Social Networking banned at work???

With the world getting more and more tech. savvy more people are turning to the internet to share their messages and sell their products. However, statistics from Robert Half Technology show that 54% of companies still ban their employees from using Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin!

While it may be true that employees may use these social networking for their personal lives, social media is becoming more and more widely used for public relations, advertising and marketing. I think that if social media could help promote the company's products or help spread a message about the company's values, it would be good for all employees to be on these social networks.

Other statistics from Nucleus Research have said that companies allowing Facebook in the workplace drops employee productivity 1.5 percent. I think it is important to know that giving employees full access to social media won't increase productivity unless they know the reasons why the company allows it. Companies should have:

• an understanding of the benefit of using social media to better the company by having meetings and tutorials on how to use these tools.
  
• rules and guidelines in using social media at work. Perhaps only using social media for research and company purposes.
  
• all employees keep a twitter or blog that talks about the company in a good light.
  

To ban social media totally may not help a company. It could paralyze them. Companies that are succeeding in this world are the ones that are adapting to new technology.

For example, Comcast now uses Twitter in providing customer service because that is where the conversation is headed. People don't call 1-800 numbers as much because there is a stigma about automated voices and unhelpful customer service people. They vent about the service, provided or not provided, on their social networking sites!

Indeed, employees need to actually "work" on the job, but once companies realize where the conversation is headed, they should not fight it, but join in!

Citations:

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jan2009/ca20090113_373506.htm
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/study-54-of-companies-ban-facebook-twitter-at-work/

An Introduction to Communicationism

This summer, I was home from college working. I came and sat in the living room one night and looked around the room at my family members. There in the corner by the fireplace and wide-screen, high-def. TV sat my 16 year old sister. She had one headphone in her ear, one eye at the TV and the other on her computer screen where she checked email, chatted with friends and checked out her Facebook account. While all this was going on, she also was texting on her cell phone.

I couldn't help but laugh at how silly she looked trying to multitask with all those forms of communication devices. I looked back at when i was younger. I remember when my father brought home our first family computer and put the program AOL Online on it. It was beautiful! I remember entering my sign-on information and leaving to do something else for 20 minutes because of the dial-up connection, but I was fine with that!

It's amazing to see how far we have come in this world. Before the Guttenburg Printing Press, books were scarce and therefore, ideas themselves were scarce. What a miracle it is after more than 600 years later, that we have countless ways to communicate and share ideas.

dusting off the blog

Ok. so i am going to start being an awesome blogger and try posting a few times a week instead of a year and a HALF at a time! :) So in the last year and a half, I got married to the most wonderful man in the world, Johnny Lee Mills! I am really happy to have him in my life and to be able to start building our life together in our shoe box. :) It is a rather nice shoe box so I don't complain! We just call it that! :)

Right now, johnny and I are finishing up our last couple semesters of school. Johnny is taking 18 credits a semester, working part time and has a major calling in our ward at church. I can't believe all the sacrifices he is making for us and our future! I am very grateful for him! We are looking forward to graduating in July!

The scary part for me is not knowing where we are headed after school is out, but i know the Lord will direct us for the greater good! sidenote: i miss my family :( hahahaha!

In other news, Nicole has turned 16....scary! I still remember her as my short, bright, blond-haired, blue-eyed sister skipping home from school. Now she is growing up into a beautiful and talented young lady! *tear*

Kim has been having such a good semester in all of her classes and just found out she is going to Europe next fall semester! I am very excited for her. I also told her I would give her some money to buy me something European! LOL! She always picks out the best things so I trust her to pick me out something that I would like! She is awesome like that!

Kristi is in middle school now! What a big step she has taken! I am very proud of her for all she does! She is beautiful and sweet! I also really admire her singing talent and the time she has taken to improve her other talents...her guitar playing! She really admired Kim playing the guitar, so she decided to pick it up! She got a guitar for Christmas and she was so thrilled, that she started crying! I didn't expect that-She is truly inspiring!