Social media can be a timewaster. But companies can miss out on countless opportunities by blocking these sites
I count myself lucky to be working for a company that hasn’t banned the use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. But I know that a huge number of companies block the lot. It takes just a few incidents of “catching” employees anywhere near a social site and bang — a policy is promptly put in place and left resolutely where it is, un-reviewed and forgotten, until someone up there is forced to admit the company may be throwing out the good with the bad.
And of course, the companies have a point. Facebook, Orkut, etc. can be compelling time-wasters and a huge amount of fun. But blocking these sites is addressing the wrong problem and taking the easy way out.
What a company should be looking closely at is its performance metrics. If an employee is not doing his or her job, tackle that specifically and head on. That the employee was on Facebook when he should have been working isn’t as relevant as one may imagine. If it weren’t Facebook, it would be something else. Look at overall motivation and engagement with the work, look at whether there’s a supervision breakdown of work, and so on. Look at whether the right people are being hired for the job in the first place. What’s Facebook got to do with it?
I was talking about this issue to various senior managers, and they came up with valid views. All employees aren’t entrenched and familiar with company culture. Many companies employ temporary staff, interns, etc. and to wait for appraisal time to address time-wasting issues is not feasible. And yet, these cannot be ignored as it is costing the company — which isn’t getting what it wants from those employees.
So is the answer to ban sites? I would still say not. Surely someone should be reviewing their deliverables regularly. In other words, what is the boss doing? Or is he on Facebook?
Where I work, we often block YouTube as it eats bandwidth. But the ban is put in when bandwidth is choked and lifted when work isn’t demanding that bandwidth. Employees have begun to understand when they can’t get to YouTube or choose to listen to music while working. The residue is one of goodwill instead of resentment.
Another reason companies would rather ban social sites is to be safe rather than sorry. Today, information moves on steroids, and it takes a second to pass on confidential data, badmouth a company, or to do something equally noxious.
That is scary, and financial institutions are understandably careful about how much Internet freedom to allow employees. But again, it is, perhaps, best for them to choose employees carefully and ensure they don’t have a disgruntled workforce.
What companies will have to realise is that banning social media is as good as banning the Internet as the Internet is becoming increasingly and pervasively social. There will be no separate social islands online, and the Net will not be accessible only on office computers while at work. With this happening, it is more important for companies to join them rather than keep trying to beat them.
I’m the last to say social media is the answer to everything or that it’s without problems. In fact, the uselessness can sometimes reach overwhelming proportions. Still, one can’t ignore that social media is evolving and being increasingly used for finding information, getting access to experts, connecting with or forming communities, marketing and brand building, and much else.
For some, Facebook may seem to be all fluff and FarmVille. Look around though, and you will find no end of dead serious companies exploring new ways of connecting with customers.
Academic institutions considered conservative and stiff-upper-lip are on Facebook, and, as we are all painfully aware, many of our esteemed ministers use Twitter to put their foot in their mouths.
Firms that try to cocoon themselves off from social media will also be doing a big disservice: they will be cutting off a springboard for new ideas at work. Instead of worrying over who is wasting time, if they were to focus on training in social media and its use to innovate, further the company’s interests and broaden their knowledge, they could leverage new opportunities online today.
As I write this, we are approaching 30 May, when a growing number of users are threatening to quit Facebook protesting privacy violations. Whatever happens, social media is more than Facebook and a phenomenon that shows which way the Internet is headed. Companies that stay out of it will lose out for months or years before they suddenly wake up and decide they should better catch up. Not cool.
(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 07-06-2010)