Social Networking (SN) media has exploded in recent years as an outlet for information delivery. Blogs, wikis, Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitters and Yammers, you name it – almost everyone is reading and writing without the traditional media in the middle. I’ve been watching on the surface to determine which directions the various forms have taken, for what variety of purposes they serve, and which have the strongest footing in various forums. Several things seem clear about SN: It has grown and evolved remarkably in a very short period of time; it has taken a lot of wind out of the sails of subscription-based information services; it offers tremendous benefits to individuals who like to know stuff; and relationship- and knowledge-driven business businesses are, or should be, seeking to determine 1) how real is the huge potential and 2) how to realize it.
At the same time, there’s plenty to be concerned about: Rumors proliferate; technology and content self-perpetuates; the massive amount of options forces people to be selective, yet so many are compelling, it’s tough to choose. And, of course, from a management perspective, nightmares abound – these things can wreak havoc on productivity; they can increase the threat to employee and customer privacy; competitive information is routinely leaked before it is intended to be; it’s a messy, complicated, and potentially significant investment to cohesively plan a way to assess and use SN, and so on.
My interest lies particularly within the question of how firms can leverage social media to generate business value; I recently saw this very question addressed in a blog with a link to a post on skilfulminds.com. How can time and money be saved using different forms for different purposes? How can companies track and analyze the interconnectedness SN generates in its workforce, between its departments and business units, and outside of its organization? While savvy recruiters have been viewing Facebook and MySpace pages for a couple of years now and arguably save time and costs in their screening processes, it seems companies are still scratching the surface in their SN strategies. How can competitive advantage, new revenue, and innovation be grown using SN applications?
More to the point in the context of workforce planning and analytics: how can you track and analyze the information flow and impact of social networking within your workforce? While many companies have tight controls on their networks – raise your hand if you still can’t get into your yahoo mail or gmail from the office – some companies have believed for a while now that there’s value in letting their workers grow relationships on the job via SN to outside people, affiliations, and even competitors. I agree, but I’m not seeing a ton of information yet on how they assess the detailed connections and information transactions, calculate their impact to determine ways to manage both the applications and the people that use them, or develop plans for capturing and growing the value to the business. How many companies know they will need a certain volume of SN-savvy relationship managers in their online direct-consumer sales unit by Q1 2011?
Organizations that rely on relationships – that is, any business with customers they hope to keep coming back – can and should seek to benefit from knowing how to effectively leverage social networking as a dimension of employee value and performance. I believe, from a talent management perspective, it should become imperative to tap the value of SN as a business driver, and to plan a workforce incorporating the relationships and skills of its people that are using these applications.
Stimulating post and interesting thoughts. My guess is that most companies aren’t yet aware of the importance of SN to performance in their business. Rob Cross’ recent book, “Driving Results through Social Networks” provides some useful insights into the kind of management thinking needed even though he is not focused on social software implementation.
Larry, thanks for the reply; I agree in that it seems most of the focus is on marketing and brand management rather than a dynamic of employee experiences. Thanks, too for the book reference, I’ll be sure to check it out.