The pros and cons of using social media sites in the workplaces

In recent years, many things around us are changing enormously because of the advanced development and increased adoption of digital technologies. Not surprisingly, the world of work is also becoming much more different than that in the previous decades.

Some big companies like Deloitte or IBM, they have their own internal social networking sites to help their workers to communicate and share information with each other. 

I bet you all will not believe that when I worked as a clerk in a logistic company in the summer of 2007, at that time, we just transmitted our messages verbally without using any digital communication devices at work. Whenever there was an announcement made by the company, the manager would inform us face to face but not send emails via intranet or other technological means. It sounds pretty primitive, doesn’t it? But it is really true that we didn’t use digital technologies to help us to communicate or share information, let alone internal social media sites.

If a company wants the employees to work efficiently, they have to help them to establish a good relationship with their colleagues especially if the companies emphasize teamwork a lot. This is one of the reasons why many companies use social media sites to help their employees. Those sites allow people to choose or say whatever they like anytime as well as share things and knowledge with whomever they want. They can even create their own communities such as “Lovers of Lady Gaga” there. Sharing the common preferences or habits, which is not necessarily related to work, not only does it foster employees’ communication but it also helps them to build a close relationship with others including those who are not connected with them closely and frequently, which is beneficial for their future career or employment.

Besides, this informal social communication tool enables people to complete their tasks more easily and efficiently. What I mean is, people can gather and systematize their information and knowledge from the internal and external sources via interactive communications. Comparing with emails or other groupware, this means is more efficient and convenient.

However, every coin has two sides. There are also some disadvantages of using social media sites. Since social media provide a harmonious and friendly environment for the employees to work and share knowledge. Unfortunately, people may be distracted from their work by other colleagues or some “cheerful” things sometimes. I mean, they may focus on the personal chats and interests rather than work without any notice. 

What is more, since the employees’ profiles will be viewed by their co-workers, managers and boss, they need to behave very properly or they will give a bad impression to others. For example, they have to watch their behaviors and words carefully. They are not advised to upload some pictures that they were drinking like a fish or kissing everybody indecently. They are confined to some relaxing but decent communications so actually there is an invisible restriction on presenting themselves in front of others.

According to Arthur Clyne, a Montreal-based web and technology consultant, "Some employers are also beginning to include searches of social media websites in the employee performance evaluations process. They may also conduct routine searches for references to their company or key management personnel. Companies also often monitor employee computer activity while at work, definitely including use of social network sites, which are widely viewed as productivity-killers." (Quoted from an article on George's employment blawg) It is very clear that the employees should be careful about the use of soical networking website otherwise they might be caught and negatively evaluated by their employers!

All in all, using social media sites in workplace has both pros and cons. We should always be aware of the disadvantages. Yet, I think the advantages of using them still outweigh its disadvantages if we use them wisely. 

Does technology control you? Or do you control it?

The answer for me is definitely the former one. Because of its transparency, technology exerts a lot of control on me.

The following are the media that I use daily:

Mobile phone

Facebook

Taobao (It’s an online shopping website)

If I have to rank the level of control they have over me, I would probably say Taobao comes first, then Facebook and finally mobile phone. Every day when I get home from school, the first thing I will do is to visit and check Taobao because I don’t want to miss any updates about the shops or special and beautiful items. Perhaps you would think that I have been too addicted to it, but actually, I always feel that there is an invisible hand pushing me to do that without any notice. But who controls this invisible hand? They are the media and technology.

I am just the same as many people who log in their Facebook automatically and check it constantly every day no matter they are free or busy. We do it routinely just like we need to eat and sleep daily.  I read an article that is about Arianna Huffington, the president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, saying that she started her Huffington Post because she recognized the “obsessive compulsive nature of the web”. (Quoted from jeffbullas.com) It is same as the media.
 
The media make us forget its existence between us and the reality. It is just like Rodney said, they have become transparent! There are many things that we do but we don’t know why we do them. For example, if we check Facebook and visit Taobao continually, we don’t know why but we think it is natural. Why it is natural? It is because we lack consciousness about the existence of the media when we are doing it. Let me take myself as an example. When I keep on visiting Taobao, I have forgotten that it is just a kind of meditational means which makes me feel like I am actually looking around and shopping in different boutiques, talking to the shop assistants “face to face”.

The media are so powerful. They really wash our brain and make us believe what they said and follow what they encourage us to do. So it is true that the more we use them, the more transparent they will become and the more control they will have over us. 

