Social media have a role to play in the workplace

I had an opinion piece on the op-ed page of the Vancouver Sun in March, 2010 that sums up my views on social media in the workplace. (It's no longer available online, so I'm posting it below.)

 

Social Media Have a Role to Play in the Workplace

By Ron Shewchuk

During the Winter Olympic Games I was often reminded of the power of social networks to make connections that were unimaginable just a few short years ago.

Case in point: on the first day of the Games I was walking along Robson Street with some out-of-town guests when we caught sight of couple of giddy thrill-seekers hooting and flailing their arms and legs as they glided along the downtown zip line. I had heard the ride was free and I thought it might be fun for my guests’ teen-aged sons to give it a try. So I pulled out my smart phone and posted this on my twitter feed: “Does anyone know how long the wait is for the Robson zip line?”

Within a few minutes the operator of the ride tweeted back: “Thanks for your interest. Right now the lineup is about three hours long. If you want to try tomorrow, the zip line is open at 8.00 a.m.” Amazing.

In the space of four years, social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have become woven into the fabric of our society. A recent study of global internet use by Universal McCann reported some astounding statistics: over 60 per cent of internet users have a profile on a social network. Over 80 per cent view videos on YouTube, and close to 30 percent don’t just watch – they’ve uploaded videos to the web for others to see.

This stuff is no longer in the realm of computer geeks and teenagers. Today the majority of internet users read and comment on blogs and new sites, listen to audio or video podcasts, share photos online using sites like Flikr, and regularly turn to services like Yelp and TripAdvisor to get user reviews of restaurants or vacation destinations.

This broad adoption of social networks is profoundly changing the way people find and share information. It’s also creating powerful online communities that can stage activist campaigns, lead consumer revolts and even influence the outcome of elections.

So why isn’t the same thing happening at work, where we spend most of our waking hours?  With only one in five of today’s employees fully committed to their jobs and companies struggling to motivate a cynical, disengaged workforce, one would think there would be a rush to build social networks at work. Yet many companies still ban them.

Businesses are worried that employees will waste company time on “social notworking,” or they’ll share confidential information, or do something stupid online that will damage the company’s reputation. They are also concerned that installing social networks will cost time and money with no measurable return on their investment.

And yet despite these issues, social media are slowly being put to use by some leading companies. These early adopters have taken the risks and made the mistakes that beginners make. In the process, they have found many useful, practical applications of the new tools and technologies, from business-friendly equivalents of Twitter and YouTube to full-blown in-house social networks where employees can create their own profile, keep up to date with their work mates, rate and comment on company news, and collaborate on projects.

The early adopters have found that issues of productivity and security can be addressed with clear policies, sound planning and disciplined implementation. And the cost of using these new online tools is low, and often free of charge.

So, what does this all mean for employers who find themselves behind the curve?

Successfully implementing the new tools and technologies of what’s been dubbed “Web 2.0” will require new ways of thinking about the role of employee communications in today’s organization. Traditionally, management has been the keeper and careful disseminator of company news and information, but business communication is now moving inexorably to a model where employees will have the power to create their own content, customize information according to their needs, and build their own internal networks and online communities.

Web 2.0 promises to be a powerful new way to engage employees and improve the effectiveness of today’s organization. It’s time for the workplace to invite social media to be its online friend.

_____

Ron Shewchuk is a North Vancouver-based business consultant who helps companies communicate with their employees. He was also the host of RonCon 2010, a conference about employee engagement and social media held in Vancouver March 22 – 24 and in Calgary March 24-26. Find out more about Ron at www.ronshewchuk.com.

 

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[Sports]

Im thankful for the article.Really thank you! Great.

[Ruslan]

Saturday 3rdOur groomer rtopres that he has groomed and tracked all the trails in the past 2 days. The lower Tolko loop is closed because of about 12 trees blown down across the trail avoid that.Temp this morning in the Kane Valley is around zero.Have a good weekend!

[Sergey]

Sunday 18thI skied the entire outer peiemetrr starting and ending at P6 estimated 24 km (am I ever knackered!) Most of it was good skiing except for Harmon which was mostly deep and sometimes crusty snow and hard going. There are good tracks set by skiers on most of the trails. Skiing should be good for many days to come will be better in the mornings gets soft and slippery in the afternoon.

[Danyela]

Wednesday 14th the snow is excellent and the trlais are like velvet.Did Kane, Ravine and Hill's Homestead today beautiful skiing all the way. About 3-4 cm of fresh powdery snow on the nicely groomed trlais. Could not be better. Sadly most people seem to have put away their skis I think I was the only one out there today. It should remain good for many days to come if the colder weather holds. It was about -5C today and a bit of a chilly breeze at times.

[Mariya]

Skiing couldn't have been beettr than today winter wonderland with the 1-3 inches of new snow on the trails and temp. at -8C in mid-morning and -4C in the afternoon in brilliant sunshine. We skied a 12.5 km loop from P6 on Aspen to P5 then up Over Easy to Gulch and Panorama Shelter and down Harmon. Sometimes Harmon can be a tricky trail too long and slow if its sticky and too fast if it's crusty, but today it was a smooth, fast straight-run all the way in the powder. Aspen and Kane have just a bit of new snow and you can feel the crunch under foot, but higher up, the groomed trails are softer with fluffy powder on top. Just great!

