Unions Are Using Social Media To Talk To Your Workers

The AFL-CIO had a blog post this morning about how social media is helping organize workers in the 21st century. Social media generally refers to places like Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, etc.

What this new media means is that union organizers have much greater access to your employees than ever before. Steve Shelby, an organizer for IBEW, set up a MySpace page and handed out one flier directing workers to that page. Rather than having to hand out hundreds of fliers or pamphlets everyday, Shelby was able to get the employees attention and regularly update his site.

Social media is fast, cheap, and reaches a greater audience.

The unions have also taken kindly to social media in an effort to reach out to young workers who are less likely to belong to a union then there father or grandfather. This is similar to a strategy Barack Obama developed to much success during the 2008 presidential campaign. By finding young workers at the sites they frequent, the unions are trying to persuade them to join their cause.

At the same time, companies can follow a similar strategy is delivering their message. Projections recently wrote about this topic and how you can use social networking to your advantage. And remember; don’t wait until it’s too late to start communicating with employees.