The future of employee communications

One of my favorite podcasts is For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report, a twice-weekly show that covers what co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz call "the intersection between technology and organizational communications."

For Immediate Release (F.I.R.) is  "listener-driven," which means the content of the show is based on comments and questions sent in by listeners. It's a pretty simple format: two plugged-in guys talking about what's on their mind, and responding to input from listeners. It's sort of the internet equivalent of a call-in radio talk show.

I enjoy For Immediate Release because it's my connection into this strange new world of "social networking" -- a world in which new media like blogs, vlogs, podcasts and wickis are changing the way people communicate. The traditional one-way, broadcast model where information providers spew content at docile audiences is giving way to a new communication paradigm in which everyone is interconnected and communication is all about dialogue.

How this will affect employee communications remains to be seen, but it's clear that these new media are making their way into the corporate world and that employee communicators need to pay attention. Internal blogs and podcasts are just starting to be adopted by some companies. I wonder if, as this trend progresses, we'll come up with a new name for it -- just as the Intranet is the internal version of the Internet, what will be the internal version of the blogosphere?

The Intrasphere? Corpcasting?

Or are the lines between internal and external communciation blurring so much that social media cannot be contained inside the firewalls of big organizations? Perhaps, rather than appropriating these new channels for internal use in the usual controlling way, corporations will be forced to recognize that the blogosphere has no walls, no boundaries, and that they might as well voluntarily join the Age of Transparency rather than getting exposed against their will.

As with all paradigm shifts, some will lead, some will be dragged kicking and screaming, and some will be left behind alltogether. Listening to podcasts like F.I.R. helps ensure you won't be part of the latter.

- for a related post, visit the IABC Employee Communications Commons blog.

Comments

[regina]

It's less about control these days don't you think? Why bother with an intrasphere...if a company operates with a mindset of employees are smart, trustworthy, etc.

[Jill]

I agree with most of what you have said. But how do we get companies moving away from a sole focus on the customer to one that is focused on the employee as well?