It occurred to me while on a SHRM-Atlanta webinar today that HR professionals are and can be very instrumental in helping their organizations embrace and exploit social media to their company's best interest. Steve Cadley and Chuck Zdrojowy conducted a webinar for SHRM-Atlanta's membership on the topic of social media and some of its implications for the internal HR practitioner as well as the external HR Consultant. Whether the issue is social media policy, employee morale, productivity, defining new job roles, communication, culture, or increased revenue, HR professionals have a hand in how social media is viewed and implemented in corporations.
Steve admonished us to "join the conversation" that is happening all around us and in some cases in spite of us. HR has always had to balance the needs of the firm with the needs of the employees and that is even more the case in this new, virtual, geographically dispersed marketplace. The webinar was very informative but also provoked more questions for me as I try to figure out how to help organizations shift how they think about social media.
