GenXmanager: Leadership for the Generation X Manager

I was reading a Wall Street Journal online article titled, For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert PR Mess. It is a great article about how organizations can avert or at least smooth over PR related issues using social media. In the article, I saw a quote I want to bring to your attention.

“Some companies are training staffers to broaden their social-media efforts. At Ford, Mr. Monty plans to soon begin teaching employees how to use sites like Twitter to represent the company and interact with consumers.

Coca-Cola Co. is preparing a similar effort, which initially will be limited to marketing, public affairs and legal staffers. Participants will be authorized to post to social media on Coke’s behalf without checking with the company’s PR staff, says Adam Brown, named Coke’s first head of social media in March.”
from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124925830240300343.html

In my last post, Social Media in the Organization: Embrace it. Don’t Block it!, I mention this specifically. Organization must embrace social media and show employees how to use it to do their jobs more effectively. Ford and Coke “get it”!

And take a look at this article. It appears that Employees using Facebook and Twitter at work are 9% more productive.