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