Behind the Scenes of Best Buy's Social Network for Employees

Gary Koelling from Best Buy talks about Blue Shirt Nation -- a social networking site for the company's employees -- and about how to make a project like this survive the inevitable friction and committees:

"In the description of our seminar, it says that we're going to help you learn how to build a social network of your own. The truth is, and this might make you mad, we don't think you can. Not because of who you are, or what you believe, or anything personal like that. You won't be able to do something like this because of your company culture. Like we said, BlueShirt Nation is a fluke. The Best Buy culture wasn't set up to take on something like this. That's why its built outside of the IT network, that's why a couple ad guys run it. At every minute of every day, we still face the challenges that you'll face in your organization.

There'll be pressure to build the community fast - bad idea. And you'll face pressure to do it - good luck. There'll be a temptation to throw money at it - doesn't work. You'll want to believe it does - call me, I'll talk you down. There'll be talk of scale - big is better.

The truth is, you're at the mercy of the people that you're trying to influence. If you try to force it, its not real and will feel contrived - it'll backfire."