I recently presented at the 2011 World IABC Conference at San Diego, US. The World Conference brings 1,400 business communication professionals from 40 countries to learn about the latest trends, issues and best practices in communication. Over 70 conference sessions were organized into seven tracks and presented by a global faculty of communication experts. My topic: Social Media and Internal Communications - the India Perspective Background: Social media adoption for internal communication in India is growing and employee engagement is one of the most important outcomes of this trend. In India social media adoption challenges include lack of business context, inability to decode cultural nuances and security concerns. Organizations need to revisit policies, build better controls and involve staff to fructify ideas for effective change management and improved decision making. Also vital are efforts at managing online reputation and averting crisis through an in-depth knowledge of social media. This presentation shares social media strategies for organizations working in India to improve internal adoption and demonstrate value.

1. Social Media and Internal Communications – the
India Perspective
Aniisu K Verghese
2011 World IABC Conference , San Diego
June 14, 2011
Image:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/nelson/newmediadev/Soci
al%20Networking%20in%20India.html

2. Disclaimer
Due care has been taken while preparing this
presentation but the author cannot be held
responsible for any misuse or misrepresentation
of information. The views expressed in this
presentation are those of the author and do not
reflect those of the organization he works for.
Data for this presentation has been drawn from
various sources and is gratefully acknowledged.

3. Presentation Covers
Context
- The India the world probably knows
- The India you may not know
India’s Social Media landscape
Current Challenges
Strategies that work
Three Cases

4. Context
The India you probably know and don’t know
Images:
http://www.indianholidays.annonline.com
http://vimalenduksingh.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

5. The India the world probably knows
The world’s largest democracy
Second most populous nation
(1.2 billion people)
India to become world's fastest
growing economy by 2013-15
The Indian Information
Technology industry: 5.19% of
the country's GDP, is one of the
biggest job creators in India
(2.5 million people)
Half the world’s outsourced IT
services come from India,
amounting to a $47 billion
dollar industry
Images:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
http://www.wittysparks.com/
http://www.treehugger.com

6. The India you may not know
Official Union Language: Hindi and mother
tongue of 30 per cent of the people
21 other official languages
English is the preferred language for
national, political, and commercial
communication.
The Unique Identification Authority of India
is currently creating the world’s
largest database
India created the world’s economical
car – Tata Nano ($1,979 or INR 1,00,000)
Will be the largest contributor to the
world's workforce —136 million
people — over the next 10 years
Images: http://alltechguide.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7957671.stm

7. India’s Social Media Landscape
Understanding social media through our country’s culture and interests
Images: http://cricket.yahoo.com
http://www.rediff.com/business/

8. Social Media in India is growing
at 100 percent per year
Social Media in India is
likely to touch 45 million
users by 2012 (9X
Denmark’s population)
Nearly 30 million online
Indians consumers spend
about two-thirds of time on
social networking sites
daily.
- bigger than Australia's
population!
Facebook tops as India’s
favorite social
networking site
Image: http://www.labnol.org/india/social-sites-india/18649/

9. 791 million mobile subscribers =
2 X US population!
But only 40 million access
internet via mobile devices
60% of India web users
access via Internet cafes
12 million in rural India
access the internet
31% of India’s rural
population are unaware
of Internet’s existence
90 billion SMSes send via
one network in a month
Image: www.techshout.com
USD 3620 million estimated
value added services in 2011

10. Internet penetration low but
growing exponentially
India has the world's
third largest Internet
users: over 100 million Almost as big as Mexico’s
population!
users
Internet penetration in India 8% of India’s population
is one of the lowest in the
world
Eight out of 10 people
search for information
online on brands and
products before purchasing
Image: http://comm215.wetpaint.com/page/India%3A+Cultural+Issues

11. Indians now spend more time on
social networking sites than e-mail
http://www.in.nielsen.com/news/20110509.shtml

12. Sports
68 million viewers on TV – watch India’s 2011
World Cup victory
Entertainment
1000 Bollywood movies produced annually
Culture
Respect for elders, traditions
Community
Belonging, compromise, hospitality

13. Sharukh Khan: Popular Bollywood star
has 9,32,000+ followers on Twitter
2.2 million views in a day of the
winning World Cup cricket hit video on
In 2008, Newsweek named You Tube
Shah Rukh Khan one of the 50
most powerful people in the Dhoni more influential than Messi
Images:
http://www.moviescut.com/ra-one/ and Obama in Time's 2011 list
world
http://cricket.rediff.com

