Social Media in the Workplace

Hardman, R. (2012, 10 29). Is social media the new work-life? . Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-hardman/is-social-media-the-new-w_b_2039335.html

In "Is Social Media the New Work-Life?", Robin Hardman lists some of the reasons why social media is becoming important in the workplace. First, she suggests that you can't hold social media use strictly for business. Letting your workers use it to talk about last night's football game helps humanize the workers, strengthening their relationship with customers and company. Secondly, she points out that senior leaders have discovered that flexibility in time and work area has become beneficial, and the reasons they resisted them for so long is very similar to why they might resist social media these days: fear they they will be unproductive and irresponsible. They trust their employees to be responsible face-to-face, why would they be any different online? Last, she states that social media is no longer a choice in the workplace. Employers can either control the message social media is sending, or let it control the way they react to it. She believes that social media and the work life will continue to dramatically effect our lives and the way we work.

I agree with the points that Hardman made, but I feel she didn't show both sides very well. While all she stated is very true, she didn't show anything about the benefits of keeping social media out of the workplace. It's all situational, even though circumstances are often similar. In some cases, social media can help advertisement and promotions for a business, but on the other hand, some workers will have a tough time keeping on task with all of the distractions around being available. Myself speaking from the standpoint of being the "next generation," I believe that many new, younger workers (including myself) will have a tougher time staying on task with what we've spent many hours on just wasting time. The environment will be familiar, and the familiarity of it was often spent lazily, or used as a distraction. With this also comes knowing what you're doing with it more than people who have spent less time using social media, giving us both an advantage, but also a bit of a step we need to overcome. Ultimately, it is up to the employers allowing it or not-- unlike what Hardman suggests, I believe that social media is still a choice that "no" can be said to.