Nissan Builds Internal MySpace While Sun Builds Internal Second Life

from the social-media-inside-the-enterprise dept

Thu, Nov 1st 2007 7:40pm — Mike Masnick

There's been a lot of talk over the last couple years about "enterprise 2.0" efforts to bring the types of applications in the "web 2.0" world into the enterprise. How successful those efforts have been is still an open question -- but companies keep on looking for such solutions to improve internal communications. Two stories today suggest exactly how that's happening. Business Week has a story about how Nissan is trying to build an internal "MySpace" to get employees more connected with each other and make the flow of information and the sharing of ideas more useful. Meanwhile, Sun, who has been trying to push more workers to telecommute for years, is now trying to build its own Second Life-type virtual world for employees from around the world to interact as if they were in an office together. While it's worth noting both of these experiments as clearly taking a consumer internet service and moving it into the enterprise, there's still a huge question of how useful either service will be. They both make nice stories for the press, but that doesn't mean either will get enough adoption to really be useful. Lots of companies have had internal intranet-type collaboration services in the past that don't get any use. Repainting the same thing with the broad 2.0 brush won't automatically make them useful.

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Filed Under: social media, social networking
Companies: myspace, nissan, second life, sun

8 Comments

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TriZz, 1 Nov 2007 @ 8:48pm

Myspace - Second Life @ Work
If they did this in my office, I'd be pissed but happy at the same time. I'm the IT guy, so I'd have to support it. Also, I could talk to the people I waste my time with in the office - it'd just save me a trip to the 'water cooler'.
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Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com, 1 Nov 2007 @ 9:14pm

You never know
What could it hurt to try? Maybe the time was not right back in the internal intranet days. Attitudes change over time.

Nissan and Sun must have done some research with their employees before announcing and trying this experiment.

I don't think "taking a consumer Internet service and moving it to the enterprise" is a problem.

I predict the time is right and they both will find this experiment a success.
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Mike B, 1 Nov 2007 @ 10:25pm

intranet
I'm still fighting with my company to even let me get an internal site built to put forms and troubleshooting docs up. Good luck to these guys, but I wouldn't hold my breath that they'll last.
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A. Nonymous, 2 Nov 2007 @ 12:36am

Interface
I've worked as a contractor for several large national and multi-national corporations, and from what I've seen, the main reason intranet services don't get much use is because of intimidating and unfamiliar UIs. Unless the employees are required and/or trained to use the software, they usually ignore it; it's just too much of a nuisance to learn. If companies start moving toward more-familiar interfaces (something resembling MySpace, for example), I'd expect employees to be more comfortable using them.
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Trevlac, 2 Nov 2007 @ 2:51am

Re: You never know
"Nissan and Sun must have done some research with their employees before announcing and trying this experiment."

No see that's where you're wrong. Companies do this sort of thing all the time without employee consent. And also working for a company that "attempts" to find out, I know that it's in a vague, roundabout way where you have no idea what they're really asking or asserting of you.
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Jeff, 2 Nov 2007 @ 6:13am

I wish my job was more like this
We were just told in our staff meeting this week that we have run out of office space and that everyone should start looking around to find areas that we could fit more people in.

I'm thinking, what the f? How about letting us work from home?

I work in a city government I.T. department run by people who think the Web is still some sort of fad and that mainframes still rule the world.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2007 @ 9:55am

Question is, will Sun employees be too busy cybering to really bother doing anything after their "Second Life", if you will, is complete?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Nov 2007 @ 10:11am

A large consumer goods manufacture has an internal copy of second live that they use for testing purposes.
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