Using Social Media in the Workplace to Communicate

Introduction

In the last decades, the fate of nations has been changing due to the usage of social media. Due to this practice, the political system of whole countries is changing as well as causing drastic changes in entire regions. In this modern era, there is a great need of using modern ways of communication, especially in the workplace. Now, social media has played an enormous role in the two-way conversation and let us collaborate efficiently. Blogging, posting, texting, emailing and tweeting permits us to direct messages quickly and it is more productive and influential to communicate through social media in work setting.

Purpose of this study is to identify the importance of the usage of social media in the workplace for communication purposes. Nowadays every single person actively responds to others on social media than making a physical presence. It is more productive to use social media as a tool for communication in the workplace as it makes easy to communicate if team members are present virtual or at a distant place. Due to advancing trends, companies can boost up their effectiveness in addition to productivity by using social media as it is economical and easy to implement.

This study will be helpful in understanding the ways that organisation can practice to make communication useful. Social media will allow a coworker to interact with each other, to determine information and enable to make a proficient relationship with other people.

Top managers or team members should focus to make sure communications, campaigns and messages tactics that influence social media do not overshadow each other. At the same time, managers should realise that employees will be more responsive also approachable where communication is done through email, social media and virtual meetings. Employees must recognise the real purpose of social media to make better connection instead for incongruous activities in work environment.

Use of social media is essential for those organisations where interaction with employees is necessary to share information. Social media will enable to communicate if team members are not at the same place and office are distant. In this way, employees will be available in real time, and ac get a real-time response. Indeed, today’s organisations need communication as well as immediate interaction with their coworkers to shape genuine rapport. Any organisation who ‘aim to make a proper relationship with employees has an emphasis on such initiatives to enhance engagement needs.

Organize should formalise such strategies for communication that fulfil the objectives of the organisation. Such plan is useful for giving two-way communication where the top-down approach is not feasible. There are many means of using social media for communication that is emails, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Skype. But it will be useful to embrace with Skype as a communication tool. The use of Skype will allow members of the organisation to collaborate and respond to each other actively. In this way, employees can collect information in real time that is relevant to them. The organisation must design such communication strategy that cannot overlap with other unsuitable activities and purpose of communication will continue only in the workplace.

Discussion

Nowadays trends are changing and evolving very rapidly. And organisations must have to come up with these challenges to improve performance and for survival. Most of the communication is happened through social media than using other tools. If the organisation wants to communicate more effectively within the organisation, then it has to build a strong channel for it. Today’s generation is more actively using these social networking tools than the traditional channel (Cardon; Marshall, 2015). Social media is essential for internal communication purposes with employees working in the organisation. It is more helpful and productive to use and leverage their activities through modern tools. Thus, social media proves to be more operative to develop and facilitate connections not only within the organisation but also outside the organisation. Social media is more useful to encourage employees when they post and comment. It becomes easier for HR professionals to create the net with peers as well as concentrate on competitors. Displaced employees can easily access the info from their devices. Employer brand can be built through sharing data about company values and events that will be useful in attracting customers and applicants. Knowledge sharing and social learning will promote as employees interact with other team members. (Social Media: What are the pros and cons of using social media in the workplace? What should we include in a policy?, shrm.org, 2018) . Decision-making process also becomes faster because team members can communicate issues without waiting for a meeting. Employees also get satisfied and feel recognition for work through immediate direct feedback (Charlotte, 2014). Internal communication permits the co-workers to record or track the progress of work in real-time instead of meetings. Thus, social media as a platform for internal communication is used to construct dynamic conversations among employees at all points of an organisation.

Conclusion

This report will help out to explore how it is crucial and vital to use social media as a tool for communication in the organisation. In what ways, employees can improve their performance and productivity using social media. In what way, social media has a role in building a relationship between the organisation and other team members. How upper-level management plays their part in making policies and procedures for internal communication. But this tool must be designed cautiously, to does not overshadow the other activities. Nowadays everything is evolving with the changes in technology. So it is more productive for an organisation where offices are away, and information sharing process is needed.

Recommendations

The organisations should plan such strategies that are congruent with relevant activities and provide support to make communication effective in an organisation. Many businesses use Facebook for internal communication, but this platform of communication can make employees distracted and unproductive. Many ways of social media can be used to create connection well. Enhance not only the internal communication but also build an improved relationship with other people in a workplace environment. Skype can be used to make actual contact in the workplace to share real-time facts and figures. The use of Skype will make people more interactive and connected even when they are not physically there. In this way employees will engage and involve in a task more. Instant feedback will be helpful.

References

Cardon, P. W., & Marshall, B. (2015). The hype and reality of social media use for work collaboration and team communication. International Journal of Business Communication, 52(3), 273-293.

Collins, K., Shiffman, D., & Rock, J. (2016). How are scientists using social media in the workplace?. PloS one, 11(10)

Social Media: What are the pros and cons of using social media in the workplace? What should we include in a policy? . (2018). SHRM. Retrieved 2 April 2018, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/socialnetworkingsitespolicy.aspx

Charlotte, Q. (2014). The Benefits of Using Social Media for Communication Among Employees. Queens University of Charlotte Online. Retrieved 2 April 2018, from https://online.queens.edu/online-programs/mscomm/resources/social-media-for-communication