One of the more remarkable things about the social networking aspects of BLOGs is that topics are bantered about- exciting new technologies are discovered (or re-discovered), there are any number of problems that these technologies can solve, and then their true benefits and deficiencies are revealed. We are now getting to this later stage with Web 2.0.
There are still many who are shouting from the rooftops about how Web 2.0 technologies can, and indeed are, changing the landscape of the internet- as well they should. However, we believe these shouts should be somewhat more focused. Blogging, RSS, AJAX, and the rest, all have a place where they can best be exploited, but you have to know where to draw the line.
Alternatively, the corporate world will have to change it's mindset as well (to a certain degree). In order to realize the value of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically the social networking aspects, companies will have to encourage employees to contribute- and contribute the right content. Some of the established corporate methodologies of knowledge capture will have to be relaxed as well. Dion Hinchcliffe discusses this in his post Being Practical with Web 2.0 Thinking. The best quote on this topic is:
"enterprises [do not] need to throw their management and control structures away. But they could sure loosen them up a bit in the right places. And achieving balance here is something that the successful companies will do, through trial and error."
We very much believe in this line of thinking. We even take it a step further: in order for the enterprise space to understand the value that Web 2.0 brings, the benefits need to be clearly identified, and the software itself should facilitate the features which provide that value. Where there are ambiguous business processes, the system should enforce best practices. For example:
- Meeting software should require an agenda to be created
- Creating WIKI content should help to classify that content for easy search retrieval
- Reports should be precreated, but customizable to the specialized needs of a user
One could easily go overboard in those features, but the key is to strike that balance between dynamic, interactive features that guide a user through an application, and non-intuitive elements that provide little business value and hinder the user more than they help.
