Gartner: Viele Social Software-Projekte in Unternehmen scheitern wegen unklarer Zielvorstellung

Laut dem IT-Marktforschungs- und Beratungsunternehmen Gartner scheitern viele Social Software-Projekte, weil die IT-Verantwortlichen fälschlicherweise annehmen, dass erfolgreiche Communities sich spontan nach Einführung von Social Software-Tools bilden. IT- und Unternehmensverantwortliche müssen zunächst einen Hauptzweck zum Aufbau einer Community definieren und die Einführung auf diesen Zweck ausrichten.

„Im Gegensatz zur landläufigen Annahme, dass aktive Communities in Unternehmen spontan entstehen, schränkt ein sorgfältig ausgewählter Zweck die Teilnehmer zu Beginn nicht ein. Dieser gibt Ihnen vielmehr die Anleitung, die sie brauchen, um eine produktive Community zu bilden“, sagt Anthony Bradley, Managing Vice President bei Gartner. „Nach Einrichtung der ersten Communities spricht sich dies im Unternehmen herum und andere Gruppen wollen dieselbe Social Software für die Bildung eigener Communities nutzen; auf diese Weise erreichen Web 2.0-Anwendungen dann eine weitverbreitete Akzeptanz im Unternehmen.“

Weitere Informationen finden Sie in unten stehender Originalmeldung. Auf dem Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008 in Cannes vom 03. bis 07. November bieten Analysten weitere Informationen über die Bedeutung von Social Software für Unternehmen.

in Englisch:

Stamford, Conn., September 16, 2008 — Many social software projects fail because IT managers wrongly believe that successful communities form spontaneously after social software tools are installed, according to Gartner, Inc. IT and business managers in charge of deploying social software need to choose a core purpose for the community and arrange implementation to achieve that purpose.

"Contrary to the common perception that vibrant communities arise spontaneously, starting with a carefully chosen purpose does not limit participants. It gives them the direction they need to form a productive community," said Anthony Bradley, managing vice president at Gartner. "As those initial communities gain momentum, other groups will use the social application to build their own communities, and this is how social applications achieve widespread adoption across the organisation."

Mr Bradley said that many IT organisations fall into the trap of following "worst practice," installing social software in the expectation that productive communities will emerge spontaneously. Gartner's discussions with clients suggest that the "install and they will come" practice rarely succeeds; about 70 per cent of the community typically fails to coalesce. Furthermore, of the 30 per cent of the communities that do emerge, many revolve around interactions that planners didn't envision, that don't provide business value and that may even be counterproductive.

The perception that communities on the public internet appear to arise overnight and quickly grow to encompass millions of participants has led many organisations to assume that social software does not require the system-building rigour typical of many deployments. However, most successful social sites start with a defined purpose and a limited scope.

Gartner said that users need a well-defined purpose of appropriate scope around which to mobilise and that a good purpose for a social application has seven key characteristics:

1.      Magnetic
The purpose should draw people directly to participate, immediately appealing to the "What's in it for me?" characteristic.