LocationsIt doesn’t have to be said that blogs, wikis, podcasting, twittering, etc. will eventually be considered a natural part of the way we communicate as individuals and is fast becoming the way that enterprise companies reach their audiences (see Forrester research). But turns out now it will be a major way big companies reach their employees and facilitate conversations between their employees too.
I think that smart companies will utilize (or set free) the voices of their employees by creating spaces that facilitate the sharing of knowledge and expertise within their walls and allow employees to generate the content themselves. Let go a little.
A good example is a project I am working on at Microsoft within their internal field training group, called Academy Mobile. Academy Mobile is a knowledge sharing platform for Microsoft employees to communicate, exchange relevant information, and learn from one another through audio and video podcasts. (Check out this video interview with my client, Paolo Tosolini). Employees can participate by commenting on audio/video podcasts, rating them, sharing them with colleagues and instantly getting feedback via Instant Message Communication and email (built on top of Microsoft SharePoint 2007).
I am super excited to be a part of this project. Since the launch of Academy Mobile at Microsoft in July 2007 (about a year ago), it has gained rapid interest across Microsoft worldwide (as of last month, there were 2000+ podcasts, 3000+ accounts, 3500+ unique visitors a month, 3000 hits a day, and 70k+ downloads). For more info, check out this interview with Phil Morel, the Director at Microsoft responsible for Academy.
Academy Mobile Video 3 But enough about Microsoft. The cool thing is that they have created an open source podcasting kit for any company that uses Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 as their current internet or extranet solution (or wants to buy it, of course). ANY big company who wants to encourage social networking and podcasts for their employees internal communication and knowledge sharing can get the Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS) for free. Free, what? Yep. PKS launched on June 9, 2008 at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. Here’s an interesting article about the overall conference and the current state of Enterprise 2.0 marketplace.
I think this is cool for so many of our clients who really want to be innovative about their internal communications and want those communications to be as savvy, interesting, and influential with their customers. I wish I could include some samples of stuff we have created for these types of internal communications, but they are all, well, internal to our customers, and therefore confidential. It will be interesting to see how much of the content is consumed online, and how much of it really gets onto employees’ Zunes, SmartPhones, iPods and other mobile devices.
Although Projectline is a small firm, we have started to communicate internally through funny and creative podcasts to keep employees up-to-date. This proves you don’t have to be an enterpise to use podcasting as a form of communication. Our goal is to stay connected with each other regardless of how hectic life can be and podcasting is a fun way to get people to listen. Our podcasts range from introducing new hires, sharing best practices, recruiting new positions and more. How do you get someone’s attention in the first ten seconds? Podcasting is one effective way. It makes a difference to see and hear the human behind your messaging rather than reading it in print. The best thing of all, it’s really easy to do!
I will keep you posted on upcoming social media conferences. Here are a couple I plan on attending: New Media Expo and Web 2.0 Expo. Let us know if you plan to be there too.