Social Networking Good for Business (Reuters)

[Christine Martell]

Here's an article, Social Networking is Good for Business about a report that suggests social networking builds relationships with customers and colleagues.

I agree, my 'social network' is at my fingertips through Twitter, IM, Facebook, Linked in and through the blog0sphere. I can get answers from around the world. And I spend WAY less time than I would if I was running into them in the office where I would need to spend time with all the greetings and catching up.

What do you think? Do you spend time on the social networks building professional dialogues?

[Christine Martell]

Be sure to check out Michele Martins's blog post Negative Online Behavior is a Product of Culture, Not Your Social M...

Quite thought provoking. She speculates that social media is only surfacing problems that are already there.... what do you think?

[Kevin D. Jones]

It is a different interaction and one that I had to get used to - almost force myself at the beginning. It is becoming more second nature to me now, but it took some time and persistence.

And I agree - creating the professional dialogues has been helpful. I have learned A TON through these previously non-existent contacts.

One thing I realized the other day that you can't do in the social/virtual space: Laugh really hard with others. Dang that really feels good!

[Ron Marley]

My initial response when imagining employees using digital social networking tools on the job is similar to the response that I have to my son using those tools when "studying". With Facebook active on the screen in front of him, and a constant flow of text messages calling for his attention, there doesn't appear to be a great deal of productivity. Regardless of his claim to proficiency in multitasking, most of the projects seem to take a great deal more time than necessary.

On the other hand, I remember some 20 years ago making frustrating attempts to conduct research online. Wading through reams of disjointed and irrelevant data to find a few significant gems was a huge time commitment.

The sophisticated search engines and streamlined processes used for data searches today have made it part of the daily fabric of life. With the right phone, the search can be conducted almost anywhere under almost any circumstances.

If digital social networking advances at anywhere near that pace, in a short time it will be as much a part of business processes as picking up the phone was a few short years ago.