It was bound to happen.  Companies, government agencies and even parents are saying no more to Facebook on their watch - 'Facebook banned for Council Staff'.  What's the deal?  Supposedly its because of lost productivity.  And how do companies know this?  They employ someone to run the figures on how many hours people waste on Facebook.  They then also spend tens of thousands of dollars on intranets which are usually under-performing and don't encourage interaction or discussion.

The move for information is towards the dynamic exchange of ideas and sites like Facebook and MySpace are feeding the hunger for this type of communication.  So much so that a new report, 'Forrester: Social networking grows up' suggests that social media is the key to reaching over 34 year olds by campaigning via key social media sites.  If this is fact the case there is a lesson to be learned in terms of how companies communicate to their own staff.  Is their internal communication responding to the communication being used in the lives of their staff? Or are they just being short-sighted in terms of blocking access to sites where people can exchange ideas and (dare I mention it) get a release from the grind over everyday work?  Longer work hours, less life balance: it's no wonder we reach out for a tweet to break the monotony.

Take a leaf from the social media sites and re-gear your internal communications to where the action is. Don't block access.  Put your company out there and get your staff to want to become your fans. Want to know more?  Contact us for a worthy conversation!