The jury is still out on QR (or Action) Codes, but clearly we are entering a phase of not just randomly applying them but actively trying to educate users on how to make them work (23% have instructions about getting an app to scan the code and other information to encourage people to scan the code). That suggests a problem in itself, however if this is solved the next step will be to make the reward of scanning a code worthwhile.

Bear in mind I'm scanning the code with a smartphone or tablet, so from a user experience or service design perspective what and how do I as a consumer want to do next?

The short answer is yes, viral adoption can work BUT only in certain situations. This is my attempt to pin down some of the factors I’ve observed out in the field...

...these are the anti-patterns I’ve actually seen:

Posted over on the Headshift | Dachis Group Asia Pacific blog.

Kelli Carlson-Jagersma... social strategy team at Wells Fargo... [says they are]

...expending the bulk of its efforts on identifying use-cases for internal social networking tools and running small pilots in the enterprise to test different solutions and learn what benefits social can bring to the enterprise.

"It's not so much focusing on the tools as the use-cases," said Carlson-Jagersma. "What I mean by that is, what is this problem we are trying to solve? Unless we make it a lot easier for people to do their jobs, or create so much efficiency in the work they're already doing, or somehow integrate communications, having a tool such as NewsGator or Chatter or Jive just adds more noise or something more for us to have to do. So, right away we've been taking a step back and looking at the use-case."

One use-case Wells Fargo is considering is in the area of support centers. "With our service and support operations located all over our geographic footprint, we need to be able to collaborate virtually. We are evaluating current business processes and how can we use social tools to enhance collaboration--not replace what we're doing, but make it more connected and even more efficient." she said.

Carlson-Jagersma added that once the business needs have been identified, only then will her team consult with the business and pilot a social networking tool--or tools, because a combination of solutions is being considered--to implement companywide.

"I think of using social as a way of work, not just as a shiny new tool and something fun."

Kelli Carlson-Jagersma from Wells Fargo talks about their need led approach to workforce collaboration and evaluating software options. Nice to see this approach being championed, although isn't this how everyone approaches internal social business software projects?

For a successful SharePoint implementation, you can’t forget the most important ingredient — getting the platform used.

If you are reading this article, it is likely because you’ve heard whining in your office or you’re tired of repeating the same message over and over to improve user adoption of your SharePoint implementation.

You may be a frustrated project manager or business champion who spent countless hours on budgeting, planning, governance, information architecture, training and timelines, only to find that the last task in your SharePoint project plan that has no due date is USER ADOPTION. And to your horror, no one is taking your words seriously and people don’t care. The bottom line is this: for you to get people to take advantage of your hard work, you have to add one more task assigned to yourself — don’t give up.

Unfortunately if thinking about "user adoption" is the last step, then you've already failed. Written by a software vendor, this article - underpinned by an assumption that the software is perfect - advises people to Break Down the Resistance, Stop the Whining and then Babysit, aka Enforce change. This approach is more than overtly paternalistic and I'm surprised they don't just recommend getting rid of the users who are blemishing the hard work of the technocrats. Part of me wonders if this attitude is just symptomatic of the Microsoft SharePoint ecosystem being geared towards software development and implementation, rather than a well rounded mix of people, process, technology and content (like we do at Headshift | Dachis Group). What do you think?

There are lots of examples, especially at the team level, where you have people taking the initiative and bringing in software, especially for low cost or free, and they are getting value out of it. But because they are not documenting the value in any systematic way, or spreading the word about it, these tend to remain relatively fragmented, isolated instances.

Interesting, but valid point from John Hagel at Deloitte. We sometimes talk about "Return on Collaboration", but for workforce collaboration we probably need to be thinking about this in terms of the return for the individual, the group (team, department, division, business unit, etc) and ultimately the whole organisation. The question is then, for a particular tool is everyone getting their fair share of the return?

Microblogging inside an organisation provides staff with the ability to post short messages to everyone in the organisation or a select group. A variety of online tools can be used, for example Yammer, SocialText or an internally built solution.

Deploying microblogging involves more than understanding the technology, because it is really about providing opportunities for conversations between staff. The content of microblogging messages can vary widely, from accounts of what staff are working on, and questions for other staff, to updates about products, projects or situations.

The growth in microblogging is a relatively recent phenomenon and its success within organisations varies greatly. Where it has been successful, microblogging has been able to better connect staff, break down hierarchical structures and improve the sense of belonging felt by staff.

As with many of the social media tools, there is an impact on the intranet, particularly on communication channels and siloing of information. This article outlines:

• strategic considerations
• practicalities on how to set up microblogging
• how to drive adoption

I've been talking a lot about enterprise microblogging lately (see my post about how Deloitte is using Yammer). This is a nice article from Catherine about enterprise microblogging, however just to add a few points:

• Its worth highlighting from Catherine's post that some enterprise microblogging tools offer a freemium model (including Yammer), where they offer a free and a paid premium version. The premium version provides access to advanced features, such as ActiveDirectory sychronisation (so you don't need to remove users if they leave the organisation). The fact that you are reading this and 'thinking' about deploying enterprise microblogging probably suggests that you need those features, so you should be factoring a budget into the planning process. Remember also that most of the hosted tools are priced on a per user per month basis.
• I've already disputed the statistics mentioned, although I agree there are good and bad deployments of social business software - personally I would also worry less about adoption rates and participation, focus instead on understanding the return on collaboration. For more on this, see my post of Designing Social Workplaces and Amit's great post on Adoption Strategies for Social Software.
• Catherine focused on the people-to-people interaction in enterprise microblogging, however we are also increasingly looking at how we integrate these systems of engagement with transactional information systems ("systems of record") - what I call machine generated content (MGC). Tibbr is a good example of this.
• Finally, if you looking into technology options don't forget to consider if you want to integrate enterprise microblogging with other tools (e.g. SharePoint), build it into an existing platform or implement a social suite that also has status updates in it (most offer a lightweight microblogging feature).

Worth watching. Hat tip to Ajit Verghese.