Can HR Be the Social Networking Shepherds?
My friend Dennis Howlett writes a great post a few weeks ago about the ups and downs of Facebook’s use in the enterprise. As Dennis writes…
“The (other pressing) problem requires assigning people to manage the transition that Facebook implies. Here I see HR taking a pivotal role. They’re the gatekeepers of employee data which makes them the natural advocates for social networking.”
Social networking in the enterprise, or as some describe as “corporate social networking“, is a discussion I have been having with a lot of clients recently. Last week, we were debating the topic with a client who was using the combination of SharePoint and presence technology to enable internal collaboration.
So the question…will Facebook be the emerging platform for social networking in the enterprise and can HR be the stewards for internal and external collaboration. Two separate questions but my answer to both is the same…No. Case in point was two weeks ago while I was on-site at a large Fortune 100 client where I tried logging on to many of my online accounts including Facebook. To my dismay, Facebook was blocked along with many other important applications such as Google Notebook. IT, especially at large organizations, still maintains a command and control approach to applications and communication technology and will continue to do so. As much as it would make sense for HR to own internal collaboration, I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
That should prevent companies for looking for technology to facilitate internal social networking. SelectMinds has a create solution and in fact are enabling extended communities such as corporate alumni networks. Other vendors are enabling social networking through employee directory-like functionality. All companies, specially HR organizations, should be beginning the exploration of enabling social networks within their company.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, HR, social networking, SelectMinds
14 Comments Add your own
1. Boyd Christian | August 7th, 2007 at 7:35 am
I’m in HR/Training for a Fortune 50 and have shopped around the idea of using LinkedIn or SelectMinds as an internal corporate social networking tool. The challenges you speak of are right on, plus HR just simply isn’t up-to-date with technology trends. I’m just trying to get my peers (all 10-30 years my senior) to understand the value of social networking, so making the leap to leading the organization would be a major stretch.
But as the practitioners of the human side of business, HR should be playing a much greater role in collaboration.
2. Steve Roesler | August 7th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Here’s one technology that has huge benefits for HR and corporations in general.
I’m a long-time consultant (30 years) and most of my clients are Fortune 500 companies. During the past year I’ve woven the idea of social networking platforms into conversation. Here’s what I’ve discovered:
1. Even the most tech-savvy execs don’t really know about–and haven’t been educated on–social networking application and platforms.
2. The most tech-savvy exec I know DID NOT know the term “blog.” She is 40-ish, sharp, and headed to my blog when I told her what it was about.
3. Legal and IT departments are quick purveyors of doom with “you can’t do that” thinking. They are not part of the “how can we use this” process.
I think we have some work to do with targeted audiences using some powerful visual education.
Am not giving up because the benefits of connection far outweigh the liabilities which can be minimized.
3. Jason Corsello | August 7th, 2007 at 9:34 am
Steve - Great comments. All too often, companies, especially the larger ones, look for reasons to say “No” and stopping there instead of asking the question, “why not” and looking for ways to navigate around barriers and roadblocks.
4. James | August 7th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Zoodango
www.zoodango.com
Zoodango is another site that I believe will allow social networking to take on the role of a business application. Great post Jason!
5. Jason Blessing | August 7th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Social networking platforms are today what IM was 5-7 years ago. Remember when IT, Legal, etc. viewed IM not as a productivity tool, but as waste of time only used by Gen X and fraught with legal exposure? Could we live without IM today?? Same thing with social network platforms. Gen Y will drive social networking into the mainstream like Gen X did with IM. Visionary companies will lead the way to co-existence with and monetization of these platforms.
6. Dennis Howlett | August 8th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Great comments and reflective of what I’ve seen in Europe. So maybe ‘we’ as people who think this stuff is great need to get closer to IT and explain the value proposition? Or - get with departmental managers, get them on board and then go to IT?
7. Dennis Howlett | August 8th, 2007 at 5:12 am
Jason: I had a quick look at SelectMinds - seems a little lightweight or am I misrepresenting it?
8. links for 2007-08-08 R&hellip | August 8th, 2007 at 10:20 am
[…] The Human Capitalist » Can HR Be the Social Networking Shepherds? IT, especially at large organizations, still maintains a command and control approach to applications and communication technology and will continue to do so. As much as it would make sense for HR to own internal collaboration, I don’t see it happening (tags: socialnetworking collaboration social-networking participation enterprise-2.0) […]
9. » Getting data OUT &hellip | August 8th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
[…] I suggested that HR should be leading the charge in the adoption of social computing applications. Jason Corsello, an HR specialist and fellow Irregular responded saying ‘no’: IT, especially at large […]
10. Will Social Networks save&hellip | August 9th, 2007 at 3:49 am
[…] from The Human Capitalist blog wrote an interesting piece the other day proposing that maybe HR could shepherd social networking tools into organisations. Overall great post and of course HR has a pivotal role to play but there are lots of hurdles to […]
11. Trevor Brooks | August 11th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
There are some progress fortune 500 companies that have embraced corporate social networking.
I am an business consultant and I recently developed and built an enterprise social networking platform that is currently being used by Starbucks with resounding success. In fact they recently one the 2007 Recruiting Excellence Award for best Corporate Web Site.
The site is mypartnercareer.com and it leverages the power of social networking for internal recruiting.
12. Steve Kuhn | August 15th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
@ 7: Hello Dennis. As Director of Product Management at SelectMinds, I’d be happy to arrange for you an overview of our company and a demo of our product. We have a user population of over 1 million who use our solutions in 25 countries and 14 languages. We host corporate social networking sites for 60 clients including Ernst & Young, BearingPoint and (our newest client) Dow. I believe you would find our enterprise-focused end-user, administrative-user, and security features quite impressive, and I’d like to hear your thoughts regarding any gaps that we should be considering for our roadmap.
Great discussion all, thanks.
13. The Human Capitalist &raq&hellip | August 22nd, 2007 at 5:26 pm
[…] results that I would tend to agree based on some recent experiences. A few weeks ago, I tried to log onto Facebook from a Fortune 100 clients site with no success — it was […]
14. HR Horizons HR Blog &raqu&hellip | November 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
[…] The Human Capitalist » Can HR Be the Social Networking Shepherds? […]
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