They are reading my mind....

So lately, there have been some eerily timely articles and blog posts posted from the different organizations I follow. I'm convinced that possibly I'm thinking hard enough about the topics that my brain waves are transmitting across the Internet and into the brains of the authors.

It all started Wednesday of last week. My manager and I were having a discussion about Intranet policies. We were talking about the future governance of our new intranet (launching in May..woo hoo) and my manger asked the question, "Do we need a policy for our intranet?". I was stumped. I really didn't know. We have an electronic policy, an email policy, a conduct policy - but when it comes to the new realm of collaboration on our intranet, do we need a policy for employees to abide by when using the intranet? We left the conversation with me committing to do some more thinking, research, and benchmarking on the topic.

Well, two days later, IBF (Intranet Benchmarking Forum) posted a blog post on "Intranet governance in the social media age". It walks through the need for governance around information on the intranet, the use of that information, and the collaboration related to the information. If you read the blog post you'll see it nailed the issue I needed help with. I still need to do some more benchmarking and research, but this is a heck of a start wouldn't you agree? So bizarre that this blog post came out only two days after the subject came up here.

Fast forward to this week. Another co-worker, my manager, and I were sitting in my cube discussing the use of social media for our company to connect to customers, especially during storms, etc. We were specifically focused on Twitter. I mentioned that a few months ago I had emailed out an article about some utility (I couldn't remember the name) in some state up north (couldn't remember which state) that had used Twitter during an ice storm to report on outages and connect to customers. I promised to go digging through my sent messages in my email and find the article and send it to them.

Well, about thirty minutes ago, lo and behold, Ragan Communications wrote an article about PSNH (Public Service of New Hampshire) using Twitter during a recent ice storm -- yes, the same company and incident that I was talking about to my co-worker and manager. Literally a day later Ragan decides to write an excellent article on the exact event and company I mentioned. So I was able to easily forward the link to my coworker and manager without having to dig through my old sent mail. The article just reaffirms to me what I was trying to convey last time I sent the article out - that a utility can use social media to connect with customers. PSNH is impressive with what they have done so far - not only are they using Twitter, but they have a YouTube channel, a Flickr account, and heaven forbid... a Facebook page! I'm now a fan of their Facebook page because I want to 'follow along' with them as they learn how to use the channel to push information to customers and have conversations. PSNH is definitely a leader in the industry when it comes to social media (in my mind). I appreciate that immensely.

Call me new fashioned, but with the growth rates of Facebook (especially with the 30+ age group) and Twitter, it seems mandatory to create an identity in this space....at least if anything, to protect your identity before someone else creates one for you!

On a side note, I think all of the communicators (internal and external) who work for utilities should get together and have our own conference. I think we have a lot to learn from each other and we share the same common concerns when it comes to social media - why not hash it out together? Hey NV Energy, can we have it in Las Vegas? :)

So, you see, two eerie 'coincidental' articles have been published. They are reading my mind! Or perhaps the more logical explanation is that these are not issues or topics solely of interest to us -- everyone is having these same conversations with their mangers and co-workers.

Regardless, I'm going to try this again. Ok, let's see.. what do I need? I think I need an article that proves why intranet strategists should be making six figure salaries. {puts fingers to temples} {closing eyes} {humming out loud} {cube neighbor looks my way on other side of wall with annoyed look} {concentrating really hard on aforesaid article}

Ok...done. Two days from now... some reputable organization will post this article. I'm waiting....