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While some companies embrace the use of Facebook, even for work-related collaboration purposes, other companies are setting up firewalls to ban the use of Facebook in the workplace.
In an episode of, “For Immediate Release,” Shel Holtz speaks with CEO and President of Serena Software, Jeremy Burton about Serena “Facebook Fridays.”
Every Friday, the company allots an hour of time for employees to spend solely on Facebook. Before the company implemented the program, about 30% of employees already had active Facebook accounts. Virtual attendance of “Facebook Friday” isn’t required, though employees are encouraged to take advantage of this social media usage time.
Burton believes Facebook brings people together and makes up for the “human” communication that’s lost through channels such as email, text messaging and content management systems lack. However, Facebook also allows employees to interact with people on all levels of the company, breaking down hierarchal barriers to upper level management.
Facebook brings the subculture that exists within any organization offline to the virtual realm. Burton compares Facebook to sitting at Starbucks; we watch people go by and interact with others. Based on watching conversations between people in this subculture, we learn something about them or are, therefore, more inclined to strike up conversations.
Facebook is comparable to the “water cooler” within the organization where corporate gossip and personal or professional anecdotes are passed along. Facebook just takes water cooler relationships and cements them online.
However, critics of corporate Facebook argue that it reduces productivity, slows down bandwidth, compromises corporate professionalism and causes danger to security. Do employees share too much about their personal lives on Facebook? Will they spend too much time and money people-watching on this “cyber Starbucks?”
Organizations need to realize that no matter if they ban or embrace Facebook, employees will find a way to use it, and it will ultimately affect the organization in some way. The same information that gets passed through the grapevine at the water cooler, and then home to the dinner table or to happy hour, now has the possibility to circulate on Facebook as well.
In the video, Shel Holtz, author of Tactical Transparency, defines transparency. He says organizations shouldn’t expose every internal secret (particularly for legal reasons) in order to be transparent to their audiences, but they should disclose information about business goals and practices, and allow audience members to have access to all of the internal employees.
The key to fostering positive consumer relations is constant interaction between the customers and the employees.
Many companies are being forced into transparency. Consumers no longer call up a company’s customer service department if they’re unhappy–that message would only reach one person. They are instead going online to blast the company in front of thousands of other consumers. How should companies respond? Companies should join in on the conversation and explain to consumers why the service or product was less than mediocre, and work to rebuild a connection with angry consumers.
Dan Rather, formerly of 60 Minutes, made the mistake of closing the doors on his audience during the investigation on Former President Bush’s military service. If he had opened up lines of communication and updated viewers on the investigation, he could’ve kept from angering so many people. His lack of transparency cost him his job.
Dell on the other hand was forced into transparency after its outraged consumers created an angry network of blogs. Dell joined in on the conversation and created Direct2Dell and Ideastorm, which have been a huge success in rebuilding postive customer relations.
I found Holtz’s own personal story the most interesting. After a neglectful customer service experience with Park ‘n Fly, he wrote a blog post to complain to his readers. An administrative assistant from the company joined in on his conversation to apologize. What’s most important is that the Park ‘n Fly employee sent the message directly to Holtz, without checking the message with management first. By opening up free lines of communication between employees (lower and higher level) and consumers, Park ‘n Fly managed to uphold its relationship with Holtz.
The video’s central message is that companies should give their consumers a glimpse inside the organization to build a trustworthy relationship with them.
