Social Media means: user-generated content, wisdom of crowds, a high level of interconnectedness, real-time communication, viral effects….
A few well-known examples of Social Media applications are: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace. Meanwhile also ARIS Community is increasingly well known as a social media platform specialized on BPM.
In the last months a lively discussion on the impact of Social Media came up. Some people say Social Media is just a hype while others are sure that it marks a change in the public and media relations of a company .
There are both chances and risks for companies and PR departments that are engaged in Social Media.
On the one hand, it’s risky that you lose control over the things that are published about your company, because everybody feels allowed to write what he wants to, mostly without coordinating it with the communication department.
On the other hand, it can be very helpful if employees write about their jobs, their skills or their opinions about specific topics. Externally it acts authentic and provides confidence and internally it can motivate the employees, because they can share their knowledge and position themselves as global professionals on specific topics.
One thing is sure: Also if you are not engaged in Social Media, your employees, customers and competitors are.
So if you don’t want to lose track of what people think about the branch, your company and your image, you should at least try to monitor the Social Media surrounding on relevant information for and especially about your company.
But what about Social Media and BPM?
I think in the BPM surrounding Social Media is in any case relevant.
First of all it can be a communication instrument for BPM companies to address their target groups that are very technical-affine and thus also familiar with relatively new applications such as Blogs and Twitter.
Another interesting fact is that there are already some preparations to combine BPM and Social Media for example in platforms like AlignSpace
So what do you think?
Are you engaged in Social Media? If yes, in which way?
Do you think Social Media will change the public and media relations of companies? Will Social Media influence the business processes of a company or is it just another marketing tool?
I’m looking forward to your comments!
I have found Social media is important for collaboration on technical issues, best practices, benchmarking, process improvement. An ARIS blog space is a smart idea. Gives us all reason to use more of the functionality to drive improvement in our business. We all want to be more successful and any assistance on instituting best practices at the places we work, secures our future even more.
I would say I am not fully engaged in Social Media unless it meets my needs to solve problems, find products, etc. Everything has become so technical that individuals can represent the only expertise available to solve an individual problem. Thanks for bringing this to the ARIS world!
