Internal networks - #localgovcamp

Updated (21 June 2009):
I admit I missed the first couple of minutes of this session (having too much fun chatting) but I am really interested in the pilot that Carl Haggerty and Rob Gray were discussing about the internal social network they have set up at Devon County Council with Blue Kiwi (please correct me if I am wrong about this!).

It's interesting to me both in a professional capacity as we'll be doing some work around internal communications / our intranet soon (ish) and also because my thesis next year is on the place of social media in local government internal communications.

It was a busy session and there was lots of great information about the reasons behind the pilot, the practicalities of setting it up and where they are now. There were lots of questions around the pilot and about internal communications in general.

I tried to make some notes at the time and I hope @liz_azyan captured some of the discussion on video as well. There is this video with Carl Haggerty and Rob Gray by David Wilcox:

Notes I made during the session (posted 20 June 2009):

• Great slides by @caralhaggerty - hoepfully these will be shared so I don't have to make too many notes. I'm having too much fun listening.
• Lots of really great suggestions backed with practical examples about how to get people internal to the organisation connecting online.
• Lead by example - great complete profiles including information on where to be found online, cvs, personal information, image, networks, where to find me online, skills etc
• Manage expectations but encourage people who are unsure to join. There is an optimum number (25-35) where a community becomes self-sufficient.
• Tell people what eblic engaging allows the system to do for them
• Coventry use Yammer internally - why not use a system that everybody already in and by default follows each other and then opts out. Saves having to rely on it self propogating
• Be great not to have to pilot but organisations don't always work like that - particularly public sector
• Make them give something up to use social media - so no more emails. @carlhaggerty does this with his team - no more email in their team! Sometimes generates social media envy, hopes pilot breaks down the barriers and answers questions while trying out new systems
• Great for early conversations
• How do you measure success?
• How do you overcome resistence to change? Nurture and support those that do adopt early, suggest people take the question / conversation into the internal network
• Currently 4 months into pilot Devon CC and Blue Kiwi
• Try and encourage people to be more informal as well as having social conversations alongside the business questions - change of culture for many public sector orgs perhaps?
• Fit in with existing internal business strategy - where there is a communication problem - is there a social media solution?
• Didn't see a lot of the benefits they have already reaped from the pilot
• Would organisation see benefit of getting 250 ppl together in a room to talk about issues?
• It's not an instant messaging service - is asynchronous. It's basically a large chat room - tells you to refresh when new information available
• Will be happy to share the results and lesson's learned
• More business conversations - not set out to replace email etc although that could be outcome!
• Is marketing to council staff based on the interests they put in their internal network profile a step too far?
• Target people who can help shape it - don't want it to be an internal version of Facebook but legitimate business tool.
• Only people with core access to business systems at the moment.
• Could be used to identify gaps in training by HR to enable more people to get involved
• Share details and skills - by having this information in the network allows HR and teams to work more efficiently and identify exisiting skill base?
• Put the network in and let the business evaluate what the benefits are...don't anticipate how this benefit each individual
• Users who are engaged and finding benefits encourage others to join and so the conversation widens and benefits and could drive change
• Middle managers important as they are vital in strategy
• There will always be those who converse more
• How much did it cost? Less than £10,000 but not much!
• Around 100 users is good number for pilot
• Deliberately seperate from ICT - intranets etc

And the subject is...

Social media in local government internal communications.
After thinking long and hard about whether to go down this route, look at social media in local gov engagement with young people or another avenue entirely I decided internal comms would be best suited to my organisation, the limitations of a part time dissertation and perhaps be useful to others in the sector too.
I'm happy to say this has now been approved by my tutor and I'll be returning to plan the thesis in more detail from the autumn. My feeling at the moment is that an 'active research' approach may work well and be interesting, hopefully piloting some possible social media solutions next year.
While the thesis will mainly look at problems and solutions within my own organisation I do plan to research what else is already in place across the sector.
I'm looking forward to getting started and really excited that my first bit of pilot research took place in the online space!
Thanks again to everyone who took the time to read and/or comment on my post about topic ideas. I'll be happy to share the outcome of my research with anyone interested when the time comes.

Thoughts on my thesis

The time is upon me where I must get some clarity about what my thesis will focus on next year. My dissertation will complete my part time study for a masters in eCommunication.
My ideas so far have been pretty vague and I've got only as far as deciding that my study will look at social media usage by local government. I've come across a couple of other people already researching this area but don't think much has been done as it is such a new area.
Anyway, I've had a few ideas about what I might look at:

• local government use of social media to engage with young citizens
• library service use of social media and effect on take up of service

I am being encouraged to concentrate on service specific research as the other research so far looks to map who is doing what and why. While I don't want to repeat existing research I would also like to think that whatever I look at will be of use within my organisation but perhaps also to others working in the sector.
So local government web people - is there anything you would like more research on or would find particularly interesting and useful for going forward? I obviously don't want other people to decide my thesis for me but would certainly be interested in hearing the thoughts of my fellow local gov webbies.
Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to read, think or respond to this!