14. “In society there is clear male-dominance,
but it may also show that the female
population gets more competitive as to be
more independent.”
Source:
http://comm215.wetpaint.com/page/India%3A+Cultural+Issues
Images:
http://wearewhatwetweet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ShaadiPS.jpg
http://www.medimanage.com/my-diet/articles/slow-food-movement-eat-local-and-healthy-food.aspx
http://students.ou.edu/Y/Jacob.R.Yandell-1/karma.png

15. India only getting started….
‘Engaging employees with
social media’ ranks #3 after
customers and media
- India Social Media Survey, 2009
“87% of Indian employees
use the social media to find
information about an
organization's work
culture.”
-Ma Foi Randstad Workmonitor 2011

16. Current Challenges
Issues preventing adoption social media in Indian companies

17. India at ‘extreme risk’ on digital
inclusion
Secondary
school
enrollment rate
of 55%
Adult literacy
rate of just
under 63%

18. India organizations rank low on
social media governance
In India, only 12 percent organizations have Social Media policies,
lowest amongst all the nations, while nearly half of all German
companies have social media policies.

19. 96% of IT decision makers ban
social media within companies
Increasing (70%) number
of workforce being ready
to share their personal
information with the
professional world.
-Ma Foi Randstad
Workmonitor 2011

20. Strategies that work
What Indian firms and MNCs do to engage employees with social media

21. Indian culture adoption
“The Indian culture is a
community-based
country, so social media can be
easily adopted into the Indian culture”.
Source and images:
http://comm215.wetpaint.com/page/India%3A+Cul
tural+Issues
http://www.cadburyindia.com/media/press51.asp

22. Leaders attempting to connect
with Gen Y
Vineet Nayar
HCL Tech
•We have the youngest population in
the world.
•Half of India's billion-plus people under
the age of 25.
•A third of the Indian workforce will belong
to the Net Generation in five years
Images:
“The boss is seen as the source of
http://3.bp.blogspot.com
www.vineetnayar.com
ultimate responsibility in business.”
http://2.bp.blogspot.com - Kwintessential
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/photo/6962375.cms

23. Connection and collaboration
Cognizant Technology Solutions’ C2, a corporate
version of Facebook has Twitter feeds, employee-
written blogs, and chat. 60,000 active users, six million
page views every month.
Leading Indian telecom provider with 20,000
employees switched to an SMS based intranet based on
an IBM tool called me-tize.
Introduced a reverse mentoring program where Gen Y
teach leaders
IBM India recruits and helps manage diverse workforce
with games on Second Life
Images: http://www.topnews.in
www.pluggd.in

24. Internal communicators as
social media coaches
“Only 1/3rd of companies have
accurate data on employees”
Managing Today’s Global
Workforce – an Ernst & Young
May 2010 study

25. Cases
Lessons from implementing social media for internal communications

26. Dialogue and co-creation of
content
“Where Asian
companies are
realizing the power of
social media, they are
not willing to
experiment.”
- Burson-Marsteller’s Fortune
Global 100 Social Media
Check-Up study
13,638 impressions, 691 views, 71 likes, 9 comments
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150311395106258&oid=104897406991&comments
Indian media has been increasingly willing to
integrate citizen journalism in its news
coverage (Georgetown University, 2009)

27. I am aware of India's
role in Sapient's
success story: 95%
This event and
communication helped
me connect better with
the organization: 90%
I am interested in
contributing more to
the organization's
success: 83%
Image: http://ahmedabadrocks.blogspot.com Source: internal survey

28. 33 Cities, 8,500 People

29. Facebook | Over 100,000 "Post Views", 18,000 "Wall Visits,"
44 Photo Albums, 1600 Page "Fans"

30. Summary
India is at a unique position in the world stage
India’s scale and diversity offers immense
opportunities in the years to come
Social media needs to be seen from the lens of our
culture, entertainment, community and
sports to be understood better
Leveraging leaders for social media adoption is
important
Appreciating local culture and involving Gen
Y will increase adoption

31. Stay connected
http://in.linkedin.com/in/aniisu
http://intraskope.wordpress.com/
http://twitter.com/aniisu
http://www.slideshare.net/aniisu
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12291313@N05
intraskope@yahoo.com