Saying goodbye to an old friend, but hello to the future.
NB: This is my personal opinion as a HR leader. For full transparency I am an ex-Meta employee and current Blink employee, and a shareholder in both businesses.
What was you first social media? Myspace? Bebo?Facebook? 15 years ago the world was waking up to the concept of having online communities and friendships via social media, and as employers our initial reaction was, understandably, to be cautious of it. What if people spent all day on it and did no work? What if people share work info on there? It was new and unknown, so many employers took the step to block those websites at work, in the hope that it was a fad and it would go away….it didn’t. In 2014, I entered the tech industry and on day one was told about how much of my work would be done using a work social media platform, Workplace by Facebook ( now Meta). IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I could navigate real time work communication and collaboration in the same way I could see my friends holiday photos. I could get real time work news and updates that I needed to do my job, in the same way I could find out what people I went to school with thought of the latest marvel movie. It was an efficient and effective way to communicate and collaborate at work, and I quickly wondered how I worked without it.
Yesterday, the sad news came out that Workplace is being decommissioned. This is truly a sad day, as for me it was the product that introduced me to the concept of internal communication apps at work and dragged me into a more connected world of work.
But just like Facebook has evolved in Instagram and TikTok in public life, workplace social media has evolved as well. 10 years ago I didn’t know apps at work could be helpful, but today I’m using a world class app that not only brings my workplace communications into one place, but also my operations, collaboration with colleagues, people services into one place. Blink is changing the game in employee super apps, delivering unrivalled engagement and adoption from employees, and in particular from the hardest to contact employees, those who aren’t sitting behind desks and computers all day.
With Blink, we’re giving employees a digital home, not just a workplace.
While the news about Workplace caused me personal sadness as an ex Facebooker, as a People Leader, it jumps out to me as a huge opportunity for those companies who are impacted. I’ve read that Workplace are recommending a migration partner, but I want to challenge leaders to think about this more deeply, rather than just accept the simple option. If you’re currently a workplace user, you’ve done the hard work. You’ve introduced an app into your culture and are hopefully seeing some success, but rather than just doing a like for like migration to the same services, this is the time to supercharge your digital and communications approach. With Blink, companies who have migrated from Workplace are seeing increased daily usage, adoption, and operational improvement in as little as 2-3 months after migration. We’ve also created a migration pathway that is seamless and quick for both the employer and the end user. In fact, Blink have a webinar this week where a customer will be talking to us about that journey – please register here
If you are a leader thinking about how to react to the workplace news, or a leader thinking about how to introduce an app to your team, please get in touch. I’d love to tell you about how it’s revolutionised the teams I’ve been in.