I know my lines, Mr. DeVille - but what’s my motivation?
In today’s world, information that once flowed vertically, from senior management down and from the production centers up, flows much more fluidly. I know much more about other areas of our business today than I did just a few short years ago - and I have opinions. Rapid advances in information technology make it possible for me to apply my specialized knowledge to challenges outside of my traditional area of focus. This information empowerment is, like it or not, democratizing business. Traditional command and control models of organizational management are struggling with this phenomenon, and social networking has the potential to become a powerful force in the changing world of business.
I’m interested in hearing your perceptions of how social networking will evolve in business. Do you think management has the same view of social networking as the rest of the work force? Are our values and goals aligned? What will be the “killer apps” for social networking and what have been your experiences with the technologies so far?
Social networking in the enterprise can be very effective, and it can become cumbersome. The key to effective use will come as participants apply the same level of maturity as they would to physical networking. That is, respect for the positions of others, a commitment to providing relevant insight and commentary, not just filliing space, and a recognition of when and how to draw issues to closure.
In effect, what we have learned from our families, schools, friends and business is still very relevant when it comes to making social networking via advanced techniques. Much of the current social networking that you mention such as U Tube etc, are chaotic because there is now social contract in place and contributors are able to use artificial personas to front their comments. In business, there needs to be a deeper commitment to honesty and authentic representation on one’s identity,
Myspace and Youtube are fascinating, but some of the biggest economic effects will occur as businesses learn to understand the incredible amount of social networking that’s already going on by their employees and partners. At the MIT Center for Digital Business, looked at email traffic and found remarkable correlations between being an “information hub” and being a high performance worker. As the tools for measuring networking get more powerful, I expect businesses to get much more adept at using their understanding of social networking to increase business performance. This level of fine-grained understanding of information flows simply wasn’t possible 5 or 10 years ago.
Benefits of Social Networks
Outside the firm, social networks appear to represent interesting sources of "friends," ratings, and content but inside the firm they appear to actually make people more productive. People who are more central in a contact network appear to juggle more work, that is, they multitask more and complete more projects. Also, people who have diverse social networks seem to learn of news faster and this seems to help them generate more revenue.
Specific recommendations from new research include (i) actively seek contact with information brokers and (ii) embrace information sources who are not like yourself.
For the data to support this, see recent work on how connecting to information hubs helps individuals become more productive
"Information, Technology and Information Worker Productivity." Also, take a look at how information diversity helps individuals become more productive here
"Network Structure & Information Advantage "
Nathalie wrote @ June 30th, 2007 at 5:46 am
I agree that business networking is taking a new life of it’s own with social networking sites. My favorite is DirectMatches because of the way their system works and the kind of exposure I get there (click my name above to view my profile if you want to see how the layout is).
They allow you to add forums, classifed ads, news, etc. to your site. I’ve made quite a few good business contacts there.
Social networking is a very powerful tool for a business but it just as important for personal brand as well. At my organization we certainly look at individuals resumes but we value that brand and online presence in the social networking area just as much.
Jim Olson wrote @ October 31st, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Interesting discussion Roger. Who knew back in 1995 when I first logged onto the Internet (and even back to 1988 when I discovered bulletin boards) that the online chatting I was doing back then would eventually be called “social networking”? Personal websites, chat rooms, all of these things would eventually evolve into sites like MySpace, LinkedIn and so on.
This phenomenon has become a medium people like myself count on both in business and our personal lives. It has become a way of sharing ideas, problems, solutions, etc. and that helps us all do our jobs better. Our lives have become far more published in recent years than ever - good or bad.
I have to agree that social networking is becoming a very hot topic and tool for people to use. As long as the person post good quality content to the social network they are using then many people will stick around and read it. Not only that but they will share it with their friends and networks too. This is where the site becomes social which is what you want…
Social networking is very powerful as long as the publisher puts quality content so the social aspect of it will work in getting new friends on the network.
Warmly,
Jason Pearson
Social networking helps blogging too. Great article!
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