Problem: SOCIAL NETWORKING: HOW DOES IBM DO IT?

IBM's award-winning developerWorks site was established in 2000 as a technical resource for the company's global development community. Designed to share knowledge and skills related to IBM products and other key technologies, it has been a solid success. The site attracts about 4 million unique visitors a month-including students, professionals, and developers from almost all the world's countries-- who search its library of 30,000 articles, demos, podcasts and tutorials. DeveloperWorks is available in 8 languages, including Russian, Chinese, and Spanish, and about 70% of visitors come from outside IBM. My developerWorks, a social networking function built on the IBM Connections platform, was added in 2009 to allow developers to connect, communicate and collaborate on projects. Soon the network had added more than 600,000 user profiles, as well as numerous blogs and forums. In addition to allowing established business, start-ups and partners to collaborate, it has also helped users find answers to support questions that would otherwise go to IBM's call centers and help desks, thus saving the company an estimated $100 million. Alice Chou, Director of IBM developerWorks, carefully monitored the number of My developerWorks profiles and the volume of traffic to the site. She looked at unique visitors, developer demographics, time spent on the site, and patterns of page views. She created a reward and recognition framework so that when users contributed a highly regarded article or blogpost to the site, "they got the kudos they deserve."

Discussion Questions: 1. How does My developer Works leverage changes in the way people work?

2. Why do you think Alice Chou carefully monitors the My developer Works site? What would be an example of an insight she would gain from the data she's collecting?

3. Why do you think Alice Chou thinks a rewards program is necessary for My developer Works given that so many profiles have already been developed. Do you agree that a reward would be necessary?