Three common problems solved with internal social media
It can be difficult to sell the value of social media internally, particularly at a time when you might find the value and aim of internal communication itself being questioned.
Just what sort of things can social media do for your organization? Here are three common, but beneficial uses for internal social media.
Improving internal dialogue and awareness
Social media can really help to improve employee-to-employee communication.
Personal publishing tools such as blogs remove barriers to more open conversation. Often this results in different groups of staff communicating about and discussing topics and projects that they may never before had the opportunity to discuss.
If an organization is struggling with communicating strategy, improving awareness around strategic projects, or simply informing employees about what other areas of the business are doing, it might be time to think about how social media can help.
Reducing isolation for remote workers
Working in an office can mean a day full of interruptions, noise and phone calls. On the flip side, however, working from home or in the field, with limited interaction with colleagues can be a major drawback for some. You miss out on face-to-face interactions, the "watercooler chat", and any events that go with those things.
With an increase in people talking about what they're doing, (as with Twitter's, "What are you doing right now?" motif), that isolation becomes less of an issue. These incidental comments and status updates are sometimes described as "ambient awareness" and keep you in the loop with the little things that friends and colleagues are doing throughout their day.
Creating competitive advantage with real-time updates and information
Wikis and micro-blogging services such as Twitter are blazing a trail for the "real time web" - where news, information and discussion is communicated across the world as fast as people can type. We've seen a number of examples of this, from the 7/7 Tube bombings in London (2005), to the more recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, with natural disasters, city-wide blackouts and numerous other events too.
Internally, how is this relevant? In the 2008 Intranet Innovation Awards we saw the example from brokerage firm, Scottrade.
Scottrade's team used a competitor-focused wiki called "CIA" to rapidly pool and share competitor information. On the existing intranet, uploading new content was a multi-step process that could take up to a month. With the wiki, the team could update their site instantly. The quality of information and the speed at which it was presented created a significant competitive advantage for Scottrade.
Have your say
These are just three benefits of using social media internally, what are some of the benefits you've seen?
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