Facebook in the Workplace
At Deutsche Bank we had a saying for idea testing. “Can you monetise it?” Systems can be like a salesperson. If you are going to buy into the value add argument would you employ Facebook to distract hundreds of employees? Facebook and it’s fans claim it brings many advantages to business. What is the opportunity cost of those employee Facebook hours? Could you spend them on something else?
I’ll be controversial on this one and say it should be disallowed. The ratio of distraction to value-add is heavily skewed against giving staff access in the workplace. The coal face reality is that this thing isn’t getting stuff done. It’s not creating massive networking opportunities that the same time spent working on other social media could. It’s not high quality content with high IP value. It’s not producing widgets. It’s not paying you any money. It sucks time. Time is money.
I can’t see an easy way to monetise it from a business perspective. Sure you can pick up some networking value but it’s limited relative to those Facebook Hours better spent on hard core CRM systems such as Salesforce.com that drive workflow, lead generation and networking. These systems create business opportunity. Alternately, I’d put those Facebook hours into using a system like a Wiki to collect employee ideas on business improvement, planning and sales strategy.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:23 am
Brave man Marc - I’m not necessarily agreeing nor disagreeing, just applauding your courage!
November 29th, 2007 at 11:27 am
It’s called the firm hand of capitalism. For me this topic is beyond my opinion. I have to let the ROI God be the judge and jury
November 29th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I think it really depends on who you are and what business you’re in… There are people I’m networked with through Facebook that present great value to our business - we use a group to organise meetups and share information that provides a win-win for all involved. I also know people that respond more rapidly to Facebook messages than email, which improves my productivity coz I spend less time waiting for a response…
However, I think there’s a lot of crap in there as well - and I’d really like to have more control over the number of application invitations - I mean, I have zero interest in how many zombie chumps my friends have turned…
On balance, presently, I’m getting enough value out of Facebook to maintain my account. But it is borderline. I think that if my current role didn’t require me to get my head into this space more deeply, I may have dropped out at some stage along the journey - and I’m certainly not disagreeing with your argument at it’s core - i.e. doing ROI analysis on the tool for yourself.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Exactly, I went through the thought process of there being some areas where it’s clearly an advantage and I hit social media experts, bloggers and the funny one - Amway sales people
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Interesting train of thought. While I am a strong advocate of collaboration and connection to advance commercial ends I find it difficult to see how Facebook works as a tool for business. I am more enthusiastic about Linked In, though only because of its explicit business focus. That said I can’t say I have enjoyed much value from it either.
I think the key is that business owners need to decide on a strategy for empowering their employees with the permission to use social networking tools. There should be clear guidelines relating to the purpose of the tools - at least for work. Smart companies will integrate social networking thinking into their wider plans.
Like any network situation (I hate the ones where people randomly give away business cards) the question to be asked relates to utility. Members of a network must establish their value by making themselves useful to other members, so that the ultimate effect is that they will be sought when the need arises. That means it may take some time before critical mass is reached and the transactions can offer a return on the investment.
Right now I’d venture most people have no purpose and so it becomes a wheel-spinning waster of time.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:15 am
I agree David, your thoughts are mine. It can work but for some role/jobs. The rules is the important bit. Just like the arrival of SMS many years ago, there will come a time when it’s seen to be a no-no to sit at work and poke your friends or write on the wall in Facebook for the fun of it.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
[...] talked about restricting access to social tools some time ago in my post about Facebook in the workplace. I’ve witnessed first hand productivity costs in an enterprise environment. I still advocate [...]