Computerworld - In a digital world where information is quite literally everywhere and many are cashing in on content, it's tempting to get caught up in the wave and want to apply those principals to your business. More content equals more information equals more money.
Not necessarily.
It has been widely said that content is king, but context is what really should be at the top of your business's priority list.
Case in point: Twitter. By offering a completely customized stream of information in a context that users want, Twitter has managed to grow faster than any other communication medium, ever. As a user, you select what information reaches you (people or businesses you follow) and block anything you don't want. Your choices provide the context that gives the information value. Because it's all within your context, you find it valuable.
To put it another way, Twitter is about personalization. Twitter gives you tremendous freedom to custom-design the terabytes of information on the Web into a convenient stream that's meaningful to you. It's about personalizing your world, populating it with people you want (even if they don't know you exist) and with whatever thoughts you want (even if no one is listening).
Whether you're using Twitter to try to advance your business or it's just for fun, you can learn something from Twitter's success. The microblogging powerhouse's framework for generating personalized context can be applied in countless business settings.
In a simplified scenario from the world of project management, to be effective, a manager must communicate with members of each target audience group through different contexts customized for each. In effect, the manager must replicate Twitter's option for users to hit the "follow" button. When you break it down, a manager's most crucial function is to work with his audiences (internal and external) to determine what information is relevant and in what context it provides value.
The groups in our project management example are: a client for whom the project is being done, a team that performs the project tasks, and the project manager between the two. Each group is concerned about different things and thus requires information (content) in a different, customized context. Each wants its own "Twitter stream" to include "tweets" relaying only information relevant to them.
The manager must recognize the following:
Navigating the sticky role of bringing the Twitter concept and level of context customization to this scenario can be difficult. However, it can be accomplished with a conscious effort to understand and act in accordance with your audiences' content needs and contextual preferences. This is the role of a project manager.
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