Bad Mix: Traditional businesses and Social media

I recently did a road map of social media initiatives within the department and agency I work for. I tracked all of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policies from the 1970 (Hello President Carter!) to the present time and them mapped them to specific Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policies and initiatives. I also captured when various Social media businesses like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Blogger were formed or purchased by Google. It was a fascinating exercise.

The evolution of businesses, which are based on the concepts of social networking, and organic growth, has truly been disruptive in the business world. The tools provided by these companies are making the Jasmine flower proud (my poor attempt in weaving the political revolutions in the middle east into this blog entry). Unfortunately I don't think social media tools are going to successful in the big business world because businesses are based on the principles of organized management. There is a reason why fortune 500 companies hire executives with a Masters of Business ADMINISTRATION and not Masters of Science in Business. Structure and management go together.

If you think about it. Labor unions and other user related groups with a common goal (that are not dependent on a process) will adopt social media successfully within their organization. Meanwhile investment banks and large supply chain companies will have limited success because they are based on processes. IT is critical in a business they automate business process and automation of business processes can be managed. Social media shouldn't be managed but it should be organic. A successful CIO may be able to successful implement social media in niche pockets but he or she cannot make it an enterprise level shared services. Folks in the Department of Defense claim that social media is successful in their organization. When you do intelligence analysis which is based on information sharing from different perspectives then there has be collaboration. Social media in the intelligence domain is successful because it is based on information collaboration. This is uniquely different from a typical fortune 500 company.

Anyway I had this thought this morning and now I need to go to work and the agency's social media initiatives.

President 2.0

I believe our President has done it. President Obama is using technology to its fullest to , do his job. He is pushing his agenda through his websites, grass roots campaigns, twittering pages, YouTube videos and many others. In fact I writing a blog about his use of technology, is an accomplishment. Currently he is pushing Health care agenda and I, personally, am skeptical about it but I admire about him is that he is pushing critical issues to the masses using web technologies. True, a regular Joe won't be able to vote a "Nay" or a "Yeah" in the Senate or the House but at least I am aware of the issue and I can start a grass roots campaign for it or against it. I can also use technology to push my voice using Blogs, social networks and other Web 2.0 enable medium. I have admired how Obama has used the Web to rally the people to campaign for him. I signed up on his site when he was running because I was curious and I wanted to see what he is all about. I read up on the issues on his site and McCain's which helped me make a decision on my vote. I also got an opportunity, which I took, to volunteer at the Presidential Inauguration. It was a great experience and I wouldn't have been able to experience it if Obama wasn't reaching out to the masses via the web. Anyway he is revolutionizing on how campaigns are done because his usage of technology. I wonder when President 3.0 will come. Stay Tuned.

Here is a video of Obama's healthcare from PBS which includes my friend Jonathan's wife Zaneb Beams. Even if you hate Obama, you have to appreciate how he used Web 2.0 technologies.

Twitter-mania!

As everything has a "buzz" lifespan, Twitter seems to be growing and various entities like my former employer, ManTech International and others, have started Twittering. I have been twittering for a few months and I have seen that it is a great way of creating organic social groups or Communities of Interest (CoI). For example I tweeted about "Groovy on Grails" and next thing I know, I am being followed by Grails evangelists. I have had web designers requesting me to let them follow me since I tweeted about Photoshop and other Adobe products. It is a neat thing that people are following micro-blogs since people don't have time to read large blog articles. I have discovered that with Twitter that you can create a buzz about yourself or about some of the actions you do. I have seen people Twitter about their skills to market themselves. I have seen entities like CNN Breaking News which tweets the latest stories in news. I follow Pete Carroll who markets USC and how cool it is be a USC Trojan. I also follow Shaq and Mark Sanchez, Jets QB draftee from USC and many more. The question is why I do enjoy following them and other one million plus who follow Ashton Kusher. The answer is that it gives a person insight into celebrities. A way for us to relate to them. They are human like us. For example, Mark Sanchez loves hamburgers and he is always tweeting about Hamburger joints in NYC or his practices at the NY Jets facility. I, personally, like following people I know since it gives me a better insight into their lives.

Now I ask the question, "Does it make sense to have companies like ManTech International Twittering?" I answer that asking another question, "What are they trying to achieve?" Is it recruiting tool, employee retention tool, or a way to generating more buzz? I suggest that they should first monitor who is following them? Is it ex-employees like me or is it current employees or someone totally different? As an ex-employee, I would be interested if they had any interesting positions open up. If I were a current employee then I would like to hear about new benefits or about some new business and potential career development. If I were an outsider, I could be a competing business, a potential stock buyer, a prospective employee or a prospective client. The question is what are companies trying to twitter? There is a market there but some creative analysis and speculation may increase a company's image, moral and the quality of the work force. As for me, I wish Twitter had a better UI.