Should you have a Web 2.0 Strategy?

I've seen a number of conference flyers recently that talk about "developing your Web 2.0 strategy" for your Intranet. It set me wondering if an organisation have such a thing as a separate Web 2.0 strategy - in the sense of an agreed roadmap for the next few years?

The Case For

Generally, when a substantial change is taking place, it does make sense to have a structured approach that involves all stakeholders and asks the usual good questions: why? Where? When? and Who? This applies if the change is internally driven (e.g. to improve supply chain efficiency) or due to external circumstances (an economic downturn is an example that springs to mind).

Having a Web 2.0 strategy will allow an organisation to focus efforts - avoiding duplication of effort and sharing knowledge gained. Without it there's a risk that users become confused with multiple innovations all offering similar features, for example. It also means that resources can be pooled, so that infrastructure can be properly supported rather than 'best efforts' by an enthusiast.

The Case against

I can see two different camps that would counsel against a specific Web 2.0 strategy, however:

The 'Integrators' will say that Web 2.0 should not be treated as something apart from what the organisation already has or is trying to achieve. A wiki, for example, is an approach to content management, so to have a strategy for wikis that is set apart from that for content management just creates parallel systems and potential conflict. Much better to have strategies for outcomes - Communication and Collaboration, for example, and use the most appropriate tool, whatever the label.

The 'Liberals', for quite different reasons, would argue that the whole spirit of Web 2.0 is to experiment and see what happens. Devising a strategy misses the point. It is both lumbering and risks losing the very benefits that Web 2.0 can bring: freedom from a top-down way of thinking.

Sitting on the fence

My own feeling is that organisations worry too much about re-inventing the wheel. If you relax control and let it happen - who knows - you might end up with a better wheel! You at least have more people that have learned something about how wheels are made. Therefore in the early stages, the 'strategy' for Web 2.0 should be to allow experimentation with low-cost, easily-started approaches and focus on learning from what happens. The strategy should also be clear what will happen when something starts to take off. At that point it makes sense to think about a longer-term perspective and ensure it integrates both with the IT ecosystem and also the business direction.

Comments

[Rob Gray]

I firmly believe that the Intranet of the future is a social one. There is far more value in the interactions between people than in links between web pages and documents.

The "Intranet" will be a different view for each person, depending on the virtual groups in which they work... i.e. the Intranet is just a flow of ALL the information generated by your own internal people networks, with no official content authors.

Our Intranet is 100% user generated, and it's the most useful one I've ever had.

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