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Spacebook. It's Facebook for Astronauts.

One of the most enjoyable conversations I had when involved in knowledge management was a conversation with the chief knowledge officer at NASA, closely followed by chatting to the chief knowledge officer at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, who make space shuttle and rocket engines. You cannot get much more state of the art than rocketship engines and space travel. I considered it a huge privilege to talk to these people.

Fast forward a few years to a blog post by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre CIO, Linda Cureton, and the launch of Spacebook:

We took a leap of faith and rocketed into social networking this week with the launch of Spacebook, an employee intranet that features user profiles, group collaboration spaces and social bookmarking. This is similar to Facebook, except that it is restricted to NASA’s secure internal network. It’s open to every employee of NASA.

One of the most amazing things about these Web 2.0 technologies and the greatest value to NASA is the ability to help us create a culture of engagement and collaboration that makes each individual employee much more effective. Engaging the public, harnessing the power of crowds, and open and transparent government … as my friend Efrain and fav acquisition professional would say … it’s ALL good Poopsie.

My favourite quotes of the post:

"I need to tell you that this whole Web 2.0 thing gives people the willies..." and, "There are a lot of phobias associated with social networking. Somehow … someway … we worked through those issues. I’m sure that some of those serious issues may appear silly now.... I expect that we will look back on the serious issues raised by Web 2.0 technologies in wonder and amazement."

Read the full blog post here. Read the comments too.This has the potential to be a marker for government organisations everywhere.

I look forward to seeing a more in-depth demo and presentation some time in the future.

Hat tip to Peter Richards.

P.S 'Goddard Space Flight Centre'. Not a bad name for the office. :-)

Thoughts on The Social Network

Originally I wasn't all that keen to go and see 'The Social Network', the dramatisation of the story of Facebook (trailer). That might seem odd given my line of work, but the premise and build up – a bitchy Hollywood take on a dot.com technology story of a guy I didn't really like the sound of – didn't appeal that much.

As the film came out though, the mainstream reviews were looking positive, and then the buzz on Twitter started saying the same thing. Coupled with some free cinema tickets and a free evening, I ended up seeing the film this past Friday.

I'm really glad I did.

The Social Network is one of the best films I've seen recently. It's well acted, well written, and well produced overall, to the point that it's a good movie on its own. Add in the compelling story and its relative accuracy (sure, they embellished the characters a little but the turn of events are apparently pretty well lined up) and you have a great piece of work. It's hard to say that about 99% of Hollywood films.

Facebook itself is a phenomenon of our time. It seemingly smashed past its first million users as obviously as it smashed through half a billion. Perhaps a billion could really be next. Getting insight into how it really came about was intriguing. 

What was most unexpected though, was leaving the cinema with a new, thoroughly positive appreciation for Mark Zuckerberg.

'What?"

Yup, I came out thinking this guy is pretty awesome. A significant change from when I went in at 8pm.

I have always admired the complexity, functionality success and, of course, enormous valuations of Facebook, without actually ever really liking the company itself, or Zuckerberg. Everything I've ever read about him, every interview I've seen, and the epic mistakes like Beacon, seemed to reinforce the idea that he was an arrogant asshole. I didn't appreciate the individual work done, nor how well the opportunity had been grasped.

With Facebook's continuing insane growth in the last year (250 million users on July 16 2009, 500 million on July 22 2010), less and less very public mistakes, and his appearance in the upper echelons the Forbes rich list, my opinion was already changing; the magnitude of what Zuckerberg has accomplished was starting to set in. But after this film, for me it unquestionably cements him as brilliant.

He took a good idea and developed it into an excellent one, and then had the tools and capability, and got a little bit of good fortune, to execute it to unimaginable levels of success. I see the point of those such as Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff who say Zuckerberg's the next Bill Gates (he's already richer on paper than Steve Jobs). Facebook is the social layer of the web. It's the latest Godzilla Silicon Valley firm (the last one was Google). It's incredible, and awe-inspiring, really.

And here's the thing: who knows what Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old multi-billionaire and genius (and 'punk, prophet' etc. etc.), with the world at his feet, will have done by the time he's as old as the old man of Microsoft.

If he stays on this path, it's going to be a ride watching what happens.

Overall score of 'The Social Network': 4/5

Welcome to the decade of games

Seth Priebatsch, the 21 year old of TED fame, wrote a great post earlier this month for Harvard Business Review blogs on the topic social games and gaming mechanics. It's very similar to his TED talk, so it's worth a read:

For those of you still trying to wrap your head around the meteoric rise of social networking over the past decade, this post might hurt a little bit. Because just as you and most of the world were getting a handle on it, the decade of social abruptly ended.

I don't mean that we will stop using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to share with our friends, colleagues and families. In fact, quite the opposite is true, our combined usage of these social networks will continue to increase. Rather, the decade of constructing the social layer is complete. The frameworks that we'll use to share socially are built, defined and controlled. Construction on the social layer ended with the launch of Facebook's Open Graph protocols over the last several months. All the interesting social stuff that will occur over the next decade (and there'll be lots, I'm sure), will exist within this predefined framework built and controlled by Facebook. In short, the decade of social is over.

