Your employees can waste a lot of time on twitter – right? Well of course they can.
One of the architects whose practice I managed employed a school leaver for six months as a receptionist. She dressed well, spoke well and was well mannered, but she spent every moment she could, talking to her friends via the company email account.
This was in the 90s, and today this same person might be spending all the hours she could chatting on facebook, bebo or even twitter. The reason why she did this was because a) she wanted to and b) no-one stopped her.
If you employ staff of this type in this way then you’ll have a huge problem with social media use during the working day. You’ll have it whether you have a firewall or not. You’ll have it whether you have a social media strategy with associated staff policies or not. You’ll have it now. What you have to do is tell your staff what appropriate behaviour is (so they can exhibit it) and then monitor it (so you know they are).
Saying that twitter is a time waster is a stating the bloody obvious. The question is, can twitter (and other social media tools, for that matter) be used in a managed way to save time?
One of the reasons I think Twitter has had such a bad press with time wasting is because its usefulness is largely unreported. It’s much easier for the traditional broadcast media to stand outside and criticise twitter. It’s a good story. Everyone laughs and says, ‘oh yes, there they go again, tweeting inanely away’. In fact twitter has the potential to be a huge time saver.
I started using online networking tools about five years ago because I didn’t have enough time to run a busy practice and look after my family. Networking online, I could replace the early mornings and late nights with activity on my mobile phone and laptop whilst commuting on the train. My network of thousands of useful contacts on twitter, linkedin and my blogs has been built up in the ‘dead’ time I used to kill reading the paper. I’m writing this blog on a netbook on the train right now, and last week met up with two new clients we met on twitter.
As I’ve mentioned in the previous post, twitter does itself no favours in that from the outside people look like they are only discussing trivialities. Twitter users also do themselves no favours by constantly evangelising about it. It’s a bit like overzealous architects ranting on about design quality when their clients (while they might appreciate design quality in the long run) are right now more concerned about return on investment.
If we really want people to understand the value of any social media tool then we have to demonstrate that value in a way the target audience will accept. Don’t you agree?
Image: Tunnels of time by fdecomite
There will always be employees who waste time on email, Twitter and the like – and if they weren’t doing that then they would be chatting in the kitchen.
There is a large degree of trust involved in letting your employees use social media for business and I think this is what a lot of law firms have a problem with (I don’t know if the same is true of architects?). I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago in a law firm context http://www.peninsulawyer.com/blog/2010/1/19/social-media-out-of-control.html – but I think the points about having a sensible social media policy apply to other professions too.
I guess the key to “winning people over” is thinking about return on investment and how it is measured – new clients, new business from old clients, better SEO performance, more links and referrals to your site? I guess it depends what is relevant to your business, but I think if you can demonstrate some or all of the above in a measurable way then people tend to start to sit up and take notice!
Absolutely Jon, thanks for your comment.
In the end we have to show the advantages outwiegh the perceived disadvantages (which one can manage in any event).
I helped draft our firm’s social media policy statement last week. The most essential point that we put in there was a simple one: Social Media (including Twitter) may be used by employees during the workday ONLY so long as they get their work done. We did not want to quash the benefits that Twitter can have on business, but at the same time, we do not want people to slack in the work they accomplish. We feel that by making the policy performance based, it should keep things in check, and our employees (the ones that are left) are conscientious enough that they will self police.
Sounds like you’ve got it just right Brian.
May we all be busier and busier…
Funny the difference 13 days can make.
The social media policy I helped with above was nixed today, and the big bosses instituted a ban on social media at work, with any posts about work requiring approval prior to posting.
Unfortunately I am just a peon, in debt, in the midst of the worst recession that this country has dealt with since the 1930’s, so I just have to agree and inwardly shake my head at the short-sightedness of the decision. (I could through out a few other thoughts on the matter, but I will refrain).
.-= tnrkitect´s last blog ..tnrkitect: @threefourteen @GinnyPowell I am not pleased, but I am still just a peon so I have no say. =-.
That is awful Brian.
This reminds me of the difficulty early adopters had with CAD when it first came along in the 90s. It was always the enthusiast’s ‘hobby’ until all of a sudden people realised what they were missing out on.
When that happens, it will of course be someone elses great idea 🙁
Look forward to speaking to you on the other side.
Great post Su,
However, i have to ask the question, how many of the practices you work with actually have a social media policy in place? How do they train there staff to follow the policy? Do they include the policy within their employee handbook? Probably not.
As well as using social media for business there is also the risk of employees abusing the tool but if it is well moderated, everyone knows what the objectives and goals are then I don’t think there will be too many problems.
Hi Pritesh,
I’m not a consultant – I only work for one firm, Barefoot & Gilles, so I can’t actually answer your question, however I suspect very few at the moment. Perhaps Paul Wilkinson would know?
As very few AEC firms even embrace social media, I suspect even fewer have a social media policy in place. That said, however, lots of online activities are probably already covered within existing disciplinary codes of conduct and acceptable use policies regarding PCs, networks and phones – which are often already contained within employee handbooks.
There are numerous examples of social media policies available online (here are some public/private sector ones that Simon Wakeman identified) and these are a good starting point for AEC firms to develop their own, encouraging responsible use, client confidentiality, protection of copyright, etc.
On the bigger issue of time-wasting, companies can monitor their staff’s use of different websites, etc and can take appropriate measures if there is excessive non-work-related use. I was asked last night (London Constructing Excellence club event) about time-wasting and information overload, and pointed out that there are numerous ways social media can be used to save time. I save hours of research time every week by using RSS and Google Alerts; I use Delicious bookmarks to capture useful articles, etc; and can often get quick answers to questions by asking my followers on Twitter. And Twitter is often a quicker way to share useful links or to organise meetings than via email, and less intrusive and disruptive to my work than the dreaded ‘you have new mail’ ping!
I agree that the portrayal of Twitter in the mass media has not done it any favours.
The big misconception seems to be that its all about following celebrities.
The most frequent question I get from people not on Twitter is “how do I find the time?” Simple, I dont do Farmville! Now there’s a complete waste of time!
@nicchick
There are many activities in business, all of which can be construed as a waste of time, indeed can actually be a waste of time. Send an employee to a network event, how do you evaluate if they have wasted their time or not? They could have stood in the corner, ate the mini sausages, talked football or knitting and come back to the offices apparently having networked.
Evaluating what is or isn’t a waste of time is a difficult task. It cannot always be evaluated in hours spent or money earned, nor can it be assessed over short or even medium term. What you do now could reap benefits in the long term.
One man’s meat is another man’s poison is equally applicable to Twitter, personally it’s my meat.
Gordon
Playing games and chatting with friends will not profit business at all, and why should business pay for time spent socialising. On the other hand Social Media is essential for businesses today to compete in the market, but there is a big difference between using social media to promote a business, offer great customer service, increase brand awareness, engage with customers – and using social media for your private life. We at Silicon Beach Training use Social Media every day but everything we do is to improve service and attract custom. Our Social Media Training course for business is our most popular course.
.-= Silicon Beach Training´s last blog ..Black Hat versus White Hat =-.