intranet editorial or social? both

© 2010 IBM Corporation

Ethan McCartyManager, IBM Workforce Enablement & Alumni RelationsIntranet Editor in Chief

Editorial intranet content or social media? Both.

© 2009 IBM Corporation2

Content management to community management

Ethan McCarty 2010

IBM intranet: 1996-2010



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The rise of the user-generated intranet



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Super-provocative thesis

The way you run/govern your editorial team has a direct impact on the kind of content you will have on your intranet.

And that will determine its impact, usefulness to the business and longevity.



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Our old content management mode

Very limited number of publishers

Most editors located near CHQ in New York

All spoke and published in English

Emphasis was on consistency and security

Fragmented set of tools



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Ethan McCarty 2010

Some community management principles

Believe in the power of openness and inclusiveness

Offer value rather than reproach

Participation counts, not attendance

Solicit group input and then make significant decision based on it

Everything needs to link to everything

Entertainment value can lead to business value



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Community management tactics

Wiki instead of team room

Weekly calls instead of monthly/quarterly calls (shift from broadcast to participatory). And participation counts rather than attendance (podcast, Five Minute Master classes)

Service instead of enforcement (classes and office hours, Top Quality Content program)

Conversation rather than broadcast (blog and SameTime meeting)

Fun rather than fear (service anniversaries, ECM Goddess, book reviews, change in tone of notes)



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Our community, our home

1. Project management

2. Co-authoring

3. Knowledge sharing



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Weekly call

Initially monthly then quarterly at dual times …now weekly with podcast

30 mins – disciplined.

Recorded and podcasted, linked from the blog with notes for discussion

Five Minute Masters class

Open discussion forum



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From enforcement to serviceYou don’t want to be the warden in the intranet jail. Not only does that

system scale poorly, it’s a rather unattractive metaphor for your life.

Top quality program – shared guidelines for what makes great content, shared responsibility for raising the bar

Classes run each week on various topics – from headline-writing to page layout

Discussion forum monitored on our Lotus Connections Community inviting people from the outer reaches of the community to ask for help

Publishing guidelines clearly posted on team wiki and editable by the community as needed (along with sample code, images, other resources…)



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Conversation rather than spamification

We send out very, very few mass emails

All mass emails link back to our blog, our wiki and our podcast

Anything we discuss on the call we note on the blog



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We value the social component to our community

Weekly team-day in person, all are welcome if they happen to be in the area

Celebrate service anniversaries and birthdays

Recognize great work on the call and in the blog

All of our (infrequent) mass emails include fun book recommendations and are written in a light tone

Encourage social chat in the team call text chat

Some of our tutorial content has entertainment value – “ECM Goddess” video series, funny blog posts



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IBM intranet editorial community

Nearly 2000 contributors

Weekly meeting attendance varies between 65 – 110

Very active community forum

Very active participant-generated help section of the wiki

High participation in crowdsource efforts (like content management cleanup, ranking of technical requirements, editorial calendar enhancements etc)



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Concise news writing

Scannable layout

Non-executive Experts identified

Embedded multimedia (use of YouTube) and captioned version

Tagging widget

Rating widget

Comments…lots of comments



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Mindblowers

Exciting tone designed to reach global audience

Draws ideas from internal IBM Mindblowers community – nearly 200 members

Sneak previews offered to community

Great discussion on article page

Written, filmed and edited for $0.00 program dollars



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Nearly 250 comments in 72 hoursNearly 250 comments in 72 hours

Would be about 30 feet long if printed outWould be about 30 feet long if printed out

IBMers have a lot to say!IBMers have a lot to say!



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Smarter cities

Supports live events

Integrates feed reader populated by associated hashtags from twitter + live blogging from participants

The story is the user comments and live feed from attendees including images on Flickr

Several intranet editors attend and tweet from the event



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This is where I work

Focus on team or individual doing work that is representative of Smarter Planet agenda

Intranet editor helps them find their voice, package content

Interesting working location is the ‘hook’

Incredible response in comments/rating (e.g. nearly 100 comments)



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A few conclusions

Our intranet contributors are always looking for and trying new ways to build in user generated content. But it’s no wonder…because it’s becoming the way they work.

Attendance and participation on our team calls and web tools has been incredible, but it’s no surprise because we make the content valuable and fun.

There’s been a tangible change in the relationship between the CHQ team and the global editors. Simply quantified, we get a heck of a lot more emails thanking us for what we do…and the same goes for our community-driven editorial content.

We have been able to improve satisfaction with intranet news (employee feedback TWE survey) and readership of socially-driven content seems to outpace traditional content (more repeat visits.)



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• In the spring of 2005, IBMers used a wiki to create a set of guidelines for all IBMers who wanted to blog. These guidelines aimed to provide helpful, practical advice – and also to protect both IBM bloggers and IBM itself, as the company sought to embrace the blogosphere. The guidelines were endorsed by IBM, posted internally and then shared publicly by our bloggers. Since then, IBMers by the tens of thousands have relied on these guidelines when blogging, as well as when engaging in many other forms of online publishing, discussion and interaction.

• Now, three years have passed, and many new forms of social media have emerged. So this spring we turned to IBMers again, to re-examine our guidelines and determine what, if anything, needed to be modified. The result has been one new guideline, regarding online social networks, and a broadening of the existing guidelines’ scope to include other forms of “Web 2.0” social media.

1. Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines.2. 2. Blogs, wikis and other forms of online discourse are individual interactions, not corporate communications. IBMers are personally

responsible for their post. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time – protect your privacy.3. Identify yourself – name and, when relevant, role at IBM – when you discuss IBM or IBM-related matters. And write in the first person.

You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM.4. If you publish a blog or post to any website outside of IBM and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with

IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.”

5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.6. Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations

that are meant to be private or internal to IBM.

Community-updated blogging guidelines to be inclusive of all forms of social computing: blogs, social networks, wikis, virtual worlds, etc.

2008 IBM Social Media Guidelines

intranet editorial or social? both

Business

editorial content

great content

editorial team

community weekly teamday

intranet editors

community great discussion

tutorial content

content valuable