May 30, 2006

Improve Your Intranet With a Lesson From MySpace

Forty million: That's how many people have signed up for MySpace, self-described as “an online community that lets you meet your friends' friends.” Even more amazing: Members log on so frequently that the site ranks as one of the top 20 English-language pages on the Internet in terms of page hits. Here's what makes it so popular, and how you can apply similar techniques to your corporate intranet.

• Authoring rights
  Once signed up, new members of the MySpace community gain access to their personal profile: a space on the Web where they can describe themselves, upload pictures and write journal entries. Members control what's written in their profile resulting in continually refreshed, user-generated content.
  
  How to apply this to your intranet:
  Think about granting “average” employees access to the content management tool and enabling them to write and post articles of relevance to their department or division. Whether you give authoring rights to many or just a handful, the end result is fresh, up-to-date content. If you're uncomfortable with giving employees carte blanche, you can still maintain a certain level of control by setting up “gatekeepers” who review content before it's posted to ensure it's appropriate and accurate.

• Message boards
  Every MySpace member profile has what's called a "comments" section (nothing more than an online message board) where the member's friends may leave comments about the member for anyone to read. Friends may also comment on photos and blog postings. A personal setting determines whether a comment posts instantly or if it first requires review.
  
  How to apply this to your intranet:
  Organizations have long avoided message boards for fear of poor employee conduct. But message boards are a great way for employees to debate a topic, provide input or exchange ideas. Obviously, you need to monitor postings to make sure problems don't occur. But it's also beneficial to create guidelines: rules that guide appropriate behavior.

• Personal interests
  Each MySpace member profile has standard sections where members can list their interests (i.e., music, television, books) and seek out others within the MySpace community who share the same interests.
  
  How to apply this to your intranet:
  Networking and knowledge sharing are becoming increasingly difficult, especially in large organizations where employees are spread out across the globe. Consider allowing individuals, sites or departments to create their own personal profiles on the intranet, where they can share information about what they do and their areas of expertise.
  

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