ClarityWEB Article
HR staff and Social Media reliance
A survey of almost 1,000 senior HR professionals has revealed that human resources departments are increasingly reliant on social media networks to help them resolve issues in the workplace.
HR executives are being highlighted as one of the primary professions to recognise the value and depth of information freely available on social media networks for advancing careers, increasing their knowledge and assisting in finding solutions quickly.
The survey concludes that most HR professionals now consider the use of social media platforms to be fundamental as a component skill. Almost 80% of those surveyed said they felt the use of social media was essential in keeping up to date with changes and facts, and a similar number said they found the platforms the best way of communicating with peers (whatever happening to the art of verbal communication in HR!).
More than 50% of those asked had replied to queries raised by peers via social media. They're also learning to use such networks to broaden their knowledge in other areas by asking peers in other skills sets to enlighten them (is that really anything new?).
The growth of social media use in HR far outstripped their intake of information in any other form according to the results with most HR professionals spending 4 hours per week using it. Such is the popularity of social media in human resources that it now accounts for almost half of all total media consumption.
So, what does it all means? Well, read our column on the right of this page.
Spread the Word
The Ultimate Resource?
The first thing that strikes us about this survey is that you could apply its overall sentiment to a huge number of professions.
However, the statistics are impressive. We have little doubt that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook in particular could provide those in the HR professions with a vast array of information that could prove incredibly useful.
We'd be interested to know with just what authority a number of these resources speak though. If HR are utilising social media more and more then they may also want to research the quality of information. Perhaps they do so already (you'd certainly hope so), but with the numbers quoted and the reasons given it does raise a question mark.
Is social media a reliable replacement for editorial content from paid for sources (because those are the sources showing the biggest decline according to the survey)? We doubt that very much. The internet and social media has opened up a world (literally) of new contributors but any profession showing the rise in use that HR is would be well advised to proceed with caution.
We're certainly not condemning it, indeed those in HR should be applauded for embracing new media streams in the way they clearly have, but those in the internet and technology professions are well aware of how spurious social media sources can be and if the industry were to begin to demonstrate an over reliance on social media then you can bet it won't be long before you're reading about the first scandal as a result of it - and probably on a social media platform!
First Time Online?
Can you remember the first time you used the internet?
