I can understand many employers worry that social media like Facebook and Twitter can gimp productivity. That worry may be justified. But this I believe, and many with me, will change in the near future. The use of Social media has not really “found its place” yet, in organizational life.
It also poses a challenge that many managers and leaders are not on Twitter or Facebook, and thus have little or no understanding of how these tools are used. And last but not least, how they can and should be used. Johan Ronnestam, who works with digital communications and writes one of Sweden’s most important blogs on the topic and future trends, is quoted in the article. He believes it should be mandatory for managers to be on Facebook and Twitter.

The use of social media like Facebook and Twitter have exploded over the past two years. The following year social media will claim it’s place in a corporate perspective.
A great read considering social media, use and trends for 2010, is David Armanos Six Social Media Trends for 2010, published on the blog Harvard Business Publishing.

In short, he foresees that we will be more critical in our use of social media, companies will escalate their use of social media in their communication with customers and partners, we are mobile in our use of these services and e-mail lose it’s position as the preferred tool for sharing information. The latter is already a reality in many enterprises and definately the case in univeristies.

My intention with this short post is to invite companies and organizations and their managers out there to participate. Log on and stay tuned! Social media already should play an important part in your organisation’s life, internally and externally.

Before deciding on a policy, shouldn’t you first know what it’s all about?