Social Media Inside Company

In corporations around the world, employees are connecting on internal social networks, collaborating on company wikis, and contributing to in-house idea exchanges. All of this applications are tapped into the power of the groundswell of ideas among the people who truly know your business-your employees.

In Groundswell, the authors points out that the trends that companies what to empower customers also empower their employees.In the book, the authors described how social media technologies within companies can enhance the productivity of a global organization such as Best Buy, Bell Canada, Razorfish. Another good example is Google. Based on what I know, Google has developed a project to improve the company or products. They dedicate an hour a day for development within their teams and environment to making thins run more smoothly in the organization.

The Groundswell also mentioned that applications within the enterprise also can approach the same objectives like in external communication: listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing. Companies should realize that management's relationships with employees and employees' relationships with each other are multidimensional. It's also not easy to accomplish this objective. In order to process this internal communication, it requires managers to hear the voices from employees and give responses to what employees care about. 

By using the social media to build up a internal communication through social networks is a new approch for organizational communication. By allowing employees share and discuss how they feel or what they think can allow them to feel as if they have responsibility to the company and give them a sense of accomplishment. The data collected through the internal groundswell could provide insight into new methods of selling product, new marketing ideas, overall innovation. The power of groundswell inside company is giving people the ability to find what they need for each other.

Based of all of these succeed examples, we can believe that social media inside the company isn't a slam dunk. Companies can benefit from these inside social media approach by using them in a correct way.

But, what exactly internal social media communication can bring to companies? I think there are three main benefits behind the social media communication inside the enterprise.

First, internal social media provides an opportunity for employees to discover others inside companies. It also can help employees to connect with others who has the same experience, knowledge or interests. It will help to improve the relationship inside the company.

Second, the social media inside the enterprise is a new power structure. The internal social media can create a better connections among the employees which can also bring faster solutions, better innovation, more efficient discovery of information. As a result, it will finally improves company's financial position.

Third, using internal social media tools, company can collect data about employee experience which can be transformed into a customer experience. A good employee experience is important to company's ability to deliver a good customer experience. And a good customer experience can help company increase revenues.

Let's see how Yahoo! engaged its employees with social media.

However, many companies have either stayed away from using social media tools internally or failed to see beneficial results from their use within their organizaiton. Based on a 2010 survey, it conducted of 1,060 global executives, only about 50% said that their companies had adopted social media initiatives within their organizations; about 60% reported that social media had positive effects on their companies' internal communications. Thus, only about 30% of executives have both adopted internal use of social media and seen positive effects on the companies' internal communication as a result. 

Why do so many companies either avoid using social media internally or fail to amke it work very well within their organizations? According to the research from MIT Sloan Management Review, they found out that to be successful, internal social media initiatives must focus first and foremost on the development of Emotional Capital. This research pointed out that executives who use social media to build emotional captial within their empoyees' communities reap real benefits in terms of improved information flows, collaboration, lower turnover and higher employee motivation.

However, I do think that there needs to be boundaries as to what can be discussed or in what manner a topic is discussed. Social media is a power tool that can easily out of our control so that company should pay attention to build up an internal social media channel inside company. Sometimes, there still have risk to transfer your management in social media.

Here is a example how DHS set up its social media policy for employees.