HR and Social Media – is it Necessary?

Seems these days there’s a lot of buzz about HR and social media, and whether or not they’re a good match-up.  Perhaps the hold-off on jumping into social media full force has more to do with preconceived notions.  After all, it’s rather impersonal, isn’t it?  Well, maybe for keeping in touch with Grandma, but for an ever-growing global economy, it’s probably the only way you’ll ever get to know many of the people your business works with.

Yes, it’s true – social media big wigs like Facebook and Twitter may have started out as something for a technologically savvy group of teens, but these days there’s more to Tweeting than helping increase Ashton Kutcher’s following.  And Facebook is becoming more and more of a hot spot for business professionals to make connections and put faces to the names they’d otherwise only see in the byline of an email.  

Making more personal connections is perhaps the biggest advantage to having a presence in the social media scene.  Sure, business lunch groups designed for networking time are still a great way to go for local connections, but for reaching out to the rest of the country – even the rest of the planet – nothing gets you ahead like making connections online.  

If social media has made you nervous in the past, there are some fun and easy places to start.  For instance, you can try smaller more specialized groups such as the Employee Recognition Community which makes it easy to sign up and get connected with other HR professionals across the country.  Or try an HR forum such as HR Guru’s forum page.  If you’re feeling like really jumping in, get signed up at Twitter and do a search for HR or for some of the companies you work with.  You’ll be able to follow HR professionals and various business contacts from all over the globe.  The General Motivation Blog Twitters too, so you can start by following us at hrhelper. 

Do you already use social media to help you in your business?  Feel free to leave a comment here and share your experiences.