Social media is a very current topic. The case organisation of this thesis, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), has also acknowledged the significance of social media in its current communications and marketing. For this reason the organisation aims to utilize social media in its operations.

The aim of the SAK’s social media work group was to find different ways to utilize social media as a communication tool in the trade union movement. However, the focus in this thesis is different, as its aim is to find out what kind of discussion about SAK is going on in social media. The study examines Finnish net users’ opinions on SAK’s views in internet forums. This thesis concentrates on the thoughts and the opinions that SAK’s views evoke.

The theoretical section discusses the main characteristics of social media and their impact on modern communications. The study was made from a qualitative perspective and the material was gathered by using two different media tracking services; it was gathered between 1 June 2009 and 31 December 2009.

The study showed that the net discussion about SAK is quite active. There were more neutral and negative comments than positive ones in internet forums. Based on the large number of comments, it can be concluded that many net users are quite interested in the work of the organisation.

The net discussions indicated SAK’s strong areas, which should continue to serve as the organisation’s focus in the future. Internet forums also demonstrated some weak points, which should also be taken into account in the organisation’s operations. Following internet forums and other social media forms enables one to react quickly to any weak points. Social media can therefore be considered as an important feedback channel. Following social media is a way for an organisation to collect a lot of useful improvement ideas.