Diversity among enterprise online communities: collaborating, teaming, and innovating through social media

  • Authors:
  • Michael Muller;Kate Ehrlich;Tara Matthews;Adam Perer;Inbal Ronen;Ido Guy

  • Affiliations:
  • IBM, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States;IBM, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States;IBM Research - Almaden, San Jose, California, United States;IBM, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States;IBM Research, Haifa, Israel;IBM Research, Haifa, Israel

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

There is a growing body of research into the adoption and use of social software in enterprises. However, less is known about how groups, such as communities, use and appropriate these technologies, and the implications for community structures. In a study of 188 very active online enterprise communities, we found systematic differences in size, demographics and participation, aligned with differences in community types. Different types of communities differed in their appropriation of social software tools to create and use shared resources, and build relationships. We propose implications for design of community support features, services for potential community members, and organizations looking to derive value from online groups.