Social Media

All last spring, most senior business leaders I met shrugged off the business applicability of Web 2.0. Allowing access to social networks in the workplace was something they were willing to consider only if it was absolutely necessary to keep younger employees from complaining. Twitter? What was that?

But by summer, the conversations I was having with senior executives about the use of these new technologies took on a very different tone. Recognition grew that 2.0 technologies could be used to change the way work gets done in fundamental ways. Interest in exploring these new ways of working, of sharing information, of collaborating to enhance productivity and meet business goals, was here.

Advances in our ability to communicate always change the way we live and work — the two are inextricably linked. The advent of writing facilitated the development of a complex, stratified Egyptian society as rulers were able to document their holdings and express their wishes; the printing press spurred democracy as information spread among the populace; the telex allowed the growth of major cities as headquarters became physically separated from the factories.