Flow is Viral

Information is usually distributed by email, print, discussion or intranet.

Our position is that none of these is ideal.

Email is a conversational tool that hides the conversation, probably losing it forever; you’re probably reliant on a search through proprietary format archive file that’s might well be based on your own hard drive. Not ideal.

Email is also insecure. It’s very easy to email data to third parties. Indeed, email is perhaps more insecure than print for this reason, though printed copies are more likely to be left lying around, or printed out and posted on a notice board.

Both email and print encourage discussion. These conversations are where expertise is exchanged and data is made sense of; this is where knowledge is created.

As soon as the conversation is lost to a wider audience, its usefulness is diminished. The final exchange of that conversation, where a decision is made, or an understanding is reached, is lost and with it, the knowledge gained and value added. When those involved leave the company, that knowledge goes with them. Their emails for example are unlikely to be trawled for information – even if they were, they’d have no context.

Many intranets don't have a conversational element at present; it’s broadcast news for consumption only, or at best they include forums and wikis. The broadcast isn't efficient - not only does it cost but top down communications can turn people off. A recommendation from a colleague however is more likely to get looked at and acted upon, and has the big advantage of being free.

So with Flow we wanted to make it so easy to start a conversation about a particular bit of data or event that users didn’t bother to email; they can share it with a community of interested parties with one click – whether they’re in or outside the organisation.

This is viral; in fact, with the communities model, it’s viral plus; 

• Relevance
• Users will share things that they know their community may be interested in. Other users can choose to deal with that person based on their credibility or any other value system they choose.
• If the data itself is annotated, or a shared with an explanatory message, users can assess its importance and view it in context. 

• Security
• Where a community is protected or private, users are approved. Widgets are similarly controlled.
  
• Source data
• No need to export, print or otherwise manipulate data; users can tag and link directly to the source.

Viral is not sequential. It’s exponential. So the right information finds its way to the right people without needing to be addressed properly.  Viral is quick.