The Running Librarian

What is it that makes an intranet social and critical? Well this post, rather unsurprisingly called "10 things that make an intranet critical and social" outlines what in the authors opinion are the 10 elements that are critical to the success of an intranet.

1.  New style social intranets focus more on people then content. Although content is still relevant
2. Content is authored collaboratively by anyone and the emphasis is either knowledge sharing or documentation that is useful
3. Anyone can contribute and everyone is involved (from CEO to PA’s)
4. The intranet supports work processes and helps people get their work done more efficiently
5. Publishing workflows and approvals are kept to a minimum
6. The intranet has a mix of key social features: activity streams, authoring (wiki style), networking and  blogging
7. Outcomes are measured in terms of business performance: better and faster decision making, improved knowledge sharing etc
8. A community manager or team is in place alongside a light yet necessary governance policy
9. A mobile version of the intranet is available
10. Gaming constructs (gamification) play an increasingly important role as a way of rewarding contributions

Do I agree with the points made in the blog post. For the most part yes. Gaming and gamification isn't something I've looked at, although I understand the concept having signed up for and played Foursquare, although some will say Foursquare isn't actually a game. Governance is an issue I've looked at and have started working on, as it's essential in the long run, but unfortunately tends to get overlooked whenever a new intranet is being implemented.

What do you think, are there other critical factors?

[Photo credit - Condition critical from Stock.xchng}