Social Media and Innovation

SURF-IT SymposiumAugust 26, 2011

Sara BangloriaMentor: Professor Vijay

Gurbaxani

Social Media: A Democratizing Force

“Thank you Facebook”

http://reface.me/news/facebook-revolution-egypt/

http://dailyimagebuzz.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-made-for-internet.html

http://davemiers.com/2011/02/12/the-egyptian-revolution/

Transforming the Enterprise

•Distribution of Power•Decreased Bureaucracy•Employee Empowerment

INNOVATION

http://www.icanhasinternets.com/2011/04/how-employees-process-information/employees-2/

Social Media Tools

•Blogs•Wikis•Podcasts•Social Networks

▫Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +•Social Business Networks

▫Yammer, Chatter•YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr,

Abovethelaw.com

Research Question

How does a social media policy foster innovation?

http://nichefinder.maxupdates.tv/

Value Disciplines•Any IT strategy should be consistent with

business strategy.•We think of a business strategy as consisting

of these three value disciplines:▫Operational Excellence

Lead industry in price and convenience▫Product Leadership

Tailor and shape products and services to fit an increasingly fine definition of the customer

▫Customer Intimacy Produce a continuous stream of state-of-the-art

products and services

Methodology•Examined Social Media Policies of 15 companies:

•American Red Cross•Best Buy Co., Inc.•British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)•Cisco Systems, Inc.•Eastman Kodak Co.•The Coca-Cola Company•Ford Motor Company•Kaiser Permanente

•Kodak•Kohl’s Corp.•Microsoft Corporation•Nordstrom Inc.•Indiana State University•Intel Corporation•State of California•Yahoo! Inc.

Methodology• Developed List of 23 Policy Attributes/Elements• Evaluated Comprehensiveness of Each Policy

Company # of Elements IncludedCisco 19Intel 14Indiana State University 13American Red Cross 12Kaiser Permanente 12Microsoft 12Nordstrom 12BBC 11Kodak 11Ford Motor Company 10The Coca-Cola Company 9Yahoo! 9Best Buy 8Kohl's 6State of California 5

Methodology

•Elements/Attributes grouped into 4 categories:▫Structure and Style▫Employees▫Legal Matters▫Resources▫Recommendations Provided▫Appropriate Conduct

Methodology• List of Policy Attributes/Elements

STRUCTURE AND STYLESeparate Document Dedicated to PolicyLength Short: 0-4 pages Medium: 5-9 pages Long: >10 pagesTone Casual: "Did you screw up? If you make a mistake, admit it." (Intel) Formal: "Correct mistakes when needed." (Kodak)Narrative StyleDistinguish Between Business and Personal Use "Blogs, microblogs and other personal websites…would fall outside this guidance" (BBC)Social Media Allowed in the WorkplaceAppeal to Company Morals and Values "maintain an environment...that is positive, respectful and inclusive for our employees and customers" (Nordstrom)

Methodology•List of Policy Attributes/Elements

EMPLOYEESEmpowerment “As you put your first foot forward in participating and engaging in the social Web, we encourage you to identify the social networking media that are right for you.” (Cisco)Employee's Legal Rights Outlined "Microsoft owns all copyrightable works prepared within the scope of your employment at Microsoft." (Microsoft)Personal Responsibility for Comments "You are responsible for your actions. Anything you post that can potentially tarnish the Company's image will ultimately be your responsibility. " (Coca-Cola)Ramifications for Breach of Policy "Just in case you are forgetful or ignore the guidelines above, here’s what could happen. You could: Get fired …" (Best Buy)Censorship/Approval of Employee Comment

Methodology•List of Policy Attributes/Elements

LEGAL MATTERSConfidentiality and Copy-Right "Do not publish, post, or release information that is considered confidential or top secret." (Best Buy)Disclosure of Financial Information "Anything related to Yahoo! policy, inventions, strategy, financials, products, etc. that has not been made public cannot appear in your blog under any circumstances." (Yahoo!)

RESOURCESSource for Advice on Posting Inquiries "If you have any doubts about whether something is confidential, check with your manager or your LCA contacts before you post.” (Microsoft)Definitions/Descriptions of Social Media TermsInfo when contacted by Media "If a member of the media contacts you about a Yahoo!-related blog posting or requests Yahoo! information of any kind, contact PR…” (Yahoo!)

