Welcome to the Melcrum Social Media Newsletter.

Social networking has become one of the true internet revolutions of the last few years. With the development of business-related networking sites like the recently launched Communicators' Network, and informal, friendship-based sites like Facebook and MySpace there are public networks catering to numerous groups. But how can such a tool work in your organization?

Connecting people at BT
Melcrum’s new social media report features the example of how IT and network services organization, BT, has developed its own version of MySpace for internal use among its 105,000 employees worldwide. "The idea has been to recreate the benefits of MySpace within a large, dispersed organization," explains Richard Dennison, internal program manager at BT. "We want to be able to connect people with similar work, similar interests and similar networks."

A software that fits the business model
As a company going through a radical shift, the tool fitted the business model perfectly. "BT is becoming more and more like an IT consultancy," explains Dennison. "We're getting flatter structures, with a workforce that is fluid and often working for the company only at an associate level – coming in and out of the business, and often working at various points across its structure. In that kind of environment, a tool like MyPages could prove incredibly important in keeping us all networked and on the same page."

Turning MySpace to business use
Architecturally, it looks similar enough to MySpace to be recognizable to the casual browser. Like MySpace, too, there is a prominent role given to the page owner’s network – it is, primarily, a networking tool. But where MySpace is largely chatty and frivolous, BT is looking to adopt its benefits – a single, user-defined page – to a clearer business focus.

Unique and engaging content
One example of how MyPages may be used to provide a new type of content is a section on Dennison’s page entitled "The challenges that keep me awake at night" and this is where he thinks it may gain traction. "I'd like to create a situation where I can post up my challenges and, through MyPages, other people with the same problems can find me – and, ideally, people with solutions can find me too. That way, we create a community of people with common interests and we start to make good on the best-practice sharing organizations often find so difficult to achieve."

Best regards,

Alex Manchester
Editor

P.S. Download a free copy of the first chapter of How to use social media to engage employees.

This week's Melcrum headlines:

The Melcrum Podcast 6th June 2007: Shownotes
- The Melcrum Blog - 7 June 2007

Communicators' network explodes past 1,000 members
- The Melcrum Blog - 8 June 2007

Bloggers risk dismissal by writing about work
- The Hub UK - 25 May 2007