Enterprise Social Media: Trends in Adopting Web 2.0 for the Enterprise in 2007

Enterprise Social Media:

Trends in Adopting Web 2.0for the Enterprise in 2007

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For the purposes of this report, the following terms are defined as follows:

• Communities—a group of people who primarily interact via a computer network;also a supplemental form of communication among people who know each other

primarily in real life.

• Social network—a social structure made of individuals or organizations that aretied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, idea,

financial exchange, friends, etc.

• Wiki—software that allows users to create, edit and link web pages easily; oftenused to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.

• Podcast—a collection of digital media files distributed over the Internet usingsyndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers.

• Forum—a web application for holding discussions and posting user generatedcontent.

• RSS—a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated contentsuch as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts, enabling users to keep up with

their favorite websites in an automated manner that’s easier than checking them

manually (formally “RDF site summary,” known colloquially as “really simple

syndication”).

• Discussion group—see Forum; may refer to the entire community or to a specificsubforum dealing with a distinct topic.

• Photo sharing—the publishing or transfer of a user’s digital photos online, thusenabling the user to share them with others.

— information courtesy of wikipedia.com

Definitions

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Trends and Best Practices in Adopting Web 2.0 in 2007

Abstract

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Trends and Best Practices in Adopting Web 2.0 in 2007

This report seeks to explore the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in 2007 and the

future of social media initiatives in enterprise-size organizations. Discussed herein are

the current uses of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis and social networking,

concerns about the risks posed by such technologies and the success rates and

effectiveness of these tools.

Key findings uncovered in the study include:

• More than half of enterprise-size organizations utilize Web 2.0 technologies

(54 percent), as do 74 percent of companies with less than 500 employees.

• The majority of respondents using Web 2.0 technologies employ a combination of

internal- and external-facing tools (64 percent).

• Blogs are the most used Web 2.0 technology (selected by 87 percent of respondents),

followed by communities, wikis, RSS feeds and social networking.

• The most successful uses of Web 2.0 technologies in their organizations are blogs

(44 percent), communities (42 percent) and wikis (39 percent).

• Ninety-six percent report that all Web 2.0 technologies they’ve used have been

successful, with 83 percent reporting no clear failures.

• Limited internal resources to deploy the technology is the biggest obstacle in adopting

Web 2.0 technologies.

The trends and initiatives discussed herein are supported by the “Trends in Adopting

Web 2.0 for the Enterprise in 2007” survey conducted by Equation Research during the

fourth quarter of 2007.

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Trends in Adopting Web 2.0 for the Enterprise in 2007


Table of contents

Methodology

Demographics

2007 Trends in Web 2.0 Usage

Personal-use Social Networking at Work

Success with Web 2.0 Technologies

Obstacles in Web 2.0 Adoption: Resources and Security

Ideal Capabilities for Social Media Initiatives

Positive Impact of Web 2.0 Use

The Future of Web 2.0 Adoption: 2008 and Beyond

6.6.7.9.9.9.10.11.12.

Because of the large number of professionals who participated in this survey, we are 95

percent confident that the responses of the population to the survey questions would be

+/- 9.3 percent from the figures stated herein.

The survey was sent via email to approximately 60,000 professionals during the fourth

quarter of 2007, and 112 participants completed the survey, which was live for 18 days.

Each respondent answered the questionnaire via an online survey tool and was assured

of his or her confidentiality. Their responses were used to drive the results and

conclusions of this report and will be used only in this aggregate analysis.



Methodology

The demographic composition of the respondent pool provides a representative sample

of enterprise-size businesses. Almost two-thirds of respondents are from enterprise-size

organizations (those with more than 1,000 employees), which provides an accurate and

higher-level assessment of Web 2.0 technology adoption in companies of that size.

Respondents represent a variety of roles within the organization. While almost a quarter

hold senior-executive level positions, 41 percent are from the management level.

Likewise, respondents came from a range of departments, but the greatest factions work

in the marketing/advertising and technology/IT departments of their organizations.

*Respondents were given the option to pick more than one department.

Demographics

Fifty-nine percent of all respondents’ organizations currently use Web 2.0 technologies,

including 92 percent of professionals in the business development/strategy department

and 63 percent of marketing/advertising professionals. More than half of enterprise-size

organizations utilize Web 2.0 technologies (54 percent), as do 74 percent of companies

with less than 500 employees.

