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This last semester, I had a real interesting class on organizational behavior. While many of the fundamentals that we learned were fairly simple (I mean, who thinks that it is a great job to yell at employees?), it was amazing to see examples of just how bad management in this country can be.

For our final project in the class, we had to write a paper focused on a current trend in management and then look at research to see if the trend has been successful. Being a huge social media nerd, I wrote my paper on web 2.0 products like Twitter and their influence on the corporate world. Because the topic was similar to things I typically blog about, I have decided to post a copy of the paper here. Let me know what you think, I am curious as to if anyone agrees/disagrees with me.

As a little note: I had some footnotes and cited articles for the paper, but couldn't get those to translate over to this blog post very well. If you are really interested in the works I used, e-mail me at Cameron@CameronBanga.com and I'll send you a list.

Introduction
Over the last ten to fifteen years, the internet has become one of the most valuable tool used by a business. During this transition, several significant developments by companies like Google have helped drastically change the way that some companies go about managing collaboration, communication, and social interaction between employees. While these technologies are growing by the second and can be nearly impossible for the typical internet user to keep up with, it is necessary for managers to consider the following question; in what new ways could our company use new internet technologies and can these new services bring benefits to a company? Let's begin by taking a look at a new service which is revolutionizing internet communication.

Research

1. Communication and Twitter
Communication is one aspect of business that can never become obsolete with technology, but technology and the internet are bringing about drastic changes in how companies communicate internally as well as with customers. Using the internet for communication isn't a new idea, in fact it was the motivating factor behind the US Government's research and funding for projects which lead to the internet as we now know it back in the 1950s. E-mail and instant messaging have long been the methods of choice for businesses and households alike, with an estimated 60 billion e-mails sent worldwide per day.1 However, the future of internet communication may just lie in the lands of a growing web start-up called Twitter, a short form communication tool in which users "tweet" messages of a maximum 140 characters which are then passed on to other users within the network. Recently, the web company has seen it's fair share of press after rejecting several bids by social-media giant Facebook for an estimated 500 million dollars worth of stock options. Why would any company spend half of a billion dollars on a web start-up that didn't pull in a dollar of revenue last year? For one simple reason, Twitter has the potential to change the web like text messaging changed the way teens use cell phones. In fact, Twitter works a lot like text messaging by giving users a network of friends in which they can send tiny messages. Twitter allows users to send and receive updates in web browsers, through text messages, and by desktop based computer applications. If you use a computer or cell phone at all during the day, it is easy to stay connected through Twitter and keep tabs on what's going on in the lives of any number of people. A network of coworkers all using Twitter can send quick updates throughout the day, much like by e-mail, but with less clutter and the conversation history is available and searchable forever. For example, one person in the office could send a Twitter message stating, "the office copier isn't working, IT was called and are on their way" and would eliminate the need to fill e-mail boxes with a bit of somewhat useless information while also keeping coworkers up to date on an ongoing office problem. This is just one simple example but the same principle can be applied to situations in and out of the office as one can easily keep up with updates while out of town at meetings or at a conference. The service has also changed the way that many companies market or deal with customer support. Online retailer Amazon uses their Twitter account to alert followers of online deals while JetBlue airlines keeps a customer service representative in charge of their Twitter account twenty-four hours a day, giving customers the opportunity to send messages through Twitter to the company directly while at the airport if service, such as the use of a wheelchair, is needed. One company which has worked extensively to integrate Twitter into the workplace is online shoe retailer Zappos.com. The company opened it's doors in 1999 and in less than ten years has developed into a company which will sell over one billion dollars in shoes this fiscal year. Zappos encourages all employees to use a Twitter account, which CEO Tony Hsieh sees as an important relationship tool, "We feel Twitter allows us to develop a more personal connection with our customers and employees. We don't really view it as a marketing tool, it's more of a relationship-building tool. The telephone is the same way."2 Though the service does provide many unique opportunities internal communication as well as with building relationships with customers, Twitter has forced many of the companies which have embraced it to develop new codes of conduct and expectations for employees using the service. Many see Twitter as an fun and interesting way to communicate and exchange ideas, but it is important to remember that everything on the site is public and has repercussions. Somewhat jocular or unintentionally inappropriate statements on these sites have seen a magnifying glass as the corporate world learns more about how to interact with the internet world. One highly discussed and noteworthy situation of the internet meshing with the business world which has somewhat set precedent for the future of the corporate web occurred back in 2007 when a vice-president of the PR firm Edelman posted the following on his Twitter account, "PC Mag is another. I have a free sub but it goes in the trash." Soon after, PC Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jim Louderback viewed the post and wrote a rather lengthy essay on the topic and gave a personal insight into his thought process on how to handle the public insult of the publication.3 While this story ended in a somewhat happy ending as both men settled their differences over the post and were able to reconcile any differences or misunderstandings, it is still looked at by many who follow this social media revolution as an important reminder that all things on the internet are said in a public manner and that any conversation or poorly thought out blog post could result in serious relationship and ultimately financial ramifications for a business if these tools are used without simple consideration as to how other people will react to any posted content.

