CASTing Content in Collaboration Networks

In earlier posts, we discussed the Fundamental Differences between Collaboration and Social Networks, and Objectives of Players in Collaboration Networks. We offer here a model for leveraging content in collaboration networks, CAST: Create, Aggregate, Segment and Target.

Create. Players in Collaboration Networks create content that is of relevance and interest, both for the target audience and for professional needs. This could be a blog or wiki or discussion forum, and so on.

Aggregate. Content generated by players in the Collaboration Network and through various avenues must be aggregated to eliminate the silos in which the content resides. Aggregated data is also essential for creating valuable insights.

Segment. Aggregated content should then be segmented to make the content accessible to players in the Collaboration Network, based on needs and interests, in an efficient manner. This may also address the issue of “privileges” for access. For example, proprietary company data is available within the organization only, or data on the enterprise-partner relationship is available to certain segments of players in the Collaboration Network. While this step may appear overwhelming, it could be as simple as proper tagging, at least initially.

Target. This aspect deals with delivering content to the players in the Collaboration Network, based on preferences and access privileges. While access privileges are set by the organization or the players in Collaboration Networks, user preferences and alerts should be set by the user.

We are not there yet, but that is where we are going!

In Connecting for Collaboration via Social Media?, we discussed evolution of the Web and the road/highway system. As David Coleman, one of our contributors, points out that initially we just put on the Web whatever content we had. Next iteration has been the content creation for the web, user-created content and people-to-people connections. The emerging wave would deliver targeted content. The CAST model is an analytical framework for leveraging content in Collaboration Networks.

Update on 24 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

See Related Posts:

• The What and Why of Enterprise 2.0
• Good Advice: Using Social Media for Project Management
• Engaging/Networking Tools for Collaboration
• Connecting for Collaboration via Social Media?
• Comparing Collaboration and Social Networks
• No Recession for Social Media Investments
• Leveraging Social Networking for Enterprise, but HOW?