Welcome to Blue Shirt Nation

The ad men started with social outreach the old-fashioned way—with a pen and a clipboard. They went to stores and interviewed floor employees about what customers were saying. Then, they conceived a way to scale that conversation up: an online social network where sales associates could share information with employees in the advertising department.

Koelling and Bendt quickly discovered that the busy store employees weren’t very interested in using their free time to help corporate come up with advertising ideas. Still, that didn’t stop staffers from embracing the social network. “They were all about having a conversation,” Koelling says. But they wanted a conversation on their own terms, one that was about things they wanted to discuss.

Soon, video game enthusiasts found other video game enthusiasts and started conversations about gaming. Photography buffs grouped together to talk about cameras and other gear. Even home-appliance geeks formed groups to chat, typically about high-end stuff like refrigerators with built-in espresso makers or range hoods that incorporated televisions and Web browsers. A community was born.

Participating in Blue Shirt Nation was voluntary, and remains so. The terms of use are a minimal extension of the company’s preexisting employee rules regarding mutual respect and keeping things appropriate. Those usage rules basically come down to “don’t be stupid,” says Koelling, who with Bendt now shares the title of senior manager for social technology. Workers are free to post fart jokes and pet photos if they want, but conversation usually comes back to what everyone has in common: working for Best Buy.

The community is helping to solve problems that would have otherwise gone overlooked. Sometimes it’s a matter of connecting one employee to another who has an answer. Other times, it’s a discussion that bubbles up into a groundswell for changing company practices or policies.

One real-life example: A store employee unpacked a digital camera display case that seemed too large for its space in the store. The employee took a picture, posted it on Blue Shirt Nation, and asked if others were having the same problem. Within hours, display designers at corporate saw the message, realized the store had been sent the wrong display, and shipped out the correct one. Problem solved.

From the groundswell column: A store employee posted a message arguing why store workers should be able to access their e-mail on the job (most didn’t have Best Buy e-mail accounts). A conversation continued about how e-mail is important for communicating with co-workers and following up with customers. Within a few months, all full-time store employees were given access to e-mail.