Social intranet: what is it and when should you choose one?

Almost every organisation has set up an intranet at some point. And in almost every organisation, a year later it turns out hardly anyone uses it. Not because the technology fails, but because an intranet does something other than what people need: it broadcasts, while employees want to take part.

This article explains what a social intranet is, how it differs from a classic intranet, when a community platform is the better choice, and why so many intranet projects stall.

What is a social intranet?

A social intranet is a private online environment where colleagues share information, discuss and work together. The difference with a classic intranet lies in the direction of the communication: employees post updates themselves, respond to each other and ask questions, rather than only receiving information.

Because the environment is online, it can be accessed anywhere, at any time. That makes knowledge sharing easier and stops information from getting stuck with a handful of people or disappearing into an inbox.

Social intranet vs. classic intranet: the differences

A classic intranet is essentially a publishing channel. You log in, check the schedule or the latest news item, and log out again. The editorial team decides what appears; everyone else reads along.

A social intranet is built around two-way communication. The key differences:

• Interaction: responding, asking questions and posting content are standard, not the exception.
• Reach: designed for colleagues without a fixed desk as well as office staff, through an employee app on their phone.
• Visibility: personal profiles and a photo directory give the organisation a face, instead of an anonymous archive.
• Ownership: knowledge comes from across the organisation, not only from the communications department.

That may sound like a detail in the set-up, but it determines whether people open the environment daily or only when they have to.

Intranet vs. community platform: when do you choose what?

Organisations increasingly compare a social intranet with a community platform. Both bring internal communication together in one environment, but they solve different problems. It helps to establish how your organisation is structured before you start comparing intranet software.

When is a classic or social intranet enough?

An intranet is often sufficient when your organisation is relatively homogeneous:

• one location, or a limited number of sites;
• employees who largely work from a fixed desk;
• a communication need limited to news, documents and policy;
• one clear audience: your own employees.

If that describes your situation, a social intranet or an extension of your existing digital workplace is usually the logical choice.

When do you need a community platform?

A community platform becomes relevant as soon as your audience is more complex. That is common in construction, logistics, retail, healthcare, and in associations and sports organisations. Recognisable signals:

• Deskless workers. A large share of your colleagues work on site, in the warehouse or on the shop floor and have no desk. A mobile intranet is then not an extra, but the baseline.
• Multiple audiences. You want to reach employees, volunteers, members or partners separately from a single environment, without everyone seeing everything.
• Multiple sites with their own identity. Organisation-wide news and local news need to sit side by side.
• Engagement as an objective. Employee engagement is a strategic goal rather than a by-product of good information provision.

That last point is clearly visible at VVV-Venlo, which reaches employees, volunteers, players and business members in one environment through its VVV Verbindt app. As Guus Pennings, managing director of VVV-Venlo, puts it:

"Showing appreciation for your employees and volunteers is not only about saying it and organising activities, but to a large extent about keeping them informed."

At VVV-Venlo, labels determine which group receives which message. An update can be visible only to volunteers, only to employees, or to one specific department. That distinction is exactly what a classic intranet, built around a single homogeneous audience, struggles to make.

The scale of an organisation matters too. Stichting Venloop works with around 1,000 volunteers spread across dozens of teams, from traffic control to build-up and breakdown crews. Sanne van Gerven, employee of Stichting Venloop, explains what that demands of internal communication:

"The app functions as our primary communication tool."

Before that, information was fragmented, responsibilities were unclear and outdated versions of operational documents caused confusion at the worst possible moment.

Why many intranets fail

Organisations looking for intranet alternatives rarely do so because the previous solution fell short technically. Four causes come up again and again.

1. Lack of adoption. The platform launches, but there is no clear owner and no content planning. After the launch the flow of updates dries up, and the habit of logging in disappears with it.

2. One-way traffic. If employees cannot respond or contribute, the environment feels like a noticeboard. There is no reason to come back between two news items.

3. No mobile access. For colleagues without a fixed desk, an intranet that only works on a computer is effectively unusable. They still hear the news from a line manager, or not at all.

4. Outdated information. The moment people notice a document or procedure is wrong, they start looking elsewhere. Trust in an information source is earned slowly and lost in one go.

The common thread: intranets rarely fail on functionality and almost always on usage. That is also why a SharePoint alternative or a new interface solves little on its own if the underlying habits do not change.

What should a good intranet solution offer?

An internal communication platform that stays alive has a number of consistent ingredients:

• Room for everyone to contribute, regardless of role or level.
• One-to-one and group communication, so discussions do not migrate to WhatsApp after all.
• Personal profiles and a photo directory, so people know who they are talking to.
• Easy sharing of knowledge and files, from photos and videos to presentations and operational documents.
• Access across multiple devices, with an app that works as well on a building site as it does in the office.
• Targeted communication, letting you decide per audience, team or site who sees what.
• Insight into usage, so you know which messages land and where attention is slipping.

In short: it should feel like a social channel, not a digital filing cabinet.

Bundeling's intranet solution

Bundeling is a community platform that brings internal communication, knowledge sharing and engagement together in one environment. It combines a photo directory, one-to-one chat, group chats and a news feed with an activity planner, bulletin board, flexforms, polls and API integrations. Labels determine which audience receives which message, and push notifications make sure important news also reaches people without a fixed desk.

More than 1,300 organisations across Europe now use the platform, from sports clubs and associations to companies with hundreds of employees working on site.

Weighing up a classic intranet against a community platform? Explore Bundeling's intranet solution, browse the features or see how our internal communication app works in practice.

Prefer to see it for yourself? Request a free demo and we will show you how the platform fits your organisation.

This item is written by Fleur Timmermans Business Developer