Board members use social media so why not you?

One of my Twitter friends, Lucy Marcus, recently talked to BoardMember.com. You can see the interview here.

Lucy is not only a member of boards, but also a governance activist (primarily around the contribution of women to boards) that I follow with respect. When she provides advice, as she does here, for members of the board those of us in management positions should take notice.

Are you using social media effectively, to improve your organization, your team, and you?
Does your boss use social media? How does that impact you?
What about your peers and members of your team? Are they getting ahead while you rely on traditional methods to learn and grow?
How does your company use social media? How can you use that for yourself? Is it something you need to monitor?

If you are interested in my use of social media (what I do and why, who I follow, what groups am I in, etc.) I posted a pair of blogs last July (here for internal auditors and here for general use) that cover most of it. I am now following 141 people on Twitter (you can get the list by checking my Twitter profile) and have over 1000 connections on LinkedIn. Lucy is one that I added to my Twitter friend list since my July post.

I don’t care what kind of a profession you are in, you should be on LinkedIn. If nothing else, it will help you maintain contact with your professional network. In addition, there are a ton of discussion groups that can be valuable.

FaceBook is something I only use with friends and family with whom I want to stay in touch. But, increasingly companies are using it – does your company have a FaceBook page?

Twitter can be great, but you need to know what you want out of it. Do you want to share and build a name and network for yourself? Or do you want to follow people who can keep you updated on events, news, and activities that might affect you? Just be careful not to follow more people than you have time to give – to read what they post. You might at least want to follow your employer!

There are so many more. I leave the exploration of other social media to you. The only other one I use frequently is the SAP Community Network, although I occasionally post on OCEG and contribute to the ISACA discussion forums.

Enough about me. What about you? What is useful and why? What is a waste of time?

3 Comments

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Former Member

February 25, 2011 at 4:28 am

I would say that I agree pretty much with your views. There are many very good reasons why (particularly professional) people should use social media; to build relationships, encourage business growth, improve communications.

However, I would also suggest that it can get out of hand; companies may want to be certain (for very valid reasons) that their staff don't spend time unproductively, or put the company into an awkward situation.

It's therefore important that the senior managers do set a good example of good practice in using social media, and lay down some ground rules. In order to do that, as you have identified, they should first understand what they actually want to achieve.

J. Pazahanick

February 25, 2011 at 6:52 am

Good article Norman and I think that many SAP professionals are not using social media effectively.

I have tried to bring addition light to this with the following articles

Value for SAP Customers to start using Twitter (Value for SAP Customers to start using Twitter)

How to find and follow SAP Content on Twitter (How to find and follow SAP Content on Twitter)