Enterprise Social Networks:

A force for good or evil?

The rise of social media

• Over eight in ten (83%) of adults now go online using

any type of device in any location

• Nearly all 16-24s and 25-34s are now online (98%)

• Two-thirds (66%) of online adults say they have a

current social networking site profile, unchanged since 2012 (64%)

• Nearly all with a current profile (96%) have one on Facebook

• Three in ten social networkers say they have a Twitter profile

• One in five say they have a YouTube (22%) or

WhatsApp profile (20%)

The current picture• Until very recently, most companies have focused their digital media

strategies on building relationships with customers, rather than with

their employees (Silverman 2013)

• A study by Oracle (2013) found that whilst

86% of companies have a Facebook site,

closely followed by 82% with a LinkedIn

account (both externally facing social media),

just 18% have a specific ESN platform

• Gose (2013) argues, “ESNs will become as

essential as telephones and email are today”

The current picture

• Why is there a gap?

• Lack of control and perceived

risks to reputation.

Table discussion

• Is there a gap in your organisation?

• What do you believe are the reasons

for any gap?

• Do you feel differently about using

these types of communication within

your workplace compared to outside

of your workplace?

• Are there any implications for digital

communication within your organisation?

How we view the organisation

How it really is?

Bradley and McDonald (2011) identify

six emerging patterns of use for ESN:

1 Expertise location – which enables

employees to find the right person or

solution to tackle a problem or issue

2 Collective intelligence – which refers

to the ability to collaborate in a group

to solve issues

3 Emergent structures – which refers to

the building of online communities which

tend to form on a more informal basis

ESN patterns of use

4 Interest cultivation – which refers to

the use of ESN to bring together

like-minded people

5 Mass co-ordination – which is when

is when a community is created quickly

to spread messages virally

6 Relationship leverage – refers to the

ability to gain value from an online

network and online relationships

ESN patterns of use

ESN - a force for good?

• Increased responsiveness

• Insight

• Collaboration

• Finding stuff

• Knowledge capture

• Innovation

• Culture

• The list goes on…

ESN – a force for good?

• Research presented in the journal The British Psychological

Society found that students who experience low self-esteem can take

advantage of social media and its capability to bond them with

others in order to pull themselves up from slumps in their mood

• Research presented at the 119th annual American Psychological

Association found that introverted adolescents can actually gain

social skills by using social media. In part, this is because shy

individuals may feel safer behind a computer screen (or smartphone,

or tablet)

• Self Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan) states that there are three basic psychological needs, which must be met in order to experience wellbeing

• And that meeting these three basic needs helps to facilitate intrinsic motivation, they are:

– Autonomy: the ability to regulate our own behaviours in alignment with our own needs. If we are autonomous we are able to self regulate our behaviours in response to personal choice as opposed to external forces and demands.

– Competence: our need to engage in experiences which develop learning and mastery

– Relatedness: our need to feel connected to others

• ESN could present a great opportunity to achieve all three!

ESN – a force for good?

ESN – a force for evil?

• Over a third (34%) of young people have felt depressed

because of something they have seen on a social network site and

one in seven (14%) have been victims of cyber bullying (YouGov).

• A study from the University of Michigan collected data about

Facebook users and how it correlated with their moods. Simply put,

they found that the more avid users were overall more unhappy

than those who used the site less.

Table discussion

• What are your views on ESN?

• What are the positives and negatives?

• And what are the implications

for organisations?

Your personal commitments

What next? You have a choice

Thank youemma@peoplelab.co.uk

07595 465515@miss_commslab

www.peoplelab.co.uk

W O R K S H O P 1

What are the barriers and opportunities

to embedding an ESN in your organisations?

W O R K S H O P 2

How do we overcome these barriers and build on the

opportunities?