Research and Conclusion on Twitter
While the jury may still be out on the overall effectiveness of Twitter as a communication device, important information can already be drawn from research on site growth. Like any communication service, it is quite clear that if the service is indeed effect, people will use it and migrate towards it. If it doesn't work and users don't find it effect, people will refrain from using the product and will move onto other alternatives. Twitter has seen strong growth with businesses and corporate users, with one recent brand survey finding that over 650 businesses, governments, musical artists, and writers frequently using the service.4 Another 2007 study conducted by several University of Maryland student researchers have found user growth rates for Twitter to remain constant with intermittent periods of exponential growth as new industries or potential user bases learn of the service.5 Even though Twitter is still young, research has shown that users are flocking to the communication service and that the program could drastically change how managers communicate with employees and companies with customers.


2. Office Software Suites
Another way in which the internet and Web 2.0 philosophies are mixing up established office principles is through digital document creation and collaboration. For years, Microsoft's Office suite has been the industry leader in developing word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation software and if you've ever worked in an environment with a computer, you've used Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. It's long been accepted that if one is to work in an office environment, basic skills in these programs is essential and expected. Managers often have no need to train people on the basics, but problems do arise when collaboration must occur with documents. While Microsoft Office has become extremely prevalent in the work place, managers often find difficulties when employees have documents lost after computer failures or when difficulty arise in e-mailing documents. In an attempt to make office document work simpler, web giant Google has developed a worthwhile competitor in Google Docs. The suite is entirely web based with a word processor, spreadsheet editor, and presentation creator which work entirely through a web browser. The trio of office programs comes as part of the Google Apps team of online programs which are targeted at home consumers as well as businesses with features such as automatic document saving which occurs every sixty seconds, the ability to save the document to a computer in a multitude of file formats such as .word or .pdf, the ability for multiple users to collaborate on and edit the same document, and an extensive revision history which allows the user to go back in time and edit the document from a previous point before changes were made. The Google Docs suite also is beneficial to employees on the go or for those who often work out of both a brick-and-mortar and home offices with the software making all of a user's documents available from any internet capable computer on the planet by just logging into the Google Applications website. While this feature set rival's Microsoft's suite, it is also provided at no cost whereas Microsoft Office can run between $150 and $680 per user license which can be quite costly for even a small business with only several dozen employees. Price tends to be the primary reason why users are moving to the new Google backed suite, as Google offers their suite for free with the ability for businesses users to buy a premium user package which gives phone support, larger storage space, and several other features for only $50 per year per user.

Research and Conclusion on Google's Office Suite
Like Twitter, Google Docs has had little time to see research done on it's retention rates among business users or to develop user satisfaction reports. However, the current research statistics on user growth has shown that the suite has something going for it which managers are buying into. USA Today ran a report earlier this year finding that Google was able to bring on over half a million paid premium corporate and small business users to the service in it's first year with millions more using the free service. Not only are businesses moving from Microsoft's Office suite to Google, but they are doing so at an exponential rate with the service seeing over 20,000 new users per day. 6 While new software packages like Google Docs do not carry the Microsoft Office trademark which many corporations have come to trust, it seems quite clear that many managers are already looking to migrate to new services as ways to cut cost and become more efficient in the office place.


