Stop! Twitter time...

Thanks for all of those who got in touch about you’re getting on my wiki. A great response and I think the general view is wikis rock! So definitely one for my list – my list is something I’m going to talk about in a blog coming soon once I’ve got a bit further in my research. It’ll talk about some of the stuff we’re doing where I work on implementing some of this social media stuff.

And, I was wrong about Claire winning the apprentice. Well done to dats wot arm tawkin abaaart Lee McQueen. Personally, he’s been one of my favourites and I’m glad that Suralan overlooked his CV ‘creativity’. I think Lee proved himself as a great team player and leader while showing willing to learn etc etc. All big plus points as far as I’m concerned. And, not forgetting his pterodactyl (wow, I spelt that right first time!) and alarm clock impressions.

Anyway, back to wot arm tawkin abaaart in this blog…

I had a great meeting this week with some of my fellow social media nuts/amateurs/virgins – subject matter …..‘social media’. It was a great meeting in as much as we made a list of social media stuff we know exists and started to think if and/or when we want to introduce them in the work place. More about that in my future my list blog.

What I want to focus on for this blog is the classic “I don’t have time for that” issue. In other words, people saying that they’re too busy to use things like twitter, read blogs, get involved in wikis, respond to instant messages etc.

Now, isn’t this more about not having the mindset for it? Isn’t it more about not seeing the value of this new collaborative way of communicating? Isn’t it more about you just not being that sort of person? And, importantly, isn’t about whether you choose to get involved or not?

In my last blog, I spoke about an interesting conversation (note the use of the word ‘conversation’) I was having on my social network about rehumanising the workplace – about being human inside and outside of the workplace. Being who you are when you walk through your office door – the same person as you were when you left home that morning.

Well, if you’re one of those people like me who (see my born again digital blog) regularly uses stuff like facebook, twitter, Wikipedia etc outside of work – don’t you want that option inside work? I’m starting to find it a bit odd and frustrating not being able to communicate at work how I do at home – and I know a huge percentage of our employees will feel the same.

BUT, not all of them. There are many people who aren’t (yet) into that sort of thing, who haven’t yet seen or felt the benefits – so why force them?

As internal communicators, surely it’s about providing choice and a variety of channels that best fits and suits our diverse audiences. Yes, diverse and usually dispersed with very very different needs. Technology is moving at the speed of light – we need to keep up and continue to provide the right tools at the right time to facilitate conversation. Yikes, I’m getting into corporate speak – but you know what I mean I hope.

But I will say one thing….if you are saying you don’t have time for twitter and the like, then imagine what your audience thinks about the hundreds of emails you send out?! I can just hear them saying the same thing…”I don’t have time to read all those emails”. So, how about we provide them a choice of how they get their feed of information.

And, if we can provide stuff that allows people to respond and start a conversation – then all the better! By doing that, you’re making sure employees are involved and feel valued leading to that all important word – engagement!

So, are you someone that feels you don’t have time for this? Or have you got the twitterbug and feel ready to jump on the social media wagon?

A final thought to add to the mix – cast your mind back 10-15 years. Remember all those people who scorned at text messaging – “it’ll never catch on”, “ why text when you can phone” – and then look what happened!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Abi

Comments

[Peter Tilley]

We have been on the 'social media journey' for around six months now. In that time I've had a lot of conversations with a number of different people about the potential value of various tools for them.

Many of them have responded with: "I don't have the time for this." One thing that has helped me is the to-do/to-know distinction. That is, social media allows - in theory - their inbox to become their to-do list. This will save them time in dealing with emails. That time is then available for collaboration through these applications.

The next challenge is to give people a compelling reason to engage with these tools. Those people using social media on the web will 'get it'. Others will need a reason to give it a go. That's where humanisation comes in.

My feeling is that if someone discovers social networking, at work, because they want to find other people interested in ping pong, for example, then that's great. They will soon discover the business benefits. It's important for communicators to let people 'play' with these things in the early days.

This may be an uncomfortable feeling for many senior managers but if they want their organisation to realise the un-doubtable benefits that web 2.0 offers to the enterprise than it's a feeling they will have to live with.

There are so many benefits for an organisation that encourages their people to being their real self to work every day. I think social media is a great way for people to do that while discovering something that will change the way they work; a change they wouldn't enjoy if forced upon them...

My thoughts anyway!

Peter.

PS you are probably aware of them but the Common Craft films are a great way to explain where individual parts of the social media landscape fit in...Here's one about Twitter http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter