Don’t laugh. Okay, laugh, but realize we’re including this ridiculous video because it brings up some good points that tie into enterprise social networking, including:
- As a leader, “You must be easy to follow”
- If you’re not a leader, try to be a “first follower,” to “show everyone else how to follow”
Now, what are we really getting at?
Many social networking experts believe in the 90-9-1 rule. The theory? If you look at people who use websites like Twitter, Wikipedia or Facebook, about 1% are the “creators” (leaders) of posting and creating content; 9% are the “contributors” (first followers), who join in and reply to content; and then there’s 90 percent, who are “lurkers” – those who view the content but don’t necessarily contribute. See the pie chart.
These numbers can vary depending on the community and content at hand, but it’s worth thinking about when it comes to driving adoption of your enterprise social network. It takes leaders and first followers to increase the activity and momentum of a community. Once that happens, more people will be comfortable creating and contributing.
Now, we’re not saying you should post embarrassing videos of yourself dancing. But, if you really want to put your enterprise social network to good use, start sharing your expertise, asking questions, collecting ideas and posting meaningful content that’s relevant to your work. If you’re not sure what to post, start replying and adding to the conversation. Before you know it, others will join in too and you can really leverage the ideas and knowledge sharing from the community.
