Are You Starbucks or Mardi Gras?

Organizations continue to be enchanted by the possibilities social networks can offer, but even before the first line of code is written, they need to answer some fundamental questions about their own identities and objectives:

"Are you a library, Starbucks or Mardi Gras?" asks  John Eckman John's the  practice director for next generation Internet over at an Optatos, an IT consulting firm working with Proctor and Gamble in building out its own internal social network called PeopleFinder.

Organizations need to decide who they are, he says. Some businesses are more sedate and orderly. They expect their  employees to tread softly, monitor what they say, and don't rock the boat very much.

Other organizations are more like the Mardi Gras, where anything goes online. Challenge the CEO's recent acquisition strategy. Criticize the latest product plans.

Still others are somewhere in between, like a Starbucks. Chat widely but not too loudly. Be boisterous, but too a point.

Once organizations understand who they are then that will set the ground rules and expectations for their social network and enterprise 2.0 deployments.

So which are you?