3. Corporate Blogging
A third way in which many managers are seeing change in the workplace is through a recent development called corporate blogging. Blogging in and of itself is much a recent web idea, gaining strong momentum in 1999 when programmer and popular online writer Peter Merholz gave the practice of keeping a web journal, or web log, the now household name of blog. The name stuck and the practice of keeping a blog grew exponentially with the launch of web service Blogger late in August 1999. It was estimated that only around 30 established blogs existed at the time of Blogger's launch, a number which exploded to over three million by the end of 2004.7 As individuals began to use this new form of internet media to document their lives and share opinions on any multitude of products, it was not initially apparent that blogging and the workplace would ever coincide. It wasn't until 2002 when blogger Heather Armstrong was fired from her job as a graphic designer due to blogging about her work experiences that managers were forced to rethink workplace policies and include corporate opinions upon employee kept blogs. For a couple years, blogging was seen as a leisure activity and much like a private journal. It wasn't until blog entrepreneurship companies like Weblogs Inc. were formed about a year after the Armstrong firing that corporations realized large amounts of people were reading these blogs and that they were being used as a marketable form of media much like a newspaper or magazine. With such large audiences flocking to this new form of media, corporations and their managers were forced to reassess how firms could integrate these blogs into a company and thus corporate blogging was formed. By forming new corporate blogs, managers have been forced into determining what kind of format the blog should follow and which employees inside the company are doing the blogging. No one formula has been the only key to success and many different companies have been able to gain large followings through this form of viral marketing. Large traditional companies like Boeing, General Motors, and Johnson & Johnson have found success in allowing upper management such as vice-presidents or CEOs discuss important company decisions or the corporate stance on topics such as changes in the economy through well thought out posts which real much like marketing literature. In contrast, Web and technology companies tend to have somewhat different company blogs with companies like instant messaging start-up Meebo, live-video broadcaster Justin.tv, and social news aggregation service Digg typically encourage team members like programmers or customer service representatives to develop context for the company blog which focuses around recently released products and company culture in an extremely personal and often playful manner. Many well established companies tend to see blogs a potential advertising and marketing venture much like a television ad or company literature whereas younger web companies see the blogs as a way for customers to feel connected to the company while giving sense give a greater transparency to the business. What may be most interesting when looking at blog search engine Technorati's list of top corporate blogs is the fact that neither type seems to see a great preference from readers and that many are interested in learning more about the companies who produce the goods and services which they purchase.8 Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh sees their multiple blogs as simply a way for the company to make consumers feel as if they are doing business with regular people while also emphasizing important aspects of their company culture, "[Blogs] for internal use, potential customers, existing customers, and potential employees. We don't really care too much about what gets posted as long as it's consistent with our brand and our core values."9 While these new corporate blogs can take on nearly any face and are mostly a tool which falls into the responsibilities of a marketing department, their use and integration is of the utmost importance to any manager. With proper management, these blogs can provide employees a way to become involved in the companies external image and promote a sense of personal importance in the overall picture of an organization. However with poor management, these blogs can often become a part of the company which leaves employees feeling bitter and left out if favoritism takes place.

Research and Conclusion on Corporate Blogging
Early research on the adoption of blogs in business has shown strong signs that this form of media will become commonplace in the workplace and an important issue for managers in the next several years. Corporate research firm Melcrum conducted a large study in 2007 to learn more about how blogs have worked themselves into the business world and the results gave strong evidence that social media is here to stay in the corporate world. 55% of respondents were using blogs or planning to start one in the next year, 63% used video-sharing sites like YouTube to advertise and inform customers or employees, and 43% stated that they were dedicated to using podcasts as a way to communicate with customers and employees. Not only are companies working toward improving their internet presence, but they are also looking to dedicate more company resources toward social media projects. Over half of those surveyed in the Melcrum study stated that they are looking to expand their social media budgets over the next year.10 While blogging may be an issue which belongs in the hands of a companies marketing department, the last several years of development in the medium have shown that it will be important for any manager in an organization to properly understand the purpose and goals as well as inner workings of a companies blog in order to help the organization grow while also ensuring that the blog becomes a positive internal teamwork tool as both large and small companies alike begin to add blogs as an expected part of an organizations online presence.


Conclusion
After looking at these different ideas and innovations which are drastically changing how businesses definite their online presence, the ramifications on managers is clear. While such technologies are still young and developing and thus it is often difficult to find current research or statistics on how users perceive the quality of these new internet solutions. However, early user numbers and growth rates found through several research projects have shown that businesses are flocking to these new internet tools at adoption rates and levels of exponential growth that tend to favor the idea that tools such as Twitter, Google Docs, and corporate blogs are not fads or trendy topics. Instead, we are seeing a philosophical shift in how managers must prepare their companies to deal with this evolving internet. These technologies or similar online services will soon become expected norms and not just the trendy or hip thing to do in business. Managers must make decisions and change how an organization interacts with customers and develop their internet identities. While this change may be seen with some discontent by veterans of conventional business and managerial techniques, I think the last several years have proven that the change is coming sooner than later and that those with the power to change a business must learn that it will very quickly become a situation where one must adapt or be threatened with extinction.

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