Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? Lots of people – that is if social media is the big bad wolf! Although social media is everywhere, that doesn’t make it any less intimidating. And despite what most people believe, even some younger members of the workforce can find social media daunting. Let’s look at some of the people in the office who may not exactly be embracing social media and why:
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CEOs – Sure they’ve seen the data and they know social media is the wave of the future. They also worry when everyone seems to be online. Is that really work they are doing? Also, just what are they sharing on the internet? Are trade secrets being tweeted?
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Management – One word: productivity. If your whole staff is blogging or posting or tweeting or uploading or downloading when will any real work get done? And how can you be sure that all of this time spent online is directly related to work and not socializing?
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Older Workers – Am I going to lose my job if I can’t figure out all this new technology? I am a hard worker who knows my stuff. Am I going to be replaced by some young college grad because I don’t know how to tweet?
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Young College Grads – It’s my first job out of college and now everyone thinks I know everything there is to know about social media and technology. They want me to post on the company’s Facebook page. What if I spell something wrong or split an infinitive? Worse yet, what if I post something that isn’t true? Will they fire me?
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IT Staff – Years ago if someone in accounting, billing, or any other department wanted to meet with a member of the IT staff, it would most likely be because their computer was locked up. For the most part, though, IT worked in a pretty isolated environment doing what they do best. No one really understood what that was so it kept them from asking too many questions. Now the IT staff is the most sought after group in the office. They are expected to know everything about anything that can be downloaded, uploaded, tweeted, posted, or blogged.
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Legal and accounting – Classified financial and legal documents are just one click away from the whole world to see. What happened to the locked file cabinet that kept private information private? In times past, if you left an important file out on your desk, you could drive back to the office, and take care of it. Try getting a file back you accidently forwarded to the entire staff or board of directors.
The lesson to be gained from all of this is that everyone has concerns about social media and no one knows it all, or even wants to know it all. Working together as a team is the best way to charter your company’s social media course. If you all stick together and build on each employee’s strengths, it will be much smoother sailing for everyone!