ACS Vic Branch Forum

Branch Forum Report: The Pros and Cons of Social Networking in a Business Context

At our June Branch Forum held on 17 June, 80 attendees participated in a lively discussion moderated by our Victorian Branch Chairman Ian Wells, with our Panel members Dr Charlynn Miller (University of Ballarat), Corry Brouwer (ANZ) and David Talamelli (Oracle).

The main points that came out of this session:

* Social Networking in a Business context is not understood by everyone, but it is here and now
* Fabulous for business and social communities
* Oracle do not use regular advertising for recruitment
* Addiction can be a bit of an issue initially, but it seems to settle in the longer term as people find their own niche
* Social networking is only one channel for business, there are many more
* People don't realise that what they put on a social network is no longer private and stays there forever. It is now public and people are not smart about what they divulge. Users should be moderate and mindful of what they are saying
* Not only is your information no longer private, neither is that of anyone else you are connected to
* The implications and consequences of usage today is yet to play out and may not for many years, particularly with regard to legal and other issues
* To make best use of this type of communication, you need to work out the purpose of what you are trying to communicate, why and to whom. This was described as 'determining your requirements'
* In the workplace, there should be policy in place regarding the use of social networking both in a business and private context. This allows the workplace to counsel staff if any issues eventuate
* The speed of which things are happening means we continue to lower our attention span
* On the question of eroding people's ability to write, the consensus was that 'content is still king'. If it?s not good enough, it won't naturally survive
* A great part of identity theft occurs from social networking sites
* Regulation will not keep up with this. We need to educate people to use social networking.

In addition, as someone who 'practises what he preaches', see David Talamelli's blog of the event at http://blogs.oracle.com/jobsatoracle/