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Nielsen and Facebook recently announced an alliance to help better define the return on investment in marketing activities on Facebook. The first product to be offered, BrandLift, will present brief surveys to users to help measure aided awareness, ad recall, message association, brand favorability and purchase consideration resulting from ads on Facebook.

It’s exciting to see this next step in the evolution of social media and its impact on the business world. Marketers will now be able to begin to quantify the return associated with online advertising on one of the most pervasive sites around. According to Nielsen, in August 2009, Facebook had the most time per user spent on the site among the top Web brands, with an average of 5 hours 46 minutes 4 seconds.

As communicators, we’re often challenged to define ways to measure the impact of our programs and even harder stretched to measure a concrete return on investment. That’s especially true with internally focused programs. We’re often faced with questions like:

Do employees really care about reading an executive’s blog? Does it really help the leader become more visible and “real” to employees?

Will a revamped intranet actually improve employee productivity?

Do online discussion forums and other collaboration tools actually help improve employee engagement?

Though not necessarily the “holy grail” of measurement, tools like BrandLift represent the beginning of a more scientific approach to measuring the real value of marketing and communications in the world of social media. As these tools become more common, we as communicators will have much more of an opportunity to begin proving the relative value of our online tactics both internally and externally.

A woman dies in the streets of Tehran and we watch it on YouTube. Reporters are expelled from Iran in the wake of election irregularites and riots, and we continue receiving news reports and updates through Twitter, on Facebook, through blogs and texting from those inside a fragile nation. One blogger writes, “Since June 13, the start of nationwide demonstrations and protests against Iran’s rigged presidential elections began, a clampdown on many of the leading reformist politicians, as well as journalists and bloggers, has been underway.” But despite those crackdowns, news and updates borne of the new social and digital media find their way beyond censure to a waiting world.

The human condition speaks volumes. What we are witnessing in Tehran, in a poignant and moving way, will serve as a reminder of the power and reach of Citizen Journalists and the tools they have to move stories from their keyboards, Blackberries and iPhones to the computer cloud that connects us all. There’s a dark side to this phenomenon that author Andrew Keen has written about in The Cult of the Amateur, a must read for employee communicators and thought leaders in digital and social media. For me, the stark images of political and social revolt wracking Iran, or US Airways Flight 1549 skimming down into the Hudson River, or the frightening video shot days ago inside a tornado in Aurora, Nebraska, serve as a constant reminder of our globality and how we are all on, 24-7-365.

Once upon a time, we counseled our corporate clients that a crisis can quickly explode from a single location to the larger company and world within hours. Today, with the digital information commons, quickly is slow. Now it’s instantaneous — and there’s no stopping the video, the words, the images or the sounds once they start. As employee communicators, we must know that businesses and institutions are facing a rapidly changing landscape shaped by this new digital world, the global economy that Thomas Friedman has written about in The World is Flat, and the explosion of myriad stakeholder groups.

The Arthur W. Page Society, in its seminal white paper, The Authentic Enterprise, tells us these converging forces are requiring us to be even more transparent than ever.  Where once we carefully timed and cascaded messages, we no longer control them. Where once we targeted specific audience segments, today everyone can see everything at the same time. Where once we devised and controlled the channels, today they now “belong” to everyone in this digital explosion.

So what does it all mean?

To build trust, the Page authors tell us, we must go beyond shaping perceptions to defining companies. We must build new networks of relationships. We must move from the classic caricature of the public relations professional shaping perceptions to actually creating a new reality. We must place corporate values at the heart of our work. And we must, above everything else, seek to build trust in a world that has soured on hype.

In You Can’t Go Home Again, author Thomas Wolfe tells us, “Lean down your ear upon the earth, and listen.” When we do, we’ll know that things have truly changed and we will not return to that place we once knew.

American Express, in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, recently announced the details of its next Partners in Preservation initiative in Boston. Here’s how it works. First, 25 historic sites in the Boston area are identified to participate in the competition. Then, the public is invited to vote online for the site they would like to receive a grant. A total of $1 million is awarded across the sites, with the winner of the national vote guaranteed to receive a grant. Additional grants are determined by an advisory board of local community leaders, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

During the voting process, you begin to see the power of online mobilization. Supporters of the various sites take to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and countless others to encourage people to take action and vote for their site (click through the links to see examples). It’s a (new) classic case of a grassroots effort to mobilize a community around a cause.

The same type of campaign could have a powerful impact within an organization. Selecting a site or company-wide volunteer activity, determining which organization(s) to award grants to, identifying the best innovative idea to obtain seed funding – these are just a few examples of internal initiatives that could benefit from this type of grassroots model.

