IBM took advantage of the internal groundswell

After listening to, speaking to, embracing and energizing groundswell with customers and users for the purpose of innovation, crisis management, marketing, or immediate responses, it is extremely important to look at groundswell inside a company. In the reading, the authors discussed the example of Blue Shirt Nation within Best Buy.  Best Buy offers an internal community site where workers can communicate, share tips and information that could be helpful for daily work. It gives workers a great sense of responsibility to help each, and participate as a part of the human capital. Best Buy understands that its employees knows best in this bottom up approach of businesses. Corporations are no longer dropping off instructions from the top and expecting works to follow through perfectly. Instead, managers and decision makers hope to hear from the bottom, from everyday workers to find out what works best for the company and which direction should future developments be heading towards. Of course, Best Buy is not the only company that make significant effort to enhance internal communication. Microsoft has a similar platform and calls it TownSquare, IBM has its Beehive, so on and so forth. 

Industries from retailing to banking, to manufacturing, are building networks behind the firewall where employees can create profile and connect with each other. Some companies may also choose to take advantage of the existing platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facbook, and Twitter. (Read more on ComputerWorld) As discussed in previous chapters, people are willing to share information because they feel good about helping others, openness is necessary because control can no longer be maintained. As oppose to running away from the complaints that workers have, companies choose to listen and make changes accordingly. Gathering people within an organization no only allow them to help each other in effective ways, but also gathers useful information, which then creates communication channel and enhances effectiveness that best benefits the company. For IBM, good interpersonal relationships in a company is fundamental because it allows trust building, cultural exchange, and constructive criticism. Just like BestBuy, they know that it is all about relationships at the end, not technology. With the advanced social media platform, employees can now better interact with colleagues. As suggested by an article from ComputerWorld, "Companies may start with the idea of helping employees feel more connected, but that's just the beginning. With easier and faster connections among people, suddenly cross-division collaboration happens more naturally, leading to greater innovation."

As for IBM, they created the "BluePages", where employees are encouraged to exchange personal and professional information. Listen to this podcast to find out why they created their own social network and how is it being used. According to IBM, "Beehive is an internal social networking site that gives IBMers a "rich connection to the people they work with” on both a personal and a professional level. Beehive helps employees make new connections, track current friends and coworkers, and renew contacts with people they have worked with in the past. When employees join Beehive, they get a profile page. They can use the status message field and the free-form “About Me” section on their profile page to let other people at IBM know where they are, what they are doing, and what they are thinking. Beehive also lets them post photos, create lists to share their thoughts, and organize events. " In short, it is basically a web-based corporate directory that includes profiles with contact information, photos, experience, blog entries, etc. It is heavily used by employees everyday. Because it is behind the firewall, employees feel more comfortable to disclose personal information, upload vacation photos and chat about sports or anything. For them, stronger relationships = more effective organization. CIO Acherbauer says that such connections help his teammates relate to each other like human beings and not just resources or assets. At the same time, IBM provides clear guideline for how employees should behave on social media platforms. Read more here.

Should you build a social media platform for internal communication? it is important to know that building a social media platform is not for every company, as it would only be effective is the majority of workers are enthusiastic about participating and joining. Some employees may not be technology savvy and may have difficulties using it. Therefore, it is important to understand different profiles of workers within a company and decide whether having your own version of "BluePages" would work for you.