Informal communication, sustainability, and the public writing work of organizations

Abstract

Distributed work via social software increasingly functions as regularized discourse within organizations. Social software supports a kind of interstitial organizational writing practice, where knowledge workers publicly enact both personal and organizational discourses that foster and help sustain both personal and professional relationships. This paper details findings from two qualitative studies of social software as organizational, public writing work, exploring the role of microblogging in seeding knowledge assets and extending organizational relationships. I argue based on findings from these studies that informal communication via public, interstitial writing practices plays an important role in fostering the distribution and sustainability of organizational knowledge work.