Lost: Three Hours of My Time
Well, I think I am going to give up on the idea of workplace applications for Facebook. In three hours I managed to find some long lost friends, see photos of people I know in various guises, and learn a bit more about some of my “friends” hobbies (must google Rufus Wainwright, might be missing something big.) But as much as I tried, I could not see an obvious non-leisure link to this social networking tool.
If I was being generous, I could say that it would help colleagues to get to know each other better outside the office. However, my non-rigorous research showed that not too many “Friends”are also colleagues in people’s lists. Maybe about 10%. I also noticed that there is still a big demographic slant, which goes without saying; the number of Friends seems to be inversely correlated with the number of other people you are doing laundry for.
So Lizzie (196 Friends) and Caroline (239 Friends), can you share your thoughts here -does your Facebook time add anything to your work? I’m not saying it should of course. I just wonder whether Facebook might be a part of our 9-to-5 someday; so far I can’t imagine how I could timesheet the three hours I just spent scrutinising thumbnail photos for signs of aging and poking people.
You might be interested in Serena, a software company that is using Facebook instead of a corporate intranet and has apparently set up
“Facebook Fridays” when employees update their profiles and work their networks for work
Hi Maya, Thanks for this lead on Serena’s use of Facebook. I also heard from a couple of senior staff at WeberShandwick (the reputation management company) that they are using Facebook and have some 200 employees on working away. I have asked for some more information about how they are finding it.
Also, Lizzie kindly took me through her Facebook page and showed me some interesting groups that are “work”-related (like on Strengthsfinder and Change management) that let you in on people talking and recommending reading and concepts around those areas. However, her first question to me was “Why do you want there to be a work-place application to Facebook?” which I thought was a good question…
I just discovered an interesting facebook application – saving the rainforests:
“The developers of (Lil) Green Patch are using sponsorship revenue from advertisers to make donations to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program. Adopt an Acre is a program that provides critical funds for rainforest protection and restoration. You can visit the following site to learn more about this program:
http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/adoptanacre/about/“
A few of these seem to be springing up… L