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How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues

Back in January 2010, I began working with internal communication research agency Melcrum to write a new social media-focused report. That report has now been published.

How to use social media to solve critical internal communication issues is a 138-page report featuring case studies, global survey data (over 2,000 respondents) and advice on social media in business.

It features case studies from the likes of AEP, Aviva, BT, CBA, Deloitte, ERM, IDEO, ING, NetApp, Scottrade, Telstra, The Coca-Cola Company, Van Marcke Group and Virgin Media, and opinion and insight from the likes of Euan Semple, Lee Byrant, James Robertson, Ross Dawson, Shane Morris, Philippe Borremans, Gavin Heaton, Lee Hopkins and more.

Key topics include:

• Creating the business case for social media
• Developing a social media strategy
• Social media technologies (and CMS integration)
• Governance, policies and more
• Return on investment
• The role of social media in the future, including job roles

The report is now available in hard copy via the Melcrum site. You can download a free executive summary, be and look out for more extracts of data and information over the coming weeks.

Business Week engulfed by Twittermania

If you head on over to Business Week right now you'll see they've gone bonkers over Twitter:

• The CEO guide to Microblogging
• Getting intimate (with Customers) on Twitter
• Podcast: Microblogging for Businesses

As new web software goes, Twitter has so far been the story of 2008, fail whales and everything. Maybe Google Chrome will eclipse it but with the midway point of September approaching, I doubt it.

It's rapidly reaching the mainstream, with numerous brands, politicians, etc. And it's unique for many reasons, most noticeably the ability and ease with which you can extend your network by finding other people of interest (a true network-builder that I've found far more effective than a traditional social network such as Linked-In), the wonderful "unfollow" feature, the ease at which people can create software around it (such as Twhirl), the fact that news is increasingly breaking there first, and really its overall simplicity.

These aspects, together with the way Twitter can become embedded in your day-to-day routine (it's so easy to use via Twhirl or Twinkle as opposed to having to do the lengthy click-through-and-wait-for the-homepage-to-open-and-maybe-sign-in process) that I can see some longevity for the service. They've also sorted the reliability problems, it seems.

So, I can fully understand Business Week going Twitter crazy. How about you?

Communication and collaboration during Gustav

When Hurricane Katrina pulverised New Orleans in 2004, residents used a variety of tools to keep in touch during and after the event, from group SMS alerts to blogs and wikis.

Four years later, as Hurricane Gustav follows a similar path to its angry sister, Steven Lewis writes about another article, detailing the recent communication methods employed by Big Easy residents:

A colleague pointed me to an article in IT News about the social media and networking sites used by New Orleans residents, aid groups and the media in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav. They included:

• Facebook groups
• A wiki for residents to pool information
• A Twitter (micro-blog) feed from a CNN reporter with updates (every volunteer listed in the wiki has a Twitter account)
• Blogs about weather conditions in the city
• A Red Cross blog listing emergency shelters and giving other news, including a Flickr photo group.

As Steven asks, "If these tools can contribute to the organisation of a whole city in a time of mass crisis, what could they do for your business?"

Across the submissions for this year's Intranet Innovation Awards run by Step Two, (winners announced later this month, by the way) there were several uses of tools like wikis for critical information building, blogs for leadership comms, and Twitter-style feeds within organisations. We're starting to see more and more, but there's no doubt much of it is still fringe activity, instigated by the few.