Social Media and Innovation
Sara Bangloria
Mentor: Professor Vijay Gurbaxani
SURF-IT Symposium
August 26, 2011
Social Media: A Democratizing Force
http://dailyimagebuzz.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-made-for-internet.html
http://reface.me/news/facebook-revolution-egypt/
“Thank you Facebook”
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
Cisco
Intel
Indiana State University
American Red Cross
Kaiser Permanente
Microsoft
Nordstrom
BBC
Kodak
Ford Motor Company
The Coca-Cola Company
Yahoo!
Best Buy
Kohl's
# of Elements Included
19
14
13
12
12
12
12
11
11
10
9
9
8
6
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 STYLE
Separate Document Dedicated to Policy
Length
Short: 0-4 pages
Medium: 5-9 pages
Long: >10 pages
Tone
Casual: "Did you screw up? If you make a mistake, admit it." (Intel)
Formal: "Correct mistakes when needed." (Kodak)
Narrative Style
Distinguish Between Business and Personal Use
"Blogs, microblogs and other personal websites…would fall outside this guidance" (BBC)
Social Media Allowed in the Workplace
Appeal 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
EMPLOYEES
Empowerment
“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 MATTERS
Confidentiality 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!)
RESOURCES
Source 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 Terms
Info 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
• List of Policy Attributes/Elements
RECOMMENDATIONS PROVIDED
List of Best Practices
Correcting 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 CONDUCT
Transparency
Moderating of consumers/users
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
Operational
Excellence
Customer
Intimacy
Non-Profit
Cisco
Kaiser Permanente
Nordstrom
State of California
Microsoft
Kohl’s
Best Buy
Intel
Ford Motor Company
BBC
Yahoo!
ISU
Coca-Cola
Kodak
American Red Cross
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
Frequency
Product Leadership
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Policy Elements
Results-Operational Excellence
Frequency
Operational Excellence
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Policy Elements
Results-Customer Intimacy
Frequency
Customer Intimacy
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Policy Elements
Results-Non-Profit
Non-Profit
100%
90%
Frequency
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Policy Elements
Results
• Elements significant to each category
Product
Leadership
Employee
Empowerment
Best Practices
Longevity
Operational
Excellence
Customer
Intimacy
Personal
Responsibility
Short Length
Formal Tone
Moderate Users
Financial Disclosure
Casual Tone
Personal
Responsibility
Best Practices
Employee
Empowerment
Short Length
Company Values
Company Values
Ramifications
Ramifications
Formal Tone
Formal Tone
Financial Info
Disclosure
Adding Value
Personal
Responsibility
Employee
Censorship
Non-Profit
Best Practices
Longevity
Source of Info
Media Contact Info
Correcting Mistakes
Source of Info
*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 YOU
Professor Vijay Gurbaxani
Calit2
UROP
SURF-IT Team
QUESTIONS?
Additional Data
Results-Product Leadership
Product Leadership
Short Length
Medium Length
Long Length
Formal Tone
Casual Tone
Company Values
Employee Empowerment
Employee Legal Rights
Personal Responsibility
Ramifications
Employee Censorship
Financial Info Disclosure
Best Practices
Correcting Mistakes
Longevity
Adding Value
Source for Advice
Definitions of Terms
Media Contact Info
Moderating Users
Element Frequency
60%
20%
20%
80%
20%
80%
100%
40%
80%
40%
60%
40%
100%
60%
100%
40%
60%
40%
40%
40%
Results-Operational Excellence
Operational Excellence
Short Length
Medium Length
Long Length
Formal Tone
Casual Tone
Company Values
Employee Empowerment
Employee Legal Rights
Personal Responsibility
Ramifications
Employee Censorship
Financial Info Disclosure
Best Practices
Correcting Mistakes
Longevity
Adding Value
Source for Advice
Definitions of Terms
Media Contact Info
Moderating Users
Element Frequency
67%
33%
0%
100%
0%
33%
0%
0%
100%
67%
0%
100%
67%
33%
67%
33%
33%
33%
0%
0%
Results-Customer Intimacy
Customer Intimacy
Short Length
Medium Length
Long Length
Formal Tone
Casual Tone
Company Values
Employee Empowerment
Employee Legal Rights
Personal Responsibility
Ramifications
Employee Censorship
Financial Info Disclosure
Best Practices
Correcting Mistakes
Longevity
Adding Value
Source for Advice
Definitions of Terms
Media Contact Info
Moderating Users
Element Frequency
100%
0%
0%
33%
67%
67%
33%
0%
33%
67%
0%
100%
67%
33%
33%
0%
67%
0%
67%
0%
Results-Non-Profit
Non-Profit
Short Length
Medium Length
Long Length
Formal Tone
Casual Tone
Company Values
Employee Empowerment
Employee Legal Rights
Personal Responsibility
Ramifications
Employee Censorship
Financial Info Disclosure
Best Practices
Correcting Mistakes
Longevity
Adding Value
Source for Advice
Definitions of Terms
Media Contact Info
Moderating Users
Element Frequency
25%
25%
50%
75%
25%
75%
75%
0%
75%
25%
25%
25%
50%
25%
50%
25%
50%
25%
25%
100%
The World Today
• 2.1 billion internet users (As of March 31, 2011)
▫ Increased 480% in the last decade
http://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