New Study - Social Media Governance 2010

Benchmarks from one of the world biggest economies.

In Germany the University of Leipzig, Pressesprecher magazine, and the German Oriella partner Fink & Fuchs Public Relations released the major scientific research Social Media Governance 2010 – How companies, the public sector, and NGOs handle the challenges of transparent communication on the Internet". The survey gives a broad picture of the deployment of Social Media in German organizations, especially concerning Social Media Governance and delivers helpful benchmarks for Social Media Strategies. According to the results, half of all German companies utilize social media for communications, but there are substantial deficiencies in staff competence and responsibilities.

The key findings are ...

• - 54 per cent of companies, governmental institutions, associations and NGOs in Germany – the largest European country – utilize social media with half of them being active in this area for less than one year.
• - More than 80 per cent of participants in the study assess their own social media skills as mediocre or limited.
• - The most frequently stated perceived risks of social media can be summarized under the term "loss of control". A total of 82 per cent perceive the greatest benefit to be the quick distribution of information.
• - More than 80 per cent of German organizations possess no or only very limited regulatory frameworks (Social Media Governance structures) for social web activities. The presence of such frameworks, which comprise clear-cut responsibilities, policies, guidelines and key performance indicators, positively affects the staff competence, which in turn affects the development of strategies and the degree of activity. This means that the establishment of a Social Media Governance structure is the key to the successful rooting of interactive online communications in organizations.
• - The most popular tools are video sharing, microblogging and blogs. The most popular communities include Facebook, Xing as well as company-specific social networks on the intranet or extranet.

About the survey

• - Research topic: The status quo of Social Media Governance, i.e. the existence of regulatory frameworks for the strategic management of social media activities among German organizations. The identification of influencing factors, opportunities, risks and basic requirements for communication in the era of the social web.
• - Participants: 1,007 communications professionals from joint-stock companies, private enterprises, governmental institutions, associations, and NGOs. 37 per cent of the respondents bear managerial responsibilities.
• - Initiators: Joint project of the Pressesprecher magazine (Berlin), and (PDF, 60 pp. - free of charge) as well as further information.

  Those with deeper interest can find in the FFPR-Blog links to some German media and blogger reports. Questions, additional thoughts and a lively discussion via blog-comments or via Twitter are very welcome! - hashtag: #smgov2010