Editorial
Internal communications will move closer to external communications. Staffbase’s Lara Dobson made this prediction during the IABC's Internal Communications Leaders panel held in mid-November. The rationale she offered for the prediction was that key internal messages will inevitably leak externally and hence all messages will be managed as if external.
At one point Corporate Communications were responsible for both internal and external communications. But according to the panel, internal communication drifted towards HR and external communications toward marketing over the years. The inference was that this trend will be reversed, out of necessity.
External communicators regularly use social channels, a practice not widely adopted internally. But is this about to change?
Emergence of the Internal Social Media Channel?
Swoop Analytics has been benchmarking internal enterprise social networking (ESN) use for over a decade. Our concentration has been on Yammer (now Viva Engage) and Workplace from Meta (which is being sunsetted). Our latest 2024/25 Viva Engage benchmarking report identified ESN usage trends that will disappoint some, yet encourage others.
Internal social networking platforms are evolving. In the early 2000s, enterprise social networking platforms like Jive, Yammer and Chatter provided space for internal communication and collaboration. The stewards often came from the knowledge management function.
We've seen the communication and collaboration functions gradually move to separate platforms in recent years. Communications now comes under the stewardship of internal communications. Platforms like Viva Engage, Workplace from Meta and its heir apparent, Workvivo, now function centrally as internal social media platforms. The collaboration function is focussed more in platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Salesforce’s Slack.
Related Article: The Workplace From Meta Clock Is Ticking. Factors to Consider Before Migration
The Evolution of Enterprise Social Networking
Our trend data suggests Viva Engage is moving towards being a social media toolset, prioritizing communication over collaboration. From its early days as Yammer, communities played a smaller role while stronger collaboration was evident. The introduction of Microsoft Teams as the prime collaboration platform during the COVID-19 pandemic potentially is responsible for this trend, with Viva Engage taking on the role of a corporate communications channel, and a place where leaders can connect with employees.
Workplace from Meta's heritage is in external social media (Facebook). Over time, the usage patterns for Viva Engage have moved closer to Workplace from Meta. The reduction in people-to-people engagement is disappointing for those who initially experienced Yammer as practitioners of knowledge management and/or communities of practice.
The ‘mention index’ is the only collaboration indicator that has moved in a positive direction. We sense this is more about a mention acting as a 'for you information' rather than an invitation to 'join a conversation.' One consolation is the size of the audience for Viva Engage content has nearly doubled since 2020; something we can perhaps attribute to the change in stewardship toward internal communications.
Related Article: Internal Communicators Debate Yammer's Post on Behalf Of
Engagement Opportunities in Viva Engage
Despite the growth in audience size, internal social media channels are seen as effective by only 54%, compared to 73% for email. Some organizations don't even have a social media channel!
External communications experience has shown that social media can connect with employees at a personal level. Today it would be unthinkable for external communicators to not use the social channels. Anecdotally, we have heard of several instances where employees are establishing What’s App groups on external media sites for the lack of an internal social channel.
Our Viva Engage benchmarking studies found that nearly 80% of staff read content, yet less that 30% engage actively. This is a real opportunity for internal communications to take charge and re-establish prior people-to-people engagement levels.
Related Article: Internal Comms' Number One Channel? Email
How Should Internal Communications Use Social Media Channels?
A common theme that arose in our research is Viva Engage is not email — and that's for the best. Email announcements have become problematic. Employees expect formal announcements of policy changes, quarterly results, special events, etc. to arrive via email — in other words, boring corporate content. The email open rate is less than 62% and click-through rate less that 8% for larger enterprises.
Social networking channels set different expectations. External social media channels work harder to gain a personal connection with their audience. Social channels can be a source of information but also a source of fun and entertainment. Our research has shown that the audience for internal social media is differentiated from email, suggesting that both channels are needed to maximize reach.
Our 2024/25 Viva Engage benchmarking report identified a number of organizations have gained high levels of engagement by making their messages more fun. To be clear, these were work related messages. Across the 3,751 communities we benchmarked, the leading communities improved engagement through the use of humor and/or human interest stories.
Related Article: Think Your Internal Comms Are Great? Prove It
The Effect of Leader Activity in Internal Social Channels
Our research on leaders on Viva Engage has shown that a personal recognition by an executive leader on Viva Engage can result in a 56% increase in activity by the receiver and a 146% increase in the number of new connections formed. Our leading benchmarked organizations all had willing CEOs making good use of the Viva Engage social channel. Many of the executive teams were also very active, but not all.
The report includes several case studies on how comms teams encouraged leaders to get active on Viva Engage. Not surprisingly, the use of data and analytics played a key role. Executives regularly rely on data and analytics to manage their businesses, and should find it hard to ignore data that reports on the positive impact on employee engagement that derives from leaders' activity on Viva Engage.
Conclusion
We are witnessing a shift in alignment, where internal communications teams move closer to their external communications counterparts. The shift has led to the resurgence of enterprise social networking platforms, now evolving into communication-centric internal social media channels, managed by internal communications professionals.
These channels uniquely enable two-way interactions, which fosters higher engagement between leaders and employees compared to traditional, top-down communication approaches. However, not all internal communications teams have fully embraced this transformation.
Conference
Oct
20
Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
Conference
Oct
27
Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
Email continues to dominate as the primary internal communication channel, despite its declining effectiveness. It is now time for internal communicators to draw inspiration from their external counterparts and take ownership of the social channel to unlock its full potential.
Learn how you can join our contributor community.
