Web 2.0 Use At Home Is Key To Use At Work


Here’s an observation that wouldn’t have occurred to me. Yet it makes intrinsic sense.

The most frequent users of Web 2.0 technologies at work are the same people who use them most readily at home.

It makes sense? But what it suggests is a cross-grain corporate policy at which many businesses would balk. If companies value the qualitative or quantitative business benefits of Web 2.0, they need to encourage personal use by employees.

Web 2.0 has drawn a great deal of attention recently from company managers. Deployment is at an early stage, but the hoped-for benefits have been on the minds of forward-thinking businesses for some time: greater employee collaboration and an ability to mine an organization’s collective intelligence with social networking.

The observation connecting personal and business use of Web 2.0 comes from Forrester Research. The firm recommends businesses offer a “free sampling” to encourage adoption in the office and th market the benefits to decision makers.

But more than a one-time sample is needed. Web 2.0 has to become part of a company’s culture, both at work and at home. Otherwise its potential won’t be tapped.