• Workplace social networking system with BuddyPress

    Dec 14.09 | Technology   

    What features are needed in a workplace social network system?  And could BuddyPress, the WordPress multi-user collection of social networking plug-ins, be used to power it?  Yammer uses has recently taken off at my workplace, and its success here is serving as a real example of the types of communication and collaboration people are looking for in the workplace.  Here are a couple of thoughts, observations and opinions:

    • Follow vs. Friends — In the workplace the ability to follow people without the expectation of reciprocity is important — more like twitter, less like Facebook — the default BuddyPress behavior is to friend.
    • Discussion — neither Twitter or Yammer is very good for a discussion, especially with multiple people.  A forum-type tool would be useful for this.
    • Share multiple types of content — newsletters, department updates, external news items.
    • List upcoming events — send invitations — track attendance
    • Private messaging is needed
    • Activity notices need to send alerts via email
    • One view that tracks all activity of followed accounts, with easy reply/comment links.
    • Availability of desktop client (like TweetDesk for Twitter/Facebook)
    • Site wide auto tagging, based on a pre-set list of keywords, for all content types — would not require users to remember to tag, and would insure that keywords important to employees are useful for finding content.

    The BuddyPress system provides forums, blogs, groups, private messaging, and a live-blogging feature called the wire that is similar to twitter — so it has the capabilities to address most of the listed items.   It might just be possible to create a social network system for our staff that combines the best features of micro-blogging a-la twitter/yammer, blogs, newsletters, and forums.  Not everything is perfect — for instance the two-way friending used needs to be shifted to a one sided following.  And the basic site wide activity widget needs to offer integrated reply boxes, similar to what you get with a tool like Yammer.  But having our own system would offer the added benefits of integration with our central user authentication service (single sign-on), an auto keyword system specific to our needs, and a system where we own and control the content.  And BuddyPress/WordPress MU offers a system with low annual cost, readily customized, and a strong user community.

    Communication Inventory

    Collaboration — 2 way

    • Arrange meetings
    • Synchronous discussion
    • Asynchronous discussion
    • Synchronous casual conversation
    • Asynchronous casual conversation
    • Help answer questions
    • Create/edit documents
    • Access, review and present data
    • Party invitations
    • organize training
    • develop best practices
    • Mentor

    Announce – 1 way outgoing

    • Give lectures
    • Notify of problems
    • Publish news
    • Advertise events
    • Distribute personal contact information
    • Report on personal skills/experience inventory

    Research — 1 way incoming

    • Read archived discussions
    • Search keywords
    • Seek reference materials
    • Read news
    • Reference help, technical standards documents
    • Reference best practices
    • Review meeting notes
    • Find people with certain skills/experience

    BuddyPress.org – WordPress Social Network Software ? About

    BuddyPress will extend WordPress MU and bring social networking features to a new or existing installation. BuddyPress is a suite of WordPress plugins and themes, each adding a distinct new feature. BuddyPress contains all the features you’d expect from WordPress but aims to let members socially interact.

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    • Author: Randy

    In my day job I serve as Information Technology Director for the Yale School of Drama. Otherwise I garden, play guitar, build stuff out of wood, take photos, play around with technology and have been blogging since 2003.

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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!

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