Every few weeks I'll draft an updated statement on the status of the podcasting initiative at IBM and our current thinking. Here is a short bit from this week:

Internal podcasting, media publishing and file sharing at IBM

The podcasting initiative at IBM was launched not only in an effort to enhance traditional forms of internal communications such as procedural enterprise knowledge-sharing and news delivery, but to expose our vast community of diverse experts to one another in a more immediate and personal way. Launching the platform provided us with the ability to enhance and support our deep culture, the intellectual power of our collective minds, and awarded us the unique benefits of social networking where the discovery of information and subject-matter authorities became possible through just a few clicks. Our intranet was transformed from being a set of content destinations and controlling structures to becoming a center of gravity where employees could not only easily find, consume and reuse the media files posted by their peers, but engage in open and visible discussion with their peers about the facts and information discovered within the files.

Providing IBM employees with the ability to freely self-publish on our intranet and to openly discuss issues raised through the programs was a powerful shift ever in our communications practices and employees embraced it immediately. They felt trusted and empowered to openly be the experts they were hired to be. In many regards, legacy employees are deeply impressed with the shift, and new employees jump in effortlessly and enthusiastically, as if this form of social activity were expected and natural to them. When employees find content created by their fellow IBMers offered in real-time and without the constraints of editorial calendar parameters, the content is accepted, shared and promoted in exciting and viral ways. IBMers go looking for it, it is most often not delivered through official means. They are more attracted to it and are more likely to share it with others. They post comments more freely and really get to the heart of the subject at hand, sorting through the issues and pulling in others they know may add value to the conversation. Networks begin to evolve, relationships build, culture is enhanced.

The IBM Media Library has had 5 million downloads to-date, and has had over 187,000 unique IBM visitors. It hosts approximately 17,000 media files. Content hosted on the Media Library that is embedded into intranet news stories is enormously successful and generates large hit numbers sending these particular stories into the top 10 view lists consistently. We host and support education around creating content in low-cost new media style but with a serious focus on content to maximize effectiveness and this strategy has worked out extremely well. Our intranet now favors agility and relationships over stability and authority... a radical shift, but valuable, and certainly very Web 2.0