Social networks in organizations: from informal to internal
Academics all over the world speak about the role of informal social networks in organizations. They argue that such networks can empower generation of new ideas, increase collaboration between different organizational units, simplify processes, as well as improve motivation and retention of employees if supported by management. However, such networks lack accountability. So despite all the benefits of using informal networks to get job done, management is skeptical about their implementation into existing organizational processes.
The technological development brought us social media. It rose to popularity quickly; according to latest Pew Research report 73% of online adults used at least one social networking site in 2013. Social networking sites can be described as special platforms that embrace social interaction and exchange. At the same time, they allow tracking participants’ activity and see their contribution to different topics. Taking into consideration these particular features of online social networks, a question arises: why don’t we use social media platforms to foster collaboration and creativity inside the organization?
Here are some benefits that internal social media platforms can bring. They:
- allow real-time cooperation
- increase the amount of information that is shared within an organization
- keep track of all the communication that happens within the organization
- empower virtual communities and this contributes to an increase in engagement and collaboration
- empower communication between different people that otherwise do not meet
In addition to that, collaborative tools that are at the core of internal social network solutions allow tapping into “cognitive surplus” – an underused human potential in the workplace. This encourages the generation of innovative ideas and approaches.
All in all, internal social networks allow taking advantage of benefits that informal social networks bring, and at the same time provide higher accountability and visibility of ongoing processes. According to 2009 McKinsey research 69% of companies have gained measurable benefits after implementing these IT solutions in the corporate environment.
Of course, there are also risks associated with the implementation of this technology, such as unauthorized access to confidential information or information overload, but they can be mitigated or even avoided by following simple recommendations (e.g. guideline, promotion, demographics’ consideration, etc.).
If you would like to learn more about internal social networks, take a look at the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Volume 19, Issue 1 (October 2013). There are a lot of interesting information about social networks in the workplace there.
photo credit: Krishna De (cc)
Posted on February 16, 2014, in COMM506, MACT, Social Media and tagged idea, internal social network, motivation, organization, social media, social networks. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
Tanya – love that you blogged about this. As you know, last semester I dove into this topic, because I too wonder, ‘Why isn’t my organization eating up the internal social network my team built them’. After interviewing some staff, it was interesting to hear feedback that some people found it more ‘worrysome’ to contribute to an internal network like our intranet, than to post something on Yammer. My first thought was Yammer can be seen by everyone in our organization, whereas our intranet is local to our division. I think at the heart of the problem internally, is that staff don’t know ‘how’ to use internal social networking to their advantage. While it seems odd to me that in our personal lives we have no problem, I did find it difficult to find good, working examples of orgs. that are doing it, and reaping benefit from it. Again, many worry that it will just be another time waster.
I do have to point out that I found this man at IBM: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/01/luis-suarez/ worth the read – he’s REALLY cool.
Hey Jen, thank you for your comment!
In my opinion, internal social network and intranet are two different communication platforms. Intranet provides people with more or less static information and only “editors” can change the content. Internal social network, in contrast, is open to any contributions; its main feature is possibility to share and engage in different ways with content produced by other people. It’s social intranet, if I can put it this way. According to McKinsey, intranets are present in the majority of organizations, while internal social networks are still rare. I guess that is why it’s difficult to find many examples of successful ISN implementation: the pool of such organizations is too small. However, I know that Dell and Microsoft are using them successfully.
Concerning your research results (can you share it btw, would be super interesting to read!), did you find any correlation between age of the interviewee and his or her willingness to participate in internal social network? Based on theories, I would suggest that GenY’ers are more positive towards the use of this technology..
This is really interesting to me, too, as we have recently begun using Yammering at our office after years of intranet only. If you are able to share more, that would be great. I would love to compare notes!
Tanya – really interesting post. Internal social tools seem to be the next big thing in terms of supporting better internal communication. Given that more and more employees are using tools like Twitter and Facebook in their personal lives, there’s a natural expectation that they be able to use the same tools (or at least something similar) at the workplace. I think email probably still dominates in terms of internal communication tools, but it’s interesting to see how tools such as Yammer are gaining a lot of attention for their ability to provide a safe and secure form of communication, while still allowing for the type of interaction that social tools are known for.