I’m told that the big corporations provide jobs for millions of people who like to believe they are secure there. That’s not been my experience, but what do I know? I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my life and never set policies for thousands of employees.
From my limited point of view, all employees of any sized company are people.. I do know a few things about people. 350 million of them are now on Facebook, with about a million per day joining. You got to figure that your employees, your customers and the public have found Facebook by now. I suspect that most employees with a computer know about it.
Yet today I’m reading Advertising Age (sorry no link.. I’ll explain below) and read that as many as 70% of companies surveyed are banning social media in the workplace. The article goes on to show how this is a dumb policy (duh) and suggests that “social media is like recess” and that happy employees will be more productive.
Recess?
To be fair, the lower ranking bullet points suggest that an employee may be able to keep up with information about their field and that maybe “brand evangilize” .. then concludes that we ought to consider letting folks use social media at work.
I was amused at the baby steps the author of this article was taking. I decided to leave a comment and suggest that “social media in the employee benefit package” is behind the times and that we should be pushing our people to use social media more to give better customer service, speed up communications and advance the goals of the company.
I wanted to leave a comment.. but Advertising Age still requires a login to participate.
I guess they think that commenting on their articles is recess and a privledge that I have to earn. No problem.. I’ll just log in and.. Wait! What’s this, you need me to confirm? … I can do that, Fire up the email window and click a link. DONE!
OK.. back to the article, scroll to the bottom, smile at the discussion about security issues and employees wasting time (so 2005).. there it is, the comment box. Typed in my 2 cents worth of added value and my user name and password and hit SUBMIT.
A new surprise.. another log in page. DRAT.. I’ve probalby lost my comment… no wonder I seldom comment on old media sites.. but I’m determined and log in for the 4th time.
That’s when I see this message:
This comment will cost you 1 credit. You have zero credits
That’s when I decided to put my comments here. No need to take on the old media, I’ll just bypass them… all I need is a link to that article. But first, let me reread it to make sure I’m quoting them right.
Oops. Can’t do that either. Seems my log in has alerted the system that I’m more engaged than a casual reader.
Access to this article is restricted to Advertising Age subscribers… click here to order
Advertising Age… the voice of the 20th Century Corporate Communications Paradigm (and quickly becoming irrelevant)
And big companies wonder why they are “losing it” in social media.
To have that happen to “Advertising Age?” Double DUH!!
Dr. Richard M. Krawczyk
Direct Response Marketing Expert
http://www.MarketingZap.com
To be fair.. there are many small companies and individuals who don't get it either 🙂
For goodness sake, Warren. Don't employees for 'Big corporations' already have enough to do, just keeping the corporations big?
Why would they even want to take time from their busy schedules to provide free social media branding and free public relations for a company that has already provided them with so much.
I mean, how about those cool, modern and efficient cubicles!
certainly, corporations would prefer that employees do their social media 'stuff' at home, on their own time.
Next thing you know, they'll want to put pictures of their families up in their cubicle! Good grief!!
No one's ever accused Advertising Age of being in the forefront of media. They opposed the Internet back in 1994-95 and, finally, went kicking and screaming into the 20th century.
The only group slower to adapt is the news media who, with few exceptions, still haven't a clue.
cute one Jim.. but your use of terms like “free social media branding and
free public relations” bring the original point I was trying to make.
Social media tools are for marketing of broadcasting a messages (though good
for that too).. they represent a new way to DO BUSINESS.
And once a competitor finds out how to do that without putting people in
cubicles, these old school thinkers are doomed
Jim..
I think AdAge is usually ahead of the government and education.. but not by
much 🙂
======
Social media is supposed to be “social” and a conversation… a 2-way conversation that is. Many of the big companies still have the org-chart approach with lots of inefficiency embedded, and they tend to resort to traditional means. If I read a good blog or piece of news and am inspired to comment back, I should be able to do so nine times out of ten. When will the traditional hats learn?
I don't understand why some sites insist on placing obstructions and hurdles in the way of those who wish to comment. If you want to build community (and you should) you need to foster interaction.
<Oops, made a mistake on first comment.>
I don't understand why some sites insist on placing obstructions and hurdles in the way of those who wish to comment. If you want to build community (and you should) you need to foster interaction.
It's possible that they could have decided they don't want too much interaction and that's their right. Common for those in power in the old order to try to hang on to whatever power they perceive is theirs
I say NO RULES.. have a conversation or not, it's up to you.
However, we've seen amazing results when you let customers/readers/constituents engage.
Very true… we all have a decision to make, one that each of us are to make on our own… both organizationally and individually. However, each decision has its consequences, and having a two-way relationship with the customer base is a great thing!
it's fine with me if they decide they don't want to have a conversation.. @adage said they did, then yanked it away in mid transaction
Ad Age is run by advertising companies. Many still think that ads should be about being creative and pretty with no real thought to effectiveness or growing the company. It is about winning awards.
I comment regularly at Ad Age. The second message you got was because it was an older article. New ones have unrestricted access on the web and then they move them to a restricted paid portion of the site. I don't think I have ever seen the comment will cost you a credit though. That is interesting.
Social media can have its place in a big company.. but it can also have detriments as well. We need to be honest that social media can be a distraction as well as a benefit. Companies need a well written plan on how they are going to use social media.
Having worked at a couple of larger companies, I would hesitate to let the majority of people be active in Social Media. They would all be playing Mafia Wars on Facebook 🙂
Control over employee is an illusion. Taking away tools will not make them better employees