Social networking - friend or foe?

Someone said to me the other day “What is the point of social networking?... My wife doesn’t understand it... I don’t like it... it’s a waste of time....and it’s dangerous for kids!”

Many businesses around the UK would agree with certain elements of that statement and some of them have moved to ban Facebook, MySpace and Bebo and their ilk in the workplace, but opinion remains divided as to whether or not that is the right course of action to take.

Those in the pro corner say that allowing workers access to such sites is an issue of trust and whilst it isn’t acceptable for employees to spend the whole day updating their status or tweeting about what they had for lunch, an outright ban would be counterproductive. The resentment felt towards ‘the man’ in such situations could affect people’s affections for their employer and also their inclination to work to their peak. Whereas allowing a reasonable amount of access gives workers brief respite from the tedium of mundane work tasks.

The anti corner is often more prosaic and frequently comes down a line of heavy handedness with a hint of Monty Python - “Stop that - it’s silly!”- Regularly those in charge don’t understand the concept, are unwilling to learn and aren’t aware of the bigger picture.

A colleague recently told me a story of a company in the USA that was recruiting for the position of janitor in one of their stores. The company received over 500 applications for the position; they short listed 50 suitable candidates and interviewed the 15 strongest applicants. Naturally there was only one position and they wrote to one lucky soul to invite them to take the position. What’s your point? I hear you ask. Well, it’s not so much what they DID as to what they DIDN’T do. Whilst they wrote to the one person who had got the job they didn’t contact any of the 485 others who hadn’t even been shortlisted. In time honoured fashion those people told their friends and family about the rudeness of the company and in turn they told their friends and before long the store was losing customers hand over fist.

What has that got to do with social networking? I can hear you cry. My point is, just because Facebook arrived in 2003 doesn’t mean social networking is only 7 years old. It’s been around since man could first talk and made friends, it’s just that prior to the early ‘noughties’ it was called talking to each other!

So even though it might be based in new technology it’s low tech in its conception. The one major difference is that rather than a person receiving bad customer service telling ten of their friends, they tell ALL of their friends. Not only do they tell ALL of their friends they do it virtually the moment it happens. Spill soup in their lap and in seconds they have written a review of your restaurant and sent it via their mobile phone to their MySpace page, they’ve twittered it and over a hundred people know about it!

Enforce a draconian no tolerance rule in the work place and not only have you disillusioned staff but they WILL tell all their friends when they get home. Not only do you have unenthusiastic staff – your public image takes a hit. When they leave who will want to work for you?

A few days ago one of the world’s most followed ‘twitterers’ made the following comment “Wonderful day. Except made the mistake of travelling on United Airlines. Never again. *shudder*" In a split second he told almost 1.3 million people.

So what can you do about it? Trust your staff not to take liberties. Repeat the importance of good service, give staff additional training if necessary and remind everyone in your business that they’re not just dealing with the customer in front of them....it could be over a million people.