One of the problems of introducing social software that we regularly come across with our clients is making it self-sustaining. There’s often an example of a previous project – usually involving forums of some sort – that has been introduced in the past with a great fanfare, but now lies abandoned and gathering digital tumbleweed.
Why does this happen? Part of the reason is that there’s a vicious circle at work. If you have a tool that needs wide participation to work well, without that wide participation it won’t – which reduces the incentive for wide participation, and so the cycle goes on.
To get social software to a point where it’s self-sustaining, it needs to be set off with a kick. Here are three things you can do to give it that kick, based on some of the things we’ve seen in practice.
Make it focussed
Start by introducing the tool for a specific purpose – a defined project, for example. If you make the initial boundaries too wide, people will find this intimidating. Call it ‘blank paper’ syndrome – if you have some initial pointers as to what’s going on, you’ll feel more confident about taking the plunge and participating than you would if there’s no clear idea of what the tool is to be used for.
Make it happen
Start from a defined point – “As of Monday, project updates will be posted to the project blog. Here’s the link.” Make sure everyone involved knows, and give the process a defined trial period. Announce a review at the end of this trial period – if people know that there will be the chance to provide feedback, they are more likely to get involved.
Make it specific
If people have a vested interest in making the tool work, they’ll make it happen. If there are ‘escape routes’ out through existing processes, then the involvement will ‘leak out’. If you want a weblog to be used for project updates, then that’s where the project updates have to be – if you run an old and new process side-by-side, you’ll make it more likely that the old process will be perpetuated, regardless of how more efficient the new one is. It takes a degree of nerve to take the plunge like this – but if you’re half-hearted with the introduction, you’ve giving a mixed message out about the long-term aims.
