In our last session of ITEC 840, we had a speaker named Eugene come in from SocialText to tell us about the use of wikis in the workplace. I currently work in a large company and have seen a lot money be put into webbased programs that are suppose to improve work productivity. A lot of the time they prove to be ineffective as people never take the time to learn the program or it is not compatible with certain software.
However, After listening to Eugene speak, I was quite convinced that wikis tailored for inside use can be very helpful in a workplace. For instance, in a department like IT, information needs to be constantly updated and using a wiki will bypass having to download information, reformatting it, etc. and the information will be available to view for those in the wiki group or that department. It also informs those in the group that the information has been updated.
I work in a remote office and always seem to be the last to know when things have been updated or if some kind of important information is posted. I also have to deal with sending attached documents back and forth for re-editing, which can jam up my email box and can sometimes get lost. Having a wiki would be very useful for situations like that and is a great collaboration tool
Eugene then went on to talk about the benefits of Twitter. I could see why people really enjoy using this program. Who wouldn’t like having people following your every move? It’s like having your own virtual entourage. On the otherhand, I find it to be more of a burden than engaging. Why would I want to let everyone know what I am doing every few minutes, let alone, why do I care what other people are doing? If I let people “follow” me, then surely I am expected to follow them. I don’t have time to update my twitter logs nor would I have time to read through others.
Beyond just the social environment, Twitter is becoming popular in the workplace. As money is tight and prospecting is low, transparency is a huge issue. Companies need transparency on managing their portfolio, they need transparency on how money is being spent, and most of all, they need transparency on how productive their employees are. You can manage worker’s activity through Twitter by seeing updated posts of who is working on what, when they are finished and what they are working on next, etc.
It’s interesting learning how social networking sites, wikis, and blogs can be useful and sometimes even “required” in the workplace. My biggest fears are getting “hooked” on these things. As long as I only use Twitter or Facebook or blogs for work and school, then I should be okay.
I wonder if I can get overtime for updating people’s profiles and page layouts?
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