11 March 2008

Taking lessons from Web 2.0

Can social networking sites, blogs, pod-casts and other Web 2.0 channels successfully transfer into the employee communications arena?

That was the question at the recent aspic event, Harnessing Web Technology for Effective Communications, which featured case studies from Vodafone and the Arts Council England plus round-table discussions.

Aspic is a network of professional communicators, run by the Item Group. Quarterly learning and networking events feature case studies and shared knowledge.

Delegates debated whether Web 2.0 channels could really make a difference to their audiences and improve the dissemination of information.  The benefit of taking ‘water cooler’ conversations to a more open and self-policing forum was weighed against the dangers of careless conversation. The need for new platforms to meet genuine business needs was also highlighted.

But overall, it was felt that Web 2.0 channels do provide more relevant collaboration than traditional methods alone, appealing to varied audiences and enabling direct communication across the business hierarchy through such things as ‘town hall sessions’ and direct personal messages from senior managers.

Take Vodafone, which is engaging a young, web-savvy workforce through interactive webinars that are broadcast in real-time on the intranet, to monthly video blogs – ‘vlogs’ – produced by CEO Arun Sarin.

Arts Council England, meanwhile, has created a more interactive intranet to encourage its regional bodies to think as a single organisation.  A collaborative workspace, for example, allows employees to share ideas, with documents loaded onto public folders where they can be commented on and edited.

The event highlighted concerns about the increased workloads for internal communicators and resources needed to moderate user-generated content, with questions raised about the loss of consistent messages. However, Web 2.0 tools can give internal communicators immediate and dynamic channels that shorten the approvals process and quickly get messages and information out into the workplace.