The Case for Social Networking

Source: CPA Success

The following includes excerpts from a blog posting, "Social media--passing fad or valuable tool?"

A special report on social networking by The Economist Magazine titled "A World of Connections" makes a strong business case for social networking that I have not seen before (from the mainstream business world). Could this be the real tipping point for adoption by the businesses of social networking and Web 2.0?

If you need your people to collaborate, or to connect with customers and suppliers, or connect with others in your organization, then you need to rethink social media. I agree with Sir Tim Berners-Lee (founding father of the internet and author of Weaving the Web) in his statement in the special report, "The ultimate goal [of the internet] was to come up with something that, first and foremost, would make it easier to collaborate with one another."

Here are five major benefits that The Economist special report says that social media (via the web) has created:

• Trusted on-line venues where real people can meet up using their real identities;
• New ways for firms and organizations to reach their customers and those who influence them;
• Reduced friction in labor markets by allowing employers and prospective employees to find each other and connect;
• Faster information flow and communication inside companies and organizations;
• A "Free and immensely powerful set of communication and collaboration tools to everyone on Earth who has access to a broadband internet connection.

Business is about people, which means business is social. This report makes the point that businesses need to rethink social networking from a whole new vantage point. This should provide good ammo for anybody trying to make the case for social media inside their organizations. Well done!

Read the special report--"A World of Connections."

For the complete blog posting, see http://www.cpasuccess.com/ and read the February 16, 2010 posting "Social media: Passing fad or valuable tool?"

From CPA Success, the blog of the Maryland Association of CPAs, http://www.macpa.org/Content/Home.aspx, February 16, 2010.