Social media - what's all the fuss?

When the dot-com bubble was building, the clarion call was that if you weren't on the web, you'd be nowhere in business within five years. A decade later, there's a growing wave of Web 2.0 social media breaking on the shores of European business.

According to commentators such as Justin Patten, it's already happening in some way in your business, so rather than ignore it, turn it to your advantage. Though the term Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the Web, it's not actually an update to World Wide Web technical specifications, but more a change in the way systems developers have used the web platform.

With wikis, blogs, podcasts and other new tools being championed across cyberspace, the web is moving from a static communication platform to a socially interactive one - driven by a generation who now use the internet as their prime social communication tool. Since ever larger numbers of workers use an internet enabled computer as their work tool, it's no surprise that social media's rapidly crossing the boundary between outside-work and in-work communication.

...an effective blogging strategy can increase efficiency and help avoid e-mail overload.

Blogging

"Blogging's the most visible aspect of social media," Justin told us. "According to the blog search engine provider Technorati, there are more than 70 million in existence.

"We now have a generation of workers confident to use them, and it's up to employers to ensure they can use them, but to minimise any potential damage to their brand or business."

Justin pointed out a number of benefits of 'corporate blogging' - the official or semi-official use of workplace blogs.

"Blogs can make it easier to collaborate internally and with clients. For instance, organisations such as investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort and law firm Allen & Overy have all extolled the benefits.

"Equally, an effective blogging strategy can increase efficiency and help avoid e-mail overload. For example, publishing firm Ziff Davis claims to have made annual cost savings of more than £520,000 by encouraging staff to interact through blogs.

"Then there's the benefit of attracting recruits and customers. Cadbury Schweppes launched a graduate recruitment site with blogs and MP3 downloads to give graduates an insight into the company. It attracted more than 60,000 visits and contributed to nearly 4,000 applications - a 50% increase on the year before.

"Meanwhile, the Google search engine tends to promote blogs higher up its search ranks than static web pages, so having an employer blog could enhance your brand recognition and give you a relatively cheap marketing channel."

But as Justin continued, blogging's not all plain sailing. "There have been a number of cases where organisations have dismissed employees over blogs. The fallout has usually caused more damage to a company's reputation than the blogs themselves. Clearly the maxim 'prevention is better than cure' resonates loudly here.

There have been a number of cases where organisations have dismissed employees over blogs

One of the real dangers of unmanaged blogging is that the relatively informal nature and the permanent aspect of the medium means that people can say things that they may later regret and things which can be illegal. Disclaimers won't protect a company against the misguided observations of a member of staff, so anyone blogging in and about your business should be reminded to 'blog smart'.

"Then, there's the ease with which material can be copied and pasted opening up a great potential to breach copyright law. This can have legal implications for businesses which can be liable for the actions of their staff."

Despite the dangers, Justin's very much in favour of corporate blogging - as long as it's managed within an agreed framework.

"Even if your organisation doesn't blog, and has no intention of doing so, you should introduce a clear blogging policy which covers the conduct of staff relating to their own personal time. It should be strong enough to protect your organisation. In my experience the real risk lies in staff blogging about issues relating to the firm which are fundamental, permanent in nature and, if not defamatory, can be embarrassing to the firm."

Justin Patten is principal at Human Law Mediation. See his award winning weblog at www.human-law.org.