Jivespace: Message List - What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

ted.hopton@ubm.com — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:03:54 GMT

I don't care if there is business value. It's fun and social. What's the business value of chatting with peers around the water cooler or break room? I can't quantify it, but I can assure you that if you discourage or eliminate it you'll pay a price.

Letting people be themselves at work is important to morale, team building and culture. 'Nuff said.

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:16:36 GMT

EDIT: Thought this was in the Online Communities section! Mods, please delete.

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:39:11 GMT

Information is of value when it is accurate and accessible at the right time. Micro-blogging won't always be of value, i.e. knowing Mitch from HR is eating the best cheeseburger EVER from Lion's Tap for lunch, isn't that important all the time... However, when a client comes into town a day later (timing) and says, "Hey, you know a good burger joint to hit up?" and you see Mitch's status update (access and hopefully accuracy) what seemingly was, and to some still is a, "waste of time" now has a great deal of value for you.

Essentially, you can't always justify every facet of social media in any situation... What you can and need to justify is it the way it positions individuals to get the greatest value out of information in the most efficient and non-obtrusive manner.

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:40:41 GMT

Information is of value when it is accurate and accessible at the right time. Micro-blogging won't always be of value, i.e. knowing Mitch from HR is eating the best cheeseburger EVER from Lion's Tap for lunch, isn't that important all the time... However, when a client comes into town a day later (timing) and says, "Hey, you know a good burger joint to hit up?" and you see Mitch's status update (access and hopefully accuracy) that seemingly was, and to some still is a, "waste of time" now has a great deal of value for you.

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:09:11 GMT

When the cost is next to nothing there doesn't have to be a lot of ROI in order to make the value add greater than the cost. Angelique and her story above is a good case in point.

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:11:27 GMT

Good posting from Twitip - Why Twitter will go Mainstream in 2009

Re: Building Trust can start with a "Tweet"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:30:14 GMT

That is a valid & interesting perspective, I hadn't thought about it that way. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Building Trust can start with a "Tweet"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:36:35 GMT

Often when I read people's "tweets" on Facebook, Linkedin and even here in Clearstep, I get new insights into them - their hobbies, conferences they're attending, challenges they're facing, sources of fun in their life, etc. Just that very little piece of info can peek my interest in them, making me feel more connected with them. A perfect conversation starter!

Why is this valuable within a company? This information can help build connections between employees across a company by acting as the conversation starter. Here's an example: I see from Mitch's tweet that he is packing for a trip to Iceland. Although I don't know Mitch at all, except that he's an engineer like me in a different business unit across the globe, I love Iceland having once lived there. So I shoot Mitch a quick message, introduce myself and offer him some great restaurant recommendations that only a local would know. Mitch responds, thanking me for that information. When he returns from his trip and is back in the office, Mitch sends me another message, thanking me profusely for the recommendations - the best food he's ever had. Three months later, my team is having massive performance problems with one of our core systems we just deployed. I tweet something about it, and to my surprise, Mitch reaches out to me, inquires about our problems and offers to help. Little did I know three months earlier, but Mitch is his business unit's expert on SOA, and is able to help us diagnose and solve our problems.

The payoff of one completely unwork related tweet can be enormous! Take that to the bean counters and multiply it a couple times.

See the potential? Building a culture of trust, one tweet at a time.

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:12:01 GMT

Not too long ago, I joined Face Book, only to disconnect a month later for just that sort of question... why do I need to know what YOU are doing NOW...? Are we in still high school? To me, it was just part of a larger concern/issue I have with the social networking arena being popularity contents... competing about what you can share in your What you are Doing NOW space... I’m recovering from a flight on my personal jet (when actually I'm in my PJs eating ice cream out of the carton) vs. the pictures you post or the accolades you claim. I don't get it... am I missing something?

Re: What is the business value of "What are you doing NOW?"

communities@jivesoftware.com — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:17:12 GMT

Anyone who has specific examples that could speak to the execs/beancounters would be welcome.

I see value in using that feature especially for close members of my team or close colleagues across the company. "Is Sue having a bad day?" "Why isn't George answering his phone... oh, he said he is stuck in the lab fixing something." etc.

I just don't know how to communicate the business value - especially to those who haven't used twitter or facebook.