Design to Thrive

Open access social network

Let's shift to a different type of group with different purposes. The previous example used an invitation-only community of practice that wasn't tied to any particular organization, so in this case we'll flip some of those parameters around.

Say, for example, that you work for a large corporation and that you've been tasked with building a social network that will allow different units within your organization to form their own communities. In this case, your organization mainly wants people to have the emotional and professional support of colleagues in their own departments, to gather around the “virtual water cooler,” and to share their ideas about problems they observe and potential solutions. But upper management ...