Social Networking In the Workplace

            Many social networking sites were developed with the hopes that they would be used to connect friends with one another.  It was not long after this that social networking sites were being developed in order to foster relationships with possible love interest.  Now you see social networking sites being used in the classroom as educational tools.  Based on this rapid growth across varying fields, it is really not that big of a stretch to believe that social networking sites are now making a place for themselves in the professional workplace. 

            Social networking applications have been designed that share many of the same characteristics of Facebook.  These applications allow employees that work for the company to connect with one another.  Social networking applications are designed to increase productivity.  They are each encouraged to set up a profile.  This profile might include information such as what their job responsibilities are, education, special training, and work history.

            These social networking applications allow employees to form multiple groups.  One of the benefits of this is that employees who are working as a team can form a group dedicated specifically to that project.  This allows for a virtual file where all group members can find information within a few click of a mouse.  Group members can follow one another allow them to receive status updates that are important in their workplace on their newsfeed. 

            Social networking applications are slowly beginning to replace the use of email in some workplaces.  This movement is being met with some resistance though.  In order for this new form of communication to be effective all of a company’s employees need to commit to it.  The transition from email to social networking seems go better if all group leaders are completely behind its use.  Some companies have also tried making it a game and/or competition. 

            Email systems have been in operation for over 50 years.  (Dow Jones & Company, 2012)  Over the years many upgrades have been made to the systems.  Employees are comfortable with using them.  Clients are comfortable with using them as a form of communication.  Since many companies are required to keep documentation of their communication with clients, company email has provided a great storage bin.  How will social networking application fulfill this role? 

            There is also some question as to how employees can search for older documents using social networking applications.  This will be particularly problematic for companies that employee millions of people.  Millions of employees equals millions of updates on a daily basis.  This is allows for great communication flow, but can also become somewhat overwhelming.  Heavy use can also make looking for an older document challenging if there is not an adequate history bank that the employees can use to search for historical documents. 

            Another concern with these new applications will be controlling viruses.  Although these applications are relatively safe compared to public social networking sites, nothing is fool proof.  This foreseeable problem is something that companies can prepare for by educating their employees and increasing their software security. 

            There is still a lot of room for the develop of social networking applications in the workplace, but what we have seen so far is a very promising start.  The overall goal is to unify employees of a company.