Challenges of Social Technologies

Social Technologies are transformative tools. Implementing them, however, presents its own set of challenges, particularly in larger organizations:

• Privacy and accessibility. Storing and archiving communications generated through Social Technologies can create significant privacy concerns and accessibility issues. Ensuring security and ease of access requires careful consideration and robust systems.

• Integration with legacy organizations. Larger, traditionally structured organizations often operate on a top-down basis. Social Technologies, which promote horizontal communication, can disrupt these established patterns, making integration a challenging process.

• Message distortion. Corporate social networks are prone to the “broken-telephone syndrome,” where the original message can become distorted as it passes through a vast network of employees. Ensuring message integrity is vital for effective communication.

• Message Fragmentation. In a digital environment with diverse platforms like WhatsApp, Slack, or email, messages can become fragmented. Coordinating employees around a single initiative or message can become increasingly complex. 

• Platform confusion. With numerous communication channels like LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, Instagram, or direct messaging, employees may struggle to remember which platform a message originated from. LinkedIn? Slack? Discord? Instagram? Was it an IM? A DM? This can result in missed or misunderstood messages, making a comprehensive platform strategy essential.A key takeaway: to be effective with Social Technologies, consider choosing one or two channels exclusively so as not to drown in a tsunami of channels.