In the next few paragraphs I'd like to make sure you really are tuned in to the sound of the social media revolution. Because if you're a people management or business practitioner and are putting your fingers in your ears hoping it will all sort itself out, it won't. You have to get it, appreciate it and use it. For social media is massive and is getting bigger and more penetrative than we can predict.
A Google search using the phrase "articles on social media" gave me 1.02 billon hits - an Impressive amount of information. Here are a few Wikipedia stats that may help you get a grip on how significant social media is - if you're not into it or aware of it, you're being left behind.
- If Facebook were a country it would be be the third largest in the world;
- Twitter is processing over 40 million tweets per day;
- A US Department of Education study revealed that online students out-performed those receiving face-to-face instruction;
- In 12 months between 2008 and 2009, our time spent on social networking sites increased by almost 700 per cent.
So I'll come straight to the point - business and HR professionals must understand and exploit social media now.
Increasing percentages of our current and future employees understand and use social media. So how do we ‘get it', appreciate it and harness it? Social media in HR is inextricably linked to talent. Here are my suggestions for making the most of that link.
Check how social media reflects you as an organisation. Know your company reputation and brand - if your PR and marketing guys aren't "catching the social media waves", they need to be;
Make sure social media alerts talented people to you. Recruit online using all forms of social media if you can. Some people are particular about their social media channels.
Exploit talented people and harness social media to develop them and build their skills. Digital networking, learning, sharing; guidance - it's all there to package up and drive engagement and performance. Digital learning can really be fun, not like e-learning of old - get people gaming.
Use digital intelligence to keep a social media-driven talent agenda as your number one lever, engagement tool and differentiator. Facebookers who's status declares how cool their workplace is; tweets extolling great team work and customer testimonies online are ways in which your organisation will be judged in the future.
If you have bad bosses and people call them that in public, that's possibly because they're bad bosses, and not because your social media policy is inept. Sort out those people doing your company harm or social media might sort it out for you in a way you cannot control.
I really want to bring social media to the front of your mind. It can be a fabulous tool for all sorts of reasons, but please use it with a smile, ingenuity and wisdom - put your whole-self in and shake it all about.
Consultant Cris Beswick and I will be discussing this subject and other leadership and people management-related topics at the CIPD Exhibition 2011.
Paul Timms is head of Talent and organisational development at the Big Lottery fund and a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
For more news and information on the event, which takes place at Manchester Central on 8-10 November, go to www.cipd.co.uk/ace/exhibition.
