Hunting Bears using Social Media Content Development

My boss hunts bears.

My boss doesn't understand why discussion groups are cool.

But my boss uses them to hunt bears.

Bears.

grr.

My boss learns how to hunt bears more effectively from a discussion group.  He has questions about what are the best hunting areas, how to skin a bear properly, which outfitters are best, etc.  He doesn't really care that the answers he is looking for are in a discussion group, he just knows the answers are on this webpage that other people contribute their experience/s to.

A web page.  With areas to post and connect to others.  Others with expertise. Discussion Groups are neato.

The bear discussion group has been going on since 2000 and has approx 2437 different threads in it.  All of it moderated by 1 person.  That's thousands of posts over the last 10 years that detail countless topics about Michigan Bear hunting that is searchable and has historical value to newbie bear hunters.

The same can be done for your organization internally.

Imagine in your organization for one moment with online micro communities of practice, centered around topics of importance for your end users.  These communities have discussion groups, blogs, and wikis that all who enter them can participate in.  Your end users post questions and comments; your SME's moderate, answer questions, and escalate topics for resolution. E-learning courses can link to the community by way of wiki pages (how easy to update!) and discussion groups (blending learning!).  All the information is collected in one area making searching easier, updating a one time deal, and adding content a breeze.  People retire, but their contributions to the community remain helping new members learn, find answers, and get up to speed quicker.

In SharePoint 2007, it looks something like this:

this is my site...:)

On Ning, it looks like this:

The creators or moderators of these sites aren't the ones loading it with content, be it about bear hunting, e-learning, or other topics.  The community members are passionate, helpful, informative, and eager to contribute.  They work for the community because they are part of the community.  The community teaches itself, becomes stronger because its connected, and develops a history that is available to new community members. 

It just gives me goose bumps.  I'm making sites for people to go to, but am no longer spending hours loading it with content that I'm not even sure that the users are looking for.  My users will now ask each other and answer each other - with me looking on to make sure the content remains sound and on track.

Yep, my boss gets better at hunting bears using social media - but now he is starting to understand how a hunting bears online community "model" can be used internally to find answers, train end users, help them to become self supportive, all the while developing content that benefits the org over the long term.

Bears.  :)