I
have been working on understanding how to measure social activity for several
years. I think it is extremely valuable
to get objective data on how we are using our social tools to get insights into
the value of 'social' and also the challenges.
We can now gather a huge amount of data and the analytics capability is
really exciting. But I am also concerned
with how we use these measurements. Many
companies turn the metrics into a tool to drive behavior rather than an
indicator on how we are doing. This can
result in driving dysfunctional behavior since people are focused on increasing
a number rather than contributing because they have something worthwhile to
share.
"When a measure becomes
a target, it ceases to be a good measure."
Goodhart's Law (1975).
Professor Emeritus of Economics at London School of Economics. (source: Wikipedia)
"The more any
quantitative social indicator (or even some qualitative indicator) is used for
social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and
the more apt it
will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor." Campbell's Law (1976). a social psychologist and the author of many works on research
methodology. (italics added) (source:
Wikipedia)
