BISE – CATCHWORD
Enterprise Microblogging
DOI 10.1007/s12599-010-0129-1
The Authors
PD Dr. Kai Riemer (

)
Discipline of Business Information
Systems
Faculty of Economics & Business
University of Sydney
Building H69
Sydney
NSW 2006
Australia
kai.riemer@sydney.edu.au
Dr. Alexander Richter
Institut für Softwaretechnologie
Fakultät für Informatik
Universität der Bundeswehr München
85577 Neubiberg
Germany
a.richter@unibw.de
Dipl.-Wirt.-Inf. Martin Bohringer
Professur für Wirtschaftsinformatik II,
insb. Systementwicklung/
Anwendungssysteme
Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Technische Universität Chemnitz
09126 Chemnitz
Germany
martin.boehringer@wirtschaft.
tu-chemnitz.de
Received: 2010-04-12
Accepted: 2010-08-11
Accepted after two revisions by
Prof. Dr. Sinz.
This article is also available in Ger-
man in print and via http://www.
wirtschaftsinformatik.de: Riemer K,
Richter A, Böhringer M (2010) Enter-
prise Microblogging. WIRTSCHAFTS-
INFORMATIK. doi: 10.1007/s11576-
010-0246-y.
© Gabler Verlag 2010
1 Microblogging as a Form
of Corporate Communication
ICT support of communication in or-
ganizations is not only becoming more
important, but also more difficult. For
example, many knowledge workers in-
creasingly experience information over-
load with regard to their email inboxes,
as many users have fallen into the habit
of sending messages to large numbers of
receivers simultaneously (using the CC
feature). Typical reasons for such behav-
ior are that users want to reassure oth-
ers, that they do not know for whom
a particular piece of information might
be relevant, or just habit. As a result,
a majority of email users today is con-
fronted with an unsorted mass of mes-
sages, of which only a fraction is actually
relevant for them personally. The sort-
ing and processing of these messages on
the other hand is time consuming and
cumbersome; moreover, the likelihood
increases that the user overlooks impor-
tant information in the flood of mes-
sages. Against this backdrop, the princi-
ple of Enterprise Microblogging (EMB)
promises to create a new channel for or-
ganizational and team communication.
Similar to Twitter on the public Inter-
net, users can post short messages in this
new channel, which is especially benefi-
cial in cases where information may be
relevant for a whole group of users that is
unknown in advance. For example, users
might post links to interesting online re-
sources, report on important events or
just update others on team tasks they
have finished. The resulting information
stream can then be composed and filtered
by the platform users in various ways, in
order to ensure relevance of what mes-
sages are personally received. Besides, all
messages are stored and remain accessible
and searchable for future reference.
Initial case studies have shown that
successful EMB platforms have the po-
tential to shift communication formerly
conducted via email to a new public
communication space facilitated by mi-
croblogging (Barnes et al. 2010; Riemer
and Richter 2010). While such a step
yields a range of opportunities, e.g.,
for corporate innovation and knowledge
management, it is not without challenges
with regard to changes in individual and
group communication behavior, for both
management and users.
2 What is Microblogging?
2.1 The Emerging Twitter Phenomenon
Microblogging is a communication ser-
vice which enables users to post short
messages into an initially undirected
message stream. Users can then subscribe
to other users’ messages, so that a di-
rected information stream is created. The
most prominent microblogging service is
Twitter, launched in 2006, which allows
its users to post messages restricted to 140
characters. While many similar services
have emerged in the market, Twitter with
its philosophy and features still shapes
the public perception of microblogging,
which becomes evident in the meanwhile
common terms “tweeting” and “tweet”.
Beside the restriction of message
length, Twitter has introduced the “fol-
lowing” principle as another distinctive
feature which sets it apart from other so-
cial software applications. On Twitter, the
messages posted by its users in the first
instance create an undirected real-time
information stream. Only by “following”
other users and thereby subscribing to
their messages does a user create a per-
sonalized information stream, which is
then presented on the user’s start page in
chronological order. Whereas platforms
such as Facebook and Xing require both
users to confirm a connection, Twitter’s
social graph, which is created by the
“following” mechanism, also shows uni-
directional connections (user A follows
user B, but user B does not follow user A).
