Corporations and Social Networking
I read a great article today posted in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. It refers to a report released Wednesday by Robert Half Technology . The survey is said to find that 58% of Canadian Companies surveyed prohibit social networking at work.
The concerns the businesses who ban social networking have are more about employee’s wasting work time to chat on facebook or twitter for non-work related purposes. And fair enough, that is a valid concern. As a business owner it would bother me if my staff was being paid to work and instead were doing something personal during that time.
There’s always been big debate about whether employees should be allowed to use Social Networking sites at work. The recent growth of Social Media for business is making this decision even more difficult. Businesses are looking to use Social Media but for many the concept of talking directly to customers via social networks is very new and they are learning. Some the right way and some the wrong way.
Personally, I don’t think social networking works for everyone – or every business. For business, there needs to be a solid foundation (ie your website and marketing plan) on which to build these relationships and a good strategy to implement to achieve the desired goals. If you don’t have this foundation, you may struggle and even fail.
Businesses, especially corporations who make the jump into social media, have to have a very strong foundation as well as a concise policy for employees who use the networks as a representative of the company. They are acting as a spokesperson and all parties must be clear on what can be said, and how and when and to whom…
So, what’s my take on the ‘bans’? I kind of agree if the business does not use social media as part of its marketing plan, however technology is making it near impossible to block all access. Social Networking is new to business, so it makes sense there is a high number of corporations blocking these sites on their networks. I do however, think that number will go down as time passes and more and more businesses join in this new way of networking directly with their clients.
There are a couple comments on this article as well… Jane Doe’s comment on how allowing staff access may mean taking a break is not a break at all – at least not one from sitting in front of your computer screen…she has a point.
Tags: business, Facebook, social networking, Twitter
