Enterprise Use of Social Networks

Jonathan Alexander Kevin Brown Ben Dahl Darwin Perez Brent Rawlins

Contents
Definition and Context.................................................................................................................... 2 Advantages for Adoption ................................................................................................................ 4 Disadvantages for Adoption ........................................................................................................... 7 Conclusion (Readiness for Adoption)........................................................................................... 10 Reference ...................................................................................................................................... 12

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Definition and Context

Over the past several years social networking has garnered a great deal of attention. According to Compete, the leading web competitive intelligence service, there are approximately 340 million international users of sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Given the ever expanding popularity of these sites, their exponential growth, and their integration into daily life, exploring possible applications for enterprise use is not a possible topic of discussion, it is an inevitable one. Defining social networking in the current social context is a necessary first step in understanding the growing popularity, and potential applications of social networking. From a strictly technical standpoint, social networks allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. [11] Essentially, social networks connect one user to another based upon the creation of a searchable, individual profile. It is not enough to simply define social networks from a technical perspective though; the experience needs to be humanized for real value to become apparent. Social networks allow users to interact with one another based upon characteristics of existing relationships, or the desire to create new ones. Wikipedia supports this with the definition that social networks tie people together with specific interdependencies such as friendship, kinship, likes, dislikes, sexuality, business or beliefs." [12] The ties that bind social networks are clearly limited only by the scope of human relationships. Given the undeniable popularity of social networks, corporate users have become much more interested in potential work uses for the powerful tools. 340 million users around the world are networking and collaborating every day on various topics using sites like Facebook, Twitter,

Page |3 and LinkedIn. Should these publically accessible sites be used to replace the long standing productivity and collaboration tools that have been office mainstays for decades? In this fiscally conservative economy, and with the trend towards global markets, can public social networking sites benefit corporations in the same way they benefit individuals? We will address this, along with the advantages and disadvantages of these applications as they relate to the corporate work environment. Is this technology ready for corporate adoption, or should it remain a personal domain?

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Advantages for Adoption

Social networking, specifically public social networks, is one of the hot button topics in the enterprise environments of today. Social networking is a tool like any other and needs to be evaluated on the basis that implementation will influence positive change for the enterprise. In this section we will examine advantages for adopting public social networks. In order for social networks to be effective in an enterprise system there needs to be topdown support from upper management. One of the best ways to influence decisions made at the executive level is by relating new trends, like public social networking, to the bottom line. This can come from increased revenue, decreased costs, or streamlining existing processes. For instance, "a customer service community on a social media platform can be recouped in less than a year. By the end of 3 years, the ROI is nearly 100% (i.e., for every dollar spent, you could get up to $2 back in savings and other benefits." [9] It would be fiscally irresponsible of an enterprise not to investigate a service that could represent a 100% return on investment at the end of three years. Now consider the currently established tools that enterprises have to recruit new employees that are not social networking based. Without social networking employers are limited to references, career fairs, word of mouth, and classified ads. When you factor in public social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter employers can expand their candidate pool exponentially. J. Wilson supports this when he writes, "Many companies are also investigating social networking sites' potential to recruit new employees." [2] With an interconnected user base that is so vast, why not reduce costs by modifying existing hiring practices? Stephen Baker comments, "instead of spending a fortune to draw employees, how about meeting them where

Page |5 they already are for free?" [8] Employers could reduce the total expenditures on human resources by restructuring their hiring practices. Another area that would significantly benefit from social media implementation is enterprise information management. In order to be most productive, employees must work efficiently and effectively. Howard Rheingold writes, "Within a company, a well-tuned online social network can enhance the company's collective knowledge and sharpen its ability to act on what people know in time to be effective." [7] Having the right information, at the right time, is absolutely essential in order to streamline operations. Social networks not only enhance this process, they can actually revolutionize it. Rheingold continues, "The explosive multiplication of an individual's ability to find answers to questions is one of the most powerful benefits of an online social network. People provide solutions to problems. Networks of people can solve problems for each other. Online networks accelerate and globalize the process." [7] This is similar to the process Microsoft instituted where developers would write code during business hours in the United States and then send it to India to debug overnight. Accelerating and globalizing the process of problem-solving, while simultaneously exponentially expanding the user base, can hold significant benefits for the organization. Social networks can also be used to virally expand the reach of an enterprise. J. Wilson writes, "Organizations are actively leveraging the power of social networks to find new business opportunities, new groups of like-minded individuals and companies, and new sources of industry-specific wisdom, advice and expertise." [2] Social networks are not limited to business to consumer purposes; they can be used for business to business purposes as well.

