The model consists of the following stages: Ad Hoc, Experimental, Functional and Transformation.

Ad Hoc is seen as the level where employees are undertaking Social Media initiatives on their own. This individuality is unstructured and,seen from an organisational point of view, it is not very useful in fulfilling strategic goals. E.g., employees own a Twitter account or a Facebook page. The individual activities will not structurally contribute to the organisational goals. Employees use Social Media for their own sake and for their own goals and interests, whereas private and business often overlap.

Experimental is the level at which the organisation accepts Social Media asa phenomenon and where it actually starts exploring the capabilities and opportunities of Social Media. E.g. as organisation you can start with setting up a Twitter account, linking to Social Media initiatives on your website or posting videos on Youtube. These initiatives are experimental and can afterwards be evaluated and learned from. Departments set up independent initiatives, such as Communications, Human Resources or Product Development. There is a need for a policy and strategy for more targeted initiatives and forgaining control of individual actions. The receivement and return of responses is unstructured and depends on the quality and initiatives of employees.

Functional is the level at which Social Media is used to serve the organisation and is deployed as a valuable tool to integrate existing workflows. Social Media is executed in a spot where activities can be a value-added initiative, such as in marketing campaigns. Key employees, such as the Marketing Manager, are very lively on Twitter or own a blog. Communications with customers, suppliers and partners is, besides the ‘normal’ routes, also performed via Social Media channels. This increases openness of the organisation and also increases intensive cooperation. Also, it blurs the boundaries between several departments. The organisation proposes a policy and best practices for using Social Media. The implementation of the policy is embedded and maybe a ‘Social Media manager’ is appointed. Receiving and sending out reactions is structured in a webcare-team and in the use of Social Media monitoring tools.

Transformation is the level at which the boundaries between the organisation and ‘the outsideworld’ are fading. This transforms the organisation and its stakeholders into a collaborative network that creates new value through the use of Social Media. Social Media is fully integrated into the strategy and processes, enabling the organisation to take the lead in exploiting opportunities in, for example, the form of co-creation. Social Media is strategically targeted to different user groups. Tools are used to approach stakeholders and key influencers to work with them to develop initiatives for (more) value creation.