Social Networking – paradigm change from Push to Pull communication

Yes, I am convinced social networks bring along vast opportunities to optimize efficiency in collaboration. Nevertheless I am asked plenty of times, why I see it this way.

I would like to anchor my answer by referencing to the strong variance in statisics within my Tweets on Twitter.

Example1: Tweet on Altruism seems to have met interest of only few in my network (208 views).

Example2: Tweet on support for planning a Barcamp at Siemens reached more than 4.5k views.

How does this lead to the conclusion, that social networks increase efficiency in communications?

The two examples illustrate, that the recipients are not selected by the sender of information. Instead the reach of a tweet is the result of its relevance for the network. How come?

  • The reach of tweets majorly depends on the network’s response.
  • Readers can promote posts by liking or retweeting.
  • Any like or retweet leads to increased audience thanks to social network algorithms.
  • Hashtags help drawing attention from those interested in the tweet’s content.

I guess this effect can be named by the **paradigm change from push to pull communication,** which I identify as key advantage of social networking.

Accordingly – feel free to like, comment and reference to this post ;). Looking forward to the network response – Yours, Benedikt Pape

PS: How does the image of fishermen (source: pixabay) match the topic? I like to associate social networks to the ocean, where tweets swim around and readers fish them out if their hashtag matches.

Communication at eye level is possible @Siemens – if I #justDoIt.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to join a Siemens wide live-streamed event on employee engagement, which unleashed a great personal experience for me on communication at eye level with Janina Kugel and Joe Kaeser.

During this live event our Head of Personnel and CEO have taken response to the results of the newly published Siemens Global Employee Engagement Survey (#SGES). Both, Janina and Joe have once more convinced me of their conviction, that ownership and speak up culture are key competences for the needed change at Siemens.

So I followed their advice and my principle to #justDoIt and submitted a question via our Siemens Social Network (#SSN, #ESN) using the pronounced Hashtag #letstalksges.

My question, how incentives can be handled not to obstruct the One Siemens mindset has been discussed on this prominent stage for several minutes.

Both Janina Kugel and Joe Kaeser have taken the issue serious and shared their thoughts on it. Now, convincing for me was, that they didn’t just drop some general statement, but they honestly showed their concern about the obvious ambiguity of currently installed incentive structures versus the desired and necessary spirit of “One Siemens”.

I am very proud that I have managed to place an issue, that I feel urgent for Siemens, not only right up to the top of my company, but also to the minds of thousands of colleagues. I guess I can say, Siemens has thought about my question – and of course I will use the present attention to further discuss and elaborate the topic on SSN. At the same time I am very #proudtobeSIEMENS, where such employee engagement is possible. The above experience convinced me, that Siemens is on a good track in the middle of its transformation towards a future of #newwork.

What a lucky guy I am, to have just set up my blog these days. I couldn’t have wished for any better input for my first post. Thank you, Janina Kugel and Joe Kaeser!