[Shemar]

Maria, Thank you for taking the time to write this post. As of late, I have cheson to not participate in a lot of the social media and tech related events, for a few reasons. Mainly, I've limited myself to Broward-only events since I no longer live and work in Miami. The events in Fort Lauderdale have unfortunately not fit my schedule or interest as of late.While I had not participated in this year's Social Media Day, I was a bit astounded when a colleague of mine who is a social media startup CEO who is new to the area attended the Sugarcane event after I gave it my blessing and he came back to tell me how alcohol-focused the South Florida social scene was. He had been there to get a feel for what our community was like (which would ultimately help him in his fancy business decision making). My reply was "Really? You gotta go to one of the regular events to get a better feel for it. TRUST ME. THERE ARE PEOPLE WORTH KNOWING HERE." Anyway, I had stumbled onto the drama after hearing his reaction and watching it explode online after Carlos posted to MB411. I hadn't taken the time to really figure out what went down and I simply wrote it off ...It's kind of funny because I'm not sure if you're familiar with how I first became involved with our local social community. It was after a similarly bad fist experience, attending a Refresh Miami event where @alexdc specifically was calling out the traditional media organizations, which I worked for, for not covering them enough. Ultimately, it left a sour taste in my mouth and I took my reaction to the comments thread which exploded nastily. I was persistent that I wasn't going to let the harping and complaining stop me, and my voice was heard. Sorry for the rambling ... Anyway, back to the case at hand: Maria, you are ultimately the South Florida's best asset when it comes to social media. I don't generally like blowing smoke up someone's ass, but you've proven to be a relentless champion for our community, an unwavering voice helping to get out the word to the non-techies about what we're doing here, and you've done it all with your own style and flare. All while remaining unbiased, a challenge that no one else has been up to. We owe you a lot, Maria. Thank you so much.

[Miting]

Wow, what a nice infograph! Very etnernainitg, it is really funny. That shows how social networking sites make the people of the world go round. I love thw way you simplify it and you write very well. Thanks for sharing this wonderful infograph I'm impress actually.Alexa Brooks recently posted..

[Metto]

Thanks for the great show, Becky! You are so right getting settard with social media is just like getting settard with anything that you want to do. Thinking you want to do it and knowing you could benefit by doing it, don't move you forward. The only thing that moves you towards your goals, is getting settard! Today!

[Juliani]

First of all, thank you Mr, Ghassan for the wonderful assay and great, new, and ciaterve oriented idea, and as i understood from your meaningful words that Social Entrepreneurship is more of an Idea than actual application with rules and headlines.what I ment is that this concept can be applicable in all, and i mean ALL ways of social, commercial, public, & private.Thank you again Sir for your inspiring words and continuing effort to set an example for all of us.

[Lilit]

In this way, can see these very lucky today. Of course I also share a good news for you, at penrest the store is I have seen the most inexpensive and very good quality of , not letter you can go to .

[diverticulosis vs diverticulitis]

ronshewchuk.blogs.com is super!! Love to come back here

[Ron Shewchuk]

Excellent clip, Mike. Thanks for sharing it. Wise advice from Mr. Owyang.

[Ron Shewchuk]

Re: [For Your Approval] Mike McCready submitted a comment to "Social media have a role to play in the workplace"

Hi Mike. Thanks for joining the conversation!

Ron

[Mike McCready]

I completely agree with you Ron. I did try to introduce an internal social network called Yammer, but there wasn't high adoption. Where I work social media is being adopted quite well for external communications, but it is a bit slower for internal use - but it is getting better.

A great video your readers might like to see is from Jeremiah Owyang where he talks about social media and employees. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7UQVkdYSag.

[Ron Shewchuk]

Re: [For Your Approval] Joey Biber submitted a comment to "Social media have a role to play in the workplace"

Thanks for joining the conversation, Joey!

[Joey Biber]

For me, it is okay to add social media in your workplace as long as it doesn't interfere with your duties inside the office. Social networking can be useful in a company today, because they can promote their products and services also by advertising into these networking sites. Social networking development tools are used, so that they may be able to deliver their messages to the users efficiently and effectively, too.

[Ron Shewchuk]

Thanks for your comment, John. The format of the op-ed made it difficult to reference case studies, but there are lots of them - The Royal Bank, Best Buy, Dell, British Telecom, TELUS to name a few who have embraced the new technology and applied it to measurably improve retention, increase collaboration, drive new product development, and more.

[John Carraway]

It would have been better if you would have mentioned how some companies are using social media internally successfully. I know quite a few that have tried with very limited success. Who are the early adopters that have the metrics to show that social media is working internally?

[Ron Shewchuk]

I like the idea of tracking one's own digital tatoo, Sijia. We all need to be aware of how big, and how permanent, our personal online tatoo is and what we can do to protect our information. What was your argument about?