Why Doesn’t HR use Social Media?
When I’m at unconference events or talking within the online HR community, I often hear people ask, “Why don’t HR people use social media?”
I’ve been thinking about that since the last time I heard the question at RecruitDC last week. We might feel that many of our peers are not on board the Social Media Train, preferring to walk or take the bus. But is that true, I wondered? I went online to check around.
I found this summary of Birkman research saying that many HR professionals are using social media at some level, if quite basic. For example,
“When asked which Web 2.0 technologies they use more than once a month, the clear leaders
were LinkedIn (75 percent) and Facebook (66 percent). However, 45 percent also used
Google Reader and 28 percent used Twitter.”
So most HR pros are using FaceBook, etc., at least once a month. That doesn’t tell me much. Is it once a day, once a week, or once a month? And are they using it for business reasons? To stay in touch with family and friends? For branding, recruitment, employee communications? It’s not very clear.
Here’s a 2009 Marketing Pilgram report stating that over 80% of Americans use social media at least monthly, so maybe HR needs to catch up. But then, there’s the February 2010 Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration announcement that 30% of Americans don’t use the internet at all, not at home, not at work!! Surely the HR profession is way ahead there; how could a 2010 human resources professional remain viable, much less competitive, without access to all the web has to offer?
The most heartening statements I read from Birkman were that 83% of respondents agreed that social media can “improve communication, bring greater efficiency to the workplace” and that it offers “immense opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing.” A majority planned to increase their readership of and commentary on blogs as well as expand their online networks.
That’s encouraging, but anecdotally, we all know a lot of HR pros who, for all intents and purposes, don’t appear to be using social media at work and may actively discourage its use by others in their organization. Why don’t HR people use social media? Here are reasons I’ve heard:
- FaceBook is for personal use. How would I use it at work?
- I don’t really know that much about social media. I should learn.
- I don’t understand how it could be helpful to HR.
- I’m so busy, I don’t have time to learn about it.
- I’m so busy, I don’t have time to use social media.
- Firewalls won’t allow it.
- Policies won’t allow it.
- Counsel advices against.
- I think it’s dangerous and there are too many issues associated.
- It’s not my thing, I prefer real interactions.
- I’m not a writer or a techie.
I use social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogging, RSS, etc.) for my personal enjoyment and my professional growth. At work, I use Twitter in a limited capacity, i.e. quick updates, links, job announcements, RT’s– though days may go by when I don’t tweet during the business day. I do the vast majority of my professional tweeting at home. My organization has a FaceBook page, I run occasional ads, and I may have legitimate reasons to log-in during work hours–such as tracking down an alumnus. But when I do work-related FaceBook tasks, I close my door or I do it from home. Why is that? Well, it’s because I want to avoid the appearance of impropriety and I want to avoid confusing my employees. If they walk into my office and see FaceBook on the screen, their brains will instantly register that famous blue logo and layout, but they won’t notice that I’m on the company page or that I’m tweaking the language of our ad. On the other hand, I don’t have a problem using YouTube at work because it is much more immediately apparent to visitors that I’m watching HR, training, or disability-related content. I’m not sure how to feel more comfortable being on FaceBook at work and I’m curious whether any other HR people feel the same way? Is this one unspoken reason why more HR pros don’t more fully embrace social media at work?
What about you? If you read this blog, there’s a good chance you’re active in social media. But do you use it at work? If not, why? Talk to me, baby.
image by webtreats
When I log onto my office computer our intranet, Delicious, Facebook. LinkedIn, and Twitter all open, so i’m logged in pretty much all day all the time. We have an wellness FB page and I try to post to that every day. I also keep an eye on what our staff is posting. Sometimes that’s how I find out that someone needs help with an insurance claim or something else I can lend a hand with. I don’t hide it and I encourage others to use social media. People aren’t going to see all the business opportunities if they don’t experiment. I do realize that I’m a bit of an anomaly. I lead a discussion at the Alliance for Workplace Excellence Thinkfest this week on using social media to engage employees. Most participants had either a FB or LinkedIn account, but none were really using them to communicate with people at work.
.-= Janet McNichol´s last blog ..First Impressions — Guest Post by Diana Levin =-.
Thanks, Janet. You have inspired me to Put Up or Shut Up, as Victorio Milian would say. (http://tinyurl.com/2g4sd3m) So, after reading your comment, I have decided that I am going to come out of the social media closet at work!
It is strange for me as well. I could have written your second to last paragraph almost word for word. People know that I’m out of the social media closet. But I don’t want there to be the perception that it’s taking away from my job. Only you spend all day with yourself – only you know what the reality is. So most of the workday is others having perceptions of you. Some people have no problem with social media tools accentuating your worklife. Some see it as kid-stuff and a waste of time.
Social media usage is no different than anything else at work that can cause misperceptions. I realize that people don’t know what the reality is. So I think it’s important to make a good impression. As HR, I think we can be the role models for well-intended social media usage at work.
.-= Paul Smith´s last blog ..Big Sky Theory =-.
Krista, I agree with the post that HR needs to be more aware of SM and using it at work to a much higher degree. The profession needs to be better trained and not influenced by the naysayers (including most of the legal profession). At one time I remember a number of people saying that the internet, e-mail, etc. was something to be ignored and avoided. Hell, people probably told Alexander Graham Bell the same thing.
@John, you are right. And also email and internet are amazing tools that can certainly be abused, but we don’t hear much about that anymore, do we? Is that because now the energy has gone into complaining about SM….or is it because they are so deeply entrenched as a part of our culture?