Page |6 In addition to these uses, enterprises can use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to more strategically analyze data. Data mining, outside of the ethical concerns, is extremely useful for determining and effectively marketing to specific user groups. An enterprise could, as J. Wilson writes, "mine the twitter archives, studying conversations, picking up trends and producing a wealth of information about how customers engage with products and services - or those of competitors." [2] Using social networks for these purposes allows enterprises to capitalize on the "big marketing and community potential in social media." [10] Adoption of social networks presents unheard of advantages to the enterprise. Every aspect of an organization is affected by the implementation of public social networks. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn not only connect users (potential customers, employees, and partners) in unprecedented ways, they revolutionize the ways business operates. Twenty-four seven access to collaborative solutions, immense knowledge bases, and other users are just a few of the benefits. In addition to these less quantifiable benefits, enterprises can see significant gains in terms of increased revenue, better data, and reduced costs.

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Disadvantages for Adoption

As the debate about social networking in the workplace heats up, the number of articles condemning the adoption of this technology continues to grow. Managers need to carefully weigh the pros and cons before embracing the use of social networks in their organizations. In this section we will take a close look at some of the more rational reasons for not integrating social networks in the workplace. We will start by highlighting one of the greatest apprehensions about social networking in the work environment. Loss of productivity is a managers greatest fear, and the use of social networks is considered by many to be a time wasting activity. Employers typically see social networking as a form of electronic socializing, and fear that socializing on the company clock is counter-productive to the goals of the organization. According to Bart Perkins, Social networking for personal purposes can affect corporate productivity. [1] Perkins backs his claim with an example of a UK trader who was spending four hours each workday on Facebook. When the trader was asked to stop, they posted the warning email on Facebook with a caption that read: "It's a measure of how warped I've become that, not only am I surprisingly proud of this, but losing my job worries me far less than losing Facebook." [1] Another prominent concern about workplace use of social networking revolves around the data that this medium contains. Evidence suggests that CIOs worry about data leakage from staff gossiping freely in an open environment. [2] While some companies do sanction the use of social networking for the exchange of professional information, they are advised to take great care to protect corporate secrets, [1] especially as control of the data is limited. Many social networks, such as Facebook, limit the ability of the user to control the updating, and deletion of the data that they post. Hence the phrase what happens in the Facebook, stays in the

Page |8 Facebook? coined in a recent YouTube video. Facebook's terms of service explicitly state that the content posted there is the property of Facebook. [3] According to David Thiel, one of the most important issue is the ownership of user-data, the users should be able to control their data and its visibility. Without this level of control, it is understandable why corporations may view social networking as the cause of potential data-leakage. There is additional concern due to the inability of corporations to control the data once it is posted. CIOs are concerned with the limited control over the data privacy afforded to their organizations by these social networks; some user agreements clearly state that the site shares personal data with other entities. Social networks, being a consumer-side invention, lack enterprise data feeds. According to Deloitte Consulting LLP This encourages cut-and-paste publishing from traditional enterprise IT systems into social media, creating another silo of data. [6] The more data silos that exist, the greater the risk of loss of control of that datas content. Deloitte Consulting LLP also cited information hoarding as a large concern for industries that place value on what an employee knows that others do not know. [6] For corporations that choose to maintain a profile in a social network, there is heavy reliance on the security of that profile, and the data it contains. [4] These profiles are protected with a simple username and password, and therefore can become a target for attack. These attacks can either cause injury by altering the content of the profile, or by accessing sensitive information contained within the profile. According to Andrew Walls, corporations may also be subject to defamation and identity fraud, which can lead to serious damage to the corporate image and reputation. [4] For network administrators and managers there is also a concern that social networking use will adversely affect their infrastructure. While there are clear benefits to increasing

Page |9 communication, many social network users transfer large amounts of data in the form of pictures and videos they upload and download. According to Perkins, Downloading and storing these files can cripple your infrastructure and make capacity planning virtually impossible. [1] Any technology that threatens the stability of the network will appear to management as unfriendly.