Features, such as referencing other
users using the @user tag, the referenc-
ing of other users’ posts (retweeting), or
the tagging of message with the hash-
tag (#keyword), which are a core part
of the platform today, developed from
user appropriations (users started includ-
ing these tags in their messages) and were
only later included in the user interface of
the platform (Java et al. 2007).
Apart from this user-driven evolution,
Twitter offers open access to its core func-
tionalities via an API which also intro-
duces innovation to the service. Con-
sequently, the Twitter API is the basis
for thousands of third party applications
which complement the service with spe-
cial features. Most notably, applications
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BISE – CATCHWORD
for mobile devices, by using the API, ac-
count for the majority of tweets posted
to the platform today. Henceforth, Twit-
ter has achieved almost ubiquitous diffu-
sion; it is now possible to use the service
independent of space and time, and from
almost any device.
2.2 Typical Usage Patterns
When launching Twitter, the company
tried to frame the usage of its platform
with the motto “What are you doing?”.
However, in the meantime it has turned
out that only a minority of user post-
ing fall into this category, a fact that is
well in line with the above mentioned
user appropriation (Java et al. 2007). As
a consequence, the motto today reads
in more general terms: “What’s happen-
ing?”. Not surprisingly, a first set of stud-
ies have taken a closer look at user com-
munication behavior on the platform.
According to a recent study, the most
common types of communication are
Me Now (41%: “tired and upset”), State-
ments and Random Thoughts (25%: “The
sky is blue in the winter here”), and
Opinions/Complaints (24%: “Go Aussie
$ go!”), while true Information Shar-
ing (“15 Uses of WordPress <URL RE-
MOVED>”) only happens in 21% of all
posts (Naaman et al. 2010). On the other
hand, the results also show that the ser-
vice has been appropriated for very dif-
ferent purposes and by different target
groups, for both hedonic and profes-
sional communication.
3 Enterprise Microblogging
3.1 Potentials and Reservations
Due to its simplicity and immediacy, mi-
croblogging is also of interest to corpo-
rations, e.g., to support communication
and coordination in teams and projects.
Consequently, the microblogging princi-
ple has been adapted to the enterprise
context. Today, four years after the launch
of Twitter, a range of EMB platforms
have been launched, but platform offer-
ings appear to still outstrip demand for
the service.
When marketing Enterprise Mi-
croblogging to businesses, one of the
key features of the service seems to act
as a main barrier: Twitter as an open
platform is largely shaped by the inter-
est and behavior of its users. That is
why many decision makers hold strong
reservations against the application of
microblogging; many fear that in trans-
ferring this technology from the public
Internet into the Intranet they will also
import the above-described communi-
cation behavior, which is associated with
unproductive “chatter” and procrastina-
tion. On the other hand, many decision
makers also contemplate if they should
forego the often-discussed potentials of
microblogging for group communica-
tion, or open their organizations to this
new medium.
3.2 Platforms and Technical
Proliferation
Due to the above-mentioned openness
(“Nutzungsoffenheit”) of such platforms,
many EMB providers have focused their
applications and subsequently tailored
their products to fit certain usage scenar-
ios. For example, tools exist for project
and information management which put
emphasis on open communication and
elaborate filtering and analysis features,
but at the same time the follower
principle is omitted, as communication
takes place in stable groups (i.e., project
teams). Other providers focus on large
organizations that want to facilitate so-
cial networking among their employees;
hence, the follower mechanism becomes
more important, while special features,
e.g., for information management, be-
come less dominant in favor of simplicity
and ease-of-use.
Similar to the variety in features, a
range of different delivery modes exists,
which interested user organizations have
to take into account in making a deci-
sion: open source, software-as-a-service
(SaaS), and traditional license models
exist. Typical EMB service providers
are StatysNet (open source), Com-
munote, Present.ly, Socialcase, Socialtext,
and Yammer (commercial). A market
overview can be found in Böhringer et al.
