Interesting read on activating communities inside the Enterprise.

Companies should pay attention to what motivates people to glom onto an online community inside and outside the corporate walls, Bughin says, because it isn’t usually financial gain. At a cable company McKinsey studied, more than half the employees who contributed to an internal wiki did it to build their own reputations and because they identified with the community, he says. Only 20 percent did it for the chance to earn a bonus.

Next, from the dating sites, Martell learned that when you appeal to people’s vanity you not only please them but you keep them around.

What we see at Dell is that people are contributing because they have a view or opinion they want to voice. They want to make Dell a better place and impact the business.