“Social Networking”

There. I said it.

It seems a vast number of people are busy doing it, talking about it, and studying it (a Google search of the phrase yields over 32 million hits – must be a slow day) and the folks over at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania are no exception. A recently published article, “Connecting the Corporate Dots: Social Networks Reveal How Employees and Companies Operate” lends even more evidence that this could really be the Next Big Thing.

Of course, the term “Social Networking” is really just a catch phrase for a whole range of activities, of which blogging may be the most widely-practiced. But the thing that gets me is, maybe it really IS a new paradigm? Well, maybe not new, just new in the sense of really beginning to have real impact. The writers point out that research and study are finally beginning to reveal several ramifications of this phenomenon as it relates to the corporation.

For instance, it helps explain how companies operate, revealing where the real work flows are. This would be useful to help streamline work processes when they don’t flow where you thought they did. It also helps reveal how employees and board members interact. Board members tend to form network “clusters”, which is useful in disseminating critical knowledge quickly across widely separated boards.

Another value is in revealing key employees (the writers call them “cosmopolitans”) who are most valuable to the flow of information. When things get bogged down, there may arise hidden channels of communication among these employees that actually bypass cumbersome or outdated processes.

It also helps reveal how relationships can be better understood to improve productivity and the dissemination of ideas. For example, most companies, while active in knowledge capture, still have yet to understand the value of providing an easy and widely-accessible method of knowledge sharing. The thing is, most of these are actually based on a sense of community, somthing social networking is especially great at.

All of these are certainly good things to know, but that last one catches my eye, and echoes something I’ve been researching lately: corporate blogging. Improving productivity and disseminating ideas among co-workers are certainly things that most corporations should sit up and take notice of.

Hardly a day goes by when I see more and more value in having a corporate blog.