Back in 2010 Melcom produced a survey of communications practitioners that revealed the level of social media expertise in the profession as poor – with around half unconvinced of its value to knowledge management.
More than 2,600 internal communication professionals responded, with 1,800 from organisations with more than 500 employees.
I've not found anything more upto date but I wonder if the findings below still ring true?
The findings revealed that social media is part of only 30% of internal communicators' everyday communication strategy plans.
The principal barriers preventing internal communicators from implementing social media tools within their organisations include management teams fearing the loss of control and reputational damage with almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents suggesting this as "very tough" or "tough" to get past, as well as legal concerns (58%).
Meanwhile, 46% believe the business case for social media is "very unclear" or "unclear".
However, there are encouraging signs and almost half (44%) believe it is here to stay, will play an important role in the future development of internal communications and disagree it's a fad.
47.6% believe the business case for social media is "very clear" or "clear, with the biggest benefit for internal communicators that have already put together a business case for the use of social media within their organisations being innovation and idea exchange (41.5%), followed by employee engagement (38.4%) and knowledge management and collaboration (30.8%). This was backed by the fact that 54.3% of respondents said that "getting employees to talk, share information and collaborate" was the "most effective" use of social media within global organisations.
Even those that are convinced of its benefits can face an uphill struggle, however. Internal communicators are fighting for social media to be implemented into everyday employee life and workflows across the globe with more than a third admitting it's "tough" to get budget and a third complaining of tough IT constraints and restrictions.
One fifth said it was "very tough" to get budget, however only a surprisingly low 40% said employee buy-in was "easily achievable". The majority said senior executive (32.2%) and IT buy-in were "achievable but not without a fight".