The majority of respondents using Web 2.0 technologies employ a combination of

internal- and external-facing tools (64 percent). Those using a combination of internal-

and external-facing tools include 58 percent of respondents at enterprise-size

companies.

Blogs are the most used Web 2.0 technology (selected by 87 percent of respondents),

followed by communities, wikis, RSS feeds and social networking. Eighty-four percent of

all respondents’ organizations provide information in RSS format, among them 92

percent of professionals in the marketing/advertising department. More than two-thirds

of all respondents’ companies provide them with software to subscribe to RSS feeds

(69 percent). (See graph below for more information.)

2007 Trends in Web 2.0 Usage

7



Open-ended responses from survey participants about the effectiveness of the most used

Web 2.0 technologies:

Blogs:

• “They help us position our brand and talk with potential prospects/customers.”

• “The blog has become so popular that we’ve added RSS and email alerts so people

can more easily access the information on an ongoing basis when they need it.

We also plan to launch another external blog in 2008.”

• “Helping us share voices of passionate experts, join conversations about technology

thought leadership, collect and reply to public comments, respond quickly to

concerns or issues.”

Communities:

• “As a global company, our community has proven to connect people worldwide

in many ways that traditional mediums like email and IM did not. Community

management and tools helped encourage networking, discussion and collaboration.”

• “Gives people an opportunity to quickly and easily grow their network and get fast

answers to their business problems from peers.”

• “…It’s done a lot to relieve lower-level support challenges because people can help

each other given their shared experiences.”

• “It provides a good platform for evangelistic outreach and allows us to tap into

what our customers really think.”

Wikis:

• “We’ve successfully used wikis as a way to capture documentation and information

sharing internally. Don’t see something? Upload it yourself. Something is incorrect?

Edit it yourself.”

• “Our employees are using it to consistently document our processes and procedures.”

• “It’s a great way to share competitive and market intelligence internally, allowing

us to better track developments in the industry, as well as keep up to date on the

activities of our competitors and industry partners.”

• “…wikis with built-in version control/management are THE way to collaborate

on docs.”

RSS:

• “RSS is great for those who don’t have time to continuously surf the websites for

communities, forums or blogs. It lets them view our content from the convenience

of a single application or interface (the RSS reader).”

• “RSS has helped internal and external customers get the information they want,

when the want it to their preferred delivery method.”



Personal-use Social Networking at Work

9


Of those respondents whose organizations currently use Web 2.0 technologies, just more

than a third (37 percent) are allowed to use personal-use social networking sites such as

Facebook and MySpace for business purposes at work. Only 23 percent of all

respondents use Facebook for business purposes at work. However, a recent study by

email research specialist emedia revealed that 48 percent of social networking site users

admitted accessing them at work, and one in four reported logging in daily.1

More than half of respondents are from organizations where employees are requesting

to use social networking sites for business purposes at work (58 percent). Five out of

six professionals in the PR department desire this ability, as do 65 percent of

marketing/advertising departments.

Success with Web 2.0 Technologies

Respondents reported that the most successful uses of Web 2.0 technologies in their or-

ganizations are blogs (44 percent), communities (42 percent) and wikis (39 percent).

Ninety-six percent report that all Web 2.0 technologies they’ve used have been success-

ful, with 83 percent reporting no clear failures. These facts lend support to the more

than half of all respondents who say they need quantifiable ROI metrics before deploying

social media for business purposes (59 percent). This requirement is a challenge for many

advocates of Web 2.0 technologies. Despite their success and effectiveness, many collab-

orative Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and wikis are known for their lack of quan-

tifiable ROI.2 However, this should not deter organizations from leveraging these tools, as

the benefits they provide are evident — even if not quantifiable.

Obstacles in Web 2.0 Adoption: Resources and Security

Two-thirds of respondents say that having limited internal resources to deploy the tech-

nology is an obstacle in adopting Web 2.0 technologies; 83 percent of respondents in

the marketing/advertising department agree. Additionally, a limited budget to deploy the

technology is a challenge for 58 percent of respondents. Another obstacle in enterprise

adoption of Web 2.0 technologies is the fact that more than half of respondents report

that they don’t know what social media can do for the company (53 percent), including

73 percent of senior executives. A study of 700 HR decision makers in the United States

conducted by content security specialist Clearswift revealed that 23 percent (or nearly

one in four) of HR decision makers are unfamiliar with Web 2.0 technologies.3

1 “News Digest: Social Networking Worries.”PC World Business. December 2007.

