"To be, or not to be..." is the opening phrase from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet that has become one of the most widely quoted phrases in the English language. Ever since the advent of Facebook and other Social Media tools, the one thing that pops up in everybody's mind is "To Like, or Not to Like…”. It seems to be the simplest way of acknowledging one’s presence on social media; apart from ensuring that a similar thumbs up is reciprocated on your Facebook page when you post something! But do all these Likes and Comments add up to anything?
Enterprise Social Media, as it is known when such tools are used in organizations to crowd-source ideas, generate opinions, and solicit solutions to problems also have these ubiquitous “Like” buttons to record user participation. However, what do these translate to, and how one can make meaningful measurements about the impact it has on creating and disseminating knowledge within the organization is a subject of intense study in all organizations. Here are a few measurements commonly used to analyse traffic on your social media page:
Page Likes: This includes the number of people who “Like”, “Comment”, “Tag”, “Share” or in some manner indicate that they have viewed the content you have posted on your social page. When any of these actions are performed, this invariably serves up as a notification on the user’s page, thus allowing people who follow this to be notified of content that may be of interest to them. This is especially useful, when someone is following a topic of interest. For example, as a curator of several topics on Social Learning Theory, I compile lists of content from various sources that are of interest on the subject. When I create several lists of such topics (categorized based on complexity, or topic), it becomes easy for someone who is following me to gain access to such content. The count of such Page likes, their frequency, and half-life are of interest – they provide insight into the longevity and importance of a topic, often giving clues about the shelf-life of some topics. Of special interest is the “Viral reach” – an indicator of how far and wide the content has spread. A topic of organizational importance spreads across the entire organization, whereas a topic that is of interest to a limited circle spreads only within that circle. When such a topic moves across circles, it is an indicator that a new idea has possibly been generated.
I have used the term “Page Likes” in a generic manner. This could be a comment or reply to a post, or a tag, a share or any such action that can be performed when you post content. Similarly, each of these actions could individually spawn several measures, many of which when seen in perspective, can provide valuable insight into the nature of collaboration that occurs within an enterprise. For example, in an enterprise some of the measures that are of value could be:
· The number of employee-to-employee relationships spawned through various knowledge sharing activities
· The re-use rate of frequently accessed content
· The capture of key expertise – key concepts that make the transformation from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge.
· The dissemination of knowledge to appropriate individuals – here the definition of “appropriate” could be nebulous and depend on specific scenarios. However, the general intent is that when a content is used in specific context, then it is considered to have reached the appropriate individual.
· The number of new ideas generated – captured in specific forms, or deduced from new projects that are created with the key concept
· The number of new lessons learned and best practices created – identified by changes in Package of Practice, or discussions in Communities of Practice, or content which find their way into structured lessons
· New case studies that are presented based on experience shared
· The number of apprentices one mentors – the earlier concept of a lesson portfolio or lists that are maintained and accessed by employees with a lower skill or competence level
Several of these measures can eventually be tracked to operational measures – those that define business performance. This in turn provide some indication of the impact knowledge management processes have on organizational performance. However, there is a need to understand that business performance measures are usually far more complex in terms of the factors that affect them, and any correlation can at best be tenuous. However, over longer periods of time, it is possible to empirically ascribe significant weightage to knowledge and learning initiatives on the overall impact in the business. In the short term, specific instances have clearly been identified which have provided quantum breakthroughs in performance – either in the form of cost reduction, improved productivity, or entirely new products and services.
Meaningful measures in Knowledge Management #Knowledge-Management #Knowledge-metrics #enterprise-social-media
Enterprise Social Media, as it is known when such tools are used in organizations to crowd-source ideas, generate opinions, and solicit solutions to problems also have these ubiquitous “Like” buttons to record user participation. However, what do these translate to, and how one can make meaningful measurements about the impact it has on creating and disseminating knowledge within the organization is a subject of intense study in all organizations. Here are a few measurements commonly used to analyse traffic on your social media page:
Page Likes: This includes the number of people who “Like”, “Comment”, “Tag”, “Share” or in some manner indicate that they have viewed the content you have posted on your social page. When any of these actions are performed, this invariably serves up as a notification on the user’s page, thus allowing people who follow this to be notified of content that may be of interest to them. This is especially useful, when someone is following a topic of interest. For example, as a curator of several topics on Social Learning Theory, I compile lists of content from various sources that are of interest on the subject. When I create several lists of such topics (categorized based on complexity, or topic), it becomes easy for someone who is following me to gain access to such content. The count of such Page likes, their frequency, and half-life are of interest – they provide insight into the longevity and importance of a topic, often giving clues about the shelf-life of some topics. Of special interest is the “Viral reach” – an indicator of how far and wide the content has spread. A topic of organizational importance spreads across the entire organization, whereas a topic that is of interest to a limited circle spreads only within that circle. When such a topic moves across circles, it is an indicator that a new idea has possibly been generated.
I have used the term “Page Likes” in a generic manner. This could be a comment or reply to a post, or a tag, a share or any such action that can be performed when you post content. Similarly, each of these actions could individually spawn several measures, many of which when seen in perspective, can provide valuable insight into the nature of collaboration that occurs within an enterprise. For example, in an enterprise some of the measures that are of value could be:
· The number of employee-to-employee relationships spawned through various knowledge sharing activities
· The re-use rate of frequently accessed content
· The capture of key expertise – key concepts that make the transformation from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge.
· The dissemination of knowledge to appropriate individuals – here the definition of “appropriate” could be nebulous and depend on specific scenarios. However, the general intent is that when a content is used in specific context, then it is considered to have reached the appropriate individual.
· The number of new ideas generated – captured in specific forms, or deduced from new projects that are created with the key concept
· The number of new lessons learned and best practices created – identified by changes in Package of Practice, or discussions in Communities of Practice, or content which find their way into structured lessons
· New case studies that are presented based on experience shared
· The number of apprentices one mentors – the earlier concept of a lesson portfolio or lists that are maintained and accessed by employees with a lower skill or competence level
Several of these measures can eventually be tracked to operational measures – those that define business performance. This in turn provide some indication of the impact knowledge management processes have on organizational performance. However, there is a need to understand that business performance measures are usually far more complex in terms of the factors that affect them, and any correlation can at best be tenuous. However, over longer periods of time, it is possible to empirically ascribe significant weightage to knowledge and learning initiatives on the overall impact in the business. In the short term, specific instances have clearly been identified which have provided quantum breakthroughs in performance – either in the form of cost reduction, improved productivity, or entirely new products and services.
Meaningful measures in Knowledge Management #Knowledge-Management #Knowledge-metrics #enterprise-social-media
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