Microsoft employees can use an “internal YouTube” platform to create podcasts, listen to other podcasts that are created by fellow employees, and even rate and comment on the digital files using Web 2.0 technology.
Three years ago, Microsoft launched Academy Mobile, which is now hosting thousands of employee-generated podcasts. The idea behind the platform is that any one of Microsoft’s 90,000 employees can share expertise with each other. Paolo Tosolini, a social video consultant who launched the initiative for Microsoft, was one of the speakers at the recent WritersUA conference.
Here are some of the highlights:
Employees generate the content. Any Microsoft employee can share expertise on a given subject and upload it to the secure platform. Employees have created 19,000 podcasts to date, there are 800 new uploads each month, and 90,000 downloads on a monthly basis.
Podcasting tools are supplied. Microsoft provides each employee with all the audio and video tools needed for free as long as the employee agrees to create three podcasts per month.
Rewards program. Each employee earns “points” for each podcast published and additional points when another employee views it. Points can be used to redeem gifts.
Platform takes advantage of Web 2.0 technologies. Academy Mobile is built on Microsoft SharePoint but the user interface looks distinct from Microsoft’s other corporate sites. Paolo referred to the site as an “internal YouTube” site. Employees can take advantage of Really Simple Syndication (RSS), comments, and peer rating of each podcast.
Employees can download the podcasts to a variety of devices. Being Microsoft, you might expect that employees would only be able to download content to devices like Microsoft’s own Zune MP3 player. But Paolo noted that Academy Mobile convinced management that podcasts should be compatible with all sorts of devices—including iPhones—so that employees can easily listen to the content.
Microsoft’s Academy Mobile appears to be one innovative way that organizations can harness the expertise of their people. If I was driving to work, I’d definitely consider listening to a podcast and taking advantage of Academy Mobile.
I have worked as a
That’s really interesting Robert — when I heard about the Academy Mobile project a few years ago I was a bit skeptical about the uptake but it’s obviously really useful. I wonder how popular internal ‘YouTube’ platforms will become?
Hi Kathleen,
For large organizations like Microsoft, I think it makes a lot of sense.
I’ve always found that sitting in a car while I drive to work is not a great use of time. With an initiative like this, at least I could take advantage of my peers’ podcasts and listen to them while commuting.
Thanks for your comment!
Gee! What fun! I can think of no greater pleasure than listening to my co-worker to and from work as well as at work! 🙂
I agree with Simon. How do you differentiate between true “expertise” and boring/useless/irritating?
So now research means digging through 19,000 + 800/day podcasts in the hopes of finding some pearls of wisdom?
I also find the rewards program weird but typical for Microsoft. If something is good, people will flock to it and maybe even pay you for it. Using rewards to “bribe” people into the program gives a distorted view of the program’s real effectiveness and appeal. Of course, if you have nothing effective or appealing, then the only way is to bribe people to use it. 😉
Hi Yippee,
I got the sense from Paolo that you could use search to sift through content and that certain employees became known for creating certain podcasts (for example, one person might create podcasts on SharePoint, another would focus on using macros in Word, etc). So I think it would be relatively easy to find podcasts that interest you or that you find useful.