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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.
Gatehouse group is an internal communication agency, consultancy on internal communications, internal comms, employee communication, research, audit, internal communication jobs, change management and employee engagement.
www.gatehousegroup.co.uk
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