What is your social software and media governance policy? A big question in enterprise IT – especially when you intend to roll out applications like Connections and Quickr. Here is what was discussed at Collaboration University last week:
Do you extend email and internet usage policy to Connections, Sametime and Quickr? Internal policies should be honest and open, understand both sides of the coin, shouldn’t be driven from the top or from the bottom, commitment is key and basic marketing ideas/concepts should be known. For public consumption, all the private consumption policies should apply PLUS you must be ready to listen, don’t tow company line 100%, should have their own voice and keep your sense of humor.
Defining Roles: What do you expect people to do? Specific roles help kick start social projects. When you roll out communities, who leads the communities roll out?
Author: typically SME’s. They are keen to share knowledge and happy to be called a guru.
Reviewer: understanding controlling content and the rules of the game. They can translate technical content.
Editor: responsible for content and delivery.
Designer: creates that overall consistent UI. Think about the tools and what they offer. Web vs Mobile.
Webmaster/Admin: These folks are there from the beginning. Makes it work.
Deployment: In the social model, roles begin to merge and your policy has to reflect the meshed roles and responsibilities. What does this mean? Fewer people, more trust. Get the early adopters in, sign social media policy (hint: have them help you write it), and get them involved early and often. Use them to drive others to contribute. Though roles often merge, defining certain roles help kick off social collaboration platforms. Below is a refined role graphic by Chris Miller at Connectria.
example roles by Chris Miller
Governance is a big topic, hard to roll into one post. I hope to explore this more with Chris (maybe a podcast series) and other SME’s. How do you extend social software into your governance structures?
