Sites: not just for personal connections anymore
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, September 26, 2008
While many firms historically have blocked employees from signing onto sites such as Facebook at work, that’s now something some companies are beginning to rethink, said Greg Swan, digital strategist for Weber Shandwick’s interactive, social and emerging media practice in Bloomington.
“If employees are telling 100 of their friends that their job is the best job in the world, that’s good marketing,†he said.
While online social-networking sites may lead to business connections, many users say they enjoy using sites just to meet people with common interests. That approach can ultimately be the best way to find prospective job candidates or clients…
Overall, sites including Twitter and Facebook are worth using regardless of whether a connection leads to a new client.
“I’ve made more real-life friends in the Twin Cities through social networks than at professional organizations,†Swan said. “I can seek out like-minded people and build real-life relationships.â€
congrats. that’s a big deal. I just realized that you were at Blogworld last week. me too! It was an awesome time.
I heard there was a guy in a Google t-shirt at Blog World Expo who asked the same question at every panel: is online interaction replacing face-to-face human relationships? My experience, and your example, suggest that social networks enable those real-life friendships — maybe similar to the way fraternal organizations did for earlier generations? Not an exact parallel by any means, but maybe they serve similar functions.