Last night was the third installment of #behindthefirewall chat on Twitter. I had to miss it, reluctantly. If you are not familiar with it, this chat is geared toward those interested in the use of social technologies and social media inside an organization. Some of the regular attendees are practitioners, strategists, and leaders in the implementation and use of enterprise social media tools.

The organizer, Arik Hanson (@arikhanson) was gracious enough to agree to my recapping of last night's conversation and offer my own perspective. Now I'm laughing at myself for suggesting this idea. I'm reading through the thread. The group covered a lot of ground in 60 minutes.

The starting topic last night was about metrics. “What are [organizations] doing to measure success internally? What does success even look like?” via @arikhanson. In my opinion, GREAT subject.

Some suggestions were made during the chat:

“...in order to demonstrate biz results, need to show increase in productivity. Is that a consideration?” via @asandford.

"...1 thing is engagement (how long did employees engage in convo)” via @jgoldsborough. The checking/counting of views and replies was also suggested.

It is this answer from @marciamarcia that I'd like to explore further, “If ppl kept lessons learned to themselves, SM can create space where they share more, opening culture & learning moments.”

This answer touches on the product of a successful internal social community. If internal social platforms have the potential to open culture, it is ultimately trust that is created. @asandford said,

“Trust is going to be key. Collaboration vs command and control...” Agreed. It is this trust that becomes the new benchmark and the new launchpad for efforts to create closer relationships with customers and vendors. To @maricamarcia's point, internal social platforms dramatically increase the opportunity to share undocumented knowledge; that is- knowledge acquired through personal experience.

Creating internal social spaces will not automatically yield trust. In fact, the first products are more likely to be fear, apprehension, reluctance, and suspicion. No doubt there are individuals and departments within the organization that “get it” immediately. They are eager to set aside the typical communication protocols for a networked model. No doubt, others will see internal social networking efforts as a task, an initiative, or as a mysterious promotion of computer magic and wizardry.

Unless employees at every level of your company/organization are gung-ho, Kool-Aid drinkers, adoption will not happen automatically and, if left alone, trust will never materialize.

Success can be measured by who is listening and responding. By responding, I don't mean just making a comment or post on the platform. Responding is the turning of valuable discussion into actionable results that affect product, process or service.

I know how much business leaders like tangible numbers for measuring success. Tangible numbers are feasible:

• reduction in “reply all” email

• overall reduction in email

• fewer help desk calls

• fewer consumer relations calls

• increased 401k participation

• and on and on and on ….

For an organization starting at square one, those tangible results can be months or even years away. Learning to trust needs to come first. Learning how to let employees collaborate, share, complain, and compliment without fear and with attention/response to follow will instill a feeling of importance in employees at every level.

If you're an enterprise 2.0 or internal communications nerd like me, I highly recommend looking back through the entire thread. There are several additional topics and ideas posed that are worth a read. Then make sure to join the conversation every Thursday at 8pm CT on Twitter. Follow #behindthefirewall with your favorite threading application.