Will intranets become scientific?

These are exciting days for intranets!

Studies done by different organizations, in different parts of the world, with different populations and very different survey strategies are finding similar results.

I wrote about how JMC and Nielsen Norman found the same figure when looking at intranet resources: Size of intranet teams: Nielsen Norman and JMC agree. It has happened again with Prescient Digital Media and JMC.

Prescient Digital Media and JMC in synch on social media

Toby Ward, Prescient Digital Media, has published: "Intranet 2.0: Social media becomes mainstream on the corporate intranet."

Toby and I have talked several times over the past year when we have met at different conferences, comparing notes on the results we were seeing in the (1) NetStrategy/JMC Global Intranet Strategies survey and (2) the Prescient Digital Media Intranet 2.0 survey. (I'll refer to the first as JMC and second as PDM from here on.)

First, some background on the two studies

The JMC study is a yearly event (now in its 4th year). It targets intranet managers who must be pre-approved before they can participate. It deals with many intranet issues out of which social media is only one topic. It is a deeper survey, requiring from 45 to 60 minutes to complete. 226 organizations worldwide participated in 2009.

The PDM survey, also conducted on a global scale, was more open in inviting people to report on their 2.0 initiatives. Anyone could participate, but only those who identified themselves received a complimentary copy of the full final report. The survey, as its title suggests, was primarily focused on social media, although a number of questions on other intranet topics were included. It took place between autumn 2008 and spring 2009, and 561 organizations took part. It was a considerably shorter survey.

When looking at the usage of social media tools, the two surveys used different scales:

• PDM - 5 levels of adoption: "no plans and no interest", ""none but considering options", "not yet but have plans", "some, limited use" and "enterprise use".

• JMC - 5 levels of adoption: : "not currently used", "being tested", "used in some parts", "in general use", and "optimised".

Comparing PDM's "enterprise use" with JMC's "in general use" plus "optimised" , we see some tools where the two surveys are amazingly close, and others where the JMC figures are more conservative.

"Old-time 2.0 tools" - nearly identical numbers! 

What I call the "old-time 2.0 tools" got similar results in the two studies. By "old-time", I mean those tools that have been around for years, long before social media and 2.0 became hot. Although they have been put under the 2.0 umbrella by many people, they've been around much longer: instant messaging, podcasts, rss, photo & video sharing and discussion forums.

Instant messaging:
PDM: 29 % "enterprise use"
JMC: 27 % "in general use" plus "optimised"

Podcasts:
PDM: 6 %
JMC: 7 %

RSS:
PDM: 13 %
JMC: 11 %

Photo or video sharing:
PDM: 9 %
JMC: 11 %

Discussion forums:
PDM: 19 %
JMC: 18 %

"Hot" social tools: PDM higher, JMC lower 

"Hot" social media tools make user-generated-content widely available. They open up the enterprise. These tools require special governance, or so many organizations think. In fact, normal, professional code of conduct applies to them, but they still scare us. These are the ones that make management nervous.

Internal blogs:
PDM: 13 % "enterprise use"
JMC: 4 % "in general use" plus "optimised"

Internal wikis:
PDM: 17 %
JMC: 6 %

Social networking:
PDM: 6 %
JMC: 1%

Tagging:
PDM: 9 %
JMC: 4 %

Getting more scientific

It seems logical to me that a survey like Toby's which is directly focused around 2.0 will attract participants who are specifically interested in 2.0. On the other hand, the JMC survey targeted intranet managers in general, regardless of their interest in 2.0.
So, I conclude that the differences on the "hot" social media tools and the similarities on the "old time" 2.0 tools confirm that each survey is coherent within its targeted population.

Question to readers: Will intranet strategy and management become a science one day?
My take is that we are clearly building a more solid basis for analysis and decision-making.

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Note: the 2009 Global Intranet Strategies survey is currently open, and will close at the end of August. If you'd like to participate and get a complimentary copy of the Trends for 2010 report, get in touch. Signup procedure explained here.

Comments

[Alex Manchester]

Good question, Jane. There's undoubtedly a situation and need arising for more solid, scientific-based intranet development. We have to get more sophisticated at analysis, proving value, and achieving higher level visibility and credibility with intranets and intranet managers/teams.

At the same time, social media, discussion and communication-based development - it is happening in tandem. I think these developments will help/are helping each other. They're inextricably linked, but exactly how and to what depth is not that well understood, yet.

[Jane McConnell]

Alex - thanks for your comments. We can also approach certain aspects of social media if not scientifically, at least based on evidence. The Global Intranet Trends for 2009 has figures that show that enterprises with Stage 3 intranets are more involved in social media than Stages 1 and 2. In particular, with allowing user-generated content. We will see what the current survey shows us. Stay tuned until October - although some trends may come out sooner!

[Andrew Wright]

I think it was Vince Lombardi (a famous & successful American football coach) who is attributed with saying, 'if you can't measure it, you can't improve it'. And I think he also said 'if you're not keeping score, then you're just practicing.'

I have found from my experience that numbers and measures are great motivators for people. Just think of the democratic system for example. How many decisions made by politicians are based on the impact that it will have on the number of votes they are likely to receive... all of them I would guess.

I agree that there have been some good developments in this area recently in relation to intranets, including the Global Trends Report.

I also agree that the management of intranets is becoming more scientific. This is a good thing. A more scientific approach will help intranets fulfill their potential as a key organisational 'enabling' technology - rather than just a fancy 'nice-to-have' newsletter and staff directory.