How McGraw-Hill’s social intranet engages 26,000 employees

A Facebook-like social intranet did the trick, says Patrick Durando, senior director of global new media.

But don’t tell your executives that. Instead, tell them the story of how one employee met with a client, figured out the client’s biggest issue, “tweeted” it internally, and received 25 answers across all departments on his cab ride back to the office. That’s what a social intranet can do, Durando says.

Durando shared how McGraw-Hill’s social intranet, Buzz, became a practical tool for collaboration in a presentation at SocialMedia.org‘s BlogWell conference in New York.

Here are some tips:

Lightning-fast lateral connections get stuff done.

The company’s social intranet did what email couldn’t do. It opened collaboration and communication across physical, hierarchical and departmental boundaries. Employees in California and Argentina answered complicated questions for a colleague in the United Kingdom, and employees learned about and commented on new company policies from a blog.

Expertise can shine.