“I realised that John’s blog post covers most of my points.

Put simply, I am reluctant to place too much architecture or structure to it, until users have had a chance to lead the process. I view initial use of micro-blogging as a bit of an experiment (proof of concept if you like), which can be integrated into the rest of our systems/processes at a later date (maybe 6-12 months in). What I love about E2.0 is that once you open something up, other people always come up with uses/ideas that I (or any other central facilitator) would never have thought of.

I have been involved in many projects over the years that have been carefully structured, expertly built, and comprehensively rolled out and have then gone absolutely nowhere because users just don’t take to the new system/product. I’d rather start with the problem of popular, if erratic or chaotic, use and then build restrictions and structure in a more reactive way.

In John’s parlance, I think that makes me an “IT Rogue”! I wonder if my boss will let me change my job title to that! )”

Other valid comments were about the disadvantage of standalone micro-blogging products as they cannot be integrated into the context of projects or collaboration workspaces.

Our document management vendor just released a micro-blogging/activity stream module and I am already realising the benefit of microblogging within the context of a document or folder, etc… eg. each document can have a comments stream, same with folder.

Further to this we already have profiles in the document management system, as we already use it, so it’s a place people already visit.

Something I forgot to mention.

Agree with Zaana that integration is key…accessibility, mobility, and design are key to ubiquity (aim is for participation to be a non-thing if it’s embedded in what we do).

I guess you are at the stage where you do need buy-in from others so you can at least provide a link to Yammer on your Intranet and other applications.

I wonder if Yammer provides stats on how people access it.

I’m an early adopter and even I forget to visit for just a read (lucky for the email digest).

I think the desktop app (and I guess the mobile app) is key to accessibility, therefore participation…this is a way to imitate the inbox concept.

To read or update needs to be available 5 seconds after you think about it just like flicking emails

I’m guessing they figure that if it’s free, people may use it and move on to higher effort participation tools like blogs, forums, wikis that you have to buy as part of the communities module.

But get this, due to low resources our work is getting strict on ad-hoc implementations. So we now require a charter and approval process, that not only goes to my boss, but his grandad boss.

Tick tick tick

Maybe even more so important that we use Yammer in the interim as an example of viability.

BTW

Luis Suarez as a good post and video on miroblogging http://www.elsua.net/2010/04/15/top-10-use-cases-enterprise-microsharing-will-help-you-get-less-email/

And Ross Mayfield has a superb whitepaper
http://www.socialtext.com/offers/images/Microblogging_whitepaper.pdf

Same with the NASA pilot
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12759868/NASAsphere-Pilot-Report-2008-Public

Like Socialtext say, microblogging really is a stepping stone or the training wheels before moving on to higher effort participation tools like blogs, etc… That’s why I see them offering Signals (microblogging) both as part of their package, but also as a standalone offering.

Great to see that your experience is pretty much spot on to what I was posting about. Not only the flattening or reach you have in the organisation when using these tools, but also the ability to introduce them in the first place…very empowering.

I agree that at some stage management should be in on it…really it’s in their best interest, and what better proof do you want of its viability.

Could not agree more, what you have described is exactly the process we followed about 18 months ago. We started using Yammer when a colleague and I wanted to see how it could work. Within 6 months it had over 200 users!

Interestingly it stayed with a group of 20 or so for around 3 or 4 months, then someone (we are still not sure who), invited around 20 other people who in turn invited 20 other people and before we knew it, people from all over the business were on it.

I must admit, there was some consternation from senior management when it started to spread so quickly! The one piece of advice I would suggest, is let your own senior manager know that you are trying it out, as they will inevitably get the first question… we didn’t do that. :-S.

My Colleague Zaana wrote up our experience for a conf paper earlier this year: http://bit.ly/a8NgUu