Social media at work and at play

Over three quarters of millennials surveyed say that the use of social media at work is either somewhat or extremely useful according to the ASTD report: Social Media, The Millennial Perspective report. 

In just five years, potentially more than half of the workforce will be composed of members of the Millennial generation (born after 1981) who have grown up immersed in technology and social media. For this generation, computers and collaborative technologies are an extension of who they are.

According to the report, although overall usage for social media for work-related learning is still relatively low, the following methods are used:

• Shared workspaces-69%

• Wiki's-50%

• Shared media-38%

• Blogs-38%

The book, We Are Smarter than Me, is all about using social media to enhance a business organization. They cite that Wikipedia has managed to create an encyclopedia via social networking and mass collaboration. They ask: what else could we do? They also wisely state:

With more than 1 billion individuals around the world connected by a new multimedia high bandwidth medium of human communications, collaboration and teamwork has become the business world's biggest drivers of success.

And this just in, from Training Magazine:

 Social networking has reached a tipping point. It’s transforming the way managers gather information, inform, negotiate, motivate, inspire, instruct, empower, forecast, and sell. It lets managers be here, there, and everywhere, with individuals or groups, 24/7, and at little or no cost.