As I was sitting in a taxi in downtown Amman, my mind was wandering to various familiar topics. My upcoming sharwarma sandwich (so tasty), the greatness of IU basketball (Go Hoosiers), and of course Enterprise 2.0 (also very tasty). It was at this point, not 5 milliseconds after contemplating the turnover disparity of the Purdue game, a thought came to mind…

It seems to me that there has been some difficulty in convincing western businesses/governments of the “value” of social networks. Multiple bloggers far more savvy than I, have taken a crack arguing for and against but at the end of the day, I get the feeling people are still waiting for a tipping point. Maybe it’s the right tool? Maybe it’s generational? Maybe it’s cultural? All could be true (and probably are), but so what? Jumping those hurdles sounds like it might take some time. How do you operationalize social software, within the context of business or agency now?

My answer…Pick a business model that 1) already determines success and failure by the strength and pervasiveness of social ties, 2) consistently blurs the lines between personal and professional life, and 3) could care less about competency or “SMEness”. Focus on empowering this existing business model with social software and let them do what they do best. Socialize. There may be at the end of the day, some uptick in traditional value metrics, but who cares? They certainly don’t.

Typically, the Ministries I have worked with in the developing world are relatively high-context organizations. If I had a nickel for every project status meeting I sat through which consisted of nothing more than tea-drinking and pleasantries, I could buy Larry Ellison’s boat. Well…maybe the dinghy. Nonetheless, that’s a serious amount of nickels. I have spent an inordinate amount of time explaining the value of the financial management system I am there to implement (or whatever), but without fail it is consummately greeted with a smile, a nod, and a refill on my tea. (”That’s nice sir, more sugar?”)

The pace at which these projects progress is slow. Like plate tectonic slow. Almost imperceptible the human eye. But honestly, it seems to me that they could usually care less. As long as we are drinking tea, talking about respective families, chatting about the weather, the project status dashboard is all green. In fact, if I do a good enough job hamming it up, they tend to regard me as a hands-down expert on all things IT. (Now you and I know that this is hyperbole at best, but who could deny such a compliment? “Why thank you kind sir, and yes, more sugar please.”)

My problem or frustration is that I come from the world of different metrics. I consider an encounter with my counterparts to be a success or failure based on how much we accomplished, not how much better we know each other at the end. I look around the Minsitry and I am confounded as to how there are so many people working there who are clearly unqualified. But none of that matters in these places. It is all about who you know, how long you have known them, and how much they know about you. That is power. That is the business model. This is where social software within the enterprise can and will thrive almost immediately.

This world of different metrics may be a stumbling block to true adoption in the US, but should be embraced and fostered in environments where social ties are questionably the most important thing one can have. Give Ministry X some form of internal Facebook, and you become a water walker. Not to mention the fact that understanding those social ties would help me immensely in trying to achieve my goals of figuring out who actually runs the IT Department or who the real Director of Accounting might be. Google thinks understanding these ties is valuable. I tend to agree. Even more so in places where not much else matters.