more than 50 percent of Americans aged 20-30 years old use Facebook
among Americans under the age of 35, social networking and user-generated content sites have overtaken TV as a primary media.
“Visitors to MySpace.com and Friendster.com generally skew older, with people age 25 and older comprising 68 and 71 percent of their user bases, respectively.”
We’re in the midst of a paradigm shift where individuals are indeed connecting “in ways and at levels that [they] haven’t done before”
Workplace communities
orkplace communities are designed to solve workplace-related challenges
talent management is about finding, developing, and retaining key talent within the organization
Ernst & Young, for instance, has a significant presence on Facebook in support of its recruiting efforts
Google, Home Depot, Enterprise Rent a Car, and Deloitte also are recruiting using Web 2.0 tools through YouTube videos and even alumni social networks
“If companies keep social networks out, they will be doing a significant disservice to their bottom lines
Business people and management should read this article about the transformation of business by using workplace communities.
"Workplace communities are designed to solve workplace-related challenges" -- they focus on tasks. I would find it interesting to see a business REALLY use technology to change things.
Having the business in a business network (OK a NING) and let people tag their posts with the business related PROBLEMS they are having and blog, video, or photograph it-- the tag cloud would tell the business IMMEDIATELY what the problems are in the company.
The problem with this model is that there are few corporate executives who REALLY want to know the problems within their organizations. They don't want to be problem solvers, just opportunity creators.
However, when managers open their eyes (and I'm a former General Manager myself) and see that two things give business opportunity: problem solving and innovation. And they are directly related. True innovation solves problems.
Read this article and think about how you may solve problems using the networks you may now create. If you don't want everyone to know, keep it private and only allow people in your company in.