Hachette Filipacchi Media (HFM), a New York-based publishing company, has launched an internal social media network. The New York Observer quotes a HFM memo to employees, which read in part: “The goal of this online community, which functions like Facebook, is to bring us closer together and establish new relationships.”
After reading that memo, you have to wonder how many employees’ first thought was along the lines of, “Do I really have to ‘friend’ the loud mouth in cubical D and the snob in cubical S?” Apparently there was at least one immediate naysayer. An HFM employee e-mailed the Observer with this message: “The idiocy is mind-blowing. As if we need more distractions during our workday. Good lord.”
But there could be an upside to having this network in place. As the Observer points out, it could help bring together employees at HFM, a media giant that has had to downsize. In fact, according to Peter Bradwell, who conducted a study on social networks in the workplace, these networks actually can help businesses maintain stability by giving employees more freedom and flexibility.
So, you might say that the moral of the story is that if your company has launched its own social media network, or has one in the works, it’s best to go with the flow. Having to communicate a little more with the loud mouth in cubical D could help save the company, and possibly your job.
