The online social network provided a venue for storytelling, showcasing projects and best practices that could be leveraged to create new knowledge resources. More importantly, the opportunity to meet others working on similar issues creates relationships that can shortcut the important process of figuring out where to go in the organization when you need help on a particular problem. People who should be talking to each other because their interests intersect often don't communicate because they are in different parts of the world, different floors, or different departments. Online discourse structures discussion according to interests and affinities. Engineers around the world can share lore, or people from engineering, marketing, and design can try to get their arms around a project they are all approaching from different directions.
Asynchronous conversations cross communication boundaries of other kinds.
The quiet people who might never have something to contribute in a face to face meeting, given time to compose their thoughts, with nobody watching them while they do it, can influence discussions they might not have joined before. A global pharmaceutical company identified high potential managers in different regions as an advisory group for top management. When the group was convened as part of an online social network, they were struck by the potential value of being connected continuously rather just for a few hours every few months. Online, his contributions were brilliant and his peers were very excited about the new ideas and insights he brought to the table.