The "Theo-ology of Social Media

I read a great article by Theo Paphitis of Dragon's Den fame in Mail Online where he argues for a ban in the workplace on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, because of their time-wasting impact on business.
I love some of the phrases he uses to describe the content on such sites - "an orgy of self-indulgence and exhibitionism," and "meaningless babble and egomaniacal drivel!"
He cites the example of Portsmouth City Council who have banned staff from using Facebook after discovering that log-ins had reached 270,000 in one month. And generally he presents a compelling argument for such a ban. He struck a particular chord with me when he went on to discuss our over-reliance on emails, mobile telephones and text messaging, suggesting that "Technological progress has brought linguistic regressions." I was appalled to realise the other day that I was now habitually typing "there" for "their" and "they're" in emails.
And the other bee in my bonnet is how we mis-communicate through electronic communication because of its total dependance on words alone. A colleague in sales endured constant confusion and harrassment because of her boss's reliance on text messages to direct and control the sales team. Unfortunately we haven't all learnt that 90% of the interpretation of meaning comes through accompanying body language and voice tones!
But the fact remains that businesses will want to communicate with employees and customers, and the internet and mobile technology is a fantastic way to do that once the audience is engaged. Mobile technology, the internet and social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Digg are arguably the perfect delivery channel to achieve this. The "opting in...community" format creates a sense of ownership with the audience, and because of this they instinctively trust content and choose to engage with messages. The huge opportunity for business is in recognising where social media is appropriate within the communication mix, and learning how to work with it to get messages across.

Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For tips and advice on how we can assist you to get your message across persuasively please visit us at http://www.persuadability.co.uk/