Doing business in an online world

The digital revolution

One of the important tools is:

social media and social networks. Unlike online meetings, these technologies were popularised in the consumer world before being applied to business. At first glance, blogs and podcasts might not be obvious tools for workplace communication, but in fact they can provide a vehicle for disseminating information across an entire company, or for sharing knowledge. For instance, blogs can allow employees to share and discuss information they have gathered which can be of wider benefit. They can then act as a knowledge base that others can refer to at anytime. Twitter, a more recent development, is more similar to IM in that it is best suited to short, one-off requests. But its ability to send a request or message to a network of followers simultaneously can give employees access to a powerful bank of pooled knowledge.

 

Social networking is the final piece in the puzzle. While sites such as Facebook and MySpace remain primarily in the consumer market, you shouldn’t underestimate the potential of business-oriented networks such as LinkedIn, which can have many benefits. For example, a simple status update could be used to announce company news, and valuable insight can be gained by looking at who is connected with your contacts – you can improve your knowledge of existing clients, and perhaps even identify new ones. By joining or creating groups on a site like LinkedIn, you can identify distinct groups of contacts, whether internal or external, with which to communicate on particular issues. This can be particularly useful in smaller companies where there are less people to discuss ideas, as it can provide an almost limitless network of peers with which to debate new strategies or initiatives. We’re currently working with LinkedIn on its first European Business Awards, the first time that the success of individuals and businesses using the network has been celebrated.

 

Published By Silicon