4 Lessons Intranet Managers Can Learn from SOPA/PIPA

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Roan Yong

Think you have nothing to do with Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)? Well, think again.

The whole SOPA/PIPA saga has implications beyond US politics and beyond the use of information in the internet. It also contains valuable lessons for intranet managers who need to craft information and data protection policies in the organisation.

SOPA & PIPA – Explained Visually

Being a non-US citizen, I honestly couldn’t care less about the massive online protest against SOPA and PIPA. Heck, I don’t even know what they are. That’s until Wikipedia was voluntarily shut down for 24 hours on 18 January 2012.

[update: as of 20 January 2012, the two bills were withdrawn]

The Wikipedia blackout leaves me with no choice but to find out what’s the big fuss all about. It’s not easy. Wikipedia “simply” told me to contact the senate now (I’m not in the US). And everybody in Twitter and in other online media were just parroting each other and said that SOPA/PIPA is going to censor internet, inhibit innovation, and kill the start ups.

I thought: “Wow. Can two US-based regulations create so much ripple-effect in the internet?”. And “why people are against good-intention policies (they are meant to deter piracy, aren’t they)?” To me, something was lost in translation (no pun intended). Thankfully this video helps to shed some light.

I found another visual explanation that is equally good in explaining the technicalities of SOPA and PIPA.

Basically the problem with SOPA/PIPA is its vague language. And the worse part is, they are killing the “messengers” – not the pirates. As a result, the weak languages in the two bills can be exploited and lead to internet censorship, while the pirates go scot-free. In other words, SOPA/PIPA doesn’t address the problem that they intend to.

4 Lessons Learnt for Intranet Managers

One direct implication of SOPA/PIPA being shelved for intranet is this: you can still download online information from internet, copy-and-paste it to Microsoft word, and share it in the corporate intranet. Yes, I know many of you are doing this stuff (Pheww! what a relief). But trust me, you should make use of pull technology, i.e. RSS feeds.

The SOPA/PIPA saga, including the campaign against it, has some valuable lessons beyond the use of information in the organisation. It also tells us how to promote open culture, how to craft great information policies and how to implement it in the organisation.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. Use Internet Publishing Model: Publish and then filter. Intranet has to encourage information sharing. Thus, make it easy for people to publish information in the internet. Filtering should take place after publishing, not before. This will encourage openness, and reduce effort required to filter information.

2. Don’t kill the messenger. The punishment has to be directed to those who abuse the shared information. Normally, it is understood that people aren’t allowed to share corporate information to outsiders. So people who share corporate information in the intranet shouldn’t be held responsible if another person leak the information to the outsiders.

3. Get diverse opinions before rolling the policy out. SOPA/PIPA was supported by Rupert Murdoch and Hollywood, but criticised by many internet entrepreneurs like Google founders, Jimmy Wales, etc. Worse, the policy makers don’t have answer for the critics. You don’t want this to happen on your intranet policy. Get staff’s opinions from different departments/ranks, and make sure you plug any flaw in the policy.

4. Run campaign to promote your policy. Remember I mention earlier that Wikipedia blackout made me aware of SOPA/PIPA saga? You have to run great PR campaign to bring the newly-minted policies to people’s attention. Informing people via email will not be sufficient. How about getting the top management to share their views? Or how about showing how many people support your policy, like how Google does it. (of course, for this to happen, you have to make it easy for people to show their support. See how Mozilla does it.)

What do you think about SOPA/PIPA saga? How are you going to learn from it to create better intranet information policies? Share your thoughts.

Further readings:

Topolsky, J. (19 January 2012). SOPA and PIPA: The wrong tools to combat online piracy. The Washington Post.

Condon, S. (18 January 2012). SOPA, PIPA: What you need to know. CBS News.

Social Media for Old Folks? Why Not! Here Is A Case Study

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Roan Yong

I have been told that social media isn’t for old folks. So any programme that targets senior citizens, shouldn’t use social media – but should only use the traditional media, i.e. brochures, pamphlets, tv commercials.

Well, I disagree. While the senior citizens may not be savvy in using social media, their children and grandchildren are. Senior citizens can benefit from reverse mentoring and pick up the required social media skills from their younger relatives. And, by doing so, the senior citizens have opportunity to connect and bond with their family members.