What's taking its place? The decade of games.

Earlier this year when I was researching and writing the 2010 Melcrum social media report, it struck me how little significant innovation there has been in the the social media space since the launch of Twitter in late 2006.

Social media is very well established now. The major companies are established (you could say Facebook is the Google of social in that sense). Social sites and services are normal, the functionality is everywhere, and the absence on a website or intranet of some kind of social functionality is more surprising than its inclusion.

The age of social media being the biggest thing since sliced bread is definitely over. Done. (Did you or your organisation miss the boat or catch it?)

Only time will tell if the next decade really does become the decade of games, as Priebatsch is stating. But I'm very inclined to think he, and many others talking about the topic of 'gamification', are absolutely spot on in their thinking.

[Seth Priebatsch - HBR blogs]

How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues

Back in January 2010, I began working with internal communication research agency Melcrum to write a new social media-focused report. That report has now been published.

How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues is a 138-page report featuring case studies, global survey data (over 2,000 respondents) and advice on social media in business.

It features case studies from the likes of AEP, Aviva, BT, CBA, Deloitte, ERM, IDEO, ING, NetApp, Scottrade, Telstra, The Coca-Cola Company, Van Marcke Group and Virgin Media, and opinion and insight from the likes of Euan Semple, Lee Byrant, James Robertson, Ross Dawson, Shane Morris, Philippe Borremans, Gavin Heaton, Lee Hopkins and more.

Key topics include:

• Creating the business case for social media
• Developing a social media strategy
• Social media technologies (and CMS integration)
• Governance, policies and more
• Return on investment
• The role of social media in the future, including job roles

The report is now available in hard copy via the Melcrum site. You can download a free executive summary, be and look out for more extracts of data and information over the coming weeks.

'Social media revolution in the workplace' discussion

Here's one for when you have a good spare 1hr 40m.

On February 24th, Enterprise 2.0 specialist Oliver Marks was involved in discussion around the 'social media revolution in the workplace', organized by the IIT Madras Alumni Association at 'Google’s Silicon Valley epicenter'.

I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but the title is intriguing. A lot of people have labelled the business use of social media a 'revolution'. I appreciate why, but frequently find that 'revolution' is too strong a word, and not reflective of the glacial pace of change most organisations are undergoing. Evolution, yes. Revolution, no.

I wonder what these guys think.

Yes, some people really are that naïve (why you need to think about social media education and governance)

There was an interesting debate recently around whether or not organisations need social media policies. Shel Holtz neatly summarised the argument saying, ‘Yes, you do need one, although it needn't be draconian’.

But just having a policy isn’t enough these days, and that’s why pro-active organisations are going further, introducing social media education and accreditation programs for employees.

Education as to the reasons for doing or not doing something, is usually more effective than a few written rules, and can also help avert supremely naïve events such as the one that came to light this weekend about an Israeli soldier posting his workload on Facebook. From Gizmodo:

"A raid on suspected militants in the West Bank was cancelled yesterday after an Israeli soldier updated his Facebook status to read “On Wednesday we clean up Qatanah, and on Thursday, god willing, we come home.” The solider has since, unsurprisingly, been relieved of combat duty for being a moron. He’ll also spend 10 days in prison for his update."

It beggars belief that anyone, especially someone who handles an assault rifle for work, can do something like that, but they have.

It's also oddly coincidental to see it happen a week after the US military's position on social media was redefined last week, and me saying:

"It sets an interesting example for businesses, i.e. 'Sure, use these tools if you see fit, it's about time we recognised their potential. But sure as hell don't tweet your mission location and target to the public'."

D'oh.

A few years ago when blogs were exploding in popularity, it used to be an interesting point in a workshop to ask people, ‘Is someone from your organisation blogging about your business without you knowing?’ After a search on Google and then Technorati (remember that site?), sometimes, if it was a relatively large organisation, the answer would be ‘Yes’, but it wasn’t the norm.

Now, with publishing to the web being so easy, so quick, and so frequent (50 million Tweets a day, 175 million people using Facebook per day, remember), it’s almost guaranteed that there’ll be employees attaching your organisation’s name to some kind of unoffical online content, whether it’s on a Linked In profile, a Facebook page, a status update, or even a good old fashioned blog.

Organisations don’t really have a choice in this matter, and usually it’s not a bad thing either; people can be proud of where they work, enjoy being part of a specific group or community at work, enjoy sharing their thoughts relating to their field of work, and lots more, and that’s all good.

 But organisations must figure out what is and isn’t acceptable to them, and make those boundaries very clear to employees, for their sake and for the business’s. If your organisation hasn’t done this, it’s already behind a lot of others, and miles behind where it needs to be.

So, get thinking about a social media policy, and how to effectively communicate and educate on that policy (the Israeli Defence force is now using Facebook style posters (pictured right, read more here) - which isn't a bad idea given the cirumstances). If not, it’s just a matter of time until an employee broadcasts something and those 'fears of your senior executives' suddenly become an impenetrable barrier for your social media plans.

