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The Global Social Media Impact Study (GSMIS) tells us that Facebook is dead. Teens are abandoning it because it is “uncool” to be in a place where your parents are hanging out and can keep tabs on you. Researchers at Princeton University say that “Facebook has already reached the peak of its popularity and has entered a decline phase... Facebook is expected to undergo rapid decline in the upcoming years, shrinking to 20 per cent of its maximum size by December 2014. It will lose 80 per cent of its peak user base between 2015 and 2017.
Facebook has hit back with a study — using the same methodology as Princeton — that “proves” that Princeton University is in a decline phase. A blog by Facebook data scientist Mike Develin says: “This trend suggests that Princeton will have only half its current enrolment by 2018, and by 2021 it will have no students at all.” Develin adds a footnote: “We don’t really think Princeton or the world’s air supply is going anywhere soon. We love Princeton (and air). As data scientists, we wanted to give a fun reminder that not all research is created equal — and some methods of analysis lead to pretty crazy conclusions.”
Develin has his fans. But the truth seems to be that Facebook has become too complex. In India, where it is taking off, people go by symbols. Shriram Venkatraman, part of the GSMIS team, writes in a blog: “I came across at least four users of social media (YouTube and Facebook specifically), who had no formal education and in a couple of cases did not know how to even read / write and could be termed as illiterate in a general sense. Yet they communicated on Facebook, they ‘Liked’ and ‘Shared’, but did not “Comment”. What came as a surprise was that they were on Facebook and YouTube every single day and even renewed their pre-paid Internet connection on time.”
Let us not write an obituary for Facebook too soon. But the fact is that Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp seem more in tune with the times. Companies are taking the best of all these models and adapting them for their own needs. At TCS, one of the largest employers in the country, there is a system styled Knome. It’s a discussion forum and much more. You can set up interest groups — some professional, some personal. You can debate photography with the same avidity as the solution to a customer problem. Where social media has been the bane of the corporate world — with moves to ban Facebook in the workplace — at TCS it is an integral part. Knome, for instance, helps bring out knowledge. It is also a great leveller across a global workforce.
But can it go wild? If criticism of, say, the top brass is unrestricted, can the organisation become a mass of dissent. Yes, if it is a malfunctioning company, the results can be disastrous. But in a working organisation, the critics will get shouted down; the ‘Likes’ will outnumber the thumbs down. The critical posts sink to the bottom.
A version of Knome is something that every organisation should have. You won’t get it from TCS, however; they have borrowed too much from Facebook, Twitter et al to commercialise it.
Knome can be sublime or silly, depending on your point of view. Here is a recent posting (edited): “Knome helped me find my life partner. Thank you.” But the real grumblers may have given it a ditch for TCS Confessions on Facebook (with 40,000+ likes). One entry says it all: “Dear Chandra (CEO N. Chandrasekaran), Could you please increase your trainees’ payment... It doesn’t last for more than 2-3 days a month — Yours sincerely, All Banks.”
MEDIA MATTERS
Which areas of your organisation are responsible for the development of your social media strategy? (%)
• Marketing 69
• Communications 43
• Public relations 35
• Web team 30
• Sales 17
• IT 16
• Customer service 12
• R&D 9
• Operations 9
• Finance 2
Source: Harvard Business Review Analytics Services
