Social media and intranet case studies, best practices, & evolution by Toby Ward.
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View Article  Intranet 2.0: Transformative powers & barriers
Intranet 2.0 tools have become mainstream technologies and are transforming employee communications, collaboration and organizational work and knowledge management. According to the Intranet 2.0 Global Study findings (more than 400 respondent organizations from across the globe), nearly 50% of the respondents have deployed some social media or intranet 2.0 tool. Among the adoption findings:
  • 46% of organizations have deployed wikis (16% with enterprise deployments)

  • 42% have deployed blogs (12% with enterprise deployments)

  • 48% use discussion forums (29% with enterprise deployments)


For those old-school organizations that are on the outside looking in at intranet 2.0, the biggest barrier is executive support. In other words, another 40 – 50% of organizations have managers or senior managers that want to roll out social media on the intranet, but the executive suite is handcuffing their good intentions. 34% of respondents state that the biggest barrier to intranet 2.0 is executive support. Many executives are concerned, scared, or plain apathetic to those Web 2.0 technologies they've seen on the Internet, and cannot mentally bridge the gap to employees via the intranet.


Related to the lack of executive support is the lack of a business case, cited by 32% of respondents that don't have intranet 2.0 tools in use. To this end, executives need to be sold on the value of intranet 2.0 and want to see the business case. Intranet managers are having a difficult time making the business case and even understanding the inherent or nascent value of social media for employees.

The barrier to implementation and success however is blocking understanding at all levels of the organization: “Lack of understanding by both management and staff,” says one survey respondent. Another cites cultural barriers and the “lack of an open culture.”

Full results of the Intranet 2.0 Global Study will be released in the New Year, accompanied by recommendations on how to overcome these barriers and implement these new technologies with success.

About the Intranet 2.0 Global Study: More than 400 resondent organizations from across the globe, represented by all continents, with 35% from the United States, 22% from Europe, 13% from Canada, 12% from Australia / New Zealand, 11% from the United Kingdom. 60% of the respondent companies have more than 1,000 employees; 23% have 10,000 employees or more; 15% have less than 100 employees.

FULL RESULTS:

The Intranet 2.0 Global Survey will remain open for the holidays. For those that would like the full results in the New Year, you will have to take the 10-minute survey. Take the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey (there's a $400 prize for one lucky participant)


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View Article  How to talk to different generational workers

By now you're well versed with the concept of social media and its power. So powerful in fact are some forms, such as social networking on Facebook, that some employees are demanding newer forms of 'social media' communications from the corporation.
 
"Communicating is a tough gig," says Prescient Digital Media's Catherine Elder. "Once you've nailed down to what you want to say you need to consider how you're going to say it. "Different generations prefer different methods of communication, for Millennials instant messaging and social networking sites are the norm but Baby Boomers are less comfortable with text messaging and traditionalist prefer face to face..."

 

Consider for a moment the powerful Telindus study of 1,000 European employees that should serve as a warning to all employers and communicators:

  • 39% of 18 to 24 year-old employees would consider leaving itheir employer if they were not allowed to access sites like Facebook and YouTube

  • A further 21% indicated that they would feel ‘annoyed’ by such a ban

  • The problem is less acute with 25 to 65 year-olds, of whom just 16% would consider leaving and 13% would be annoyed


I've yet to see a similar study in North America, but nearly every single 18-34 year-old in Canada is a registered Facebook user – nearly 10 million people! My estimated guess is that North American employees will be more demanding of an organization's use of social media. In fact, we're seeing it in most of the client organizations we're presently working with at Prescient Digital Media.
 

So how do you engage a 25 year-old and a 60 year-old in the same organization with mass communications vehicles? Read more from Prescient's Catherine Elder's analysis in Online Communications Considerations >>

The Intranet 2.0 Global Survey of social media tools and vehicles on the intranet reveals that about 90% of organizations (of all sizes) are using social media or are planning to do so (320 respondent organizations from all across the planet, with an average size of a couple of thousand employees, but including organization of fewer than 100 employees and a few with more than 50,000). Enterprise-wide use of these tools are typically around 20% (though higher for wikis and instant messaging, lower for podcasting and social networking). The chief barrier to implementing these social media tools on the intranet is lack of executive support and a lack of a business case.
 

For the full results of this study, you have to take the survey (which is open for two more weeks). If you haven't already done so, please take 10 minutes to take the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey and you’ll get a copy of the full results including the good, bad and learned lessons. Please also direct clients and fellow colleagues. The more participation we get, the better the results and findings that I share all with you. It doesn't cost anything, and I'm not charging anything.

PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE INTRANET 2.0 TOOLS -- WE REQUIRE BOTH PERSPECTIVES!!

Respondents who complete the survey will be eligible to win $400 (a random email address will be drawn from all responses to the survey). All respondents will also receive a full copy of the results at no cost.
 

TAKE THE SURVEY:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey.zgi?p=WEB227RVUZZBRC


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