However, some kinds of technology control are just confined to some hand-held devices such as mobile phones or iPad. People spend a lot of time on texting, playing games or using the Apps etc like they are living in an isolated island. In fact, they do that just out of boredom. It is not like the people visiting the websites because they need to find some information for their reseach project. I think the former group of people can avoid being controlled a bit if they analyze it. 

“Sorry, we don’t allow fake names.”- Facebook

About a week ago, I was so shocked when I tried to login my Facebook account and I got rejected. The reason was, MY ACCOUNT WAS DISABLED! Then, I tried the old account which I had deactivated for many weeks and would no longer use, however, it also said that my account was disabled. At that moment, I really couldn’t make my head and I felt like somebody slamming the door in my face. Thus, I visited their FAQ page and tried to dig out what had happened. Guess what? It said I used fake names. I think they don’t allow me to use “HaHa Claire” but “Claire Lam”, which is my proper English name, as my user name when I set up my account. 

Here is the email Facebook sent me and you can see they always emphasize they don't allow fake names.

Anyway, I tell you my story because I want to point out that many people construct fake social identities in the social network websites like Facebook, MySpace and Match.com etc to get a chance to date their “beautiful” internet friends nowadays. People use the social networking websites as a platform or perhaps a tool for advertising and promoting the “beautiful” side of themselves while hiding their true face simultaneously. They want to be ambitious, decent and hard-working in front of their co-workers, boss and family but they also want to act cool, handsome, playful and outgoing to their online friends. To be complete in both respects, some of them create two or above accounts for different purposes. Of course, the accounts for dating purpose are their fake identities since some people like to boast of their social status and appearance etc to impress their friends. I have a friend who is really a good example of this. He told me he has 10 Facebook accounts at least. Some of them are used for spying on his girlfriend, some of them are used for keeping contact with his old schoolmates as well as family. The rest are for flirting and meeting online girls. 

Social networking sites like Facebook and others always encourage people to provide their true identities. Unfortunately it happened that many people are usually against their “ideal” rule. It seems very ironic to see that many people just ignore the rule and continue making fake identities while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg insists, “You ( every Facebook user) have ONLY ONE identity. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.” (extracted from an article on Michael Timmer.org)

To dissect my case, the reason I used “HaHa Claire” instead of “Claire Lam” because I don’t want to reveal too much personal information about myself on the internet. I was worried that my information would be stolen and used for the commercial purposes or even illegal activities. (LOL) I know I am a bit exaggerated but it’s true that many other people have the same doubt as me! Nothing is impossible! And I didn’t use my old account because it had been hacked before.

That is why I always think that some social networking sites are not 100% safe and the people are not 100% real. It is just like online shopping. The description and picture of the products displayed in the online auction sites, let’s say Yahoo Auction, may not be 100% same as the real products. It is all about online “packaging”. Fake packaging. 

There is a question I want to ask Facebook! That is, if Facebook doesn't allow people to create fake accounts or unreal identities, why they just let people set up an account so easily? I mean, why the procedure of signing up is so simple and easy? Don't they think it is a drawback or perhaps the origin of the problem? :P

Abbreviated language: 

Innovation or Linguistic laziness?

Undoubtedly, the answer for the teachers is the latter one. Not only do they see this as linguistic laziness but they also view this as a big headache and the death of English. Is this really true? I mean, have the teachers or educators overstated the seriousness of the phenomenon?

However, according to Hazadiah Mohamad Dahan and Noor Zaina Idris, who have done a study about 'How technologies affect language use and how this can potentially lead to language change in Malaysia", "New objects, concepts, new activities may require new terms, new ways of expressing... This involves creation & innovation in language use (Stockwell, 2002; Coulmas, 2005)." (Quoted from a study on Research, Asia Research News)

Nowadays, many students are blamed for using abbreviated language which they use in electronic communication in their classroom writing. Students tend to write what they want to say with as few words as possible. Actually, those students are not lazy or stupid at all! To play with the abbreviated language, students must have a good sense of how the sounds of the shortened words connect with the letters. They need to think before they spell the words. Why don’t we consider this as creativity and innovation instead of laziness?

In fact, there are many abbreviated forms are closely related to our daily life. Have you ever thought that why we add “A.M.” after the morning time? It is actually an abbreviated language that was recorded long time ago. “A.M.” stands for “Ante Meridiem” which means before noon in Latin. Imagining we always write “Ante Meridiem” after a specific of time, does this imply that we are very smart and not lazy? No! Conversely, people may think that we are a weirdo. So why is this abbreviated form generally accepted but not “skool”, “gr8” or “oic” that are mostly used in text messaging?

