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The practice of knowledge management and participation in Enterprise 2.0 is not just an organizational responsibility. It is also a personal responsibility. It simply does not happen without your active participation. This has always been true; before Web 2.0, before the Internet, before email, and before technology impacted our life so prevalently. Think about some popular KM techniques:
•    On-the-job training
•    Mentoring
•    Coaching
•    Apprenticeship
•    Succession planning
•    Networking
•    Teaching
•    Publishing

These all have a common purpose – knowledge transfer, and they all require active participation.

In today’s world we tend to focus on the tools that enable knowledge transfer. In many organizations KM is referred to by tools name; we use SharePoint for KM, or we teach in Blackboard, or I network on LinkedIn, or I publish in blogs like WordPress. Sometimes so much so that organizations begin to believe that the tool is KM or that it provides the collaboration or knowledge transfer. These tools are no more KM today than the Guttenberg printing press was KM when it enabled publishing, or the Pony Express was KM when it began mail service from east to west coast in the U.S., or the telephone was KM when it enabled voice connections and party lines, or the television when it revolutionized information transfer from one to many. The tools change, and always will, but the goal of knowledge transfer remains the same, and so does human active participation.
No matter the tool it is up to you, the individual, to actively participate in the transfer of information and knowledge. You decide to add knowledge to the repository, or update your SME profile, or attend a community of practice meeting, or mentor a colleague, or attend a company function, or network at a conference. No technology can make you think in terms of collaboration and sharing. This is up to you. You can hoard, or you can share. You can release only the information you deem necessary, or you can have a responsibility to provide. The adoption and use of KM is personal and up to you. Don’t get locked in the tool box. Become an active participant in knowledge transfer.