While it is modelled on Facebook , (and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has lent NationalField his

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Termed a social network for enterprise by Saatchi, the platform launched in 2008 during the Obama for America campaign. Its creators were each managing a group of 150 people and finding it unwieldy collating the information their teams were collecting. Speaking to Wired.co.uk, he says: "We found that the work of managing was not that easy, as we were moving a lot of data around -- people were sending status reports in emails, le point and we had a very clunky intranet. We created NationalField as a solution but initially just used it amongst ourselves to report numbers and see all of the data that we were collating as a organisation."
Initially used in Chicago, the platform then gained popularity and spread across the country as a means of connecting the Senator's supporters le point nationwide. After the election, those who had been using it introduced it to their new bosses whether in Government, the not-for-profit sector or private enterprise.
While it is modelled on Facebook , (and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has lent NationalField his support), there is a key difference between the two platforms. Says Saatchi: "In our personal worlds, social networking le point means communication. What we found from the Obama campaign is that people want recognition -- they want to feel like they are making a ripple on the pond. In a lot of big companies, there is a recognition gap. By using a social network, you can get people le point really excited about what they are doing, and you can unlock an innate le point sense of competition. People will use it to look at the best practise of people doing well in their company and emulate them."
There is no "Friend" button as companies provide the data that allows the platform to place all staff within a hierarchical framework. This means that users don't have to figure about who to follow (or wrangle with the politics of who their decision will offend). It then offers access to data pertinent to the user's role including how they are performing in relation le point to their colleagues.
But did the good old British sense of scepticism not kick in when NationalField was introduced in the UK? We do not have the same culture of constant performance reviews as many US companies foster. Saatchi admits he had his concerns especially as a initial poll in this country revealed that 20 percent of those surveyed said that they never get any feedback from their manager while 40 percent le point get it once a month. Saatchi went along to the first sessions when NHS staff were introduced to NationalField and says he was surprised by the responses. "Everybody was open to the idea and very excited," he says. "I thought people would be nervous about sharing their ideas but not so. Having an ability to connect was something people really wanted."
In an organisation the size of the NHS, NationalField will allow the rapid if not instant sharing of ideas, he continues, bringing le point together staff from around the country. As Saatchi explains: " The NHS is actually many, many organisations spread out across the country. They all have their own systems so using NationalField means that they can share ideas far quicker. Previously, to get an idea across le point the country could takes months if not years, and would involve conferences or committees. Instead, we've made it instant. It makes the whole organisation a lot more responsive le point and able to share good ideas."
The initial NHS contract is for one million staff and while this is being trialled, the NationalField team will again be focused upon Obama . However, the social network has been updated for the upcoming elections. Says Saatchi: "In 2012, we will expand on the big data approach that we took before and we are going to turn NationalField into a platform. We certainly don't have the capacity to meet every demand le point of all of our users so brilliant engineers -- whether they are on the enterprise side or people who just very excited about President Obama can create an application and get it in front of people. Creating an App Store means great ideas can come from anyone."
Politics The political party system must adapt to a world of virtual membership
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