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Conclusion (Readiness for Adoption)

The reality of the social networking debate is that the technology is still in its infancy. No one can predict the enterprise role, if any, that social networking can have in the future. With that being said, social networking is so pervasive that it is engrained in every aspect of our personal lives. That fact alone will prevent social networking from leaving the corporate discussion table any time soon. The marketing advantages of social networks are currently being evaluated, as are the collaborative and knowledge-sharing opportunities these communication mediums present. While it is easy to envision social networking as a tool to market products and services, it is difficult to imagine that such a narrow focus will lead to the universal acceptance of social networking in the corporate environment. It is more likely that corporations will adopt a stripped-down or in-house version of a social network that caters to their particular needs, whatever they may be. Those industries that do not see a direct profit benefit from adopting enterprise social networking will likely place related projects on hold until more evidence is available. Weighing heavily on the minds of stakeholders at these corporations will be the negative outcomes and tangible gains of social networking implementation. Without the prospect of a significant return on investment, corporations are not likely to prioritize the introduction of technology that may jeopardize the integrity of their existing infrastructure. Legal departments will waste no time documenting and presenting pitfalls associated with social networking. Risks to corporate image, fears of data loss, and the lack of control over the data submitted to these social networks will create a negative impression of social networks.

P a g e | 11 When the dust settles we will likely see an amalgamation of the various social networking outlets specifically geared toward a certain life function. The majority of these implementations will likely contain marketing, corporate web pages, and recruiting information, to satisfy the individual corporate adoption criteria. However, most companies will probably fixate on the negative connotations of social media until they figure a way to harness it for profit, which restricts its ability to be incorporated into the enterprise.

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Reference
[1] Perkins, Bart. "The pitfalls of social networking." Computerworld - News, Education & Headlines - Security, Storage & Networking - Information on Hardware, Software for Laptops & Desktops. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/311395/The_Pitfalls_of_Social_Networking>. [2] Wilson, J. "Social networking: the business case." Engineering & Technology (17509637) 4.10 (2009): 54-56. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. [3] Reid, Carolina K. "Should Business Embrace Social Networking?" EcontentMag.com: Digital Content Strategies and Resources. <http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/Editorial/Feature/Should-Business-EmbraceSocial-Networking-54518.htm>. [4] Thiel, David. "Top Issues in Social Networks." Etailology. Web. 11 Nov. 2009. <http://etailology.com/blog/archives/116>. [5] Walls, Andrew. "Gartners at-a-glance guide to social networking risks | 30 Jan 2008 | ComputerWeekly.com." ComputerWeekly.com | Information Technology News & UK IT Jobs. <http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/01/30/229178/gartners-at-aglance-guide-to-social-networking-risks.htm>. [6] Deloitte Consulting LLP. "The maturing human network: Can you find me now? | 10 Oct 2008 | ComputerWeekly.com." ComputerWeekly.com | Information Technology News & UK IT Jobs <http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/10/10/232615/thematuring-human-network-can-you-find-me-now.htmnow.htm>.

P a g e | 13 [7] "Rheingold Associates: How Online Social Networks Benefit Organizations." Rheingold.com. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://www.rheingold.com/Associates/onlinenetworks.html>. [8] "Starting a Corporate Social Network? Don't - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2009/ca2009058_371160.htm?ch an=careers_special+report+--+social+media+2009_special+report [9] "Editorial: Plotting Social Media." Information Today, Inc. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. <http://www.infotoday.com/it/oct09/Kaser.shtml>. [10] Reisinger, Don "you should know now about...SOCIAL MEDIA SECURITY." eWeek 26.17 (2009): 38. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. [11] Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
[12] "Social

network." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Nov 2009, 13:19 UTC. 10 Nov 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_network&oldid=324834546>.