Companies should stop blocking social media
Mon 29 August 2011
, Maurice Eykman, LEAP
These days news breaks on Twitter, not on CNN. And we can talk to friends and colleagues real time, anywhere and anytime…often for free. Digital natives don’t even use email anymore, it’s too old fashioned. Companies are starting to invest big time in social media and trying to make sense of the possibilities they offer them in connecting to stakeholders and consumers. And yet, 31% of US companies still prohibit all access to social networking sites. They should reconsider.
The stats
In May 2011 Robert Half Technology interviewed 1400 CIOs (chief information officers) of companies with over 100 employees as a follow-up to their 2009 survey. http://rht.mediaroom.com/2011SocialMediaPolicies
CIOs were asked, “Which of the following most closely describes your company’s policy on visiting social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, while at work?”
Their responses:
2011 2009
Prohibited completely 31% 54%
Permitted for business purposes only 51% 19%
Permitted for limited personal use 14% 16%
Permitted for any type of personal use 4% 10%
Don’t know/no answer 0% 1%
Total 100% 100%
Although the number of companies that prohibit access to social media completely is diminishing, the 31% that still does so should reconsider. More and more employees are relying on social networks to do their jobs. This is especially true of business professionals. They rely heavily on social networks in the workplace.
Business professionals need online communities
Recent research of The Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) notes this again. The results of the 2nd annual New Symbiosis of Professional Networks research study, a benchmark on the impact of social media on enterprise decision-making, show that:
Thought Leadership is the new currency of online professional collaboration.
- Business professionals are changing how they collaborate as a result of online professional communities and peer networks.
- Social networks have evolved to become knowledge and communication networks.
- Access to thought leadership content is now the #1 reason why professionals surveyed visit networks and communities.
- Professionals are collaborating with each other visa vie the thought leadership content they generate, curate or share.
- No longer is collaboration an experience between a limited number of people.
Online communities speed up the decision process
Another key-finding of the NCR study shows that professional communities are being used more frequently to inform business strategy and supporting new products and services (much more than in 2009). And 80% of respondents are able to accelerate decision process and information/strategy development by participating in communities.
You can’t block smart phones
And by the way, as Arik Hanson points out in his blog Why companies should stop stop blocking social media, if you still think employees will waste time on social networks if you give them access on your network think again. How many people in your company own a smart phone do you think? They don’t need the company’s network to go to Facebook, twitter or LinkedIn. Pretty pointless to block those media on their computers.
Moreover, there are plenty of other possibilities to waste time, on- or offline. ……
Need more information on why companies should stop blocking social media?
There is whole website dedicated to it: www.stopblocking.org.
This site is designed to serve ‘as a hub information resource for those who believe the benefits of providing access far outweigh the risks.’
What do you think?
Do benefits of using social media at work outweigh the risks?
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