Earlier this month, The New York Times ran another column in its Workalogist series that asked the following question:
Are conversations with a human resources department confidential? I’m contemplating retirement in about three years and would like to gather benefit information from human resources now — but I do not want my supervisor to know.
It may be hard to remember, but during the first year of the blog in mid-2007 to 2008, there was barely a mention of social media and its impact in the workplace. Just a single reference in January 2008 noting that with sites like Myspace (!), “employees from around the country can share information instantly, making it much easier to figure out if there are trends associated with the layoff that may give rise to a lawsuit.”
Then, in September 2008, I talked about how employers were considering using those sites to “screen” potential candidates for employment. I suggested against it at the time. But what I also suggested back then is that employers needed to recognize the sites’ growing influence.
Yes, some college grads put some boasts on their site, but Facebook has moved so quickly into the mainstream that many people are using it as a communication tool, far removed from their college years.
That was just five years ago, but really, it feels so much longer than that.
Flash forward to today. 91 percent of American own cell phones. 63 percent of those owners use their cell phones to go online, mainly through apps used on devices like the iPhone. As a September 2013 Pew Internet study found, a majority of Americans “now owns a smartphone, and mobile devices are playing an increasingly central role in the way that Americans access online services and information.”
Social media accounts for a significant portion of that usage. 89 percent (!) of 18-29 year olds online use social networking sites. Even among 30-49 year olds, that percentage is 78 percent.
But what sites are they using and how?
You’ve no doubt heard of YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Maybe Foursquare and Google+ (poor Google). And if you’ve been following the blog, you know that Instagram (a photo sharing site) and Vine (a video sharing site) are growing in influence as well. But what about everything else?
When I spoke to a group of people last week, a few wore their ignorance of social media as a badge of honor. But in my view, employers ought to understand the scope of the issue; they may not need to use all the sites, but it’s only when you understand how much is out there that you begin to appreciate the scope of the social media issue.
Take, for example, Whisper to which I referenced yesterday. A few people responded, “huh?”
Continue Reading Snap(chat), Kik & Whisper: What Social Networking Apps Your Employees Are Using Today
For many years, employers set up firewalls at work that prevented employees from going to certain websites.
Didn’t want your employees shopping at Amazon? Block the site.
Didn’t want your employees posting updates at Facebook? Block the site.
But here’s the reality: Smartphones have made those firewalls meaningless. Information, as I’ve said before, wants to