(2010). On the technical level, according
to market analysts, a widespread inte-
gration of microblogging features into
existing IT infrastructures is imminent
(Gartner 2010).
4 A Use Case
In the following we will illustrate the po-
tential of Enterprise Microblogging for
team and project work using a case ex-
ample (cf. Riemer and Richter 2010).
The case company is a medium-sized
software provider that has developed
its own EMB platform which it offers
to the market, but also uses internally.
The above-quoted study investigated us-
age practices in a software development
team. When doing so, it used genre anal-
ysis to identify usage patterns, which al-
low reflecting on the role of the platform
in the context of project work.
One main motivation for introducing
the EMB platform was to make group
activities transparent and visible for all
team members. Team members can doc-
ument finished and pending tasks for ev-
eryone in a central repository. In doing
so, team communication remains acces-
sible over time (e.g., for new employees)
and changes in tasks are documented for
different points in time. Moreover, for
project leaders the platform is an effective
medium for delegating and coordination.
Table 1 presents the four communica-
tion practices, which capture over 90%
of communication observed in the case
team. It shows that EMB is well suited
for coordinating teamwork on joint tasks.
Thus team members post short status up-
dates whenever they have finished work-
ing on a task or whenever problems arise.
Team members document pending tasks
on the platform and delegate tasks to
other team members with a short and
concise message, but in contrast to email
is visible for all team members. More-
over, EMB is used to pose work-related
questions, to reply to questions, to post
guidelines or generally to solve problems.
Another main team practice is to up-
date other team members on events that
happened outside the immediate team
context (e.g., meeting with a customer).
Finally, EMB is a medium for driving
team discussions, e.g., by capturing ideas
and posting links to interesting Internet
sources.
The latter aspect points to poten-
tials of EMB other than for immediate
team coordination, such as for innova-
tion management. Real innovation can-
not be planned in advance. But EMB can
create the necessary awareness for the ac-
tivities of other people and facilitate the
collection of ideas, which enables making
contact with others and facilitating dis-
cussions. By doing so, seemingly “stupid”
ideas can gain visibility and find unex-
pected promoters within the organiza-
tion.
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BISE – CATCHWORD
Table 1 EMB Usage practices with examples (see Riemer and Richter 2010)
Practice Description Example
Task coordination Team members delegate pending
tasks to others, post lists of
pending tasks, report on finishing
tasks or enquire about task status.
“Pricing for migration plugin #pending”
“@mno is the current state ready for testing?
Where?”
“Just created a test installation on #com233
and updated #searchindex”
Problem solving Team members ask work-related
questions, point out problems or
post guidelines and “how tos”.
“What is RAD studio able to do that Visual
Studio isn’t?”
“Solved #connectionproblem with #sys. But
new problem came up. Configuration of. . .”
Event updates
Team members report on events
outside the immediate team (e.g.,
on contracts, phone calls,
meetings) and notify others of
upcoming events.
“Received order from Klug Media Systems
#KMS for #Confluence development”
“Date for final migration 2009-08-17 @cde
@jkl”
“Just spoke to Mr. Klaus about the following
points. . .”
Ideas and information
input
Team members post URLs to
interesting websites or offer ideas
for discussion.
“for a first overview of Confluence 3.0:
http://confluence.atlassian.com/. . . ”
“@tuv idea: The barrier could be placed
after the email address. Just like here. . .”
5 Significance for the BISE
Domain
5.1 Appropriation and Use
Enterprise Microblogging resembles a so-
called infrastructure technology. Such
infrastructures are open, heterogeneous
bundles of ICT-based potentials which
allow users to establish usage practices
(cf. Hanseth and Lytinnen 2004). Much
like other communication and collabo-
ration systems, EMB platforms are char-
acterized by a form of openness which
is best described by the German word
“Nutzungsoffenheit”. Such openness im-
plies that these systems can be used in a
wide variety of ways and that their poten-
tials and effects in context cannot be de-
duced from examining their features and
characteristics (Riemer and Taing 2009).
