It’s all about people being people …

I’ve had a pretty hectic few weeks and hope that I’ve been able to spread the word about the benefits of social media a little more widely. It’s nice to be back in the office. So what did I learn from my travels?

• People are still incredibly interested in using social media tools within organisations, but I sense a slight shift away from a focus on the barriers and risks (fewer questions about ROI, time wasting, abusing tools etc.) to a greater focus on how to get started. This is very positive and I hope means people are ready to give it a go … remember: “… proceed until apprehended!”
• Gauging the reactions of the various audiences, the most powerful argument – or at least the most well-received – was around re-humanising the workplace … deploying social media tools is a way of giving employees permission to be themselves and have opinions and personality in the workplace, rather than being the one-dimensional people we have become accustomed to being in a business context. Euan Semple expanded on this topic following the BCS event last Monday.
• I’m still not convinced that internal communicators really understand how deploying these tools will impact on the way they work – they listen but it doesn’t seem to sink in … so, one more time for the record: IF YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT WHAT VALUE YOU CAN DELIVER IN AN ENTERPRISE 2.0 ENVIRONMENT, YOU ARE GOING TO BECOME IRRELEVANT!! (… don’t say I haven’t tried!)
• … and finally, there’s a lot of shitty stuff happening in the world – if we want to stop it, we must get better connected and rebuild empathy – shitty stuff only happens when we forget that those around us are people too!

I’ve had an enjoyable few weeks and met some great people … good luck to all those about to begin the journey!