Workscape Institute

As noted in my first article on Social Media and its business impacts, new technologies bring the promise of enhanced collaboration between a skilled workforce in real time, but that very core benefit is also a rationale for slow adoption.

The open exchange of ideas is what seems to give many corporations pause when it comes to the use of social media technologies in the workplace. If it can’t be regulated, it seems, it can’t be trusted. The same fears, however, were cited during the early days of e-mail and Internet access, yet today they’re fully engrained in the day-to-day operations of nearly every business. Social media takes these forms of communication to the next level – hence the “2.0” moniker – and fosters a true sense of collaboration and connectedness on a far deeper and more meaningful scale. The power of this technology – and its practical applications – recently came to light in a very personal way.

A few months ago, my wife and I welcomed our third child into the world… but Baby Sam’s arrival came some six weeks ahead of the due date. As we were in the waiting room at the hospital prepping for the early arrival, I used a service called Twitter to keep friends and family in the loop on what was happening. Shortly after posting news of the excitement to my personal network, I received a message from a neonatal intensive care nurse who also runs a website about NICUs, offering both congratulations and an invitation for free advice should my wife and I have questions regarding parenting a preemie.

Think of the magnitude of what just happened during that simple exchange: while sitting at a hospital in Newton, MA, information that I entered into a web-enabled cell phone triggered a response from a highly-specialized nurse living in Colorado, offering free advice to a couple she’s never met regarding a child who – at that time – was yet to be born. Now let’s take this scenario and consider how it could play out in your organization.

Imagine a new employee who is wrestling with a particularly challenging project and he taps out a line explaining the problem into a service like Twitter. Within moments colleagues are relaying advice and insight, enabling him to leverage their experience and expertise to solve a problem. Imagine what your customer service organization could do with the ability to communicate with clients in real-time. Progressive organizations such as Comcast are early adopters of the technology and are enjoying some impressive results.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay and the sooner you embrace the technology, the sooner you will be able to foster greater communication between your employees and your customers.

What is your organization doing to introduce social networking into the workforce? Are you encouraging or restricting the use of Web 2.0 technologies, and can you readily articulate the reasons for that choice? Leave a comment and let us know.