I've recently been part of a trial using Twitter to showcase to the world the different jobs that happen in my workplace. Over a two week period myself and approx 15 other members of staff tweeted actual elements of their job as it happened. Looking to highlight learning issues as we went or just post up best practice was a goal I had set myself and was keen to see if that also happened amongst the group.
Everyone who took part felt really engaged in the activity, especially as most where home workers who only ever meet their colleagues once or twice a month. For those in the trial who did different jobs to the majority it was a good insight in to what really happened on an hour to hour, day to day basis. Communication was great, members of the trial even started to post stories of what happened out of work and the group bonded much better than ever anticipated.
But what of any learning on the job, sharing of best practice? Well it was only a two week trial but there wasn't much to report. May be staff got caught up in the new technology, the opportunity to be able to communicate in 'real time' or just in the purpose of the trial to communicate their job.
So am I disappointed? Not at all. Having an engaged team in times when workloads are higher, targets are shorter and overall we all feel under that extra amount of pressure can't be all bad. Social media is new to all of us. The ability to blog, tweet, post or upload our thoughts and experiences are now in the very palms of our hands 24/7 and anytime anywhere. Setting guidelines in the work environment is worth giving some thought with social media so it makes it easier to filter the information you really need.
So engagement or learning tool? Its both and I'm sure over the next few years as more people embrace these tools for these purposes then we'll see a different aspect to our communication and learning needs in the workplace.
