We understand why it is tempting to use social media platforms like Facebook as your primary (or only) tool for internal communication. Most people are already using multiple types of messaging apps and social media, so reaching them this way should be a breeze, right? Well, we have 5 reasons why Facebook shouldn’t be used for internal company communications.
In 2022, Twitter was fined $150 million for misusing user data over a period of six years. Their (well, Elon Musk’s) recent decision to start collecting more data like payment info in order to charge users for services like Twitter Verified did not help ease security concerns.
WhatsApp, while it has over 2 billion users and offers end-to-end encryption, was recently accused of sharing user data with its owner, Meta, who is notorious for having a taste for selling user data to third-party companies. (Not to mention that WhatsApp is not compliant with GDPR and its use for internal communication has been forbidden since 2018.)
The Cambridge Analytica incident of 2018 was just one of many data breaches and privacy scandals involving Meta over the years, in which the personal information of millions of users was taken without their knowledge or permission. And we won’t even delve into the data-harvesting and spying claims TikTok is currently facing, while the European Commission even banned the app from official devices in 2023 February.
To sum it up, social media platforms and instant messaging apps have never been the pinnacle of data security and privacy and they still seem to struggle with the concept to this day. While it's true that app-level privacy and security settings give users more say over their information's safety, the platform-level settings of social media are made to safeguard the platform owner, not the business information of app users. The security of these messages is not overseen by your own security protocols, and in some cases— like when using WhatsApp—you even risk facing legal consequences and hefty fines.
Unless you want to keep your internal communications surface-level, you should look for more secure and specialized communication tools that offer appropriate protection and control over your sensitive information, like confidential company data or trade secrets.
Using solutions like Messenger or Facebook groups might be a cheap and easy way for small businesses to keep in touch with their people. However, even for SMEs social media is a very limited choice in terms of user and content management. Companies have limited control over who can join, who can see the conversations, and how they are archived. This can lead to confusion and make it difficult to manage internal communication effectively.
Content management is difficult to handle properly on social media even for small businesses. Information can’t be organized into structured guides for your staff, nor can it be looked up and accessed easily—your employees might not even know what to look for in the first place. Just think about how the content search options tend to be lacking and vary between browser and mobile views.
While it's true that Facebook allows you to pin items of interest and highlight information in post descriptions, this isn't the best method for managing content across a company with multiple teams or departments. Both the user base and the content of your internal communication channel should be straightforward to search, manage, and update.
Using Facebook as your internal communication platform means that your employees must use their personal accounts. At first glance, this might not seem like a problem, but there are actually several reasons why your staff might be against this plan:
To build and maintain an effective communication strategy within your organization, you will need to see how your content performs in a way that goes beyond Facebook’s “seen by X users” data. Additionally, it would be great if you didn't have to go through all of your old posts to find the ones that got the most attention.
Getting feedback from employees is crucial for your strategy as well. On Facebook you won’t be able to conduct surveys or ask for anonymous feedback. Two-way communication is mostly restricted for comments and reactions on social media, but reading through everyone's comments and replies can get tedious.
Another issue with Facebook is that you can’t target specific groups of people within a company group with content and messages. The lack of this feature makes it difficult to effectively communicate with large employee groups. Your employees will have a harder time finding information relevant to their work and important messages may get lost in a sea of notifications. Similarly, you won't be able to share info or documents that are restricted to specific audiences, such as management or IT.
Many companies use specialized tools for project management, task tracking, and other work-related activities. Facebook's chat and groups may not integrate well with these tools, which can make it harder to keep everything organized and on track. A platform that can integrate different forms of communication with other work-related tools reduces the burden on your staff to use different programs and keep track of different login credentials.
Finally, using Facebook's chat and groups may not convey a professional image to your clients or partners. It's important for companies to use communication tools that are reliable, secure, and appropriate for the context. Using Facebook's platforms for internal communication may suggest that your company is not serious about its work or may not take data security and privacy seriously. A more professional approach would be to use communication channels that give your company more say over how it is perceived by the public, be that customers, partners, or even from an employer branding perspective.
Overall, Facebook chat and groups may not be the best option for internal communication within a company or organization, despite their convenience for social networking. Businesses should carefully assess their current methods of communication and give serious consideration to adopting more specialized and secure tools that better suit their needs and permit them to communicate more efficiently and effectively.
✅ you won’t have to worry about security, data and privacy concerns;
✅ user and content management will be transparent and efficient;
✅ employee engagement and work-life balance will be better supported;
✅ you can maintain a proper internal communication strategy complete with two-way communication and feedback;
✅ and the company's professional image can be greatly improved.
An employee platform comes to your aid in all the things that Facebook is lacking. These digital solutions were designed specifically for internal company communications, taking into account everything we discussed above from security to two-way communication, statistics, segmented messages and more.
The Blue Colibri App is a comprehensive employee platform that offers not only communication, but onboarding and e-learning, engagement, and administration solutions as well, for SMEs and large organizations alike. With these four pillars in place, you won’t have to pay for a wide variety of programs; instead, your employees will be able to access all of the resources they need in one convenient location.
The app can be tailored to your company’s look and needs and its greatest advantage is that no company email account is required to use it. This means that even your non-desk employees can easily access it from their phones and your reach can be greatly increased within the company.
Download our case studies to see how Blue Colibri App can benefit your company or book a demo with our team, see the platform in action and let us answer any questions you may have!
