Social Networking and Professional Development
Twitter on company time?
I was recently doing a search on Social Networking on Stack Overflow and this question came up. The accepted answer is a good one, to be sure, but I think it misses an important aspect – personal development and industry inside knowledge.
When I’m at work, I’ll often be presented with a problem that makes me wonder “how have / would other people handle this?”. Being able to directly and immediately engage with industry peers means that I can provide better approaches or answers to those problems in a more thought-out or well-researched way. Otherwise, it may be that while my angle on a business situation might be handled adequately, a better way to have done it is completely passed by.
The other point was that of industry awareness. If I’m unable to listen to discussion within the community I’m employed to be a part of, what new developments or exciting advances am I missing out on? Those conferences, resources, downloads and tutorials that more often appear on Twitter, Friendfeed or Facebook before (if) they appear anywhere else are again invisible to me. My company misses out on a potentially beneficial staff investment or fails to take advantage of a better business strategy. I personally miss out on good information sources that allow me to remain more closely engaged in the industry: learning, primarily but also useful tools and awareness of industry issues.
Articles such as this and this seem to be surfacing with more regular frequency, indicating that there are definite tangible benefits for companies that take advantage of social networking. However there are also articles such as The White House banning Twitter, which suggests enterprise simply isn’t sure how to react to these new technologies which have emerged relatively quickly in the mainstream. Security (especially divulgence of sensitive information), reputational harm or even lost productivity (perceived or actual). These are all valid concerns but none are a new phenomenon to the workplace. Other communication channels and distractions exist and if an employee intends to act in a manner contrary to the company’s best interests, he will find a way.
To be clear, I am not advocating that every company should adopt Twitter, Facebook et. al with open arms. But in the case of professionals whose line of work is inextricably linked with The Internet, it makes a lot of sense to enable them with as many sources of information and communication as possible as a necessary component of their professional development.
