It is difficult to compete with Facebook and Twitter, most especially if it is up against a home grown social networking site. However its effectiveness to communication and collaboration cannot be denied. Facebook in the United States has an average of 1.06 billion monthly active users, while 680 million of them access it through mobile. Certain elements of social media make it very appealing to the market. For example, Foursquare’s “badges” rewards people every time they check-in; while Facebook makes collaboration easier through chat and messaging.
Businesses are now incorporating game-playing techniques to foster consumer engagement, create motivation for employees, and induce behavior change. The concept of gamification enables applications to drive a game-like engagement and action. The ultimate goal is to inject game mechanics to make activities and processes more fun, rewarding and desirable.
Gamification in SharePoint essentially aids in improving the adoption and utilization of an app. The figure above shows the typical process a software undergoes until gamification elements are included. As shown, when an app doesn’t garner expected user adoption, gamification can be integrated to engage users and increase usage.
Gamification essentially helps in end-user motivation to make them do tasks that they are reluctant to do. It works by improving emotional productivity by giving users the right attitude encouraging the right habits. Using gamification in SharePoint motivates users by:
- Associating a special status to users after they have completed or achieved something. This could be done through score and leader boards.
- Giving users a special status every time they participate on something. This could be rewards or points; airline miles; or maybe an upgrade.
- Allowing users to gain power as they go along using the application. For instance, regular users can be Power Users.
- Finally, gamification can also be an avenue to reward people with tangible objects. Users can receive gifts every time they achieve something.
Gamification also paves way to “hyper-available feedback loops” which allows users to:
- Identify exactly their disposition in the “game”;
- Know how well they are doing;
- Has a straight forward understanding of what needs to be done to improve his disposition; and
- Allow users to gain mastery in the fastest and easiest way.
Now since gamification is still a new concept waiting to happen in SharePoint, there is still no perfect formula for implementation. According to CMS Wire, the best approach in integrating this to intranet systems is by using third-party APIs that will allow users to earn badges. The notable ones which you can use for it are: Badgeville, Attini, Uboost and Bigdoor.
Also, SharePoint gamification is projected to work in corporate intranet if users don’t encounter it head-on. The element of surprise and discovery would best serve the utilization of this feature so that they wont get annoyed. If gamification is integrated correctly, users will find themselves embracing the elements and having more fun at work.
Our team at Portal Integrators can help you more in integrating SharePoint in your business. Contact us to know more.