Instead of simply announcing the winning idea / project, this approach enables you to engage employees in the decision-making process. Not only does it create interest in the program, it also gives employees a voice in company decisions.All it takes is establishing some guardrails for the campaign (e.g., providing a list of pre-approved projects / ideas, creating an advisory panel to validate things along the way, defining a clear process and rules) to help keep things on track.

In addition, a program like this allows you to test the waters with social media applications. Many communicators and leaders are hesitant to launch new vehicles due to fears of having to introduce fresh content to maintain interest or having to figure out how to close down a channel that isn’t working or is being abused. Using social media tools for a specific project provides a defined purpose and lifespan and enables companies to see what works well and what doesn’t given their culture and technology. Those experiences can then be used to shape the future communication strategy for the company.

Huh????

That was my first reaction when I saw the title “Facebook: Your Company’s Intranet?”. Why would a company use Facebook as its Intranet? The main thing I thought about was privacy since information on an intranet is usually company-specific and in many cases proprietary. This and other concerns are addressed in the article.

I can, however, understand the logic behind the decision and I actually applaud it. Rather than defaulting the intranet to being simply a repository for documents and forms or a mechanism of one-way impersonal push from the executive suite, using Facebook acknowledges the interaction and lateral communication that employees desire at work in the same way they are accustomed to at home.

Obviously, this is not for everyone. In fact, most companies will still opt to keep their intranets behind their firewalls. But, incorporating social media functionality can help any organization transform its intranet from a hyperlinked file cabinet into an interactive tool for company news, relevant business information and interaction and collaboration.

There has been much news about Twitter in recent weeks and months. Even the President of the United States of America has an account. And recently, Insidedge launched a Twitter account of its own (yes, shameless plug. But keep reading, I have some real thoughts for you, I promise!).

So all this talk in the media, among colleagues and with clients got me thinking about the essence of what Twitter specifically (and social networking in general) is all about. To me, it’s an expression of the age-old human desire to connect with others, to be part of a community, to be valued (maybe even admired) and to be heard. That’s it. Nothing high-tech to it.

Technology is in the midst of a philosophical revolution. In the early days of computing, the knowledge curve was very high and that necessary technical aptitude translated into separation from others as “computer geeks” poured in hours to learn code, etc. More time in front of a screen and a small circle of people with comparable knowledge meant the illusion of social isolation for these elite few from the rest of us who were rushing to make it home to watch The Cosby Show. Well, DVRs have changed that (unless you’re an Idol fan and want to see the whole episode) and social networking sites from Facebook to LinkedIn to YouTube and Flickr have changed what we do on a computer and more profoundly how we interact. Now, with basic computer knowledge, you can use this technology to connect with hundreds and even thousands of people around the world.

And that ties back to concept that we all want to connect. So to better connect my office, I decided today to launch a new social networking platform that is decidedly anti-technology, but with the functionality that has become nearly second-nature to many of us. I’ve dubbed this fusion of the bygone and the present “Old School Twitter.” Above you see my name plate, a little banner that I made and a stack of sticky notes. I will be updating my status there throughout the day. And my co-workers are following suit. My hypothesis is that this will increase interaction among co-workers and keep people more connected and demonstrate how a tool like Twitter can be effective in a work environment to foster collaboration and share ideas. See, I told you I had a nugget for you!

Let me know what you think of this experiment or perhaps if you’ve tried something like this in your office.

Related: Follow Insidedge on Twitter

I heard the other day how the Philadelphia Eagles football franchise fired an employee for a brief comment he posted on his Facebook page. The guy was a gate attendant at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles play their home games. Apparently, he was unhappy that the team had let one of his favorite players defect to another team as a free agency.

So he posted his displeasure on his Facebook page. Days later, his bosses at the stadium told him his services were no longer needed.

This example provides even more ammunition with my belief that companies need to be more proactive in addressing the realities of Web 2.0. People love Facebook precisely because it provides them with an opportunity to be heard.

So what might the Eagles have done differently? They had a few choices.

They could have simply ignored the post (and probably should have). If they had, I wouldn’t have heard the story on the radio, nor would I be writing this now.

They could have met with the ticket agent and suggested he be more careful what he says about his employers online, reminding him that his comments as “an agent of the team” could be misconstrued by others.

Or, if they wanted to be really progressive, they could have established their own internal social media site – for employees only – and started a real dialog between management and the front lines.

While a lot of companies are talking about adopting Web 2.0 platforms as an employee communications tool, very few are doing it. Often, there is concern about what employees might write and post – that a blog or a social networking site might become little more than a “bitch board” where disgruntled employees vent endlessly and nothing productive is accomplished.

In my experience, these concerns are unfounded. I’ve worked with a handful of companies that have successfully used Web 2.0 tools to open real dialog among employees.

