Analysis of a Social Network as a Knowledge Management Tool

The usage of social networks environments inside organizations is being suggested as a good way to deploy knowledge management initiatives. Because this kind of environment provides a natural and informal way to people engage on collaborative activities, this kind of initiative can be a good alternative approach to achieve better results in knowledge management initiatives. In this context, it was conducted an action research to investigate how a Web based social network could be used as the main tool in a knowledge management initiative being held in an innovation institute. During this action research, the Web based social network was proposed and developed to meet the knowledge management needs of the organization. In the five years span in which the action research was carried out, a set of metrics were proposed, monitored and analyzed, originating some improvement proposals for both, the initiative and the social network environment. Through the deployment of these proposals, it was possible to monitor the impacts of the proposals on the organization. At the end, this action research showed some reflections and conclusions on the whole initiative.