social media and the workplace
DESCRIPTION
More and more companies are now allowing their employees to access social media sites while working - and it could be more helpful than harmful.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Positive Distraction Social Media and the Workplace
By Kiara Zuchkan
Image by elminium (via Flickr)
![Page 2: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Due to social media networks, the line between our social and professional lives
has been blurred.
Image by blaahhi (via Flickr)
![Page 3: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Today, 75.4% of firms use social media for business purposes.1
And 52.4% of those firms allow their employees to access social media sites while
working.1
Image by Simon Cocks (via Flickr)
![Page 4: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Social media outlets – whether accessed
through a computer, smartphone, or tablet – have proven to be very distracting...
Image by jseliger2 (via Flickr)
![Page 5: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
...yet more and more companies are allowing their employees to
connect.
Image by alles-‐schlumpf (via Flickr)
![Page 6: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
In fact, 64.2% of firms do not monitor the use of Twitter, Facebook, or other social media
sites in the office.1
Image by gillicious (via Flickr)
![Page 7: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
So why would 68.9% of companies choose to implement policies that allow employees to
use social media in the workplace1?
Image by Daniel*1977 (via Flickr)
![Page 8: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
New research suggests that workers who are encouraged to interact via social media are
among the most productive.2
Image by lovesonic (via Flickr)
![Page 9: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
But how could one possibly focus with the ever-present distraction that is social
networking?
Image by philip.bitnar (via Flickr)
![Page 10: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Joe Nandhakumar - a professor at Warwick Business School - attributes the increase in
productivity to the “theory of virtual co-presence”.2
Image by University of the Fraser Valley (via Flickr)
![Page 11: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
This theory is defined as “the
ability to collaborate with others over long
distances in relatively short
productive sessions to resolve
problems or accomplish tasks.”2
Image by the Freelens (via Flickr)
![Page 12: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Nandhakumar and his team studied a large European company that encouraged their employees to interact with customers using
social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Skype...
Image by babyben (via Flickr)
![Page 13: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
...and the newly social-media-empowered workforce was able to accomplish more sales and customer service tasks in a shorter period
of time.2
Image by vanhookc (via Flickr)
![Page 14: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Additional benefits of using social networking in the office include increased collaboration
among co-workers...
Image by ellajphillips (via Flickr)
![Page 15: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
...and strengthening the company’s digital literacy in order to compete for young talent.2
Image by scherno (via Flickr)
![Page 16: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Companies also believe the use of social media in the office leads to happier, more
comfortable employees.3
Image by mastrobiggo (via Flickr)
![Page 17: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
"If you're at work 12 or 15 hours a day, there are times when you want to break away and have a
connection with reality, and connecting with family and friends allows you to do that. These tools allow you to do that...without going stir
crazy.”3
- Kevin Rice, enterprise architect at AT Kearney
Image by stesciuba (via Flickr)
![Page 18: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Despite the positive results, resistance to implementing social media policies in major
companies is common.
Corporations fear that social networks represent potential security breaches.2
Image by sam.d (via Flickr)
![Page 19: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
“Ubiquitous digital connectivity should be
seen not as an unwelcome
interruption but as part of the changing nature of knowledge work itself that needs
to become part of normal, everyday
practices of contemporary organizations.”2
- Joe Nandhakumar Image by Esparta (via Flickr)
![Page 20: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Management needs to ask themselves: do the positive effects on their employees from
using social media outweigh possible security threats?
Image by Richard Carter (via Flickr)
![Page 21: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
If so, we will soon be looking at a new, social-media-equipped workforce.
Image by PitsLamp photography (via Flickr)
![Page 22: Social Media and the Workplace](https://reader033.vdocument.in/reader033/viewer/2022051613/54c810be4a79598e698b4594/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Sources Cited
1 "Social Media And The Workplace." The Social Clinic RSS. N.p., Mar. 2013. Web. 9 May 2013. <http://www.thesocialclinic.com/social-media-and-the-workplace/>. 2 Warner, Bernhard. "When Social Media at Work Don't Create Productivity-Killing Distractions." Businessweek.com. N.p., 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 9 May 2013. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-01/when-social-media-at-work-dont-create-productivity-killing-distractions>. 3 Gaudin, Sharon. "More Companies Are OK with Employees Using Facebook at Work."Computerworld.com N.p., 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225558/More_companies_are_OK_with_employees_using_Facebook_at_work>.