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Features

Author: Aniisu K Verghese
 
 
This article summarizes the implications of new media influence on internal communications and provides a strategy for managers to leverage opportunities to their advantage.
 
Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web stated in 1999 that the Web is “an information space through which people can communicate, but communicate in a special way: communicate by sharing their knowledge in a pool. The idea was not just that it should be a browsing medium. The idea was that everybody would be putting their ideas in, as well as taking them out.”
 
The key point to note was the foresight with which Tim predicted the evolving nature of the medium focusing on collaboration, change and democracy.
 
A recent study – the 2006 Macro Trends in Internal Communications shows how true the statement was. The world is surely changing with information as a tool for influence, democracy and engagement. The trends point to another interesting phenomenon – the rise of personalization. The need to have differentiated, unique content served to your desktop.
 
The sea-change in internal communications is quite evident. From a command-control and formal – directive mechanism, it is today about inclusion and two-way transmission of meaning. There is greater emphasis on engagement and conversation. The options available for communicators have exponentially expanded. The shift towards new media also has another reason - “people tend to trust their peers more than authority figures.” says 2006 Edelman Trust Barometer - putting the employee in the front seat in comparison to the organization’s leadership. The Towers Perrin/IABC “Future Trends” Study in 2002 indicated a greater need for using new media for connecting people.
 
So who is using new media? According to Edelman’s recent research, roughly one-third of leading organizations use blogs and of these, one-third are aimed exclusively at internal audiences. The use of podcasts and wiki technology are gaining popularity. Just look at these mind-boggling statistics for some indication. The number of blogs globally has grown from six million to more than 75.2 million (May 2007). 10.2 posts every second of every day. The number of podcasts hosted on the Internet has surpassed the number of radio stations worldwide. Wikipedia, a public Internet-based encyclopedia launched in 2001 that allows users to create and edit content, now has 1.4 million entries in English, more than ten times that of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
 
The advantages of new media for internal communications are evident.
From internal expertise and information sharing, to perceived openness and collaboration, from accountability and speed to engagement and experimentation - communication is top priority. According to Evan Williams (creator of Blogger), the blog concept is about three things: Frequency, Brevity, and Personality. This insight is useful to those willing to tap the medium and the user.
 
New Media as a channel still has a long way to go before getting completely understood and integrated into internal communications plans. The factors impeding good integration are unclear objectives, lack of understanding, myths, poor practices and attitudes. Before one can appreciate the new tool, it is critical to ask some pertinent questions on its mission, usage, audience and expected results.
 
To begin, internal communication practitioners can make quick hits by solving employees’ basic issues of information overload and personalization. But for larger success, internal buy-in from senior leadership on the benefits (which are many – accountability, transparency, trust, engagement) and measurements of the medium is critical.
 
Practitioners keen to arrive at a concrete new media plan for internal communications can show results with easy to manage tools and applications. Below are some starter-kit recommendations.
 
  • Many heads better than one: Can you wiki your internal documentation? With this new collaboration tool, you will witness a new found passion for sharing and integration among your employees.
 
  • Leveraging internal expertise: Each employee has unique talents and expertise and you can help harness it for the organization. By connecting experts and channeling a discussion, the time for information access is reduced dramatically. They say we are separated from each other by six degrees of separation. Make those six degrees closer than your employees can think.
 
  • Constant beta-testing with your best critics: How often have you wished you got critical feedback to improve your products and services and did not know whom to turn to? Test it on your employees and you will be amazed at the power of insight which comes from them. Today, organizations believe in the power of crowds to fine-tune mission critical applications meant for mass markets. Good examples are Google and Yahoo.
 
  • The power of citizen journalism: With new media, the press is no longer the one who creates or brings news first. It can be your employee who blogs, is on social networking sites and listens to podcasts and has an opinion. Are you aware of where your employees are? Research has shown that a large chunk of their time in office as well is spent on networking sites and gathering content. There is a boom in social networking sites not just abroad but also in India. With international social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, MySpace becoming a part of the daily routine for the 38.5 million Internet users in India, the Indian social networking sites have a tough ask. Reliance ADA group’s Bigadda.com, Yaari.com, portal Ibobo.com, Fropper.com and many others are ready for battle. The Internet user base is estimated to grow to 100 million by 2007-08, according to Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). It is estimated that 10 per cent of the present Internet audience is active on social networking portals, which is close to 4 million users today. Therefore, can you make your employees advocates of your brand by understanding their needs?
 
  • Monitor the web: Search Technorati and other leading Internet think-tanks for subjects and mentions of your organization. Identify the appropriate channels and share the internal strategy with stakeholders
 
  • Build policies: Institute policies for electronic media usage before the media overruns your organization. It can be a good idea to wiki the policies – IBM arrived at their policies with the help of employees.
 
  • Start a conversation: Replace e-mail with an internal blog and get the conversation started. Engage communities of practice on the intranet and offline. Wiki your intranet pages as test case. Make employees accountable for content Have measurement mechanisms like page rating and popular expert pages.
 
Some closing thoughts…don’t be afraid to experiment. Be flexible and get feedback from users and finally, don’t get frustrated…the internet is an evolving media. Leverage it to your advantage. Absorb - Adapt – Apply.
 
The author is an internal communications professional with over nine years of experience working for a global investment management company in Bangalore. This article draws from content shared at a New Media and Corporate Communications workshop (http://www.sjcba.edu.in/CorporateCommunications.html) jointly conducted by the author and Peter Yorke - Vice-President, Marketing & Communications, i-flex solutions in collaboration with St. Joseph’s College of Business Administration at Bangalore on May 12, 2007 at Bangalore, India. He can be reached at intraskope@yahoo.com
 
The views expressed by the author are his own and do not reflect the views of the organization he works for nor the views of www.InternalCommunications.co.uk
 
 
References:
 
  1. 2006 Macro trends in Internal Communications – Stromberg Consulting
  2. Edelman Trust Barometer 2006
  3. Trust “MEdia” - How Real People Are Finally Being Heard, The 1.0 Guide to the Blogosphere for Marketers & Company Stakeholders, Edelman and Intelliseek, Spring 2005
  4. “New Frontiers in Employee Communications” study Edelman Change and Employee Engagement, 2006
  5. Tim Berners-Lee, talk at MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) 35th Anniversary celebrations, April 14, 1999 www.w3.org/1999/04/13-tlb.html
  6. Towers Perrin/IABC “Future Trends” Study (2002)
  7. Tough time ahead for Indian networking sites – Business Standard, September 24, 2007 (http://www.businessstandard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu9&subLeft=1&autono=296029&tab=r)