Rather, potentials will only show up in
appropriations by concrete users, e.g., as
illustrated in the above case example.
In this context it is important to distin-
guish between practices of creation (i.e.,
the active posting of messages) and con-
sumption (the use of the emerging in-
formation stream). While some studies,
such as the above, have investigated active
communication to a certain extent, so far
no research exists on the role and useful-
ness of EMB as an information medium.
It is, however, important to critically ex-
amine the claim made in practically ori-
ented publications that EMB will solve or
alleviate the information overload prob-
lem commonly associated with email us-
age. For example, it may well be that the
undirected communication of informa-
tion in a continuous EMB information
stream will only lead to shifting the prob-
lem to this new medium. Quite possi-
bly, this will to a considerable extent de-
pend on the design of EMB platforms
and (the appropriation of) features such
as tagging and information filtering. It
remains to be seen if the expectations
held by platform providers and propo-
nents of EMB regarding improvements in
knowledge, innovation, and communica-
tion management will materialize. Cur-
rently, not enough case examples exist to
make reliable predictions.
5.2 Technical Developments and
Integration
Besides the above-discussed use, EMB
also brings some technical challenges
along. Among these are technical stabil-
ity and availability, security, roles, and
rights management as well as (based on
the above-introduced notion of EMB as
infrastructure) the integration with ex-
isting communication systems. In that
respect, availability for communica-
tion in various communication channels
becomes an important consideration
(cf. Riemer and Taing 2009).
Moreover, it is important to view EMB
as part of an ecosystem of existing ser-
vices and systems and to take care of
proper integration. Some initial works
exist that have pointed to potentials for
linking EMB with business processes and
technical facilities and machinery. It has
been suggested under the term ubiqui-
tous microblogging that short messages,
generated by non-human actors, be inte-
grated with the EMB information stream
and thus be made available to users in
a unified medium (Böhringer and Glu-
chowski 2010). This again is related to
the consumption part of microblogging,
i.e., the question how information is con-
sumed in this new medium. The assump-
tion is that information supply can be
simplified drastically if status updates by
team members and those provided by
processes and systems are made available
in one integrated (filterable) information
stream. Again, there is still a lack of em-
pirical studies which investigate benefits
and limits of such integration.
5.3 Roll-Out and Management
Enterprise Microblogging belongs to a
range of other technologies that have
been adapted for enterprise contexts,
such as wikis, blogs, and social network-
ing services. According to experiences
made with these tools, it is to be ex-
pected that the challenges of using mi-
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BISE – CATCHWORD
croblogging in a corporate context are
nor primarily technical in nature. In fact,
some authors see a need for organizations
that want to successfully apply the Twit-
ter principle, to instigate a cultural and
organizational change process which has
been captured by the term Enterprise 2.0
(McAfee 2009). First studies suggest that
EMB, more so than existing social soft-
ware, will allow communication on equal
terms, transparency, open communica-
tion across hierarchical levels and a new
form of self presentation (for a discussion
of social effects of Enterprise Microblog-
ging, see Günther et al. 2009; Oulasvirta
et al. 2009). However, it remains to be
seen to what extent a deep organizational
change process is actually needed, given
that the openness of such platforms al-
lows flexible adaptation to different situ-
ations.
Other studies in the Enterprise 2.0 do-
main (e.g., Richter and Koch 2009) sug-
gest that the appropriation of such open
platforms can be facilitated especially
with the support of middle management
and a concrete outlining of expected us-
age benefits. Future research should use
this as a starting point for deriving ro-
bust benefit measurements (e.g., for cap-
turing ROI) and for critically question-
ing the suggested positive effects of an
Enterprise 2.0 culture on corporate suc-
cess. This, however, can only be achieved
holistically by incorporating the qualita-
tive aspects of social software application
which are hard to quantify.
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