2 “Adoption of Web 2.0 Is Taking Off, butSome Firms Are Still Reluctant.”Bank Sysems & Technology.March 30, 2007.

3 “Internet and Web 2.0 Creates UnfamiliarBattleground for HR Professionals.”Dec. 5, 2007.


Almost two-thirds of survey participants said they are limited by concerns about security,

moderation and control (64 percent), especially those in organizations with more than

5,000 employees and those in the marketing/advertising, creative design and public

relations departments. “The rapid development of communications technologies—and

the potential for both business benefit and employee misuse—poses a significant

challenge for HR professionals,” said Stephen Millard, vice president of strategy at

Clearswift.4 The majority of respondents prohibited from using personal-use social

networking sites for business purposes at work are restricted because there is no security

(61 percent), there’s no content moderation (44 percent) and for fear of leaking

confidential information (39 percent). These security concerns aren’t unfounded: The

Clearswift study showed that 14 percent of HR professionals have had to discipline

employees for such confidential data leakage, and another 7 percent administered

disciplinary actions for employees who had posted inappropriate content on social media

websites, blogs and wikis.5 Of those not currently using Web 2.0 technologies, 72

percent are not allowed to use personal use social networking sites for business purposes

at work because of concerns about lowered productivity (85 percent) and various

security concerns, including the possibility for leaking confidential information (58

percent), a lack of content moderation (39 percent) and the ownership of intellectual

property placed on those sites (31 percent). However, almost half of those respondents

said they would be allowed to use a social networking product if it addressed those

concerns (42 percent).

Ideal Capabilities for Social Media Initiatives

Across the board, security remains the most important capability of a social media

initiative, selected by 88 percent of all respondents. Workflow (chosen by 72 percent of

respondents) came in second, followed by integration with identity management systems

(67 percent). Permissioning (66 percent) and moderation (49 percent) are also important

capabilities, especially for organizations with more than 1,000 employees. Likewise,

almost two-thirds of respondents reported that broad support of Web 2.0 technologies is

important to their organizations (63 percent). Social networking features are the least

important capabilities to all respondents. (See graph below for more information.)



Positive Impact of Web 2.0 Use

11


Across the board, almost all respondents report that internal-facing online social media

will improve communication and collaboration (91 percent). Further, 78 percent believe

such Web 2.0 technologies will improve knowledge management within their

organizations, and 81 percent think it will aid in locating experts inside the office. With

improved communication, collaboration and knowledge management, as well as better

identification of experts within the office, productivity is likely to increase—and

respondents agree. Approximately two-thirds believe such internal-facing social media

initiatives would have a positive impact on enhancing productivity, including 75 percent

of management and the marketing/advertising and public relations department.

More than two-thirds of all respondents believe that utilizing external-facing online social

media in the workplace will increase customer engagement (68 percent), including 70

percent of senior executives and 75 percent of the marketing/advertising department.

Sixty-four percent think these initiatives will help increase brand awareness and loyalty.

More than half of all respondents believe external facing technologies will aid in

producing effective market research (58 percent), including 69 percent of the

marketing/advertising department and 75 percent of the public relations department.

While just 39 percent of all respondents believe these initiatives will have a positive

impact on generating revenue, more than half of those in the marketing/advertising and

public relations departments believe it will—as do 80 percent of those in the sales

department. (See graph below for more information.)


Twenty percent of enterprise-size organizations have a budget of more than $50,000 for

social media over the next 12 months. Almost half of all respondents (47 percent) plan to

deploy an internal-facing community in 2008 or 2009. A quarter plan to do so in the

next six months. The top internal-facing Web 2.0 technologies respondents plan to

deploy are blogs and wikis (56 percent each). Forty-four percent of respondents plan to

utilize an external-facing community within the next six to 24 months. Of those, two-

thirds will deploy online communities, and 62 percent will utilize blogs. In addition, more

than half of respondents plan to revamp their external-facing websites (59 percent).

As respondents’ plans for 2008 and 2009 indicate, Web 2.0 technologies will become

the standard in the near future. As more businesses realize the benefits these types of

solutions have to offer and the success other companies have seen through such

applications, adoption of Web 2.0 technologies will increase exponentially. Security,

however, will continue to be a great concern for the majority of users and non-users

alike. To combat these safety risks, organizations must adopt sophisticated security

solutions that will protect them while still allowing them to benefit from the collaborative

nature of Web 2.0 technologies.

The Future of Web 2.0 Adoption: 2008 and Beyond



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