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October 07, 2009
The social media ban
A survey of 1,400 companies has found that 54% of them completely prohibit social media at work.
The companies that do allow their employees access to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or a host of other social networks do so in varying levels.
Just 10% allow employees access to social media for any type of use.
The story here isn't a preponderance of companies clueless about social media. The real story is the gift the those prohibitive companies have given to their competitors or a start-up in the 10% that have opened the social media doors.
The 10 percenters can set up company Facebook fan pages, add more people to the company Twitter account, set up a YouTube channel, a Squidoo account, a LinkedIn group, a Yammer account or a Ning network for employees who can tell their Facebook friends about the cool things they're doing at work. Plus they'll hear about any problems fans or customers encounter and have a front-line response ready to tackle them.
For the 10 percenters, this gift may not last long, but they have the chance to spread word of mouth about their work through network after network while their locked-down competitors futz over print brochures.
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The worst thing to do in the social media space is nothing, although most companies would be cautioned to start small. I'm currently in process of reading a great book entitled "Groundwell" by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, which is all about embracing social media and making it work for you. BTW, you are mentioned in the book! I'm in process of putting together a strategy for my company too - we definitely want to be in the 10 percenters! Thanks for another great post.
Cool post Ben,
I think you’re dead right, use of SM gives that forward thinking 10% a massive advantage over other companies.
But part of the appeal social media, and I think why it can be so addictive, is its instant gratification factor. When people are bored they can peruse the updates from their friends or colleagues on Facebook or Twitter. So while it’s a great opportunity for employees to talk about the cool things they are doing at work, I think it can be a double edged sword. I would guess that the companies that do the LEAST cool things are MOST likely to have employees who use SM for non-constructive purposes.
What can companies learn from this? Sex up the workplace. Light more fires. Give your employees something to talk about. Engage your people - make them feel they are contributing to something worthwhile.
Cheers,
CQ
Charlie -- Right on that social media is... hold on a sec, have a Tweet coming in... addicting. "Sex up the workplace?" Heh!
Why do "corporate" IT types block social networking?
Because it's much easier to block facebook, and myspace than to describe appropriate use and put sensible customized limits in place.
I'm old enough (barely) to remember when personal phone calls and e-mails at work were blocked, filtered, and otherwise frowned upon.
Rather than making the undermotivated employees work harder it creates resentment that management does not trust the workers.
These folks are trying to correct a personnel problem with a technical solution. Slackers will always find something, whether it's a book, Solitare, YouTube, Yahoo Games, or water-cooler chat.
Okay...there IS malware and other crap that propagates through these services. But you can say the same about IM systems, network file shares, and...well..pretty much anything else new.
Given that many companies are now looking at hiring a social media marketing specialist, I imagine at least this individual will be exempt from the ban among those that prohibit SM. ;-) Seriously, employees have been goofing off using computers since the appearance of IBM PC and Solitaire. Indeed, some go far as to argue it was the first killer app (not VisaCalc), which drove the demand for IBM PCs. Who knows? But the real takeaway is that employees always find ways around corporate IT watch dogs, so I wonder just how many of those “quarantined” workers actually use proxy sites and other such services to participate in SM? Crafting a market research study to determine that percentage would be tricky.
