I have been quiet for a while now on this blog but there is a reason.
I’ve been spending lot of time reading and listening to the PR and social media community. I have been doing this for months now but this time it’s different because not only am I’m learning from the online community (through blogs, podcasts and even tweets), but I’m also learning from school (with classes, readings and guest speakers).
All of this listening has made me so much more sure and excited about where I am going. So I think it’s time that I start writing and talking as I continue to read.
And so here I am with this post.
It is very early in my course and there are many other aspects of PR that I will experience and learn about, but I find myself currently intrigued by employee engagement. And with that, I am intrigued with how social media can be used in this process.
I feel that coming from a company like IBM, I’ve already been spoiled by social media in the workplace.
IBM uses social media both internally and externally to engage its employees. Internally, employees create podcasts, share bookmarks (through Dogear), connect on an internal social network (Beehive), collaborate using wikis, and converse through blogs.
Using social media, IBM is empowering employees to build and use these online communities to be creative, to collaborate and to innovate. In other words, by allowing the employees to connect, communicate and participate in new ways, IBM is giving each employee a voice and an opportunity to share their value.
I will not pretend to be an expert on this topic just yet, especially since I know some of IBM’s great social media evangelists who can speak at length on the importance of social media.
Over time though, I plan to discuss how IBM and other companies use social media to engage their employees and how social media can be used internally by communicators with their work.
For the time being, I will point you towards the following social media study on Scribd: The Corporate Newsletter Goes Social: IBM and Employee-Centered Social Media.
Photo Credit: Kris Hoet – Creative Commons License (BY)