Reading, Writing, Arithmetic…Is too much social media making us sick?

Do you check Facebook the moment you wake in the morning?  Do you feel compelled to Tweet, even from the bathroom?  Does checking in on Foursquare take precedence over your quiet dinner conversation with a friend?  If you answered yes to any of these questions you may be suffering from social media addiction.

Look Who’s Talking: Equinox

We’ve all wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall – secretly listening in on conversations and overhearing chatter.  Whether admitted or not, knowing what people are thinking, positive or negative, holds tremendous weight and influence on how we represent ourselves and how our organizations represent themselves to consumers.

With the influx of social media and myriad of outlets at our disposal, consumers WANT to tell organizations what they are thinking about their products and what they’d like to see change.  Tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs no longer make it necessary to be the invisible fly; rather, consumers feel free to openly provide feedback and engage in two-way communication.

As PR Manager for Equinox Fitness Clubs, I consider it important that I not only know what the media says about the brand but also what our members and prospective members are saying as well.  I recently scavenged a few outlets to find out just how Equinox is portrayed.

Engineered to Share

Prior to this post, I never used an internal communications tool such as an Intranet, Wiki, or other employee to employee social media system within my organization.  I am surprised to know, however, that a number of tools exist for organizations to communicate and collaborate internally, outside of normal email and face-to-face meeting functions.  I also found it eye-opening that departments beyond Human Resources and Marketing, such as engineers, recognize the need for a streamlined, time saving, and cost cutting technology.

I sat down with an Engineering Director (who wishes to remain anonymous) for a consumer packaged goods company in New Jersey to find out just how he “shares” with fellow engineers and if, in fact, it’s worth delving into.