I saw the movie Helvetica this weekend and it reminded me of what's happening with enterprise social software. Helvetica is a font that has been around for 50 years and it was created by the Swiss just after World War II as a way to refresh the world with something open, social, practical, modern and clear. Helvetica quickly became loved because there is no meaning in the text. It's completely neutral-yet modern-so it let's the meaning of the words stand out.
Similarly, after years of companies preparing for a document arms war that never happened (files, file systems, file vaults), Social Software is a breath of fresh air. It, too, is loved for being open, human, practical and clear.
There's a story told in the movie about the tons of companies suffering from a build-up of tyopgraphy crap. Their materials were laden with lots of descriptive fonts-that is, fonts that tried to tell you what to feel by being expressive themselves. A single page could have cursive, playful, and thick fonts all over it.
Once Helvetica came around, there we're droves of these companies dying to overhaul their communication. According to the movie, it felt so good for these companies to take something old and crappy, and restore it to something shiny and beautiful. It was like
A clear, refreshing glass of water after you've been covered in the filth of history
They punctuated this by showing an old Coke ad and a post-Helvetica Coke ad. I liked the language used by the designers to describe why companies like Helvetica, they used words like "accessible," "transparent," and "accountable." They pointed out that once Helvetica was introducted it was like a landslide waiting to go down a mountain. Even tax forms use it.
It was amazing to watch this movie and see the powerful parallels to what's happening inside companies right now. People are sick of the muck, the build up of silos, files, and complexity.
They just want to have the important conversations. They want a simple way to cut through the crap and get to the work. Our customers tell us this all the time. Of course, it depends on who you listen to. If you're listening to what IT needs, they'll tell you they need more file-control, knobs and levers. If you talk to the lines of business, they'll tell you they just want something simple that makes things easy.
As a surprise, there's even mention of social networking software in the movie. The movie points out that, like Helvetica, that by keeping the tools simple and allowing people to have control-the ability to customize, change things-that you start to care about the decisions you make the way you care about your haircut or how you decorate your apartment.
It was interesting to see how how much of the movie connected to the movement that's happening right now. That this is a landslide, is clear.