Methodology

RECOMMENDATIONS PROVIDEDList of Best PracticesCorrecting Mistakes "Did you mess up? Congratulations, you are now a normal human being. Admit it. Be upfront and then correct it." (ISU)Longevity and Public Nature of Internet Postings "What you publish is widely accessible and will be around for a long time, so consider the content carefully." (Intel)Adding Value "Don’t just funnel raw information to a community, add value. That could mean anything as vast as putting context around news, sharing your own opinions or different opinions." (Kaiser)

APPROPRIATE CONDUCTTransparencyModerating of consumers/users

•List of Policy Attributes/Elements

Methodology

•Evaluated relationship between social media policy and company goals/strategies

•Read mission statements, company goals, and current activities.

Methodology•Companies grouped into value disciplines

Product Leadership

Cisco

Microsoft

Intel

Coca-Cola

Kodak

Operational Excellence

Kaiser Permanente

Kohl’s

Ford Motor Company

Customer Intimacy

Nordstrom

Best Buy

Yahoo!

Non-Profit

American Red Cross

State of California

BBC

ISU

Methodology•Removed baseline elements-present in at least

90% of policies▫Separate document dedicated to policy▫Confidentiality and copy-right▫Transparency▫Distinguish between business and personal use

•Removed descriptive elements or ones with insufficient data▫Narrative Style▫Social Media Allowed in the Workplace

Computed prevalence of certain policy elements in each group

Results-Product Leadership

Results-Operational Excellence

Results-Customer Intimacy

Results-Non-Profit

Results•Elements significant to each category

Product Leadership

Employee Empowerment

Best Practices

Longevity

Formal Tone

Adding Value

Personal Responsibility

Employee Censorship

Correcting Mistakes

Source of Info

Operational Excellence

Personal Responsibility

Formal Tone

Financial Info Disclosure

Short Length

Ramifications

Best Practices

Longevity

Customer Intimacy

Short Length

Financial Disclosure

Casual Tone

Best Practices

Company Values

Ramifications

Source of Info

Media Contact Info

Non-Profit

Moderate Users

Personal Responsibility

Employee Empowerment

Company Values

Formal Tone

*60% significance threshold**Top tier=100% frequency

Preliminary Conclusions

•Consistent relationship between policy and business goals

•Plan to continue further investigation•Need to look at social media policy in

relation to strategy

THANK YOUProfessor Vijay Gurbaxani

Calit2UROP

SURF-IT Team

QUESTIONS?

Additional Data

Results-Product LeadershipProduct Leadership Element FrequencyShort Length 60%Medium Length 20%Long Length 20%Formal Tone 80%Casual Tone 20%Company Values 80%

Employee Empowerment 100%Employee Legal Rights 40%Personal Responsibility 80%Ramifications 40%Employee Censorship 60%Financial Info Disclosure 40%Best Practices 100%Correcting Mistakes 60%Longevity 100%Adding Value 40%Source for Advice 60%Definitions of Terms 40%Media Contact Info 40%Moderating Users 40%

Results-Operational ExcellenceOperational Excellence Element FrequencyShort Length 67%Medium Length 33%Long Length 0%Formal Tone 100%Casual Tone 0%Company Values 33%

Employee Empowerment 0%Employee Legal Rights 0%Personal Responsibility 100%Ramifications 67%Employee Censorship 0%Financial Info Disclosure 100%Best Practices 67%Correcting Mistakes 33%Longevity 67%Adding Value 33%Source for Advice 33%Definitions of Terms 33%Media Contact Info 0%Moderating Users 0%

Results-Customer IntimacyCustomer Intimacy Element FrequencyShort Length 100%Medium Length 0%Long Length 0%Formal Tone 33%Casual Tone 67%Company Values 67%

Employee Empowerment 33%Employee Legal Rights 0%Personal Responsibility 33%Ramifications 67%Employee Censorship 0%Financial Info Disclosure 100%Best Practices 67%Correcting Mistakes 33%Longevity 33%Adding Value 0%Source for Advice 67%Definitions of Terms 0%Media Contact Info 67%Moderating Users 0%

Results-Non-ProfitNon-Profit Element FrequencyShort Length 25%Medium Length 25%Long Length 50%Formal Tone 75%Casual Tone 25%Company Values 75%

Employee Empowerment 75%Employee Legal Rights 0%Personal Responsibility 75%Ramifications 25%Employee Censorship 25%Financial Info Disclosure 25%Best Practices 50%Correcting Mistakes 25%Longevity 50%Adding Value 25%Source for Advice 50%Definitions of Terms 25%Media Contact Info 25%Moderating Users 100%

The World Today

•2.1 billion internet users (As of March 31, 2011)

▫Increased 480% in the last decadehttp://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

• In June, 2011▫Facebook received over 1 trillion

page views▫Visited by over 870 million unique users

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391848,00.asp