The value added by social networking sites when used by the employees of a company to pursue the goals and objectives set by the company cannot be underrated or simply swept below the carpet.
In this generation, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are currently being used by other businesses as a medium of advertising their products and services in an effort to reach clients not easily accessible through conventional methods of media adverts such as television and radio.
A clear example is drawn from Drapers magazine that states “Dell is believed to have generated more than $3m in incremental revenue through Twitter within a year” (Social media: A tactical tool or a core business strategy, p.1).
Dell is a reputable electronics company, yet in some ways it has embraced the use of social networking sites; thus, this is a largely untapped potential goldmine that can add a lot of value to the business.
The idea of doing away with the use of social networking sites during office hours may be well informed, but most of my colleagues are young and techno conversant and they clearly understand the company’s rules which require them to separate their personal lives and work.
Hence, they may use the sites to find new information that leads to the increased revenues of the company, interact with their peers working for the competitors and thus get information about the latest trends in the market.
They also learn new laws that are directly or indirectly related to the company’s business and in this case the company is not justified to cut off this form of communication as it could lead to reduced sales and revenues of the company.
There is also a remedy if the company believes employees are wasting time, then they should advocate for them to have two social networking accounts just as it is advocated by Alan Katz’s, who “finds the now-common practice of having multiple Facebook accounts, one personal and one business, to be a smart strategy for using the site” (Galentine, p.2).
Another important fact to note is that most of us know about this company from the social media networking sites specifically Twitter. It is from there that I was able to research about the company and learn more details about its operations; I bet the same is also true about my colleagues.
It is also through the social media that we are able to research the different preferences of our potential customers or corporate companies. Thus, in the work process we are able to provide a service that suits them and meets their immediate and long term needs.
Restricting access to social media from now henceforth, will banish us to offering services and products to our customers that they may not like. This will lead to dissatisfaction among the customers, and thus a reduction in revenues of our company.
Embracing the use of Twitter and other social media tools is not only beneficial in terms of increasing the company’s revenue and employee performance, but it is also relevant and valuable to the company itself.
This is evident by the increased number of companies that have their own social media sites that enable them to receive and reply customer feedback.
The companies also use the same sites to monitor and evaluate the behavior of their potential employees; they do this by monitoring their updates and comments.
Thus, this saves the company from hiring controversial or troublesome staff. Hence, I am of the opinion that the company should continue providing us with access to social media tools especially Twitter and Facebook.
References
Galentine, E. (2011). The art of social media success; with a background in both employee benefits and politics, success was in the cards for Alan Katz’s Health care reform blog. Employee Benefit Advisor, 9(2), 1-32. Web.
Social media: A tactical tool or a core business strategy. (2011, February 2). Drapers. Web.