Internal Social Media and Internal Communication

Internal social media carries the promise of changing the way organizational members interact and communicate with each other. The chapter explores the possible benefits of introducing internal social media, the challenges that organizations might encounter when they introduce a participatory communication arena and the dynamics of communication on internal social media. The chapter argues that organizational culture, leadership receptiveness, the presence of other internal communication channels and employees’ interpretation and sensemaking of internal social media influence how the communication on internal social media will develop. The chapter concludes that communication on ISM enhances organizational transparency, and that managers has to reconsider their management philosophy and managerial practices to fully embrace ISM.