Why Social Computing Really Comes to Life in SharePoint - 1

This series of posts explores the synergetic relationship between social computing and collaborative computing, with an in-depth look at several high-impact applications that leverage social computing features in SharePoint 2013.

I developed these applications and the attached PowerPoint presentation for SharePoint Saturday Redmond 2012.

So why does social computing really come to life in SharePoint? In a word, because it keeps the communication in context:

 

• Successful social computing applications in SharePoint capture the communication between users in the context of the work they are doing.
• It helps users keep track of people, keep track of work and keep track of the connections between them.
• Social computing, done right, elevates teamwork to a whole new level.
• It helps users find and get help from the experts, improving the traction and efficiency of the organization. And it can improve the overall quality of the work product

Why I Care

I have been developing collaborative applications since the early 1990s, starting with Lotus Notes, later with Groove, and now with SharePoint. I have followed the rise of social computing with great interest and healthy skepticism. What I see now is ample evidence that Social Computing can greatly increase the impact of many collaborative applications. The caveat is, like everything in SharePoint, you have to do it right. 

Now, you may ask, “How can you say there is ample evidence that Social Computing is so great in SharePoint, when SharePoint 2013 hasn’t even been released yet?"

The answer is that social is nothing new to SharePoint. We’ve been building social applications in SharePoint since at least 2008. Companies like Neudesic and NewsGator have shipped Social products and deployed Social Apps in SharePoint with great success for years.

At Neudesic, we have been building compelling Social Computing apps integrated into SharePoint using our Pulse product. So I was extremely interested -- to put it mildly -- when, in July 2012, Ben Wilde demonstrated the SharePoint 15 Social Investments.
What immediately struck me, watching Ben's demo, was that the Social features in SharePoint 2013 look an awful lot like the Neudeisc Pulse in SharePoint 2010.

My reaction? Now that we have SharePoint 2013 in Beta, it validates what Neudesic has been doing all along. The social computing features in SharePoint 2013 bear such an uncanny resemblance to those in Neudesic Pulse that we must be seeing some kind of convergence. 

Pulse is the Social Computing product from Neudesic. Like corporate facebook, Pulse is a stand-alone product, but it integrates well with SharePoint 2010.

Analyzing Pulse in SharePoint 2010 side-by-side with Social in SharePoint 2013, I have come to the conclusion that the similarities far outweigh the differences. The biggest differences, in my analysis, are:

1. Pulse has been shipping for 3 releases now
2. Pulse works great in SharePoint 2010
3. Pulse does not require My Sites, and
4. You can use Pulse stand-alone (without SharePoint) if you like.

Pulse also has awesome iPhone, Android and Windows Phone apps:

 

So I set out to write these blog posts; not so much to compare and contrast Pulse with SharePoint, but rather to analyze what makes social computing work best in the context of SharePoint applications. With my deep experience building collaborative software, my inside knowledge of Pulse, and my professional expertise in SharePoint, I feel uniquely qualified to convey my answers to the following key questions:

1. What are the key features behind successful social computing in SharePoint?
2. What are the high-impact applications where social really works? And
3. How can I build these high-impact applications – either in SharePoint 2010 or in SharePoint 2013?

Let's start by looking at the technical elements that make the integration of social into SharePoint successful. Later I will demonstrate how, using these elements, to build compelling SharePoint applications that leverage social computing.

The Nuts and Bolts of Social Computing


These are the building blocks -- the core, Facebook-inspired features -- that are the nuts and bolts of social computing.

Micro-blogging
Micro-blogging is at the heart. You can read, post, and reply. The result is a threaded discussion; When merged with other threads we sometimes call this an activity stream.
Follow

What does it mean to Follow? To Follow an activity stream adds that stream to your newsfeed

In SharePoint 2013, you can follow:

• People
• Documents
• Sites
• Tags 

In Pulse in SP 2010 you can follow:

• People
• Posts
• Groups
• Tags
• Systems

In Pulse, follow also creates a bookmark (“People followed by me”)

Liking and Mentioning

Both Liking and Mentioning create connections. You get a notification in your E-mail each time someone mentions you in a post.

Tagging and Rating

Tagging and Rating (or voting) are both a bit like democratic bookmarking. You use tags and votes to find stuff later.

 E-mail

Speaking of Mentioning: don’t forget E-mail! The E-mail in-box remains so deeply entrenched you cannot succeed without robust email integration. Notifications go to your inbox each time someone mentions you in a post. The E-mail contains a link back to the Activity Stream. This drives people back into the social tool which is good. As much as we all wish E-mail would become obsolete, it is not. It’s entrenched. It’s the boat anchor. Your social solution must integrate with E-mail or forget it.
So what kinds of collaborative applications really shine when enriched with social features?  And how do I create great social + collaborative applications now that we have such a rich tool chest to work with?
Four High Impact Social Computing Apps in SharePoint

Here's my short list of high-impact social computing applications in SharePoint:

Team collaboration around developing a document or presentation

A typical scenario for this application is when a sales or account team needs to collaborate around developing a response to an RFP. 

A well-designed team collaboration application focuses the social discussion on the document, doc set, or other work product that the team is developing. Your key design point for this kind of application is to present the work-product content as close to the discussion as possible.

Knowledge base -- or forum -- where community members vote on, or rate, documents, answers or posts
Knowledge management experts know the value of end-user feedback to refine, or filter a corpus of knowledge.  

The design point of a knowledge base, or forum, is to harness the knowledge of your people, leveraging that wisdom to cultivate and continuously refine the repository of content. The feedback must be leveraged to sort views and rank search results so that others can find the best, most useful stuff right away.


KPI dashboard where metrics are enhance by discussion; group leaders and members discuss and act on results

SharePoint has long been a great platform for Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards. Now social features only make that better.

Your key design goal for applications like this is to give dashboard users immediate access to the people who are responsible for the business or the process that the metrics are measuring.  Managers need to be able to ping a team member and ask why a certain KPI has turned red. If you are the one responsible for a certain outcome, you want to be able to post a comment that lets everyone (like your boss) know that you are aware of the metric, and you know what your team is doing about it.

Expertise Finder: Identifying and getting help from co-workers who have specific knowledge

I rarely see a specific application created for finding experts. Rather, finding expertiese is implemented by making sure Search includes detailed, up-to-date user profiles. 

Enterprises realize significant value from the ability to find co-workers who have specific knowledge.  While this may well be the most important app on my short list, it often comes for free as a by-product of a truly collaborative corporate culture.

The key elements of expertise finder are:

• broad user adoption and participation in social technologies
• detailed user profiles
• effective search

In subsequent posts, we'll examine actual implementations of some of these applications, mostly using SharePoint 2013. We'll give screen shots and instructions for how to build these apps using out-of-the box features available in SharePoint 2013.