|
|||
|
|
|
||||||
|
The Generational Techno-Divide
Social networking continues to explode in popularity, with 43 percent of the online community using such sites, up from 27 percent one year ago, according to a new survey from the Conference Board. The quarterly report, Consumer Internet Barometer, which surveys 10,000 households across the United States, finds that social networking is much more than just a fad among the young 'uns. Nearly two in 10 (19 percent) of those ages 55 and older reported visiting these sites, compared to 6 percent a year ago. The report also found that about one-quarter of social networkers are logging on at work. And not surprisingly, the workplace has become a dividing line of sorts with respect to social networking. "With the explosive growth of online social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, rapidly blurring the lines between professional and private lives, these virtual communities have increased the potential of reputational risk for many organizations and their brands," Sharon Allen, chairman of Deloitte LLP, which recently released its third annual Deloitte Ethics and Workplace Survey. The survey found that six in 10 (60 percent) business executives believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organizations in online social networks. And it found that workers disagree -- with 53 percent saying their social-networking pages are not an employer's concern. This mind-set is especially prevalent among younger workers, with nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of 18 to 34 year olds stating employers have no business monitoring their online activity. That said, employees appear to have a clear understanding of the risks involved in using online social networks, as nearly three-quarters (74 percent) believe such activities make it easier to damage a company's reputation. Even so, only 17 percent of executives surveyed say they have programs in place to monitor and mitigate the possible reputational risks related to the use of social networks, while less than one-quarter have formal policies on the medium's use among their own employees. Interestingly, nearly half (49 percent) of employees said defined guidelines will not change their behavior online. "One-third of employees surveyed never consider what their bosses or customers might think before posting material online," says Allen. "This fact alone reinforces how vulnerable brands are as a result of the increased use of social networks." She says executives need "to be mindful of the implications of this connected world and to elevate the discussion about the risks associated with it to the highest levels of leadership." Those risks were apparently on the minds of city officials in Bozeman, Mont., who recently suspended a policy requiring all job applicants to turn over their user names and passwords to individual social-networking or Web group sites. The policy resulted in a flood of complaints from city residents, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana and others. Requiring such information, however, is not the same thing as monitoring Internet use, Amy Cannata of the Montana ACLU told the Associated Press. "It's one thing, and I think totally reasonable, if someone has a public profile to go check it out," she said, noting that the city policy "certainly crosses the privacy line." Despite the potential risks, however, many employers are actively encouraging the use of social networks by their employees, while taking a measured approach to monitoring the employees' postings. "We feel it's important [for our employees] to be strategically engaged," says Adam Christensen, IBM's manager for social media communication. The Armonk, N.Y.-based technology giant encourages its employees to make use of blogs as well as social-networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn in the course of their work. "We have almost 400,000 employees spread across 170 countries, so we encourage them to engage and collaborate online, thereby flattening the organization and making it feel smaller," he says. With regard to monitoring employee postings, Christensen says, IBM generally prefers to take a hands-off approach, by letting its employee-user groups police themselves. It relies on a set of guidelines that were drafted by employees in 2005 (and approved by the company's legal and communications departments) to cover blogging and later expanded to include social networking. "The guidelines are really about encouraging common sense and providing some context around how employees should engage in these spaces," says Christensen. Among other things, the guidelines discourage employees from writing anonymous posts, he says. "We believe one of the most important things is for employees to be open about who they are. Anonymity -- internally and externally -- runs counter to our values," Christensen says. The guidelines also remind employees that they are personally responsible for whatever they publish and to avoid controversial subjects, he says. As for monitoring what IBMers post outside the workplace, Christensen says, the company doesn't do it, but it does remind employees to adhere to the guidelines if they post about work-related topics from home. One company has decided to tackle the risks and rewards of social networking by building its own in-house system. Grant Thornton, a professional-services firm based in Chicago, has just launched its own in-house social-networking platform called theGrid. One of the company's primary motivations for building theGrid was to forge tighter connections between its employees, its leaders and its 13,000 "alumni," says Chief Human Resource Officer Anne Lang. Like IBM, it also wants to encourage greater collaboration among its workforce of 6,000, which is spread out among 51 offices in the United States. "We want to link our current employees with Grant Thornton alumni -- not to mention the fact that continuing to nurture our relationship with the people who've left us is a good business decision, considering that many of them have gone on to become key influencers in the marketplace," says Lang. Since theGrid (built for Grant Thornton by New York-based SelectMinds) was launched in May, more than half of the firm's employees have registered on it, along with 65 percent of its retired partners and about 3,000 corporate alumni, says Lang. Employees have already formed a number of interest groups on it, she says, ranging from "accountants for AC/DC" and "How to improve your Microsoft Excel" skills to tips for healthy living, says Lang. Although the company hasn't posted specific restrictions on what employees can post on the network, users who find offensive content are encouraged to contact the firm's administrators, says Lang. Meanwhile, all Grant Thornton employees are required to sign off on the company's "use of technology" policy.
June 24, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
||||||
Print
Email
Write to the Editor
Reprints
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
© Copyright 2010 LRP Publications. All rights reserved.
|
||||