Perhaps this phenomenon stems from the fact that these tools were termed "social" media. The word social often conjures images quite the opposite of work with terms like "active social life" or "social drinker". Merriam-Webster also defines social as of "the interaction of individuals and the group" and "tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others". This second meaning of the word really describes what social media is all about - communication, collaboration, interaction, and community.

Why would companies, specifically architecture and engineering firms, utilize social media. How can blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Delicious, and the like be useful to an A/E firm? According to Knowledge Architecture, A/E firms primarily use social media for promotion, recruiting, and thought leadership. A lot of firms currently have a social media presence for promotion and I would hazard to guess a fair amount utilize social media for recruiting. Fewer firms are currently utilizing social media to its fullest as a collaboration tool and to position themselves as thought leaders. There are firms currently doing this well, HOK as an example. Check them out and you can see how powerful this tool can be.

Companies can either choose to utilize social media as a corporate tool or not but what about employees? Companies really have three ways to deal with employees and social media in the workplace. First, they can ignore the fact that this phenomenon exists with no policies or guidance regarding social media. Companies could also choose to block employees' access to social media on their internal network and on company computers. Last, but certainly not least, companies can choose to embrace social media and provide guidance to employees to help control content and help fully leverage the power of social media. So which policy do you choose and why?

I believe that companies should allow the use of social media while providing general guidelines. Companies allowing social media access should also let employees know how this can potentially benefit the company. Social media is a legitimate communication tool that is not going away any time soon and thus it should not be ignored. According to Nielson and Morgan Stanley research, social media communications surpassed email communications in 2009. Social media is such a powerful communication tool because it is interactive and collaborative and I believe we will see much more collaboration being performed through social media in the near future - collaboration between employees, clients, colleagues, and peers, not just "friends". It is no coincidence that company intranets are increasing incorporating many of the traits of social media.

Social media is also critical for recruiting and retaining younger generations since they have grown up in an age of hyper-connectivity and hyper-collaboration. If your company is utilizing social media for promotion, recruiting, or thought leadership, it is critical that employees participate or at least have the ability to contribute to be successful. Social media sites are also a great networking tool for employees to keep in contact with clients - look no further than the success of LinkedIn for an example.

Blocking access to social media sites may not achieve the desired result and may actually damage the company, in my opinion. Can companies even effectively block access? You do know these tools are on most phones these days. Companies block access to ensure that their employees are working while at work. Should the employees then block work email and work they take home to work on at night from their home? The definition of work-life balance is changing, particularly with younger generations. Work is an integral part of a balanced life, not something that is treated as separate from life. I also think that blocking access to tools such as this may tend to break down the trust between employees and the company that is so important for maximizing productivity. Can access to sites such as social media be abused? Sure, but this should be obvious if the work is not getting done. I also found it funny to find out that a 2009 study conducted at the University of Melbourne showed that personal internet usage at work actually increased productivity by 9%!

Now we all realize that not all of social media use will be work related - even most use may not be. However, there are many advantages to utilizing social media at your company - both for the company and the employee. Employee recruiting and retention, networking, collaboration and information gathering, and increased productivity are several reasons it may be a good strategy to allow access to social media. I am curious to hear from those that do not block access to social media sites and why they do this. I would also love to hear from anyone that has any other thoughts on this subject. Please feel free to comment on this below.