Workplace social media and collaborative tools: Will you ride the wave?

Cast your net wider for a bigger catch - adding podcasts to your comms mix
I've been threatening to write a blog on podcasts for a while so here it is! Podcasts are somewhat neglected by the internal communications professionals perhaps because of fear that lots of tech is involved, but actually they are not that geeky and once set up podcasting is a quick and easy process.If you're not familiar with the concept I suggest you subsribe to a 'real world' podcast to become familar with the concept. The BBC have a wide selection in their podcast directory.As you'll see below podcasts can be great addition to the internal communications mix and can provide a new, informal and engaging channel for empl

Making the most of webinars
Like me, you may use webinar (or online meeting) tools as a presenter and if not you've probably attended a webinar as delegate. The hints and tips below include some ideas for using the technology you might not have thought of. By using these ideas or holding more standard presentation style webinars you can maximise the benefits below.Webinars are a fantastic alternative to face to face meetings and town hall presentations but one problem can be distracted delegates. So below you'll find some ideas to capture their attention to encourage them to focus on your delivery and content.

Workplace social media and collaborative tools: Will you ride the wave?
In the same way that intranets multiplied amongst companies in the mid to late 1990s, new social media and collaborative tools are going to do the same over the next few years. Early intranets were essentially glorified electronic noticeboards, displaying news, information and policy documents from the 'company' to the workforce. The latest workplace revolution is about connections, collaboration and sharing amongst co-workers and is therefore far more powerful and significant. As Chris Brogan writes in Trust Agents, 'There's a tidal wave coming, and it's made of people.'This tidal wave will be driven by social media and collaborative tools like ins

Workplace social media and collaborative tools: Will you ride the wave?
In the same way that intranets multiplied amongst companies in the mid to late 1990s, new social media and collaborative tools are going to do the same over the next few years. Early intranets were essentially glorified electronic noticeboards, displaying news, information and policy documents from the 'company' to the workforce. The latest workplace revolution is about connections, collaboration and sharing amongst co-workers and is therefore far more powerful and significant. As Chris Brogan writes in Trust Agents, 'There's a tidal wave coming, and it's made of people.'This tidal wave will be driven by social media and collaborative tools like ins

Top ten intranet tips - #IntranetTips
Below are the top ten intranet tips that I've published on Twitter (#IntranetTips). Putting them into a blog post brings them together and provides a bit more space to add some additional detail. Thank you to Rachel Lai and Carolyn Douglas for giving me some ideas on the detail.1.       Open non-web eg pdf and Office docs in new windowsBy coding hyperlinks with ‘_blank’ or setting your links in CMS to open in a new page, non-web pages will open in a new window. This allows the employee to close the window once they read the document whilst still remaini