US military allows social sites again. Sort of.

On Friday the US Department of Defense (DoD) issued a statement officialising the US military's policy to social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook. The memorandum, 'makes it policy that the DoD non-classified network be configured to provide access to Internet-based capabilities across all DoD components.'

But there will be many exceptions, and it's not clear if recent SNS bans by certain branches of the military, such as by the US Marine Corp in August 2009, will be affected:

Commanders at all levels and heads of DoD components will continue to defend against malicious activity on military information networks, deny access to prohibited content sites (e.g., gambling, pornography, hate-crime related activities), and take immediate and commensurate actions, as required, to safeguard missions (e.g., temporarily limiting access to the Internet to preserve operations security or to address bandwidth constraints).

This decision follows an in-depth review into the usefulness of social tools, also dating back to 2009:

 “This directive recognizes the importance of balancing appropriate security measures while maximizing the capabilities afforded by 21st Century Internet tools,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III."

It sets an interesting example for businesses, i.e. "Sure, use these tools if you see fit, it's about time we recognised their potential. But sure as hell don't tweet your mission location and target to the public."

Perhaps this is a good starting sentence to adapt and paraphrase for your organisation's social media policy?

The full statement and terms is here, and for further reference, the US Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy social media policies can be found here.

Social media interviews from Melcrum and iPadio – Euan Semple first up

In tune with the current research I'm working on with them looking into social media and internal communication, the Melcrum team are focusing on the topic in a number of ways this year, notably with a major social media conference taking place in London in a couple of weeks (9-10 February 2010).

Ahead of the event, Melcrum have teamed up with iPadio, a smart 'live phonecasting and social media service' to stream phone interviews with conference speakers.

The first set of interviews feature Euan Semple, Lee Bryant, Louise McGregor from ING and Helen Farrar from Virgin Media.

Euan's interview is below, and check out the others over at iPadio. For full details of the confernece, head over to the Melcrum site.

Get involved: new research project on social media and internal communication

Kicking off 2010, this week I'm very pleased to be starting a new collaborative research project between Step Two Designs and the internal communications research agency, Melcrum.

James Bennett (Melcrum's Head of Content) and I will be working on this and it will run throughout January, with the findings published later in the year in a full research report on  'Social media and internal communications in 2010'.

That's the working/umbrella title, and it will encompass a multitude of topics, including:

• social tools and technology in the workplace
• social media strategies
• social media roles and teams, governance
• measurement and ROI of social media
• lessons learned
• content, examples, models and more, all related to the internal/employee side of business.

Get involved
Given the scope, we're looking for input and contributions to the research, specifically: case studies, insight and examples from internal communications, social media, and intranet practitioners and consultants that have had experience in experimenting with, deploying and having success or failures with social media as part of an employee communications, engagement, collaboration etc. strategy.

Are you involved in this type of work, or do have an example to share or story to tell, short or long?

If so, we would love to hear from you, wherever you are in the world: alex [at] steptwo [dot] com [dot] au, or via any of the other links on the first right column of this blog. We're scheduling interviews and research work all the way through January 2010.

The end product of these research projects is a full report, an example of which you can see and download here, and there are many more excellent reports over on the Melcrum site, including the original 2007 report, How to use social media to engage employees, which I was also heavily involved with.

What's in it for you? Global recognition, complementary reports
In return for your contribution to the new report, your work will be profiled to the extensive and global internal comms and intranet audiences of Melcrum and Step Two Designs. You'll also immediately receive a complementary PDF of the full 2007 report, and PDF the new report when its launched.

Accompanying survey
James will also soon be publishing details for the accompanying social media survey which will is ready to go and will run throughout this month (I'll republish details here when launched).

Get in touch
So, as said,if you're working in this field, we'd be very pleased to hear from you.

What are are the top 10 factors when implementing Twitter in your organisation?

Yesterday at their two-day intensive workshop (day two is today), the Intranet Leadership Forum's Canberra chapter debated on Twitter. You can check out Tweets from the day and today's proceedings, using the #CanberraILF Twitter stream/tag.

Peter Richards, Tabcorp Intranet manager and Sydney ILF member, has posted a great summary of the Twitter debate seen via Twitter itself, and it seems the "Against" team came out slightly ahead of the "For" team.

As Peter has done the work summarising the debate, it's best you head to his blog to read it! Peter is also right about one thing - the ability to follow proceedings of events like this workshop is fantastic.

My collegues Catherine and Rebecca, who were hosting the event, said it was a great day and very lively. There's a good chance we'll look at a similar session during the Sydney event in November.

Check out: #CanberraILF and also Step Two Designs on Twitter.

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Plus, what is the Intranet Leadership Forum?

The Intranet Leadership Forum is the professional community for intranet managers and teams throughout Australia.

To find out more and join our growing community (we offer multi-level memberships for businesses and individuals), visit the Intranet Leadership Forum website or download the brochure (PDF) here.