Yammer – decreases information overload? Don't think so.
Original Post:
One of the main value props initially put about for Yammer was that it decreases email overload. But Yammer won’t necessarily reduce email or more importantly, reduce messaging and information overload.Â
Here’s the rationale: Â (thanks @yammer_team!)
yammer_team @paulasnap On Yammer the Recipient gets to choose what content they receive by following tags, people, groups. Email – the Sender decides. 3:52 PM Dec 17th, 2008 from web in reply to paulacassin
Now, I love Twitter and also Yammer, don’t get me wrong! They’re great tools.
But for email overload, here’s the main problems with the argument:
Corporate emails won’t stop! People won’t stop emailing you those corporate broadcast messages you don’t want, or CC’s to cover their butt, or the monthly HR newsletter – they’re going to adjust to using two channels (email and Yammer) to try and cover everyone they want to hit.
- Think Info Overload, not just Email Overload
Full adoption?  The two-channel approach will stop only when you have full employee take up of Yammer. Face it: it’s going to be a long while before full adoption, maybe never. (Think of your colleagues who haven’t even heard of Twitter, can’t figure out how to subscribe to a Youtube channel, and have a cellphone for emergencies that they never turn on.)
Most email is simply replaced by Yammer.  You may lose a portion of email noise by not following everyone, but you’re probably going to follow your closest colleagues creating the majority of your individual email load. And the email noise that does disappears is negated anyway by:
An increase in overall messages. If you get one less email but 5 Yammers instead, is this reducing information overload? People will send a lot more stuff on Twitter or Yammer that they would never email;  you know it’s true! (”Spaghetti is good today in the cafeteria…I’m struggling with my business case for Project B…Who messed up the bathroom stalls on the 2nd floor? Gross..”)
So while I’m hooked on micro-blogging and convinced it has immense value in the enterprise, the value won’t be found combatting email overload.
Look for value here, instead: fostering collaboration, increasing knowledge-sharing, building engagement, improving overall productivity, saving massive amounts of money on Web 2.0 projects.
(my next post: what really DOES reduce email overload)
February 20th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
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February 21st, 2009 at 1:43 am
You are right. Different communications tools are valuable in the mix but serve different purposes for different constituencies. Email is here to stay and for better or worse Microsoft Outlook is the primary electronic habitat with email being the lifeblood of the enterprise world.
The type of information overload you discuss will only end when people and the businesses which employ them get serious about communication practices which are reasonable and the email software they are forced to use actually allows them to determine their next actions and organise the work which results from all of their emailing activity.
Great blog. Thanks for the lucid contribution to the debate.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:32 am
i actually use a mixture of email, yammer and wikis.
it depends on the message and the audience. if i want to ask everyone in the office or share a link, i’ll yammer. if i require a specific action, i’ll email. if it requires working on documentation, it has to be on a wiki. if i want to discuss something with a specific group and we have it setup, i’ll blog it.
the best use of yammer is as a collab tool and to get different opinions and views. plus it just keeps message short. i have a bad habit of writing really long emails, and yammer forces me to cut down.
i agree with the comment above, email is here to stay particulary B2B and B2C.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Great post and yes, there is a place for Yammer, wikis and email in internal communications.
Yammer, though, offers a lot to teams that customarily collaborate together via email or file sharing on public drives. It will certainly cut down on emails within a group and allows tracking of files and links which creates a valuable trail for a project.
And, as has already been pointed out, a real bonus of Yammer is that it restricts the sender to a limited number of characters = no more long-winded, overly complex emails.