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Social Media is not just for Marketers. This was half of my point almost 3 years ago when I started this blog. It is a communications and collaboration tool. Probably the most powerful tool we’ve ever seen.
Some new research is out looking at social media for employee communications.
Employers Increasing Use of Social Media to Reach Employees in Challenging
- According to the Watson Wyatt 2009/2010 Communication ROI Study
- 65% of companies plan to increase their use of social media in 2010
- 78% of global respondents have increased their electronic communication in the last 24 months
- 55% have increased face-to-face communication
- 48% have decreased their print communication over the past 24 months.
“Today’s workers are looking for authentic, timely messages that address how business changes affect them personally. Social media engages employees in real time and on a variety of topics”
So what’s holding them back? Among employers that did not expand their use of social media:
- 36% cited the lack of IT support or inadequate technical capability
- 40% indicate limited knowledge of the topic
- 45% of companies cite the lack of staff or resources
My big takeaway is that without the resources (education, experience and IT) HR is slower to adopt. The tools just aren’t there yet internally compared to what we have externally on sites like Facebook. Even with the great capabilities that tools like SocialText provides, without the interaction you get with on larger networks they tend to be ghost towns.
This will change in 2010 & 2011. The biggest driver of internal social media adoption will come about when companies learn to integrate with external social networks better.Intranets will be accessible via Facebook Connect.
The IT security people who read that just freaked out, but it will happen. Trust me here.
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