The Out There Community

A friend of mine passed on this report titled “Out There Presentation” (pdf). The report attempts to discuss the characteristics and behaviour of people, taking active participation in online activities and in building virtual communities. The report examines the growing openness through the evolution of online communities and how the notion of privacy takes a subdued role. No doubt the internet has unleashed unimaginable amounts of openness and has influenced and reshaped the ability of people and enhanced the propensity to share information hithertho classified as “private”. The report profiles the set of these "out there" people and in the process discusses some aspects of their behavior. Everyone recognizes that enterprises need to respond to the growing body of employees who are of the "Internet generation” and several organization tries to play a facilitating role therein.

The Out There report claims that a large portion of the population espouse values that are “out there.” How to spot them? The report says that these people are more likely to:

– Value fame as an “asset”
– Willing to share certain types of sensitive information on the web
– Believe it is appropriate to criticize their organizations on the web

Or in other words the contours of the emerging trend herein are that – these people do not think twice when they get a chance to share their opinions. Incidents like this are good examples of this trend. Today, it is assessed,that about a third of the population feels its
OK to criticize their organization online. This is a radical departure from the hackneyed sense of privacy, & righteousness. And they get heard!! Clearly enterprises need to have well defined and effective mechanisms to tackle the menace!! Or leverage the fast spreading movement. Today reality TV & Tabloids anyway encroach upon privacy, but when it comes to online , the ability to collaborate and distribute increases manifold times and all these can happen in real time from Sydney to SFO & that’s why organizations need to have a good handle on this. People have different thresholds for what is appropriate to share on a blog or website.The research finds that half of all business professionals are at least moderate level participants in online communities. The sense of appropriateness as espoused by workforce a decade back may not hold good today and in future this may get felt more and organizations need to manage this – Today!!