EMPLOYER USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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How Acas' research (2016) shows that employers generally opt to use social media externally to reach the customers and stakeholders to create great business image. CIPD (2014) support this view by saying that organisations are not communicating internally enough. Moreover, their internal communication lacks effectiveness.

However, it depends on the area in which the company operates. Usually in IT companies we can see an increase of social media usage and internal communication through social media. Possibly due to the higher level of digital technology knowledge. 

The type of the company's sector influences the use of the social media as well. CIPD has found that voluntary sector tends to work with social media more in comparison to private and public sector.

Moreover, the size of organisation makes a difference in utilising social media. Companies with more than 1000 employees use social media as twice more often than smaller companies (CIPD, 2014).

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EMPLOYEE USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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It is generally known that people use social media significantly less in the workplace than in their personal life. In the past, it was usual to use the social media at work first and then at home. 

Nowadays, the usage of social media in the workplace has grown massively. Perhaps, because people use the social media in their personal lives that much. However, this growth increases employees' expectations of the social media use in the workplace. At present, people are used to express their opinions online on daily basis. Therefore, they expect this possibility in the workplace as well, they want to be heard and be engaged more. This is how Silverman sees it. 

CIPD discovered that people aged between 18-24 are three times more likely to use social media for work purposes than people aged 55 and over. That is why it is very important to concentrate on this age group at work and train them how to use technologies effectively. 

Employees still tend to use social media externally more often than within the organisation. However, those who use social media internally only 3 in 10 employees keep in touch with their colleagues. Nevertheless, they admit that it helps them to cooperate with others and engage at work.

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