The Rise of Social Media in the Work Place

The role of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in the work place has grown rapidly over the years since their emergence on the internet scene. Their roles are quite different and they work together to promote companies and their respective services, however they can also be used as a vehicle for individual promotion.

Twitter and Facebook work to draw interest to your company and gain exposure in the right circles, particularly when they are linked together and promote similar or in some cases the same stories but LinkedIn promotes individuals and their talents. These are the three main social networking sites but there are more - Google+ offers the opportunity to create circles of contacts so you can get a group of businesses in a circle in order to promote each other or work together towards one main goal. The rise of these networking facilities has been fast to say the least and they are now an accepted medium for businesses to promote themselves free of charge.

The UK based telecommunications company BT are the latest company to demonstrate how to take advantage of the digital age. With the launch of their TV channels covering different sporting events they have secured major sports personalities as presenters; Rio Ferdinand, Gareth Bale, Jake Humphrey and Clare Balding to name a few. The presenters have all been spotted endorsing and promoting the new channels on Twitter leading up to the launch in August 2013 and it is people like this that really make the difference when it comes to promotion. Social icons such as sports stars, television presenters and so forth carry a great deal of influence in society these days - what they think matters, largely because exposure to the 'normal' public is much greater. A huge proportion of personalities have personal Twitter accounts that can be found and followed by anyone who signs up to a Twitter account and it is personal choice who you follow.

The promotion by these particular personalities has been referred to by BT as 'encouraged but non-contractual' therefore they have no obligation to do it but they appreciate that if there is not a 'buzz' created around the new product, it will not be taken up by the public and they will not experience success in their field.

This may be a cynical view of the role of social media - all of it is purely a channel for promotion - but it's true and it's easy no less. The possibility of being head-hunted is much greater these days and you receive exposure to relevant areas of interest much easier and at a much greater rate. Facebook may die out in this sphere, but Twitter and LinkedIn (the online CV that allows you to be head-hunted) will continue long into the future provided they keep providing promotions!

For more discussions on social media and their role in contemporary society read our other articles on Ezine.