Sightings in SaaS

Enterprise 2.0 is the idea of a Harvard Business School prof, Andrew McAfee, who believes that the adoption and use of social software, like wikis, blogs, microblogging, facebook, etc., alters the Enterprise, transforming it from a hierarchical structure built on rules and disciplines, into an egalitarian community. One of my fellow Enterprise Irregulars, Dennis Howlett, who writes at ZDnet, penned a post recently about the hype of Enterprise 2.0  and the reality – social software is not changing the enterprise in ways its proponents would suggest, nor can it. I am inclined to agree.

Howlett is a self-acknowledged curmudgeon when it comes to technology. He, like many of us, has seen a lot of things come and go over the years, and much of it was useless. Of the Enterprise 2.0 hype he asks what are the activists’ interests; the company, the brand, the product or the community? His answer is simply that most Enterprise 2.0 enthusiasm is really all about the community and I tend to agree. The use of an internal community may not be a bad idea but community alone does not new products make. Nor does an external community create brand. It may help on the edges to connect to customers, but people buy a product because it has an excellent reputation, especially if they have purchased the same product before. 

Social networking tools may find some traction in knowledge based businesses, but the bulk of our economy is still product based businesses, and in these environments hirearchy still rules, as it must, Howlett argues. 

At any rate, community already exists at most companies, regardless of social software. Visit any popular restaurant in my area at lunch and you will see groups of designers and engineers sharing meals and discussing work. Is social software going to change this, or even enhance it? Hard to see that.

Then I just read an article in the NY Times about people leaving facebook. This is new and interesting. I often wonder myself about facebook and its long term prospects. I emailed the article, by the way, to my daughter Haley and her response was “Who cares?” She uses facebook as a matter of fact, and all of the conversation swirling around it seems like wasted breath to her. My feeling is that facebook in her life will eventually occupy the same realm as pokemon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls and sleepovers – fond memories all. 

So many people have recently jumped on fb but what value have they really found there? I’m still looking for it. I have no idea where the value is. I found a former teacher of mine, actually he found me, who has developed an embarrasing habit of impressing the hell out of very young women (former students). That’s not good. I also found an old college friend who appears to still, well, be in college. Most of the photos on his page were taken in a bar.  That’s not good either. Several family members have recently ‘friended’ me and that’s nice, but it would be better to see them in person, frankly. Reading the remarks of their friends on their ‘wall’ leaves me feeling like  a stranger.

I like community and have joined many over time. But there is also a place for hierarchy in the business world. I don’t believe that communities can carry a business forward. In the personal realm, if I want to know you I should want to spend some time with you. Facebook does not fill the void of distance, or lack of time, or cash, or inclination.