Social media, though technology as a whole, has had a bit of rough press this week. Much of the rioting that escalated from Tottenham in London right the way up to Manchester and beyond, was made possible by the likes of Facebook, Twitter and handheld mobile devices. Would the social scars be as deep if technology was not so readily available? Well, perhaps.
Each day however, I work with training companies that are looking to embrace new technology and use it to benefit their business and profit levels, so while I can see the damage it can cause, there is a strong argument to ramp up our use of IT as well.
Newspaper reports this week showed of the two young men who were handed length jail sentences for their part in inciting violence on the streets during last week’s raids, and they did that via Facebook. Social media allowed them to reach a large number of people with a call to action message that led to a change in the behaviour of those people.
But, it was also the digital technology that allowed these men to be caught and brought to justice. When you’re online, everything is traceable, you leave breadcrumbs everywhere you go and it doesn’t take a genius (or a software developer) to work out how to find you.
Put the rioting aside for one moment, if this could be harnessed, what an incredible asset for a business. Software allows you to see who visited your website, where they came from and how long they stayed for. Send an email, and you can see who opened it, when they opened it and what action they took afterwards. It has completely revolutionised the way we interact with existing clients and potential ones.
No-one can deny that in the wrong hands, social media and other technological advances are incredibly dangerous, but events like last week, for me anyway, just highlight the sheer power of new communication platforms – they can shift messages and energy around in a way that has never been seen or felt before.
In the training and development world, the forward thinking companies that have noticed this, then chosen to bring the same concept and solution into their own working environment.
Dave Evans
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