Monday AM September 20th, 2010

Business have had to expand beyond keeping customers up-to-date with an informative Website.  Facebook pages help increase brand popularity and connect businesses, expanding their reach.  Customers can leave comments and see which of their friends are also visiting.  Tony Bingham has written a book called The New Social Learning discussing how businesses can leverage the power of social media. 

“Whether it’s the CIA, Chevron, Deloitte–you know, some of the utilities are using it to demonstrate best practices.  You know, someone will create a video and say ‘this is how I solved X problem,’ and that video is shared with those who have an interest in it, and sometimes on demand.  You know, they might be running into the problem and then immediately say ‘how can I solve this,’ and there’s something there that they can use that was done by someone who was there before.” 

The push to integrate social media into business began with millennials becoming a larger part of the workforce.  There have been some concerns on keeping a handle on proprietary information.

“The analogy I like to use is you know, how to do stop someone from talking at their dinner table or at the bar about X, Y or Z that’s going on at your company.  It’s not a technology issue, it’s a management issue.  And whether it’s through technology or from someone, you know, leaving something in a bar that’s proprietary, you’ve got the same management issue.”  

One CEO notes that social media turns learning moments into an ongoing conversation where people can learn nonstop, without regard to time zones.