integratePR blog

Trend Micro recently released a study indicating that social media use in the work place is on the rise worldwide. In the last two years we have seen a gradual increase from 19% to 24% of workers using social media between 9 and 5pm.

What companies really need to focus on now should be on why employee’s time on social media is not advancing their business. By focusing on the “why,” they can decide how to redirect social media use into an advantageous business angle.

Recently on a national level, and yes here at integratePR as well, social media has been touted as a revolutionary force in the world of communications (not just in what we implement for clients but in how we use it for our own business networking and collaborative needs). This is true, it can affect so many aspects of communication, but perhaps we need to focus on the specific aspect that can apply most immediately: collaboration.

Social media is a gateway for collaboration as people across countries share thoughts, ideas, experiences and media through sites like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.

This sharing takes place mostly for a purely social cause today, but imagine what it could do for a business. What better place to incorporate that kind of collaboration of thoughts and ideas, than in a work environment? Social media tools allow us to have that kind of collaborative businesses, not just internally with Ning and private intranets, but with other companies as well.

Unfortunately, many companies are hesitant to make that transition into social media and many that have, still refrain from using them to their full advantage. In a recent article, Kraig Swensrud, senior vice president of salesforce.com, says the problem is “many businesses are stuck in the past, using antiquated technologies that were put in place before the web even existed”.

According to Swensrud, this is counteractive to the fast-pace nature of business collaboration and therefore confusing to graduates entering the workforce. We agree: the younger generation is leaving college with a whole new arsenal of social media tools that we need to take advantage of. If we don’t let them implement those skills into our business, will we lose the edge and force the new workforce to use personal networking platforms, rather than the company’s.

The more proactive and accepting we are of bringing social media into as many aspects of our business as possible, the more doors we open to collaboration and new business. Personal and direct communication should not be sacrificed—those are by no means the “antiquated technologies” Swensrud was referring to.

Social media is the tool to compliment our already real-time collaboration efforts.