Comments on: Frivolous Facebook Fridays?

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:50:52 +0000

Chris, thank you for commenting. I think you have it right that social networking Friday’s are not appropriate for every company. For example, I worked at an IT company with a long and storied history of a button up, suit culture. This “idea” would never fly there.
Like you, I’d also love to see what metrics, could/should be applied to measure the success or failure of this idea…

By: Chris Maguire

Chris Maguire — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:43:11 +0000

This is a great concept and idea. Sometimes great concepts and ideas just aren’t appropriate for all business models. All marketing efforts are only successful if there are measurement metrics defined before execution. Once the metrics are defined the workforce now is allowed to use their imagination and skills within the boundaries of expectations.

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 05:53:01 +0000

TToad can land a punch! I respect that.
Give people objectives and the freedom to meet them. Judge them on results. Who cares if they go on Facebook or not?

By: Tangerine Toad

Tangerine Toad — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:05:36 +0000

@Paul: If only.
The sort of workplace fascism you point out has nothing to do with the inherent value of Facebook (or lack thereof) as it does with employers foolishly treating their workers like children. Foolishly, because said workers will not perform.
Check out this post from WheresMyJetpack about life in one such corporation:
http://tangerinetoad.blogspot.com/2007/10/your-employee-is-not-your-enemy.html
@Neil: THank you. I try.

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:15:52 +0000

TToad, you have a way with words! Perfectly said.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:28:30 +0000

TT, thank you for commenting. Perhaps, among other reasons, this is why a recent poll of 600 employees by security vendor Sophos PLC showed 43 percent saying that their company was blocking access to Facebook.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:16:19 +0000

Ted, you raise an interesting point about productivity and it got me thinking.
I’d like to pose another question to the MP community. I have some ideas, but still chewing on it for a complete answer.
Let’s assume the concept of social networking Friday’s are a good idea. Let’s also assume we limit our one hour to interacting on social networking sites only. Let’s also assume a 40 hour workweek. Essentially then, we are taking one or more hours from the workweek to spend on relationship building “online”. Those hour/s, of course, could be spent on other activities–assuming again, those activities are also creating business value.
With these assumptions, how does one measure the “business value” of social networking Friday’s? Intrinsically, it appears there would be value. So how does one measure it? Or can it be measured? Should it be measured?

By: Tangerine Toad

Tangerine Toad — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:02:46 +0000

There’s a huge problem with using Facebook at work: Facebook is set up to allow teenagers to expose their social lives to each other.
I don’t need to know what movies people I do business with like, which movie star they’re most like or what song they lost their virginity to. I don’t need them to bite me as a Vampire or match their musical tastes to mine.
They’re people I work with. Not my friends.
http://tangerinetoad.blogspot.com/2007/11/facebook-and-case-of-unnatural-degree.html
LinkedIn is how I connect with people I work with. Precisely because it doesn’t force me to interact with them and limits the amount of personal information that’s exchanged.

By: B.L Ochman

B.L Ochman — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:02:29 +0000

Michaline Todd who works for Serena said you’re making a false assumption. Listen to her.
They have choices, and they are very much grounded in reality – which nowadays includes social networking online.

By: Ted Mininni

Ted Mininni — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:10:13 +0000

Paul,
Couldn’t agree with this statement more: “I do believe, however, that when it comes to networking, recruiting, and connecting–especially building first-time relationships, there’s no substitute for in-person or at the very least–telephone meetings.”
If a company is very large, I can see that there might be some value in encourgaging employees to use social networking. But then: what happens to face-to-face dialogues in small to mid-size companies? And if some employees get too involved in this and take more than an hour to social network here and there, what happens to productivity?