Using “Live Well, Age Well” programme as a case study, I’ll describe how social media can benefit programmes targeting the senior citizens.

According to the Council for Third Age (C3A), Live Well, Age Well means wellness in six dimensions: intellectual, physical, social, emotional, vocational, and spiritual. The breadth of Live Well, Age Well programmes necessitates cultivating strong communities of interest and organising engaging events like Active Ageing Carnival.

Using social media, C3A can strengthen these communities, can enrich the senior citizens’ experience and can provide better engagement and motivation in its programmes.

The rising trend of social media usage among American senior citizens, gives reason to believe that more Singaporean senior citizens are using social media. Like USA, Singapore has high internet penetration rate. Social media provides a new opportunity for C3A, to motivate and engage Singaporean senior citizens.

Getting the senior citizens to learn social media can be challenging. However, this challenge is also an opportunity to improve the senior citizens’ intellectual wellness, since they need to learn a new skill, i.e. social media skill. Furthermore, social media can boost motivation and engagement level in C3A’s Live well, Age well programmes, because:

1. Social media connects the seniors’ activity with that of their family and friends.
The seniors’ participation in C3A programmes becomes visible to their family and friends. When their family and friends “follow” their activities, the seniors become more engaged and motivated to participate in the programmes. In addition, the seniors can keep track of their family and friends’ life and vice-versa – which means, social media can boost the seniors’ social wellness.

2. Social media captures stories and promotes knowledge sharing.
Senior citizens love to tell stories and to share knowledge about their passion or life experience. Social media is the perfect medium to capture these stories / knowledge and to distribute them in the seniors’ social network (family and friends). This provides a new channel for the senior citizen to express their feelings and thoughts – which can boost their emotional wellness, as well as their vocational wellness.

3. Social media provides space for conversation and community-building.
In Social Media, the senior citizens can converse and connect with like-minded peers, whenever it is convenient for them to do so. This extends the peer-support network, so that the seniors can continue to encourage each other through online space. Providing an online space to converse, connect and cultivate communities of interest, could translate to a better spiritual, physical, and vocational wellness.

In short, social media can be used to supplement the C3A’s Live well, Age well programmes so that the senior citizens have higher motivation and engagement. Through social media, they can receive morale support from their family and friends, can capture stories and share knowledge, and can participate online in community of interest discussion.

I hope C3A can seriously consider social media as an additional means to get involvement from the senior citizens’ family members. Thoughts?

My Life (1981 – now): A Review

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Roan Yong

Happy Water Dragon Lunar New Year! (Gong Xi Fa Cai!) With new year, comes new hopes and aspirations. So I thought I’ll do a review of my life thus far. This is my first time doing a life review.

What triggers me to do a life review? Well, time flies and life is short. So I need to examine whether I have been living the way I want it to be. It’s the right time for a review, because the year 2011 (metal rabbit lunar year) had been so special to me in many ways:

January 2011: I got married
April 2011: I got promoted (my first-ever promotion in a job)
July 2011: I hit the big 3-0 (I’m 30 years old)
September 2011: I traveled to central Europe for the first time. I had a super good time there.
November 2011: For the first time in my life, I spoke in front of an audience about something that I’m passionate about (no, it’s not directly related to my work).
December 2011: the biggest achievement in my life so far: I became a father.

Not bad eh? After all those achievements, you probably think that I’m contented and happy.

But I’m not…

Hold your judgment. I’m not a greedy ungrateful dude that you think I’m. I’m not contented because I miss my life, back in 1999. That’s when everything in my life went so well. I managed to prove people wrong. No one believed I could achieve my dreams. But I did it! I went to National University of Singapore, and I got a pretty girlfriend.

Ah, the sweet taste of victory. This movie clip pretty much described my feelings in 1999.

Oh gosh! Now I get it. I know the result of my life review now. Here it is:

My current life sucks

Yep, that’s true. My life sucks. Despite all my achievements, I don’t feel any glory like the one that I had in 1999. And my current life doesn’t lead me to shout: “I’m the king of the world!” (that’s how I felt back in 1999). I have nothing to shout about now. My life thus far has been average. Average in happiness and success. Simply average in every angle!

