Ubiquitous Groundswell: The Evolution of Social Media

Undercover Boss (YouTube)

If you’ve ever seen the CBS show “Undercover Boss,” you know how hard it can be for larger corporations to communicate.  Typically, employees are spread out across the country – if not the world - and bosses are focused on the bottom line as opposed to the individual workers.  The CEO spends a week working various jobs and learns first hand how the company can better serve its employees, and thus itself.

“Internal groundswell applications […] can make them feel empowered, connected and more committed on a day-to-day basis.” (Li & Bernoff 216)

But even before the show first aired, there were companies like Best Buy using social media to overcome these internal communication struggles.  The company launched an online community called Blue Shirt Nation in 2006.  All employees were encouraged to use the site to reach out to other employees and to share ideas with bigger bosses.  It gave them a voice to request email addresses and to protest a proposed decrease in the employee discount.  According to Groundswell authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, “Blue Shirt Nation brought blue shirts together for listening and problem solving.” (220)  The community became so popular, that by 2008, organizers decided it needed an upgrade. 

Read Steve Bendt’s blog post:  Blue Shirt Nation Evolution - Staying True to the Learning

BSN Mix was later discontinued as the company shifted its social media priorities to include employees and customers.  Best Buy now operates through a variety of social platforms – everything from Facebook to community forums.  And it has seen a lot of success through Twelpforce – a technology twitter feed that allows customers to get their questions answered directly by employees.

As Li and Bernoff suggest at the end of their book, the groundswell is quickly transforming into the “ubiquitous groundswell.”  In other words, it’s a part of our life from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep.  It’s as important for our social connections as it is for fulfilling our work obligations.  To succeed in this environment one must “live in the groundswell and grow as it grows.” (234)  This is important for companies like Best Buy, but even more so for educational institutions.  After all, the students they’re trying to recruit are the pioneers of many new groundswell technologies.

Read:  7 Ways Universities Are Using Facebook as a Marketing Tool

What do you think of UK's social media strategy?

The University of Kentucky is an example of the ubiquitous groundswell.  The school uses actual wooden signs shaped like Facebook place markers to indicate mobile check-in locations on campus.  So even if students aren’t on a computer or mobile phone, they’re faced with social media symbols in everyday life.  Three years ago, no one would know what the sign meant.  Now it’s taken to be a universally understood part of our culture.  That’s how fast the groundswell is changing.  It has virtually become a part of our reality.