educate folks on these topics.
  
  Saqib
  
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Larry Concannon
2 posts since
Oct 28, 2010

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Nov 12, 2010 8:53 AM (in response to Saqib Ali)
Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

One of the problems in the corporate B2B market is that "social media" is assumed to be Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Other than B2C, corporations are generally not interested. The term "Social Computing" is now being used to refer to blogs, wikis, forums, etc. that a corporation uses on its own site or internally. Microsoft uses the term this way as do some of the analysts.

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- Saqib Ali
  73 posts since
  Oct 5, 2010
  
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  Nov 15, 2010 1:55 PM (in response to Larry Concannon)
  Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
  
  Hi Larry,
  
  It’s funny you mention Microsoft. One of the most blatant misuse of the phrase “Social Network” was by Microsoft in a blogpost describing their new micro-blogging app dubbed OfficeTalk. The blogpost was published with the title, Exploring the Impact of “Social Networking” in the Enterprise. Upon reading the title, I assumed it would be about the Impact of Social Network Analysis (SNA) at Microsoft. I was wrong. The blog post was simply about their new micro-blogging app, OfficeTalk. The blogpost had nothing to do with SNA.
  
  I think such misuse of the terminology by reputable companies like Microsoft cause much confusion for the business users.
  
  Saqib
  
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  - Noreen Poli
    
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    Mar 17, 2011 3:34 PM (in response to Saqib Ali)
    Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
    
    I realize that the term Social Networking stems from a field of study that looks at the interaction of social groups. But I really disagree that using that term looks foolish. In fact, I see the opposite taking place often. Social Media speaks to media options such as blogging or discussing, rating, re-tweeting etc.. Social networking speaks to creating the community for an organization for internal /external use. I personally find that most companies mix up these needs. They often contact me and say they are looking for a director of social media and seventy percent of the time they are looking for a marketing role he seeds their community or handles FaceBook for them. Thirty percent of the time it is to own the strategy, launch, scale, and maintenance of their socially networked community. The worse part is that the HR person rarely recognizes the difference. Perhaps it's time we expand the "meaning" of social networking. After all, the virtual communities we can create now were not an option when the study of social networks began. It won't be the first time guys!
    
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    - Saqib Ali
      73 posts since
      Oct 5, 2010
      
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      Mar 18, 2011 9:44 AM (in response to Noreen Poli )
      Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless
      
      'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
      
      `The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
      
      `The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master -- that's all.'
      
      Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. `They've a temper, some of them -- particularly verbs: they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs -- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'
      
      `Would you tell me please,' said Alice, `what that means?' `Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. `I meant by "impenetrability" that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'
      
      `That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
      
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Saqib Ali
73 posts since
Oct 5, 2010

Currently Being Moderated

Mar 28, 2011 11:47 AM (in response to Saqib Ali)
Re: Please, please, please don't call it "Social Networking", unless you wanna look clueless

A relevant blogpost by Darin Stewart titled, Facebook is not a Social Network:
http://blogs.gartner.com/darin-stewart/2011/03/28/facebook-is-not-a-social-network/

Makes a clear distinction between Social Media and Social Network.

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