I remember Rodney mentioned about Shakespeare creating many words by himself in the lecture. Yet, we don’t think that they are the errors or affecting our spelling skill even though we learn them. Instead, we see his poems and poetries etc as one of the most beautiful and important literature in the history of mankind. Why?

I think people accept “A.M.” or “thee” but not “u” because the former ones were created much earlier than the text message-abbreviated language and have been recorded in the dictionaries for many decades. However, text messaging is criticized a lot and some people think that they were made up by children. Ironically, the tendency towards text messaging in growing and sweeping all over the world nowadays. There are not only students use it, my student’s mom also uses it!

I don’t think people should be old fashioned anymore! The world is changing because of the advanced development of technology. However, if we fear, that will only hinder the progress. We need innovations!

    

Tagging or Folders?

Because of flickr as well as Facebook, I think “tagging” has gained a lot of popularity in the recent years. Whenever I think about “tags”, I will associate them with “keywords” or names of categories. And these keywords are exactly used to describe some photos, documents or web pages on the internet.

Although many people like using tagging nowadays, I am not a big fan of it. Imagining you want to look for a picture which is about kissing. You have tried all the possible keywords but still cannot find a good one. Later, you find a kissing picture that you really love by accident. However, when you look at it carefully, you find that its tag is made up of symbols only. Don’t you feel annoyed about discovering that? I mean, why are they relevant? I sometimes encountered this problem and I would feel very upset even though I had found the picture I wanted. I am not saying that that tag is used wrongly but what I am trying to say is, the meaning of a tag can be very personal and ambiguous. Sometimes, some tags may have no meaning at all!!!At least, those symbols are really not meaningful for the rest of us. I guess that the reason behind this is that the folksonomy users don’t have a set of formal guidelines to follow when they create the tags. 

There is still one advantage of using folders. That is, everything  will be very organized but not messy. Take a look at this video which is about "SmartFolders". Don't you think that everything is well organized and appropriately located? 

Of course, some people may argue that folders also have some limitations. Like Rodney said, people have to decide which folder they should put a picture or whatever item in each time. They can only put the picture in a single folder at a time if they don’t duplicate it. Yet, personally, I still like folders more. I can always find the pictures I want somewhere in a right folder but they are not floating around in a big sea. For example, I can easily find those vineyard pictures in a folder called “Vineyard”. =] I don't have to search 10 different keywords to get a picture I really want! 

At last, I want to share another video that teaches the lovers and owners of iPhone 4 who want to create folders on their phone.

Which one do you guys favor? Tagging or Folders?

My digital life

Due to the advanced development of the technology, people’s lives have changed a lot from the past decades. This is particularly obvious in the aspect of human communication.

Nowadays, I use 3G mobile phone, MSN, Facebook or sometimes email to keep in touch with friends. Thanks to their convenience and efficiency, I just need to click on a button “send”, my friends will be able to read my messages or even picture messages in a minute. I can’t imagine how my life will be without them. I remember when the first day I landed in Sydney, I was so anxious about calling my parents that I had arrived. In the old days, people would write letters or use pigeons to deliver their messages. Yet, nowadays, it would be insane for me to write a letter to my parents since it would take approximately a week for them to receive it. I just used my 3G phone to call them and they could even see me walking around in Sydney.

For entertainment, I use ipod Nano to listen to music. Sometimes, I like to watch TV series on Tudou or YouTube. Whenever and wherever I go, I always bring my digital camera with me. All because I love taking photos!!! What’s more, I like sharing some fashion news with other online friends in my friend’s BeautyExchange blog. The above is a post talking about hats. 


Talking about blogs or online journals, the language used in this kind of media is pretty interesting. What I mean is, people like to add smileys to express or emphasize their feelings or meanings. They also like to use abbreviation. For example, “ttyl”, which means “Talk to you later”. It is also very common in digital telecommunication. People like to abbreviate words so that they can cram a long message into one single SMS. It’s true that it’s very convenient but it sometimes causes miscommunication or misunderstanding. The older generation like our parents may not even understand what they are.

So, I really wonder why and how these new communication technologies are changing or perhaps have greatly influenced the way we communication with people in terms of language use. I also want to know whether they have changed the relationship between different people. How do people construct their identity in those online blogs or Facebook compared with that in real life? What is the relationship between these two kinds of identities? By studying this course, I want find out the answers.