What are the issues involved with using social networks for professional development in the workplace?

Purpose, timeline and goals

It is essential that the purpose of the network be clear and understood by all members. The purpose should translate to a timeline, a set of milestones leading to goals and how each member is expected to contribute.

Management and Moderation

The network needs to be effectively managed and moderated so that the network purpose remains central to member activity. The CIO and IT manager are nominally the personalities who drive the network but a network is as only as valuable as the contributions of its users so these leaders should be supported by other management especially the company directors and board, a realistic budget that is flexible enough to respond to the challenges of the project. Additionally the network leaders should be supported by parallel levels of management especially Human Resources and Workflow architects to ensure that the time required by users to contribute to the network is acknowledged either through financial or promotional opportunities.

Membership experience needs to be monitored continuously to ensure users are satisfied and inspired to deliver the outcomes. This would be a key role for both the CIO and the IT Manager. The CIO could focus on the quality of the user interaction with the network while the IT Manager could provide quantative data (through application server logs) to measure the direction and scale of interaction. As users become more focussed and efficient with the process, they should be given more ambitious tasks and encouragement. This can be done in association with the moderator. A moderator needs to be appointed and given the time and resources to actively drive the network through a continuous monitoring, evaluation and recommendation cycle. The CIO and IT Manager should not necessarily be the moderator. Maybe a specially appointed project manager needs to do this.

Technical ability of the users

Depending on whether the company is in the business of ICT, the technology ability of users needs to be addressed. If the technical challenges of contributing to the network are onerous or unrealistic, users will be less likely to contribute and the quality of their interactions will be seriously compromised. In order to prevent this, resources should be committed to user education through training materials, coaching, mentoring and 'buddy' systems. The network software should be evaluated for usability as a key adoption requirement.

Budget

Finally, the cost of the system and its maintenance need to be considered. Some systems are so cost prohibitive that only large multinational companies can afford them. Fortunately there are also many open source systems that can be configured to deliver much the same service - even if several systems need to be cobbled together to provide a network page that is really a mashup.

privacy, technology level of members, expense, incentives