In this paper we report findings from a study of social network site use in a
UK Government department. We have investigated this from a managerial,
organisational perspective. We found at the study site that there are already
several social network technologies in use, and that these: misalign with and
problematize organisational boundaries; blur boundaries between working and
social lives; present differing opportunities for control; have different
visibilities; have overlapping functionality with each other and with other
information technologies; that they evolve and change over time; and that their
uptake is conditioned by existing infrastructure and availability. We find the
organisational complexity that social technologies are often hoped to cut
across is, in reality, something that shapes their uptake and use. We argue the
idea of a single, central social network site for supporting cooperative work
within an organisation will hit the same problems as any effort of
centralisation in organisations. We argue that while there is still plenty of
scope for design and innovation in this area, an important challenge now is in
supporting organisations in managing what can best be referred to as a social
network site 'ecosystem'.Comment: Accepted for publication in JCSCW (The Journal of Computer Supported
Cooperative Work
