Analysis - by Patrick Thornton on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 17:06 - 3 Comments
News orgs should look to government for innovation
I never thought I’d say this, but we need to look at some of the innovative things that government is doing.
In a recent post for Poynter.org, I looked at NASA’s internal employee social network, Spacebook. The core behind the idea is to create a more collaborative culture at NASA. And why not?
The Web has made collaboration easier than ever before and that’s what Spacebook is hoping to tap into:
The network allows NASA’s estimated 18,000 employees, regardless of where they’re stationed in the world, to interact and collaborate.
The site gives employees the ability to change their status on their profile pages, share files, friend other NASA employees, follow their friends’ activities a la the Facebook news feed, join groups that interest them and more.
Spacebook asks users to list their areas of expertise, which NASA is hoping will make it easier for employees to find colleagues when they need to collaborate or ask questions. Linda Cureton, chief information officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told the blog Space Marauder that Spacebook is an asset to NASA in this down economy:
” ‘With the constraints we’ve had in hiring and our workforce issues, you want to know who knows what, such as experts on batteries or encryption,’ Cureton said. ‘There may be certain skills, abilities and talents that exist throughout the center, and you want to be able to tap into that knowledge to know areas of expertise of people.’ “
So while, yes, as a former government employee, I’m a bit stunned to say that news organizations should be looking to government for innovation, I’d dare say there is more innovation going on in government right now than at traditional media outlets.
Now a site like Spacebook may be overkill for smaller news organizations, but I can see it helping out larger companies that have multiple offices and bureaus. What about a company like Tribune? Couldn’t an internal social network help get people from different newspapers together on company-wide innovation efforts?
Why not? Tribune needs it.
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3 Comments
Emma Antunes
@Emma,
I think you’re right that something as simple as a blog could help newsrooms. Many newsrooms, however, are behind the technology adoption curve. It’s unfortunate, because many of their employees are using these technologies in their personal lives.
I wonder if the problem is that many managers at news orgs are not using social media, and therefor they don’t understand the value that it brings. If you use social media in your personal life, it would be much easier to see how it could make your professional life better.
Emma Antunes
What I find is if you can tie it to something that the community does repeatedly that needs improvement (in my case, data calls and document review), people all over the technology curve are willing to give it a go. They’re looking for solutions. If you can show how social software solves a problem they have, and you take the time to tailor it to the environment, you’ll have a winner. Just bring your pom-poms, and your patience, because it takes a lot of cheerleading and patience.
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I’d encourage it. Internal social media tools, even simple ones like blogs, can get teams on the same page and improve communication. I know one company that posts new business opportunities and leads on an internal blog, and it’s increased their team communication & their sales.
They key is improving information access and building team trust. The more you interact with people, and the more you can see that what they say and what they do match, the more trust you have. As trust goes up, your ability to move from simple coordination and cooperation to collaboration increases. And the more people can get the information they need, the easier it is to do their work.
The key is tying it to your business goals. How can social software enable newsrooms to share leads, help each other with stories, or add efficiency to the editorial review process? What are the daily annoyances that social software could help with?