With the rise of Web 2.0, which revolutionised the World Wide Web, the term Enterprise 2.0 has been introduced to refer to the use of "Web 2.0" technologies within Organisations to enhancing collaboration both within and between Organisations, through the use of social-media tools. Enterprise 2.0 has the potential to help employees, customers and suppliers collaborate, share, and organize information and it has the ability to enable or streamline business processes.

Andrew McAfee, who is one of the main proponents of the term Enterprise 2.0, argues that “thanks to a new class of collaborative technologies, Organisations can now leverage information in valuable new ways”. McAfee believes that through the use of wiki’s, blogs, social platforms (i.e. a corporate Facebook) or Twitter, organisations can overcome the (geographical) dispersion of knowledge and expertise. However, the academic underpinning of these expectations is – at the least – thin. Most articles are limited to case studies which are providing support for the potential role of Web 2.0 technologies within Organisations. But even McAfee admits that there are many case studies showing how Enterprise 2.0 efforts are failing within Organisations.

Almost simultaneously with the rise of Enterprise 2.0, Nicholas Carr has started a debate on the downside of using internet technology to distribute and share information and knowledge. His basic argument, first presented in an article with the enticing title ” Is Google making us stupid?”, is that the structure and the abundance of information (‘information overload’) on the Web has a detrimental effect on the brain and consequently our decision performance. One of the consequences of Carr’s arguments could be that that adding new Web 2.0 technologies to communicate and share information and knowledge, may harm Organisations more than it helps them. However, although there is general agreement about the existence of an information overload on the web, there is less agreement – and less evidence – on its effects on individuals and organisations.

The rise of Web 2.0 (e.g. social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, mashups) on the internet has led to a new business phenomenon: Enterprise 2.0. This term has been introduced by Andrew McAfee to refer to the corporate use of "Web 2.0" technologies to enhance collaboration both within and between Organisations.

McAfee argues that “thanks to a new class of collaborative technologies, Organisations can now leverage information in valuable new ways”. McAfee believes that through the use of wiki’s, blogs and social platforms (e.g. a corporate Facebook), Organisations can overcome the (geographical) dispersion of knowledge and expertise. However, the academic underpinning of these expectations is thin and even McAfee admits that there are many case studies showing how Enterprise 2.0 efforts can fail within Organisations.

The availability of Web 2.0 should however cause Organisations to rethink the ways in which they harness internal and external knowledge. With the adoption of the Web 2.0 paradigm comes substantial opportunities and risks particularly in the context of Knowledge Management.

Your assignment is to write a paper on the current and potential role of Web 2.0 technology in Organisations with an emphasis on knowledge management. Under what conditions can social media help corporations to compete and survive in a fast changing business environment? And what does this imply for information managers within Organisations?

Specific questions which you might address are:
• How do Organisations use web 2.0 technologies (wikis, blogs, forums, twitter) to capture employee knowledge?
• What are some of the unintended consequences that may result from the implementation of web 2.0 technology within an Organisation?
• How can Organisations understand more about their customers and competitors through web 2.0 services?
• What risks do Organisations face when using web 2.0 technology to engage with their customers?

• Andriole, S.J. (2010). Business impact of Web 2.0 technologies, Communications of the ACM, Vol.53, Iss.12, p.67-79.
• Levy, M. (2009). Web 2.0 Implications on Knowledge Management, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol.13, Iss.1, p. 120-134.
• Majchrzak, A. Wagner, C. & Yates, D. (2013). The Impact of Shaping on Knowledge Reuse for Organizational Improvement with Wikis, MIS Quarterly, Vol.37, Iss.2, p.455-A12.
• Prasarnphanich, P. & Wagner, C. (2009). The role of Wiki Technology and Altruism in Collaborative Knowledge Creation, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Vol.49, Iss.4, p33-41.
• Shang, S. S., Li, E. Y., Wu, Y.-L. & Hou, O. C. (2011). Understanding Web 2.0 Service Models: A Knowledge-Creating Perspective, Information & Management, Vol.48, Iss.4, p.178-184.
• Turban, E., Bolloju, N. & Liang T-P. (2011). Enterprise Social Networking: Opportunities, Adoption, and Risk Mitigation, Journal Of Organizational Computing & Electronic Commerce, Vol.21, Iss.3, p.202-220.

Information management