It’s not about being grateful for what I have (I’m grateful for everything that I have now). But it’s about being outstanding – not being average. It’s about wanting more and about shaping the world around me, the way I want it. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Listen to Steve Jobs in the interview clip below, and you’ll see that I’m not so crazy after all.

I know I’m capable of achieving so much more. I believe in myself. I believe in my ability – because no one else will.

It’s 2012 (water dragon lunar year). And I have bigger dreams now. I won’t tell you what these dreams are, because according to Derek Sivers, I have to keep my goals to myself. But mark my words: I will make these dreams come true – just like I did in 1999. (I will “go get it. Period.”)

Social Organisation – Definition and Three Advantages

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Roan Yong

It’s 2012 folks! This year marks the end of era where “average-joe” intranet rules, where SOP is preferred over empowerment and engagement, and where customers keep mum about their dissatisfaction. And this year means screw business-as-usual! Organisations have to transform themselves to be social organisation or face slow-painful-death.

What is Social Organisation (a.k.a. Social Business/Enterprise)?

So what is social organisation anyway? You probably heard of the term and confuse it with social business (social enterprise) - a term made popular by a nobel price winner, Muhammad Yunus. According to Yunus, social business is a cause-driven business ala Tom Shoes (Tom Shoes commits itself to give a free pair of shoes to those in need, for every pair of shoes purchased).

Yunus’ concept on social business is beautiful. The world certainly needs Yunus’ social business model to beat poverty. Too bad, the IT and KM folks use the same term to mean organisations that use social technology, i.e. social media and social intranet, as competitive advantage (for examples, case studies, and definition, please read how IBM consulting describes social business).

For the sake of clarity, in this blog, I will use the term social organisation to refer to businesses empowered by social technology. I will avoid using the term social business/enterprise - unless I want to talk about Yunus’ version of social business (very unlikely as microfinance is not my passion. Social technology is). I suggest you do the same too.

Alas using the term social organisation doesn’t end the confusion. Some experts like two Gartner analysts: Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. Mcdonald, use the term to refer to organisations empowered by social media application to business. Others like a Forbes contributor: Fred Cavazza, use the term to refer to organisations empowered by both social media and social intranet.

So, which version of social organisation is correct? It depends on what you believe in. I believe corporate (internal) and consumer communications are converging, and thus I think social organisations have to be supported by social media and by social intranet. So I agree with Fred Cavazza’s definition of social organisation.

I also think the main purpose of social technology is to build communities. Combining these thoughts, I get the following definition of social organisation:

Social Organisation is organisation that maximises the use of social media (technology) and social intranet, to improve consumer and employee engagement and to build communities for innovation.

Why Organisations Have to Be Social Organisations?

Three big benefits underpin the need to become social organisations:

First, improved ability to engage employees, esp. the gen-Ys. Gen-Ys are moody bunch. This generation was brought up with a belief that the sky is the limit. They have a high (often unrealistic) sense of entitlement to pursue their dream/passion. The Millennials demand empowerment and bask in entrepreneurship working environment. Social organisation offers them such environment – an environment where they can be engaged and have the freedom to pursue their passion.

Second, improved ability to build communities. Social technologies are great community-building tools. They allow people with similar passion to “gather” and connect beyond the physical limitation, i.e. geographical boundaries and time difference. In other words, social technology is a catalyst for community-building. And we all know that passionate communities are breeding grounds for collective learning and innovation.

Third, ability to build relationship with social customers. Many people use social media like Facebook, Twitter, not only to improve the way they interact and live, but also to give recommendations and voice-out displeasure. Organisations would be wise to maintain presence in social media, to engage the social customers, to capture their testimonials, and to address their concern real-time.

Any thoughts? Write them down in the comment box below.

Recommended Readings:

Bradley, A., J., and McDonald, M., P. (2011). The Social Organisation – Chapter 1: The Promise of Social Organisations. Harvard Business Press.

Cavazza, F. (2012). The What and How of Social Business. Forbes.

N.A. (n.d.). Social Business. IBM.

Neisser, D. (2011). Move Over Social Media; Here Comes Social Business. Fast Company.