Talking Internal Communication...

Employers slow to tap into social media in search for recruits

I received an interesting press release today from the CIPD.

The Institute included a section on social media in its annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover survey - and the findings make sobering reading.

The vast majority (80%) of the 779 organisations surveyed do not currently use Web 2.0 tools to attract or recruit employees - with only 8% planning to start using them in the next year.

Yet, of the 100 CIPD respondent members, over half (56%) believe that social networking sites are useful for engaging potential job seekers and welcome its ability to shed light on how they are perceived in the marketplace (52%). The majority (62%) are concerned, however, that damaging comments about their organisation might be posted.

Encouragingly, the majority of organisations that do use social networking (85%) do not use it as a tool to vet candidates during the recruitment process.

Of the 54 respondent organisations that use social networking sites to attract or recruit employees, the favoured sites include LinkedIn (62%), Facebook (58%) and MySpace (11%).

There are some excellent examples of organisations out there that are using blogs, photo and video sharing, podcasting and social networking to connect with potential employees and to build their employer brands. It's clear, however, that they represent the minority of employers at present.

IBM experiments with social networking

Spotted this really interesting article in the latest issue of Business Week. It outlines how IBM is using social networking tools similar to Twitter and Facebook to enhance internal communication and knowledge sharing.  It's interesting because, whilst there's an awful lot of hype and discussion around internal social networking right now, there are still far too few case studies on organisations that have actually experimented with it. Enjoy the read. L

Prime Minister's Questions on YouTube

There's widespread coverage today of Gordon Brown's decision to open up PM's questions to the general public by encouraging questions to be submitted via the Downing Street YouTube site. 

'Ask the PM' is the latest move by politicians to embrace the power of social media - and is seen by many as Brown's response to David Cameron's criticism that he is 'an analogue politician in a digital age'.

Although there's nothing particularly groundbreaking about this move, it's great to see the Prime Minister follow the lead of a number of CEOs who have already used such techniques to engage with their workforce.

I'm often asked how to get an online 'ask the boss' facility up and running - this example provides a nice case study in how to go about it.   

Users have until 21 June to submit their video questions - which must be less than one minute long.

YouTube top 10 corporate clips

Here's the excellent first installment of the 'top ten' corporate/brand clips currently on YouTube - compiled by Matthew Yeomans and the team at Custom Communications ahead of the forthcoming Social Media Influence conference (see calendar for details). Just follow the link to view the videos. 

If still you need convincing about the enormous influence of YouTube on corporate reputations, just check out the viewing figures - all of these videos have recorded upwards of one million views. And did you know that a staggering 80million clips are now viewed on YouTube every single day?! 

The Observer's 50 most influential blogs

Thanks to Matthew Yeomans at Custom Communication for flagging the Observer's recent feature on the 50 most influential blogs, which had passed me by.  What the list shows, as Matthew rightly points out, is the enormous power and influence leading bloggers now wield. PR professionals take note - if you're not already actively targeting bloggers (or at least keeping tabs on what they're saying) then you're missing a trick.

More perspectives on social media...

Following on from my last post, here are two additional - and timely - perspectives on social media and employee communications from the team at Ragan. 

As usual Steve Crescenzo gets to the nub of the issue in his piece exploring how these technologies could - and are already - changing our roles as communicators. 

Sarah McAdams, meanwhile, showcases how one PR firm is using a wiki to revolutionise its internal comms.

Is internal social networking a bad idea?

Spotted this blog post today - an interesting perspective on the use of social networking tools inside organisations. It comes from Jake Swearingen, a reporter at BNET.com.

In it Jake spells out exactly why he thinks internal social networking is a really bad idea, namely:

1. Because social networking sites are inefficient compared to other communication channels -like phone or email
2. Because people get bored with social networking sites - as MySpace is already experiencing
3. Because social networking is social and selective - it's about choosing people to connect with and "cementing the relationships you do have, not establishing new ones"

Have a read and see what you think. 

As I say, it's an interesting perspective and one that goes against the grain of what many internal communicators I know are currently thinking. I know a lot of people who are very excited about the potential for social neworking internally (though perhaps tellingly I don't know many people who are actually doing anything in this space).

I'm not convinced one way or the other yet - like Jim I think some of the other social media tools (blogs, podcasts, wikis) are hugely powerful internally, but I'm just not sure about 'pure' social networking.

I only have to think about my own experience to become a Doubting Thomas - I have to confess to getting very bored by these sites very quickly.  Perhaps I'm just too old and past it?

If you do fancy experimenting in this area be sure to check out Ning - a great tool for creating your own social network - and keep an eye out for upcoming developments like Cubeless.

If you know of any organisations which are already making a success of social networking then please add a comment or two with more details.....

Lee

Facebook Fridays - a great way for employers to experiment with social media

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know my views on social media - I'm passionate about the potential of this technology to revolutionize internal comms and enhance relationships at work.

But many employers are running scared - blocking access or reprimanding employees who dare to visit sites like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook during work time.  Personally, I think they're short sighted. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) thinks so too, a stance I applaud.

I've written about this in a recent article 'Social media face-off a sign of the times' for the CIPR magazine, Profile and its online sister, Profile Extra. Take a look. My basic view is that we, as internal communicators, should encourage employers to experiment with blogging, social networking, video sharing and the like, and help provide frameworks and policies that encourage employees to use these sites in a responsible way. 

So I'm always delighted to read about companies that are embracing social media.

One such organization is Serena Software, a company headquartered in San Mateo, California. Their idea of 'Facebook Fridays' has generated a lot of coverage, both supportive and critical, but I don't mind repeating it as I think it's a great way to toe-dip into the world of social media.

The idea is pretty simple - every Friday Serena employees are given one hour to use the social networking site to connect with coworkers, family, friends and customers. Apparently 85% of employees are now using this site regularly, many of them to hook up with colleagues and customer contacts.

Of course this concept wouldn't work in all companies, but I think there are many environments where just such an approach would work wonders. Just because Serena is Californian software company headed up by a Facebook convert does not mean that such a policy couldn't work in, for instance, a UK-based financial services business.  I'd love to see some UK companies following their lead.

For more views, check out this recent post on the Melcrum Blog and listen to the interview with Serena CEO Jeremy Burton on Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson's FIR podcast.   

Harvard on social networking

I spotted a couple of interesting perspectives on social media today on the Harvard Business website & blog. Charlene Li, Vice President at Forrester Research, feels corporations should embrance sites like Facebook, whilst Tom Davenport, President's Chair in Information Tecnhology and Management at Babson College, is a little more sceptical. You can check out their views for and against here. These articles aren't  particuarly ground breaking, but they do provide a good introduction to the debate and capture well the two sides of the argument.  Personally, I'm with Charlene on this.

Silver surfers take on the Facebook generation

Following on from my last post, it's great to see that Saga has launched a social networking site for the over 50s (check out this piece from The Guardian).

Saga Zone created a real buzz during its trials - more than 13,000 'silver surfers' signed up during the four month pilot - and the site has recently been launched in a blaze of publicity.  It's early days, but apparently the site is proving a big hit amongst seniors - the oldest user so far is a youthful 87.

This isn't the first site to be aimed at mature web users, but it's certainly helped draw attention to an online trend that's gone largely unnoticed by the rest of us. According to the media regulator Ofcom, surfers over 50 account for nearly a third of all time spent online by British web users. And there we were thinking it was all teenagers and twenty-somethings.

David Ferrabee recently told the story of his neighbour, Dorothy, who it seems is more advanced in her use of the web than many recent graduates. There are clearly a lot of Dorothys and Alberts out there - and they're not at all phased by this stuff.  Move over Generation Y!