Using SNS In The Workplace

As I was busy finishing a piece of writing project during lunch-time, I went online to my Facebook account and discovered that one of my Facebook contact is a volunteer for a Manila-based Radio Station (I am from Singapore). I decided to send her my greetings and discovered that she was hosting a live radio programme. To my surprise she introduced me to her radio audience on-air and I also gave her my assurance that I could also be a mentor if her radio station needs my advice.

All this within a space of 15 minutes. What did it cost me? Maybe I was away from my writing for 15 minutes and had a shorter lunch-break. But the benefits definitely out-weigh the costs. This is possible because of internet technology.

Why do I bring up this incident?

The reason is that many companies are not allowing their employees to use Social Networking Sites (SNS) like Facebook, MySpace or even MSN because they feel that the employee’s productivity will decrease and this will add to the cost of hiring the person.

According to employment law firm Peninsula, 233 million hours are lost every month because employees "are wasting time" on social networking. Their study is based on a survey of 3,500 UK companies and has drawn a conclusion that businesses need to be firm on not allowing employees use SNS at work. Similarly an Internet security company, SurfControl estimates that the slack time costs employers approximately A$5 billion a year in lost productivity in Australia!

In my own opinion, it is important that the employee should be given some space to read his Facebook account because in many cases, the people who he works with, including business suppliers may be more comfortable communicating with these online tools. Thus the employee could be compelled to reply through this SNS media so as not to come across as arrogant. The truth of the matter is that too many people already have a SNS account! In Captain D. Michael Abrashoff’s book It’s Your Ship, he reiterates “To achieve unity, you must recognize common interests. Maximize the individual's uniqueness and focus on their commonality. Channel these values or characters toward the common goal of the organization.”

Another contentious issue is the use of Facebook application. The more an employee adds a Facebook application, the more his working time is perceived to be compromised because it is assumed that he has to set some time going through the various updates and postings daily. In Jody Nimetz’s blog, SEO-Space, (http://seo-space.blogspot.com/2007/09/11-business-benefits-of-using-facebook.html), he highlights 11 Business Benefits of Using Facebook Applications of which the 3 relevant benefits for this article are drive web traffic, lead generation and the viral effect.

Jody’s ideas can be applied in this way; If your employee is well known as an expert in his particular field, he will be able attract a sizeable following in the various SNS. They may eventually be your company’s future customers – assuming your organisation has an open relation with your employee who will broadcast positive messages through his blog etc.

Eventually, it is up to your company to be able to think out-of-the-box and find ways to maximize the opportunities that your employee goes into cyberspace.

Source:cibmagazine.com.cn