We've been experimenting a good bit on our company-based social network (affectionately named "Sourceapolooza") and I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the killer app for any internal social network is video. After all, YouTube rocks the casbah, and it's what people now expect/want in any web offering.
The only thing better than video on your internal flavor of Facebook? EMPLOYEE generated videos. When employees care enough to create their own videos, in my eyes that's pretty much the definition of engagement.
Which is why the recent 401k contest sponsored by Best Buy is such a great idea. More on the contest at BestBuy via HR Marketer:
"Last week one of our team members attended a Webinar about the power of Web 2.0 in talent management. One of the highlights was how Best Buy increased their 401k participation by 30%.
30%? How the heck did they do that? With a contest. A video contest. They asked employees throughout the retail chain to submit motivating videos that would help increase overall 401k participation. They did just that and the winner is below."
You have to admit, that's pretty sweet, and if you're not the type of HR pro who has their wheels spinning as a result, then... well, you probably need to take a break and find your motivation or consider another career.
If I had to split hairs on the video, I'd say it's too long - if you want people to watch the whole thing, you have to bring a length no longer than a movie trailer - 2:30 tops.
Still, that's mindless quibbling vs. the impact of employees caring enough to cut a video like this. What can you do early in 2009 to give control to employees and empower them to get creative on video?
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