Despite their relative newness, companies are embracing Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking tools, blogs and webcasts for internal communications and as part of their overall technology mix, according to a new survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.

Watson Wyatt's 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey found that since the economic downturn began, 72 percent of employers have increased their use of the intranet and 61 percent have increased their use of e-mail to communicate with employees. Employers are also using newer tools - a third (32 percent) have increased their use of webcasts; 13 percent have increased their use of social networking tools; and 12 percent have increased their use of blogs for communication. Watson Wyatt's survey was conducted in February and March 2009 and includes responses from 181 large employers.

"Web 2.0 technologies work well, in most instances, for targeting specific employee and manager groups, and companies are using them in appropriate situations," said Jon Osborne, senior technology consultant at Watson Wyatt. "Using tools such as role-based portals, internal blogs and webcasts ensures that both managers and employees can send and receive tailored messages in an engaging format. This is useful for improving productivity and maintaining employee morale and engagement, particularly in this difficult economic time."

Companies are adopting role-based employee portals - those that are personalized to the user - the most rapidly; forty-one percent have already deployed or are piloting role-based employee portals and nearly a quarter (24 percent) are planning to adopt them in the next 24 months. Unsurprisingly, adoption of generic intranets has slowed almost to a halt: While 86 percent of companies currently have them, almost none (a mere 2 percent) plan to implement them in the next 24 months. Rather, companies are planning to deploy blogs (13 percent), wikis (13 percent) and podcasts (10 percent) in the same timeframe.

"We are seeing substantially more dissatisfaction with older technologies that cannot be personalized, as employees become much more familiar with Web 2.0 tools and the benefits they provide. Such benefits range from ease of global collaboration to better communication and increased productivity," said Michael Rudnick, Watson Wyatt's global portal and collaboration leader. "Even though defining what exactly comprises Web 2.0 can be imprecise at times, employers are clearly recognizing its practical and near-term value."