What does “social media” mean to you?
Is it the greatest thing since sliced bread that helps you get through your day? Or, is it an enormous time-waster and a sinkhole of memes, eCards jokes, and other pointless annoyances?
Do you connect with people more or less because of social media? Has your company brought social media principles into the work environment?
It is obvious that social media is here to stay and may be considered the biggest change in the average daily life since the Industrial Revolution. And, it is even revolutionizing how we interact, exchange goods and services, receive more targeted advertising opportunities (finally!) and so much more (Social Media Could Add $1.3 Trillion to the Economy).
The true power of social media comes from the people that share within the network. Crowdsourcing, tweeting, media readers, and others can be all lumped into this category.
As social media continues to evolve, there are many important aspects that are becoming relevant. One point is social media data can now be tied to predictive behavior, as you can see below in the infographic by Dashburst. Another point, which I will discuss below, has to do about what this means to our second homes, the office.
Were you shocked that the average social media user is 18% more likely to hit the gym?
There are many important changes taking place in how humans now choose to interact and some of these choices are becoming more popular due to the ability to help us interact with other more efficiently than ever before.
These principles are being applied to how we gather, interact and learn in the workplace as well. Learning management systems are become more and more popular (and affordable) which allow for social media type interaction in a controlled secure setting branded to look and feel like the organization. It is like using a organization-specific Facebook to rally the troops, deploy and track training materials and keep employees engaged throughout the company.
One such learning management system is TOPYX®, which was voted 2012′s Best Social Learning Solution (beating Microsoft’s Yammer).
If you are interested in see how the power of social media can change your work environment, I suggest getting the free, live demo. TOPYX does it right by including everyone in the conversation by having no per user fees. If you have 20 or 2M users, the total cost does not change. That is how to build your internal network to support your employees and your core mission.
However you chose to use social media, you cannot deny the power it packs. Our daily lives, our cell phone bills, how we work and how we learn will continue to evolve with it.
Jeffrey A. Roth
Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Jeffrey.Roth@Interactyx.com
Interactyx Limited
interactyx.com
