Connecting Organizational Silos: Taking Knowledge Flow Management to the Next Level with Social Media

NO TIME TO POST: PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

One big barrier for many users who hesitate to participate in a social media platform (internal or external) is best expressed in the statement: “Sorry, but I do not have any time to post to another platform.”

It is probably true that they are busy with many things and adding an extra activity does not seem possible, but one must understand that a social media platform can replace some other activities, and should not be seen as a completely new add-on to their channel portfolio. In many ways, it can save time when switching certain tasks from the original channel to the new one.

Here are some examples, where using an ESN can either save time or enhance chances to get a better answer, which raises quality:

• Instead of sending an email to one or more groups (and potentially wasting time for everyone who needs to open and read the email) post it to the social media platform, exposing it to a wide range of people and potentially getting a much faster answer.
• Instead of chatting in an isolated messaging program, start a discussion on the ESN and not only get a larger range of answers, but also come to a decision point faster, as more perspectives and arguments are more quickly presented.
• Instead of sending messages about events to a large audience in a mailing list, create a Twitter-like posting stream (a microblog), which those who are really interested can choose to follow, and those who are not interested can easily ignore.
• Instead of going ...