<p>Social business adoption shouldn't focus on individuals. Instead, success stems from groups. Here's why.</p><p>I often have one foot in academia and the other in the corporate world. I'm a (relatively old) doctoral student studying knowledge management. I also work as a community manager for a large company. In my work and through my studies, I've noticed that both academia and the corporate world tend to ignore what might be the key to success in social business adoption: the role of groups.</p><p>Take, for example, researchers in organizational behavior. They often work using three levels of analysis: individual, group, and organizational. But what does it mean when we say we are "promoting adoption" if each of these levels means something different? Is individual blogging considered adoption? Team collaboration? Executive buy-in? If everyone in the company is logging in but using the platform solely as a document repository or a social chat room, for example, is that adoption?</p><p>To get the real value that social business platforms offer, group adoption is critical. You can't ask a question of no one in particular and expect a quick, accurate answer unless the right people are already there for other reasons. But change management strategies for adoption are almost always presented as organizational or individual challenges, hardly ever with respect to teams, departments, or other groups. Why is that?</p><p><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/social/social-business-why-group-adoption-matters/d/d-id/1113853">Keep reading...</a></p>