If you’re considering doing the same, there are a few ground rules to consider:

1. You should establish rules about what’s acceptable and what’s not. This gives you the right to remove any posts or content that goes outside the lines.
2. The tool should not be anonymous. If people have to post their names along with their comments, they are more likely to follow the rules.
3. The leaders at your company have to be committed and involved. They have to be willing to visit the sites that are created and to get engaged in the conversation.

As the case of the Philadelphia Eagles employee proves, your people are going to speak their minds. Why shouldn’t they have the opportunity to do that inside the company? Give them the chance, and they will take it. And you will be surprised by all the valuable information you hear.

January 28, 2009 was the second annual Data Privacy Day, an event celebrated by the United States, Canada, and 27 European countries. Data Privacy Day was started to raise awareness and generate discussion about data privacy practices and rights, especially among teenagers. According to a recent study by Intel, “Over 55 percent of online American teens between 12 and 17 use social networks, and older teens are even more likely to have profiles.” As part of this day, privacy professionals, corporations and government officials distribute educational materials and hold events around the issue of data privacy. As I read through some of these materials, this particular pointer struck a chord with me:

“It isn’t all about Common Sense: Once you put information or photographs out there in the digital world, they can be forwarded, archived, and stored in browsers and search engines, making it difficult if not impossible to take them back.”

Nowadays, it’s not only teenagers who occupy themselves with social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. These sites, including LinkedIn, are becoming increasingly popular among working professionals as well. And large corporations are coming on board. With these social sites making their way into the work place, now, more than ever, we need to be conscientious about the type of information we put out on the internet, next to our names. But sometimes, it’s not even what we put up online, rather what others tag of us that we need to be weary of.

Recently, John Favreau, Barack Obama’s speechwriter had a couple of drinks with friends at a closed-door party and got juvenile with a Hilary Clinton cardboard cut-out. But private parties are no longer all that private as long as someone in the crowd has a Facebook account and a camera in tow. You can probably guess what happened next; pictures of Favreau and the Hilary Clinton cut-out were plastered all over the internet.

Did this incident dispatch Favreau to the world of mediocre speechwriters? Clearly not; people around the world listened to and loved Obama’s inaugural speech. However, did the incident, even though it happened “off the clock,” call to question his legitimacy as a professional? I think YES! Would you agree?

Facebook continues its world domination, and it’s time employee communicators take note: Facebook is here to stay.

It’s the new job applicant screener:

A survey by online job site CareerBuilder.com of 3,169 hiring managers found 22 percent of them screened potential staff via social networking profiles, up from 11 percent in 2006.

The survey found that 34 percent of the managers who do screen candidates on the Internet found content that made them drop the candidate from any short list.

. . . the new Outlook:

“While Mark Zuckerberg and others, brand Facebook a Social Utility, for young people, who really only care about functionality, Facebook succeeds because it is the killer web application for communications and personal information management. Facebook Mail is not without its problems, but the combination of Facebook Mail, Facebook Chat, and what is functionally an auto updating address book, makes Facebook into the new Outlook not only for those who are inside of Silicon Valley, but for anyone of the millions of people who use Facebook as either their sole or their primary digital identity.”

. . . and the new Intranet:

“I told all the employees it’s OK on a Friday for everybody to goof off and spend an hour or two on Facebook,” [Serena Software CEO Jeremy Burton] explains to me at lunch in New York. “I said ‘Go nuts! I dare you to participate, and I bet you’ll find out something new about somebody in the company that you never knew before.”

“The subversive message was ‘Guys – the world is a different place and if we’re going to stay relevant we’re going to have to wake up.’”

“It’s been a game-changer for us to go from an insular culture that doesn’t communicate much to a more collaborative culture.”

The question for communicators is no longer whether or not to allow employees access, but how it fits into their company’s broader employee communications strategy.

File this under “TBD.”

So I arrived at the office the other day and had a Facebook friend request from the president of Insidedge.  While this alone shouldn’t surprise me – after all, I’ve known Keith for more than 15 years and on the technology front, he was one of the handful of people who owned an Apple Newton – but sometime after accepting the invitation and doing some wall-to-wall posts, I started thinking about the implications of Facebook on employee communications.  As I clicked on his profile, there he is with the family, his kids are posting on his wall, there’s some info on his beloved Cubs and there’s work-related information there as well.  Then on mine he can see my recent vacation pictures and profiles from coworkers, my partner, my best friend from high school, you name it. 

So what – if anything – does this foretell about the future of employee communications? 

As I said, file this under “TBD” because I don’t think we really know the full implications yet, but it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.  Are we crossing additional lines in an ever more informal workplace?  Probably.  Are there lessons learned from unsanctioned employee bloggers terminated from their jobs for disclosing proprietary information?  Maybe.  Are we setting ourselves up for a new generation of employee communications practices?  Who can say for sure?  But for now, I’m enjoying the merging of the work ‘me’ and the personal ‘me’ as well as the merging of the work ‘you’ and the personal ‘you’.