With social media, many IT organisations have adopted a worst practice we call "provide and pray". Basically, rather than engage in the difficult effort of designing a business-relevant social media solution, the IT organisation simply provides access to social software and "prays" that something good will come of it. The enterprise hopes that a community forms and that its activities result in business value.

Our research indicates that only in about 10% of cases does a community emerge and deliver value to the enterprise. But in around 70% of cases, adoption is insignificant and an active community doesn't form; the remaining 20% of the time, a community does form, but its activity doesn't deliver any meaningful value.

At best, enterprises consider this a waste of time; at worst, they tend to perceive social networking in the workplace as potentially threatening in areas such as information security, intellectual property protection, regulatory compliance and HR infractions.

Businesses are increasingly realising that they must take an active approach. They cannot face this challenge by simply treating social media as a passing fad; and efforts to restrict people from utilising the social web are proving significantly ineffective.

Organisations examining social software need to determine when to say "No", when to give the go-ahead on a grassroots-based effort and when to grow an enterprise-led initiative.

Bottom-up approaches with minimal or no leading structure are risky, with high failure rates. So if a group fails to articulate its use of social media as a business-relevant, well-formed purpose, then it shouldn't be allowed to progress.

It is important to emphasise the difference between a "Go" decision and the provide-and-pray worst practice. The latter is based on the hope that a demand exists and the community will spontaneously emerge; but a "Go" decision is made after a well-formed business purpose exists, social media is deemed suitable for the purpose and the characteristics of the purpose indicate that a grassroots effort can succeed.

Escalation to the "Grow" phase indicates that enterprise attention is needed to grow a community to satisfy the formulated business purpose. The initiative should progress only after the enterprise officially responds to a formal business case with investment. Risk-averse organisations that lack a collaborative culture and are experiencing an escalation of unsanctioned social media use may adopt that approach.

Good cop, bad cop

However, the enterprise must not appear to act like a police force seeking to restrict or curtail the use of social media solutions. Taking a heavy-handed approach can drive social media initiatives underground and business unit participants to look for loopholes in governance.

Enterprises must determine what punitive actions to take when people circumvent the governance process. This is very tricky and requires a balanced approach that avoids stifling innovation while ensuring they still have visibility on all social media initiatives.

Do you agree? Have your say by commenting below. And see this contrasting point of view by Toby Redshaw, global CIO of insurance giant Aviva.