Deloitte on "why online communites fail"

[Eric Brown]

interesting story on ReadWriteWeb and the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.

An excerpt from the WSJ:
"One of the hot investments for businesses these days is online communities that help customers feel connected to a brand. But most of these efforts produce fancy Web sites that few people ever visit. The problem: Businesses are focusing on the value an online community can provide to themselves, not the community."

Interesting stuff.

[Lois Kelly]

HI Eric,
As one of the authors of the Deloitte/Beeline Labs study we found that companies who are using communities effectively -- providing value for the members -- are realizing a lot of value. Here's a link to some of the findings.

IBM recently published a very interesting research paper, "Motivations for Social Networking at Work," which that employees engaged for three C's: caring (connecting on a social level with colleagues); Climbing (use of IBM's employee social network helped people advance their career) and Campaigning (helped get support for projects.)

And a recent Economist Intelligence report concluded that employee social networks will become pervasive. It's not an "if" but a "when."

Not if company's would just see the value and make it easy for people to connect, they could start walking the employee engagement talk. :)

[Jeff Seevers]

Eric,

Thanks for sharing this snippet from WSJ. It is so true. Organizations see new, shiny digital tools and want to use them, but often don't give much thought to the how or why someone would or should use it.

Any additional information or research you've found?

JS

[Jeff Seevers]

(blushing) Lois, I clicked "Add Reply" before I scrolled down to see your response to the discussion. Great link and comments!