I’m still just a novice blogger as I’ve only been doing this for a couple of months, but I have to say that it’s been a really interesting experience. I’ve been writing books and articles and commenting in the media for years, but self-publishing has given me a completely new perspective on things.
It’s also left me wondering about the extent to which HR professionals are using social media and web 2.0. This is your cue to write a comment and tell me the answer to this conundrum…..
But seriously, who in the HR community is getting value from reading, writing and contributing to blogs? Based on my own recent experience I have no doubt that there is a great deal of value to be gained from this medium, but I wonder if we did a survey of HR Directors how many would have ever read a blog, let alone written one? Maybe I’d be surprised; maybe someone should run the survey?
Or is it just the younger members of the HR profession who have grown up with the internet who see social networking as a legitimate and valuable tool for delivering their work objectives and developing as individuals? I certainly think they are the easiest group to convert, but do they feel empowered to use the technology during working hours?
If my hunch that social networking only touches a fraction of HR professionals is correct, what are the barriers? Is it time? Is there a skill gap? Somehow I doubt it, but I do suspect that there is a mindset out there that says it’s not real work unless you’re writing a report or a policy. Or maybe it’s really all about marketing and HR blogs are not marketed effectively enough to be widely used? At the end of the day, we would all click on a link if we thought it would deliver information that was valuable to us.
As you can see, there are more questions than answers, but one thing I am sure about is that the more senior HR staff we can get modelling this behaviour, the sooner it will start to become a legitimate use of time and a real source of value for businesses.
April 1, 2008 at 5:36 pm
When it comes to blogging, they say the first two years are the hardest :).
On the commenters front, I would suspect that HR professionals would be the most hesitant to comment. Some businesses now adopting ‘no personal blogging’ policies, and some fairly public firings of people, based on their blogs. All of this makes life tough for bloggers, but all potentially makes people more hesitant about posting. It is much easier to be at-least pseudo-anonymous as a commenter, but perhaps people are wary of being the first ‘commenter’ to be outed!
Eitherway, I suspect, given their professional backgrounds, that HR professionals would be more reticent to blog that most, which is a big shame.